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Posters here who extoll the charms of life in the Historic District fail to address the biggest problem with living downtown: CRIME. I've lived in some pretty large northern cities, and the crime rate there is usually lower than in downtown Savannah. The level of paranoia after, say, 8 PM, is far higher between River Street and 52th Street in Savannah.
Reports in the Savannah paper have been harrowing. True, most of the violent crime involves drugs: between dealers, between dealers and customers, or (as in Ardsley Park two years ago) when a drug dealer shot two rock musicians moving equipment when they said they couldn't give him loose change and a cigarette. One female college student, who had the poor judgment to move out of her apartment alone at 8:30, 9PM (still daylight) was carjacked and raped. Another article featured college students who had so many bad experiences living downtown that they have moved to Savannah's southside suburbs. Such a shame, as there are no American suburbs -- none on earth -- more bland and more unattractive than Savannah's southside (with rare exceptions, the southside gets more overdeveloped, utilitarian and downright UGLY with each passing year).
Don't want to sound negative, but anyone considering the Historic District and the Victorian District deserves to hear the whole story from Savannah posters.
I, too have gotten lost in thread after thread, trying to find answers to questions. There is a lot if information out here! I apologize if you continually have to repeat answers - but us readers get inundated with information, a lot of it is conflicting as well! Here goes
My wife and I are planning to move to Georgia by the end of the year and actively looking to purchase a home in the area, suburbs are ok, as long as we are within a 10-15 minute distance to multiple choices for restaurants, groceries, shopping and decent nightlife. Schools are not a concern - we are in our early 50's and have no small children, and commute time to employment is not an issue either.
We do have a real estate person we are working with, but since we are not familiar with the areas, I'd like to obtain more than one opinion. Our first thought was that we'd look at the historic district because that is where we've stayed on our visits there. However we know we can get much more square footage outside the historic district so we're looking at the Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Richmond Hill and the Island areas. I really like the Georgetown suburb as well. We're looking for a home, hoping to stay around 150k, we'll be downsizing to 3 beds/2 baths but couldn't live with less than a 2 car garage.
Finding a home is not the problem - we have 45 'favorites' selected in the Zillow site that meet our criteria. The trouble is narrowing it down to a neighborhood (or two) where we can find numerous options for shopping / restaurants / sports bars within 10-15 minutes. The real estate web sites don't really give you all that many details about those options. We'd like to stay within 30 minutes of the riverwalk and squares for when friends come to visit. I think Rincon might be just a bit outside of that and it appears to be a bit more 'suburban' than either of us want.
Neither one of us are 'suburban' people, where we live now, we have many options for a good number of restaurants, shopping and bars within about a 3 mile range in any direction.
When we've visited, we've stayed in Savannah and haven't strayed much from there. I don't have a vibe for any of the other areas other than some things I have read. We'd prefer the downtown vibe but don't see many homes with our criteria in that area, at least in our price range.
I don't know if any of these areas fall into the categories that a previous poster mentioned
1) Industrial blue collar areas
2) Middle income/upscale (islands) areas
3) Exurban and rural middle income areas
4) Quasi-urban mixed neighborhoods
Garden City - small, but close to Savannah - no property tax?
Georgetown ( I believe it's a suburb of Savannah) - love the homes and mature trees but I heard the taxes are higher than in other areas?
Pooler - larger than the other suburbs but it appears to be really spread out
Port Wentworth / Richmond Hill - appear to be around 30 minutes from the historic district; in my price range Port Wentworth homes appear to be newer than those in Richmond Hill. I read here that Port Wentworth is surrounded by industrial areas and trucks are very loud?
We just missed a home in Wilmington Island - it sold in about 3 days (now I know I need to jump on them faster!), and I heard that area is the best of the options I am looking at?
I think you have done an excellent job of defining your LIFE STYLE which is much more important than a description of a structure of 4 exterior walls, a roof, and a front door that is called a "a house". Your're really not "confused" as you say you are in your post and you really have found nabes that would fit your needs. How to narrow them down?
The price you need to pay, I think is the only issue and what can you cross off your wish list in order to get there remains.
Can you live without that 2 car garage? Can you adjust to a suburban life (you have already said you are not "suburban people"...me too). Can you live closer to downtown (within-in your radius) if the crime stats were higher than some of the other areas you mentioned,
Draw a line on your wish list and decide what is going to make you happy for your dollars and track that area like a laser beam with a well qualified broker. A specialist of the zone, not a generalist showing you 6 areas.
I think you are on the right track and are doing your research the right way. Part of the problem with forum boards like this is the advice given takes on a personal note and I have never read anyone post "I live there and I'm sorry I moved to this neighborhood." What does that tell you?
