NCR Moves Headquarters to Duluth, Gwinnett County Georgia.

NCR has called Dayton Ohio home for 125 years. This Fortune 500 company is now going to call Duluth Georgia home. It's nice to see that such a big company has seen the benefits of moving to Atlanta.

In Duluth, NCR executives will occupy a six-story building across from Gwinnett Place mall, less than a mile from a facility the company already owns where 300 employees work. NCR said the move will bring 1,250 jobs to Gwinnett. In addition, a new NCR manufacturing plant in Columbus will create 870 jobs, and another 900 jobs will be created at a service center in Peachtree City.

Jim Maran, president of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, said the move will draw more technology-based companies to the area.

"We have a state department and a governor who are very positive about economic development, a school system and colleges that can recruit and nurture new technology," he said. "We have Georgia Tech and Gwinnett Tech to help develop the latest technologies and provide training for engineers. We've got the whole package here."

It sounds like many of the employees in Dayton won't be able to make the move though.

But others may not follow any time soon, he said, citing the nations' depressed housing market among the reasons.

Housing prices have fallen so low in some markets that employees won't move: Companies can handle a little moving-related attrition, but not a lot, Dhawan said.

Therefore there might not be a huge new demand for housing from new people moving into the area. But I guess it will be great for current Georgia residents who are unemployed. Maybe that will help keep some homeowners from foreclosure.

The Duluth area is a really attractive place to relocate. The prices of homes have dropped over the past two years but they seem to be bottoming out.

I actually have a buyer client right now who already works for NCR who will be closing on a great home next month. He got a great deal on a foreclosure home. It's amazing what you can get for $350,000 around there. I'm going to list his current home tomorrow. He bought it in 1998 for $125,000 and we will list it for $119,900. It's a 12 year old home with 3 bedrooms and a loft. I'll do a post on it later in the week.

For executives, Sugarloaf Country Club is right around the corner. There have been a lot of foreclosures in there and now would be a wonderful time for someone moving down here to be able to move into a wonderful gated golf community at very reasonable prices.

North Fulton County or South Forsyth County would also be good locations for relocating employees. These areas have great schools and a lot of beautiful neighborhoods for many different price levels.

Seeing NCR making such a big move like this gives me confidence that the Atlanta area will recover well from this economic downturn. Companies like this don't make these moves on a whim. I'm sure that others will see the same things about Atlanta and will keep Atlanta growing into the future.