Buying Land

[Redneck1919]

You cannot escape it. You have been to my house. When I bought this land there was nothing in McDonough area. Land was hard to find. No fast food, only a couple of grocery stores. No subdivisions. Then older generation started dying off, heirs sold to developers. Now I can't get out of my driveway in the mornings. I did not see it coming.

 

[Camper292000]

I've got my eye on Cartersville or north as well. One day.
What are the schools like around Cartersville? What is the drug situation? Like if you had kids what would be the best high school for them between Cartersville and Canton?

 

[WinstonSmith]

I just wanna know why are all these new houses 300k, i can't afford that lol. Ima be buying a dump apparently

300k? Maybe starting. That's on the low end. Area dependent of course. Just drove through a neighborhood in the middle of nowhere just a little south of Rome the other day and houses were at 450k. In the middle of nowhere. With little to no access to anything. The houses were normal, run of the mill nice but the neighborhood sucked. 50 houses crammed together surrounded by farms right on the road. Shocked even me. Makes me want to find a rock I can crawl under to buy.

 

[timbgtm]

I've got my eye on Cartersville or north as well. One day.
What are the schools like around Cartersville? What is the drug situation? Like if you had kids what would be the best high school for them between Cartersville and Canton?

Schools are pretty good. Drug problems are about the usual, law enforcement do a good job here in Bartow. Land isn't cheap and getting higher.
There's Cartersville high.
Cass high
Woodlawn
Adairsville
A Christian academy

 

[Necrosis]

300k? Maybe starting. That's on the low end. Area dependent of course. Just drove through a neighborhood in the middle of nowhere just a little south of Rome the other day and houses were at 450k. In the middle of nowhere. With little to no access to anything. The houses were normal, run of the mill nice but the neighborhood sucked. 50 houses crammed together surrounded by farms right on the road. Shocked even me. Makes me want to find a rock I can crawl under to buy.

Psh get out of the metro area and find something a few miles from the highway up north. We bought a few years ago, nice house w/ almost 10ac listed over $400k, under contract around $320k, paid MUCH less after appraisal came in at nearly tax value lol. It's a rare circumstance but out in the boonies, with a slow real estate market, we made out well.

 

[Nob0dy]

Psh get out of the metro area and find something a few miles from the highway up north. We bought a few years ago, nice house w/ almost 10ac listed over $400k, under contract around $320k, paid MUCH less after appraisal came in at nearly tax value lol. It's a rare circumstance but out in the boonies, with a slow real estate market, we made out well.

That's my plan. Once I get to retirement age I'm going south. To those town you never knew were in Georgia. The curse is that you basically have to stay in the metro area in order to make good money. Or at least in my field you do.

 

[Necrosis]

That's my plan. Once I get to retirement age I'm going south. To those town you never knew were in Georgia. The curse is that you basically have to stay in the metro area in order to make good money. Or at least in my field you do.

Hospitals everywhere for me (RN), but something to think about is if you have to pay tons more for a home/property, how much are you keeping of what you make? You mentioned south GA, there's few hospitals (and even fewer trauma centers) down there...something to think about at any age.

 

[jcountry]

I wouldn’t buy right now unless you are planning to stay for at least 10 years.

The real estate market is still way overpriced. We will see a correction soon, and I think recovery will take a while this time.

Clark Howard actually talked about the virtues of renting out in a new area for while to see if you will like it. A purchase you might be unhappy with in a market this puffed up could be really expensive.

 

[Nob0dy]

Hospitals everywhere for me (RN), but something to think about is if you have to pay tons more for a home/property, how much are you keeping of what you make? You mentioned south GA, there's few hospitals (and even fewer trauma centers) down there...something to think about at any age.

But for public safety the metro area pays more then down south.

 

[DirtySouth]

Highway 41 growth seems to keep moving North.

A Sunday stroll on the northwest side of Acworth will Confirm.

If you are trying to escape expansion, that Dallas/Acworth/Cartersville area isn’t where to go.

The number of houses built in that area in the last 10-15 years would truly blow folks mind if they knew.

Reason I’m aware is I once worked for a heavy equipment dealer & would go around servicing & repairing equipment.

41 still looks the same as it has the last 10-15 years from 92 up through Cartersville past Calhoun, unless you count the ball fields at Lakepoint, but that was just an old mining property. There was a lot of talk about it bringing a lot into the area, but it hasn't added anything but an couple of hotels and fast food chains on that exit. Other than a fast food restraunt, there isn't much being built in Bartow, unless it's a business rebuilding.

Most of the houses being built are in subdivisions that have been in place since the crunch. Get outside the city limits in areas like another guy mentioned (Rydal, White, Taylorsville) and it looks the same as it did when I was a kid.

Crime is petty in Bartow County, with the occasional stiff body. Typically it's someone not living right to begin with that ends up being placed in a bag, or someone committing suicide around the lake.

New houses in subdivisions range from the mid $100k on up. Schools are good, and rarely do you hear of anything crazy going down at one of them. If your kids play sports, the Cartersville City schools always has top notch teams in most sports. Kid in band or drama? Woodland (one of the county schools), is a good school with programs lending to that side of the spectrum.

Eventually there will have to be growth just simply because of the population rising in the world, so spread is going to happen anywhere. Truth of the matter though is, Cartersville is just far enough from Atlanta that most people don't want to commute that far. That means your urbanites don't want to live here. I don't see any major growth happening in the next 20+ years, and that's someone who had almost 20 years in the land surveying industry up until a little over a year ago.