Garden City - industrial/blue collar all the way, pretty urban, Chatham County Port Wentworth - only slightly less so, Chatham County Georgetown - purely suburban and not especially interconnected with other towns or parts of Savannah, middle to upper income, not growing much (not much room to, either), Chatham County Pooler - explosive growth and mostly suburban, but more dense than Richmond Hill, Chatham County Richmond Hill - further out, more spread out and purely suburban, fewer services, but not totally sleepy, Bryan County Rincon - cow town, fewer services than Pooler, Effingham County Wilmington Island - unincorporated Chatham County (county tax only), dense suburban, lots of services, and close proximity to more
Thanks CostalGAGuy, as I suspected, Rincon is a bit too low key for us. It appears that Richmond hill may be as well. I wouldn't be the same watching a football game without other local fans screaming along with me.
Also yes you do have a point Pink Caddy - we need to figure out exactly what is most important to us. Where we live, basements and garages are the norm and I can't imagine where on earth to store everything without them! We know in GA, we'll be giving up both living and storage areas that we currently have in the basement and with 3 vehicles we are already weeding out what is coming with us. In my searches, I am amazed by the number of homes in the 130-160k price range without garages. We've bought and sold numerous homes in our lives and know we will never find that 'perfect' one. There are always compromises. Getting away from the snow will make up for some things we will give up.
We're planning another trip to the area around September and intend to drive through each of the areas to see what the commercial areas offer, and how far away they are from the homes we have selected.
We're lucky now as we live in a 1-2 sq mile area of residential surrounded on all sides by some great commercial areas. I don't think we need to be fully surrounded and I would imagine each of these areas have the some nearby commercial options? We have a great selection of homes on our list that fit the bill for 'living' needs. As they say, its location, location location so can anyone suggest some web sites where we can find out more about some of the commercial areas?
rebelkitty, we, like you, needed a 3 car garage (at least) so we screened for this feature only, and were able to cut our search down to a manageable size. We wound up in Pooler in a very quiet, private neighborhood which we just love, with 2 two car garages.
It is amazing why they build houses with one car garages and no basement here. What's that about?
As they say, its location, location location so can anyone suggest some web sites where we can find out more about some of the commercial areas?
Google Maps with Street View is probably going to be your best bet to peruse around the area.
Pooler: Downtown (the old part) is really centered around US Hwy. 80 west of I-95. It's really, well, *meh* for the most part, although there are some hidden gems in there. The newer parts are spread out a bit from there. Head up I-95 north one exit (Savannah's airport is at this exit). Stuff on the west side of I-95 along Pooler Parkway represent the newest and most developing part of town. Pooler Pkwy. actually wraps around south to Hwy. 80 on the other end of town.
Georgetown: There are few commercial interests in Georgetown proper. There's one shopping center of any consequence, with a restaurant or two and a Food Lion grocery store (again, *meh*). You'll find a gas station, some warehouses and commercial buildings. You're really close to the Savannah Mall out that way (*not the better mall*), and other southside Savannah locations with a myriad of shopping and grocery choices. It's the most commercial part of the city, really. St. Joseph's Hospital is also just down 204 headed toward town. Go the other way on 204, and you hit I-95, where there is an "exit oasis" of pretty significant proportions. Gas stations, fast food... Nothing too much to write home about, but "stuff" that might be handy here and there. You're also pretty close to Berwick on the west side. That's a newer development with some nice shopping and dining selections. Check that out.
Wilmington Island: The name of the game on Wilmington is really Johnny Mercer Blvd. That's where the restaurants, fast food joints, Kroger (pretty good) and Publix (also pretty good) grocery stores are. Banks, barbers, bars, gas stations, drug stores, etc. Just down the road toward town is more at Whitemarsh Island (Wal-Mart, another Publix, more restaurants, specialty shops, etc.) A bit further, and go over the bridge into Thunderbolt, and a few miles down Victory Drive, and you'll find some of the best stuff in town along with easy access via the Truman Parkway to areas north (downtown) and south (midtown and southside). Head the other way on Johnny Mercer Blvd, and link up with Hwy. 80 headed about 10 miles east and you'll hit Savannah's public beach at Tybee Island and lots of beach themed places to eat, drink and be merry.
rebelkitty, we, like you, needed a 3 car garage (at least) so we screened for this feature only, and were able to cut our search down to a manageable size. We wound up in Pooler in a very quiet, private neighborhood which we just love, with 2 two car garages.
It is amazing why they build houses with one car garages and no basement here. What's that about?
agreed, I have to get rid of half of my belongings when I give up my basement and garage!
Google Maps with Street View is probably going to be your best bet to peruse around the area.
CostalGAGuy - this information will be immensely helpful. Before, I was digging through Google Maps for areas around some of the homes on my list and believe me, finding stores / bars, is hard! I can map the homes to the commercial areas now.
rebelkitty, .
It is amazing why they build houses with one car garages and no basement here. What's that about?
I just have to ask.......why do you have so much junk? Give it away. Or sell it. Maybe someone else really needs it.
How much more space will you need for the next 10 years collection of junk? And, after opening and closing a garage door, a few hundred times, you probably wouldn't put your car in one either.
Just a thought as to "why" no basement....In most areas here, the water table is so high that you would need to have additional drainage and water pumps to keep from having an indoor swimming pool instead.
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looking to move to Savannah
