Why the north Georgia mountains?

My husband Mike and I are both natives of Orlando, FL.  For almost 20 years we would travel to the Smoky Mountains 2 to 3 times a year to go camping.  We always knew that when we retired we would end up in the mountains.  To be honest, we thought it would be the North Carolina mountains. 

 In 2006, Mike retired from the Orlando Police Department as a captain after spending 28 years with the department.  He loved being a police officer but we knew we wanted to live somewhere crime was almost non-existent and you didn't have to monitor the morning traffic report to get around town.  Mike grew up in Gotha, located in west Orange county.  I grew up on Lake Brantley in Seminole County.  Both areas were very rural.  We wanted to live someplace where that reminded us of the old Florida where we grew up.  Central Florida before Disney really was a very rural area.  We had both grown up with a lot of vacant wonderful land around us.  Our home in Oakland at that time was on 1/3 of an acre in a gated development next to the Florida turnpike.  How we longed to fall asleep at night to the sounds of nature and the smell of the woods instead of the sounds of traffic and the smell of car fumes.

We first came to Blue Ridge to visit a friend and retired Orlando Police officer.  While we were here we decided to have a look around.  We fell in love with the area.  This area was our heaven.  The mornings were cool even in the summertime. The views of mountain tops were heavenly and our proximity to so many wonderful rivers and hiking trails made us feel like we were home.  We fell in love with the sound of the scenic train whistle in the distance and the sound the rivers make when they are rushing over the stones, the wonderful quaint unique shops in downtown and the fact that Blue Ridge still had a drive in Movie Theater. 

 When deciding on where to make our home, we carefully looked over the taxes in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.  Many of our friends from Central Florida were convinced that Tennessee was the place to retire since they had no state income tax but after carefully looking at the whole picture (sales tax, property tax, intangible tax and state income tax) we decided that for our lifestyle Georgia was the best bet.  To be honest, taxes were not the biggest deciding factor.  We learned that quite a number of people we knew lived in the area.  Already knowing someone in a perspective new area was important to us. 

 I have always found great pleasure in helping people.  I was in the hospitality business in Orlando for 18 years, worked in sales and marketing for the emerging internet business in the early 90's and my last job was working in public service at the City of Orlando Office of Legal Affairs.  Mike also loves working with the public (though be it in a non-violent way) and helping them in anyway he can.  Becoming real estate agents really was a natural step for us.  We understand the challenges of moving to a new area and love to help our clients through the process of buying their vacation or retirement home.  We work hard to help our clients adjust to their new surroundings and making their new house a home.  Working with Coldwell Banker, buyers and sellers that know they have the resources of national marketing and local expertise to contract their home at the best price and the process go smoothly. 

If you are interested in buying a retirement or vacation home in the Appalachian Mountains, do not buy until you call us and let us show you ...Why the North Georgia Mountains!