5 Things You Need to Know Before Moving to the North Georgia Mountains
#5 Distance to Everything – The North Georgia Mountains are very spread out spanning the northern border of the state, and within each county things can be very spread out. For example, my family lives in the corner of Union County that borders North Carolina, and we live about 15 minutes from Downtown Blairsville. Based on where we live in the county, it basically takes us 15 minutes to get anywhere in the county. There is no traffic up here, so even though we are a decent distance from everything, we don’t spend unnecessary extra time in the car dealing with frustrating traffic.
#4 Lack of Major Retailers – We have Walmart and Ingles, but that’s about it when it comes to major retailers. We have lots of local businesses, which I absolutely love. But if we need to go to a Target or Kohl’s or some other department style store, we are traveling about 1.5 hours to get there. Depending on where you live in the North Georgia mountains, this is definitely something to consider. If you live in places like Ellijay or Dahlonega, you will be much closer to places like Woodstock and Dawsonville where shopping is plentiful. If you decide to go further north to places like Blue Ridge, Blairsville or Rabun, just know you will be traveling a good distance to get to those major retailers.
#3 Little to No Cell/Internet Service – There are several areas throughout the North Georgia mountains that has very spotty cell service. Carriers like AT&T and Verizon tend to have the best signals up here, but there are still certain areas that have pockets of no service. This is something to consider if you are planning on not having a landline and just want to use your cell for phone service at home. There are also some areas that lack good internet service. While fiber optic internet is making its way throughout the mountains, there are neighborhoods that only have cable or DSL. If you are working from home or like to stream your tv instead of cable or satellite, this is definitely something you will need to check into when looking for where and what neighborhood you want to live in.
#2 Jobs – There are not a lot of high paying jobs in the North Georgia Mountains. Wherever you are up here, it’s a solid 1-2 hours to the metropolitan area of Atlanta so the job market is not as plentiful. When we moved up here, I had the opportunity to interview for a job, which paid significantly less than what I was currently making working out of Atlanta. Another option some people will consider is commuting, but this all depends on what are of the mountains you decide to move to, as the commute times and distance can get pretty long. So if you’re looking to move here, and you won’t be retiring or working from home, you’ll definitely need to consider which area you want to be in to cut down on your commute.
#1 No Secrets – This one is kinda funny. All the mountain towns up here are small, with small populations, which means everybody knows everybody. This can also translate into everybody knowing everybody’s business. As a mom of 2 teenagers, this is a great thing for me – my kids can’t do anything without me finding out about it! Everybody is also very nice and welcoming up here, which means if you frequent the coffee shops and other local businesses in the area, you will have the opportunity to get to know people and really get that community feeling. However, if you like to keep your business to yourself, this little quirk of small town living is just something to keep in mind.
My family and I moved to Blairsville in Union County in November 2020, and we have loved every minute of it. We love the small town, community feel, and the kids school has been great. We love that we have the great outdoors at our fingertips, and we love not having to deal with traffic. When we need to do shopping that requires more than a Walmart, we make it a fun day trip to go to Gainesville, Woodstock or Dawsonville. If you are looking to move to the North Georgia Mountains, I would love to help you! Reach out and give me a call, send me a text or email – I would love to hear from you!!

****UPDATE**** - As of 8/1/22, I am now affiliated with a new broker, eXp Realty.

Trish Rodriguez
eXp Realty
678-859-6058
trodsells@gmail.com

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