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Journal Timex's Journal: I got Georgia on my mind 7

Journal by Timex

So... Wife and I have been talking about the pros and cons of buying a house, so that it could (theoretically) be paid off before I hit the age of retirement.

The idea is to use a house as an investment. Trick is, property values in the area I live in (the "South Coast" area, about an hour south of Boston) are outlandish. A three bedroom house in need of some work can easily go for about US$350k. Part of the problem is that the politicians have been talking up the idea for years of extending the commuter rail to this area, but (as far as I know), it hasn't gone past the stage where the Army Corps of Engineers examines the existing rail lines along the proposed route. It's been a couple years since that happened, long enough that I don't remember what they decided. At any rate, I think one would have to be foolish to think that it's still under serious consideration by anyone involved with the MBTA. The MBTA website says that items such as the extension of commuter rail to Fall River is the realm of the Executive Office of Transportation, and the most recent information I found there was two years old.

At any rate, Wife went looking for places that might be nice to live in, and she keeps coming back to the same area, just west of Atlanta, Georgia. Propeties similar to those referred to above, apparently in better condition, are selling for about US$140k in that area.

I know that Bethanie is down in that general direction, and I'm pretty sure she's not the only one down there...

I won't be able to go down that way to look around until tax return season. An alternative we came across is one where we could rent an apartment for a short term (as short as three months at a whack) while we wait for closing, etc.

Is there any sort of information that I could get for that area from those that have actually been there, besides the stuff one gets online?

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I got Georgia on my mind More

I got Georgia on my mind

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  • The often have relocation packets for prospective residents.

    Atlanta real estate is on a downward spiral right now. That whole housing bubble hit especially hard here. Can be kinda hard, apparently, to get accurate appraisals because housing was so overvalued for a few years there.

    But yes, real estate is very affordable, particularly for as dynamic a city as Atlanta is. I only know about north of the city, though (and not much, at that). Nothing about the west side.

    Good luck!

    ....Bethanie....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by On Lawn ( 1073 )
      I had someone at Georgia contact me, also Montana, Florida and surprisingly North Carolina more than the others combined. Pretty country there from what I understand.

      Timex,

      Renee over at Opine has mentioned that for the most part there is a real exodus from Massachusetts. The housing prices are crazy, the politics insane. And those add up to a real hostile environment to young families. In fact she noted where one city was going to allow a new subdivision to be annexed because too many young families were mo
  • But you mentioned Fall River. Have you ever been to Battleship Cove? If so, do you think it's worth visiting?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Timex ( 11710 ) *
      I've been there a few times... I live about a mile away from it.

      Being a Navy nut (some might suggest that's redundant), I like to look at the displays and consider the history. The inside of the Battleship Massachusetts now serves a few purposes:
      • Small groups (and individuals?) can stay overnight, for a fee. They sleep on the bunks that they have set up in a few areas where berthing used to be. It's not at all like a hotel, in many ways that I couldn't begin to explain. The groups I've seen stay there
      • And while visiting the cove, nose around to see if you can talk with either George Dimmock or Mr. McDonald (I would have to look at my middle school year book to find out his first name. They are both local, retired history teachers (I was lucky enough to have McDonald for 8th grade US History and Dimmock for freshmen World History classes), as well as Navy vets. I try to seek them out whenever I get the chance to visit the cove because they are a wealth of information as well as being really nice guys (n
        • Thanks for the information!
          • You are most welcome! I grew up (for the most part, anyway) in Fall River and it is not often I get to tell people about the stuff that is actually cool around here. We don't have a lot of things to do, and we are not exactly known as the most desirable place to live in Mass, but Fall River has a rich cultural heritage, a whole lot of history (including the more morbid "Lizzie Borden" stuff, which every FR high schooler has to study *shudder*) and the bragging rights of being Emeril Lagasse's hometown! (An

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