What are the insider tips/advice on these areas. I love to fly fish as well so i want to get quick access into WNC to fish the water up there. Is there anything to avoid in these areas (besides Helen of course). Would love to hear about these areas from locals.

We own some property on Piney mountain.

The Millage in White is painful.

That's my neck of the woods...I live in Banks county and I'm in local politics, so I get some juicy inside bits on the towns around us.
If you enjoy fishing and mountains, without a doubt, Rabun is the place to go. Clayton is a quaint little town - sort of like Asheville without the hippies. Real estate is absolutely stupid up here. My wife is a realtor that specializes in out of town/ state buyers - finding a house or land in Habersham, Stephens or Rabun is just about impossible at the moment. Hell I think we only have 50 to 80 homes listed for sale in the whole county at the moment.
As far as hunting and fishing is concerned - you have the whole Chattahoochee National Forest up here. There's a WMA rifle range right outside Clayton and one in Alto.
Clayton has just about everything you could want...Walmart, Home Depot, nice restaurants, etc. The rest of Rabun county is wild. Head too far down Warwoman road and you'll see teenage kids with no shoes, digging in ditches with old coffee cups. And for the love of God, never bring up Deliverance...liable to get yourself shot. People up there are touchy about the way they were portrayed . The kid that played the retard in that movie still works at the home depot, I think.
Habersham is the other hot spot, if you enjoy a bit more cosmopolitan living. Clarkesville is the town to be in. It's a well run town with a bit of an asheville vibe as well. The Suque river flows past town and has some excellent trout fishing from what I've heard. Avoid Demorest. It's a student town that's being run by Boss Hogg types. Cornelia is where every illegal in the area wants to live.
Banks county is a dump. Period. Not a single redeeming factor. Standoffish people. No nice rivers. Flat for the most part. Very agri-type.
Stephens county is nice. Cleveland is a great little town. More or less same as Clayton and Clarkesville. Land is a bit cheaper in that area. Fishing isn't great, but it's not that much of a drive to Habersham or Rabun for recreation.
Let me know if you have any questions. Shameless plug...if you need a realtor that knows these hills and hollers, let me know. I'm sure she can get you a good deal.

Welcome!

Walmart.

Ah! I knew it was at one of the big box store. I camp up that way a lot, but haven't run into him yet. Must work week days

Funny how some features of a face never changes...everyone up there knows who he is. I made the mistake of bringing that movie up in a conversation...ONCE! Turned into an hour long rant about how they aren't ignorant, inbred hillbillies. I poked a bit of fun till my buddy reminded me that we are out an hour away from cell reception

I live just outside of cleveland. The one issue my wife runs into is that any city type amenities is at least 30 minutes if not an hour away. She's a city girl so doesn't appreciate the small town situation.

Plenty of fishing and trails and outdoors activities within 15 to 30 minutes. The town and people are kind of simple in a good way. Cleveland town needs to pick it up a bit as so much of the town is stuck in the 50s and looks a bit run down.

If you want to be left alone it's a place that this can happen. It really depends on how you want to live. There aren't really any subdivisions to suburb life isn't a thing. You either live on or near farmland or forest. The forest seems ideal until you have to spend several weekends a year beating the forest back so that you have a yard.

There's always someone further north to slander

Fulton craps on Gwinnett which craps on Hall which craps on Habersham/White.

I had a good laugh the other day when a friend of mine asked me about one of my rental houses and told me Flowery Branch is out in the middle of nowhere (they're from Norcross).

I hear ya. That goofy damn traffic circle with the old courthouse in it drives me nuts! I used to commute through cleveland daily...got stuck at that monstrosity every time! Haha

Buahahaha flowery branch is in the middle of everything now and more so in the future. Atlanta is fast taking a move that way, just like we are now basically a suburb of gainesville

I worked for Cleveland PD for over 3 years, and Helen PD for 7 years.  I know all about White County lol

Part of my territory for my job is Rabun, Stephens and White counties..............first few times I went up there, people stared at me, and one guy asked me "you ain't from around here, are you?".....but I have found the people there to be very friendly once they get to know you. I'd love to have property up there, cause I love the mountains, but probably way out of my price range

Hehe should try that with a foreign accent! I'd love to live there. Good people there!

Yep........met some pretty nice people there.