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Ashville North Carolina as a retirement destination?

moralem

New member
Those of you in this general area, what are your thoughts about Ashville as a retirement destination as oppossed to Raleigh/Durham. What are the real estate opportunities there and how good is access to healthcare. I am looking at making a trip out that way in early November and want to know what are the hot spots. If this is the place for retirement I am thinking of trying to buy a place now while still gainfully employed and prepare for retirment in the next 5 years. Would love to hear from those of you that are already in Ashville or those of you in Raleigh as well.
 
Asheville is a great town and many retire there. Consider the seasons and see if it is a match. For some it is for some it isn't. Nice event life around town, medical care etc. Have to check about housing as some places are holding high values. Other places to look at are as you said. Ral/Durham. Lots of things here. Many smaller towns that are in easy reach of town should be looked at. Look around Chapel Hill and south of town as well. The other place to consider might be Southern Pines, Pinehurst area. Each of those has a very different feel. Good luck finding one that might work for you. Find one that will provide things for you today as well as 10 yrs from now.

NCS
 
Thanks for the info. I like Ashville but am open to areas that may not be so economically blessed. As you mentioned real estate values are holding and I would prefer to go to a market that still has the amenities I want but remains affordable.
 
Thanks for the info. I like Ashville but am open to areas that may not be so economically blessed. As you mentioned real estate values are holding and I would prefer to go to a market that still has the amenities I want but remains affordable.

Consider Roanoke VA for a similar town that is less pressured with holding real estate values. A second thought would include Lynchburg Va.

If you want to be near the mountains, maybe Morganton or Marion NC
 
The mountains are my preference so I will check out then the others as well. This is the feedback I was looking for.
 
Asheville.

There are a lot of nice smaller communities around the Asheville area that are less expensive to live in. One of the nicest areas I think is the Waynesville area and a half hour ride from Asheville. Asheville has some really great hospital/Dr. services by the way, plus minutesroorm the Blue Ridge Parkway and nesteled right in the Great Smokies!! Hard to beat.:thumb
 
I lived in NC and would move back but TN was great as well and taxes are much lower. No income tax and property tax is on actual land not vehicles like in NC. So having toys is very expensive in NC as you pay tax on them each year. It cost me around $350 to register my 1 year old Monster I paid $10,500 for so you can do the math on your toys. Insurance was also higher than in TN on home owners and vehicles. The mountains in TN look the same. One more thing, have you stayed and spent some time in Asheville? Beautiful place and will not discuss politics but very ultra liberal. More like San Francisco than NC. You might be fine with that and not saying you should be otherwise but I think a conservative would feel out of place.
 
I did not know that about Ashville have a bent to the liberal side. Though I tend to be more conservative I have lived in Austin. But am going to have to check into all these options. I have given myself about a year to start making plans and finding a place and then working to be done working in 2015....the good Lord willing.....
 
Asheville is pretty much on the liberal arts horizon. Has a yuppie feel to it as well. That was why I also mentioned Roanoke (more moderate) and Lynchburg (more conservative). You might also look at Johnson City Tn, Boone is a nice town but it is very much a college town with that as its focus and then tourism as the industry.

I don't know Waynesville or Maggie Valley that well as for land and homes but in the last 10 yrs both have gotten a lot of very upscale homes taking over land. You can tell the changes each year in visiting.

Have fun in your search.

NCS
 
I did not know that about Ashville have a bent to the liberal side. Though I tend to be more conservative I have lived in Austin. But am going to have to check into all these options. I have given myself about a year to start making plans and finding a place and then working to be done working in 2015....the good Lord willing.....

Live and let live I say but that does not mean I am necessarily welcome. I felt as if people knew my views I would not be welcome. Perhaps just my vibe but the window stickers in most of the businesses windows made their views perfectly clear on politics. It was very much in your face. I have never seen that before in person and I guess the atmosphere seemed a bit militant on politics. My wife and I go to Saugatuck, MI quite often which is a large community for and vacation spot for gay Americans. I never get that vibe there and while I can accurately guess the politics it is not used as a weapon. There is a reason those discussions are not allowed on this forum. It seems many in Asheville feel comfortable making others feel uncomfortable. While I live and let live I must admit I will never eat a marshmallow on a stick again in Saugatuck after a look I got a couple of years ago. :whistle
 
