Would appreciate your advice

You seem nice.
What are some of the reasons why a New Yorker would move to Savannah, Georgia?

Fieldschester--sorry, didn't see this comment before.
1. Value. You can buy a 4000 square foot home in historic downtown Savannah (similar to a brownstone but clad in brick) for $1.5 million. You can buy a 2000 square foot Victorian, within a five minute walk of Forsyth Park (our version of Central Park) for $300,000. And there's lots of stuff in between, price-wise. It obviously offers extreme value compared to what you would buy in NY (even compared to those vacation homes people are buying outside of NYC). And for renovators, there are great opportunities to put your mark on historic homes that need some love.
2. Walkable lifestyle, like NYC. Similar to downtown Charleston, but with a larger historic district. In fact, it's the largest intact historic district in the country, but everything--restaurants, shopping, arts, riverfront, is still within a 20 minute walk. This is good for people of all ages--we get a lot of retirees who like the city feel but don't want the stress of a larger city. On a related note, it's a great dog city, with lots of dog parks and dog-friendly outdoor cafes.
3. Easy driving--when you live in historic downtown, and want to get a little further afield in the car, nearly everything is within a 10 minute drive--Whole Foods, Target, Home Depot, Walmart, etc. And you can actually park at those places. And you can actually park at your home downtown and don't have to leave your car in the same spot for months for fear of losing it. Beach is about 20 minutes away.
4. Weather--subtropical climate is hot in summer but very nice in the other three seasons--no snow. No shoveling, no sloshing, no digging cars out. Let me repeat, no snow (I'm from NJ originally and have also lived in Boston, so I know snow).
5. People. Yes, it is more laid back in the South. This can be attractive for metro area people on two levels--one, people are friendlier down here, and two, when you work here, you tend to be a little more intense than the southerners and that can be an employment advantage.
6. Arts. We have a very large arts community, including the Savannah College of Art and Design, one of the largest art schools in the country. We also have a world-class music festival in the spring and our film festival has also been gaining renown. And you can actually get tickets for those festivals and afford tickets for those festivals.
7. We are a blue island in a red state. Being a port city, we've always welcomed people from elsewhere. The art school and a large gay community, plus lots of northern transplants, make this your non-stereotypical southern town.
8. We have 21 public squares, similar to European plazas, dispersed throughout downtown, so there is plenty of green space, in addition to Forsyth Park.

What else can I answer for you?

1. fieldschester is a troll
2. he is like a broken stuffed toilet

3. I assume that you will understand the analogy

Sounds like a nice place, thanks for the detail: eye opening.

Rb345 you talk a lot about dirt, toilets, the worst areas of NY, go back to collecting your stamps.

fieldy:

1. my comment was a sophisticated, genteel way
2. of expressing a very simple low brow fact

3. which is that, like a stuffed toilet
4. you are always full of shit

rb345, you are a landlord, are stuffed toilets a big part of your life?

Appreciative does not seem to know the way NYers think. I have given thought to savannah among other places as a potential place to establish a primary residence once I quit working. Good climate, decent restaurants, walkable, coastal. But the one and only reason I would ever leave NY (but never give up my apartment) is TAXES. The maximum income tax rate in Georgia is about 5-6% , and property taxes are basically negligible by NY standards. While income taxes in Florida, Alaska, Tennessee, Texas and a few other states are zero, so is my desire to live there.

nyc_sport, thanks for the input. When it's time for you to move, where would you look? Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia? Any other resources you would use? How would you find an agent?

brick underground and brownstoner are pretty big real estate sites for New Yorkers and you might be able to find a way to connect with people there. Airbnb is a great way for people to check out prospective towns and I know a lot of people here use it to scope out potential properties. There might be a way to connect with people there. Also, just making connections with brokers at Corcoran, Elliman and other NY brokerages might be helpful.

2013nyc, thanks again.