Anyone familiar with Commerce Georgia and the surrounding areas? (Atlanta: crime, houses)

[rivermutt]

Husband and I are looking for a warmer climate and not interested in Florida. Anyone in the forum from Commerce or familiar with the area? We are looking to move to a rural location.

[DJDeadParrot]

I live about 20 minutes away from Commerce. What would you like to know?

[rivermutt]

We're looking for a small town/rural area where housing prices are decent and crime is low. We'd like to buy a home that's not in a typical development on 2+ acres. I'm not familiar with any of the towns in Northeast GA, but that area was recommended to me by a friend who was raised in Athens. After looking at some of the pictures on the internet, it looks to be a lovely area. Living in Upstate NY has been great for the past 12 years because we like boating, riding ATV's etc., but the snow and ice are becoming too much to handle as we grow older. We're used to traveling 25+ minutes to the grocery store, so that's not an issue. Any towns/areas you could recommend?

[DJDeadParrot]

Until 2008, Commerce looked to be on the up-swing, economically, owning to a thriving commercial area [built around an outlet mall] and the possibility of an over-the-road transportation hub right off of I-85. The warehouses remain empty, but the town is, by no means, dead.

If you still plan on doing any boating, look at areas near Lake Lanier or Lake Hartwell. Hartwell, GA, isn't bad at all, though, admittedly, its been a few years since I've been out that way.

[hal2814]

I lived in Commerce for almost a decade (2002-2011). There are plenty of homes there on 2+ acres. Our subdivision was made up of 1-4 acre lots. Commerce (like anywhere else) has its pros and cons. I really liked the proximity to Athens and to the outlet malls. The nearest lake is Lake Hartwell at about 30 minutes away. Lake Lanier is about 45 minutes to an hour away depending on where you drop in. I did always distinctly feel like an outsider in Commerce. I don't think it was an intentional effort by the people living there. They weren't rude or anything. It's just that 99% of them grew up in Commerce and weren't really interested in making friends with new people. I don't regret our time there but by the time we moved (to the DFW area) we were just looking for something else. We wanted to live nearer to a big city and wanted our kids to go to a school district large enough to offer them more variety in terms of courses available and extracurricular activities.

[WanderingImport]

Commerce is a decent area with good local amenities and not far from Athens to boot. You're also relatively close to the Atlanta exurbs like Buford where the Mall of Georgia is located. That's about 30 minutes or so(depending on traffic) from Commerce.

On the other hand, keep in mind Commerce is located in the Piedmont area of Georgia, almost at the base of the Appalachians, but not quite there. If you want hillier territory, I would look further north or northwest to Clayton or Dahlonega.

Actually, I would take a closer look at Dahlonega. It's a nice town at the edge of the mountains with great views and close proximity to many amenities including Lake Lanier. Great rural locations as well nearby.

[ReturningWest]

Originally Posted by rivermutt

We're looking for a small town/rural area where housing prices are decent and crime is low. We'd like to buy a home that's not in a typical development on 2+ acres. I'm not familiar with any of the towns in Northeast GA, but that area was recommended to me by a friend who was raised in Athens. After looking at some of the pictures on the internet, it looks to be a lovely area. Living in Upstate NY has been great for the past 12 years because we like boating, riding ATV's etc., but the snow and ice are becoming too much to handle as we grow older. We're used to traveling 25+ minutes to the grocery store, so that's not an issue. Any towns/areas you could recommend?

You've got a lot of options in the area, just make sure you pick the right county. Parts of Commerce area is in Jackson, Madison etc. County ordinances vary greatly, so make sure you are getting what you want. Also, building codes are there but inspections can be iffy, if you have a home inspected make sure they are doing all you want done and do some research as to what you want done.

I live in Jefferson and I have good friends who live in Maysville so I'm up in that area a lot and shop at the Wally World there. Riding ATV's can be problematic in rural areas with livestock, we had one guy who showed up and thought it was fun rattling the livestock and he was cited and he got all pissed off.

Keep in mind it's hot and humid here for quite sometime and we also have lots of bugs, snakes etc.

Another issue, is if you are looking for small acreage you might consider getting a little over 10 acres as you can put the property in conservation and save a bundle on taxes. I have 10+ acres and my taxes were under 400. last year.