Thanks for the info. I like Ashville but am open to areas that may not be so economically blessed. As you mentioned real estate values are holding and I would prefer to go to a market that still has the amenities I want but remains affordable.

go to the counties surrounding Asheville... there are plenty of reasonably-priced places to live.

we built a retirement home in Haywood county, up on a hill, with a killer view. It's actually just a few hundred feet from the Buncombe county line. My builder said if I had this view and house in Buncombe county, I couldn't afford it! :ha

One thing to know is that North Carolina taxes your retirement income as you draw it from your IRA or whatever. And, to the NC state government, NC ends in the flatlands. The mountain folks are always complaining about the lack of services.

You may also want to look over the mountains at eastern TN. The prices and taxes are much lower there.

ian

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I am visiting Ashville in early November for a long weekend to check it out.........won't be riding but flying in. I have not yet decided on Ashville but have heard great things about the mountains and that is what I am looking for in retirement. I have been in Texas a long time and as much as I love it. I want a change in topography. I am going to try and get out to the surrounding areas of Ashville as well. I am not looking for a half million dollar house just something comfortbable with mountian views and a bit of land.........the upcoming trip will be to see how far my budget will go in getting me what I am looking for
 
NC is not a low tax state despite its location. It is in fact about the same as MA (as I learned when I moved here) re income taxes though the basis is different (the state education system is primarily funded through state income taxes that are fed back to local govt rather than through local property taxes, for example). ALL property is taxed- land, vehicles, cars, boats, etc. To some extent this is offset by the fact that insurance is lower than some other states (but not near the lowest). Insurance rates on home are higher on the coast due to the risk of hurricane damage- (residents of the rest of the state got tired of subsidizing rates for folks from up north building beach front castles)
Property tax rates essentially double if you live inside the boundary of any city. If you live outside a city boundary you pay only county property taxes rather than both so your property tax bill goes down by half. Until this year, NC had a law that allowed cities to forcibly annex nearby places, doubling taxes for the residents, then forcing them to pay even more to connect to city water, etc. The legislature (now Republican for the first time in 50 years) changed that- now if 60% of residents object annexation is out- so in effect forced annexation has ended in NC because no one will support annexation plus a big water connection bill in exchange for nothing. The prior law was simply a way for tax and spend govts to keep bringing in revenue and everyone recognized it for what it was. But there might still be a few areas going through an annexation process already in motion so ASK re any specific piece of property that interests you. (The $ at stake here are about $1500/yr for a typical house and the connection bill typically ran $1000-3000. Then there would be monthly water and sewer charges in addition because you could not keep using a well and septic system)
NC has a well automated DMV making vehicle reregistrations easy. MA was always a nuisance when I lived there and I would never again live in NJ with the system they had when I lived there.

Asheville is a good beer town and there are some decent joints. Its at an elevation above the coastal plain and at the base of the mountains so is cooler and a bit less humid than the plain, but also gets some snow and ice. The layout in town is early 1900s and not good re modern traffic- driving across town is slow unless you hop around on the 4 lane. There are a lot of good places to eat for a town that size- I think its attributable to the Biltmore's excellent restaurants and young chef recruitment program- many end up staying town and opening their own places. The general atmosphere is sort of a throwback to the late 60s/70s with a drug culture to match. I don't find any of it objectionable- reminds me of my college days- but some may prefer different.
 
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Asheville is a nice little town with a good vibe, but it's not a mountain town. The elevation of Asheville is only 2000 ft. and there's plenty of heat and humidity for at least 3-4 months. Riding season is fall and spring which is 4-5 months total. Winters are cold and icy. I live in NC and found it hilarious reading some of the comments about how liberal Asheville is. It might be considered liberal in the bible belt but in actuality it's just another Southern town with less rednecks and some old hippies thrown in for a change.
 
(The $ at stake here are about $1500/yr for a typical house and the connection bill typically ran $1000-3000. Then there would be monthly water and sewer charges in addition because you could not keep using a well and septic system)

there is even a move afoot to tax the water coming out of your well!

hopefully with the change in the political winds, this idea will be seen for what it is.
 
I see the average winter lows for Asheville are 30, 27, and 29 for December, January, and February.

Not bad, at all. :)
 
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