Where to Live on Lake Lanier

You can’t have your cake and eat it too, or can you? Well, at least you can’t when it comes to finding a home on Lake Lanier. Lake Lanier is a massive body of water that spreads throughout 5 different counties, which means there is a huge variety of places to live. Not all areas on the lake are created equal though. Where you should be looking at houses on the lake depends on several things, like whether or not you want to be close to shopping and restaurants, what your budget is, and if you plan on using the property as a full time home or just a weekend getaway spot and using it as a part-time rental. So, what’s it like on each side of the lake?

Let’s start on the North end of the lake, where you have a few small towns, like Murrayville, Lula, and Clermont. A good bit of Gainesville is on the north end of the lake as well. If you are interested in being in a more secluded, private part of town, away from your neighbors, this is the spot for you. You’ll be away from your neighbors… and any kind of fast food, chain restaurant, or big box store. It’s also really difficult to find a home on the lake in this area. Typically, homes in these towns would be significantly cheaper than in places like Gainesville or Flowery Branch or the south end. Lake homes obviously come with a higher price tag, but the ones in this area are in a more affordable range than other towns on the lake. This is because you are in the boonies for a lack of a better term- you will have to drive about 10 or 15 miles to get to Target, Chick-fil-a, etcetera. And another thing to note about homes on the north end is that they are typically located in coves–it’s hard to find a north end home that is going to give you expansive lake views, simply because of the topography of the land. You’ll also find yourself further away from marinas and restaurants that you can go to by boat. However, the trade off is that this area of the lake tends to be quite calm and peaceful as there is less boat traffic.

On the east side of the lake, you have the Gainesville/ Oakwood area. I have talked a lot about Gainesville here on my channel, so you can check those out and get a ton more information about this area. Homes on the lake in Gainesville are much more plentiful than on the north end of the lake. They are also going to run you a lot more money. Gainesville has several neighborhoods that actually sit on the lake and give you community access to the lake, and then there are individual homes with their own docks. Many of the homes on the lake in Gainesville are going to be a little bit closer to their neighbors. You are still going to have good privacy, especially with all of the foliage, but lots aren’t going to be quite as sizable as they are on the north end of the lake. The Gainesville/ Oakwood area gives you a ton of shopping and restaurant options, and you won’t have to drive far to get to anything you need. You’ll also have easy access to the interstate if that’s something that’s important to you as well. This location on the lake is great because you can head to the north end of the lake by boat for a more quiet, peaceful lake experience or you can head south where the lake is more expansive and more populated, head to one of the many lake restaurants by boat.

The most popular and most sought after area of the lake is the south end for a variety of reasons., When people refer to the south end they are referring to the areas of Buford, Flowery Branch and some areas of Cumming. And because it is so sought after, know you will have to pay. The south end of the lake is so popular because of it’s location. It’s closest to Atlanta, convenient to GA400 and 85 which makes commuting easy and it’s so close to so much entertainment and restaurants  One thing to know is that you the location of home on the south end will be reflective of the price. You could easily take a $500,000 home on the north end move it to the south end and see a price in the upper $700’s–location matters a lot. You’ll also find more homes on deep water than in the north end of the lake which is also reflective in the price.  Typically homes are harder to find on the south end because of the demand.  

On the west side of the lake, you have the Cumming/ Dawsonville area. There is quite a bit of range in pricing in the Cumming and Dawson area. Again, there are some homes directly on the lake, but currently most of the ones that are listed are in neighborhoods so again, they are on the lake, but don’t sit directly on the water’s edge. Homes in Cumming definitely come with a higher price point, it is a straight shot down 400 to Atlanta, making this a highly desired part of town. There are a few fixer-uppers listed in Dawsonville at a pretty fair price point currently, but again, they don’t sit right on the waters edge, they’re a short walk away. There is a ton of great shopping and restaurants in both Cumming and Dawsonville, which is great if you plan on living in your lake home year round. 

Wherever you decide to live on the lake, you are going to have to compromise in one department or another. Whether it be the price, the depth of the water it sits on, the view, the walk to the water… there will be at least one thing that you have to give up in order to find something that will tick off the most important boxes on your list. It’s better to come to this realization before you start shopping, so you can decide on what factors are a must have for your lake home. Which part of the lake you want to live on will ultimately  decide a lot of these things for you, too. Some families buy homes on the lake to use as vacation homes and don’t plan to live there year-round, and want to rent them out on weekends that they won’t be there.

In Hall County, you can have a short term rental, but in Forsyth County, which is where Cumming is located, there was an ordinance passed that stopped homeowners from being able to use their homes as short term rentals. If you are planning on renting out your lake home as an occasional short term rental, this is definitely something that you will need to consider. 

Before you go, make sure you check more like these things on my YouTube channel before buying a home on Lake Lanier.