Worst thing about NC... (Asheville, Henderson: housing, rent, work)

[Ms.Charlotte]

Just curious, what do NC residents think is the #1 negative of living in their beautiful state? I'd love to hear some opinions!

[Ms.Charlotte]

Of course, I'd love to hear the best thing also-hope that didn't sound to negative!

[DebbieF]

Lets see worst thing hmmmmm. Maybe that it hardly snows here, and just a month or two of cold weather seems to be the case. It's so hard to think about anything with the word worst. If you talk to alot of people, most will say they love it. You can't satisfy everyone.

[Ms.Charlotte]

No snow definitely falls under one of the "best things" category for me!

[DebbieF]

Me too Jerseymom. I was being a bit sarcastic. I absolutely love the weather here. This past winter was awesome here.

[Griffis]

I am curious about this too. Personally, I like my winters with cold weather and some snow.

I really appreciate this forum because I am stuck in Oklahoma at the moment working on a masters degree and my family and I dearly hope to move to the area around Asheville. Boone or Cullowherr or Brevard preferably.

I imagine being further west and at a higher elevation than towards the coast, the summers in this area are cooler and the winters ...winterier.

Do any of you good folks have any thoughts, advice or impressions of those places in NC you could share?

Thanks so much!

[Ms.Charlotte]

Debbie,
You never know, some people miss the snow. All I know is, I still have the pleasant memory in my mind of visiting in January and having my coffee outside at Starbucks wearing a t-shirt......I can't get there fast enough!

Come on, though-no negatives? Bugs? Humidity? Traffic? Overdevelopment?
At least you didn't say it's all us Yanks moving down!

[mm34b]

North Carolina is a big state. One could answer yes or no to a question about climate, schools, politics, wildlife, population density, pollution, traffic gridlock, poverty, and cost of living, taxes, religion, race, crime, medical care, entertainment and still be correct depending on the specific location within the state.

Remember, one can drive for 10 hours in one general direction without leaving the state. The folks in Murphy have a completely different environment and lifestyle from the folks in Manteo. The only commonality between the two is their state of residency. NC has it all, just not all in one place. Pick your location wisely based on your needs. An area that is perfect for your family might be a living Hell for mine.

[fastfilm]

mm34b, I'm from California, another state to which your wise answer applies. (Our own part of L.A. became living hell within 3years after our huge earthquake jumpstarted a total demographic changeover. We now live in a gang area, which was still a middle class suburb less than 12 years ago when we bought in.)

Therefore, I would quite appreciate your brand of wisdom. In 2 years, when my husband retires, we wish to move to the western part of your state. Would you venture a guess that Asheville will be roughly similar to how it appears today? My question centers on density and its overdevelopment problems, availability of rural housing adjacent the city limits, noise issues, whether dogs are still allowed, issues that affect quality of our life. No one's Nostradamus I know, but I do trust a resident's takes more than the websites we research.

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

mm34b, I'm from California, another state to which your wise answer applies. (Our own part of L.A. became living hell within 3years after our huge earthquake jumpstarted a total demographic changeover. We now live in a gang area, which was still a middle class suburb less than 12 years ago when we bought in.)

Therefore, I would quite appreciate your brand of wisdom. In 2 years, when my husband retires, we wish to move to the western part of your state. Would you venture a guess that Asheville will be roughly similar to how it appears today? My question centers on density and its overdevelopment problems, availability of rural housing adjacent the city limits, noise issues, whether dogs are still allowed, issues that affect quality of our life. No one's Nostradamus I know, but I do trust a resident's takes more than the websites we research.

Hard to say. The City of Asheville is much different politically than it was 30 years ago. While the city is now to the political left with the lifestyle that goes with it, the surrounding areas have not. The original families and retirees rule in the surroundings areas, the younger crowd have the city now. I don't see that changing within the next 30 years. You may want to start a thread on the Asheville Metro area to get more responses on individual communties in the area.


The more land you want, the further out you'll need to go. The roads are decent enough where it doesn't bother me to drive to Asheville for those rare occurances when I can't get a specific item or service locally. Even then, I don't need to go to the downtown center for anything. I live 25 miles south of Asheville in Henderson County. Interstate 26 connects the city of Hendersonville with the city of Asheville. Brevard, Tryon, Black Mountain, Flat Rock & Laurel Park also still have that quiet, laid-back, small town feel of many decades ago. There is some talk in my county of leash laws but it's not clear where that's going, if anywhere.