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There are a lot of transplants in the area, and it is becoming more diverse. Yes, religion is a part of many lives, but not all. We are not church goers and have not experienced any discrimination or negativity. We love it here. There is always something to do for low cost or no cost which fits our retirement budget and active lifestyle. My dh is 68. I am 54. We love the proximity to surrounding areas. We purchased our condo(detached) for 105K and our taxes are less than $400 per year!
Marie
What about the unbearable (to me) summer heat in G'Vllle?
I am getting very frustrated at my search, focusing on the mountain range from WV to NE TN. We love the mountains and the milder climate than the south traditionally has. After reading this thread I did look at Greenville, SC. But the summers will be just too hot for my wife, she was pretty set on not moving anywhere that is hotter than it is here in MD
So it's back to Asheville I look. It's expensive but the healthcare in NE TN concerns me and I'd rather have solid health care than a 3rd bedroom. I'd be perfectly fine in a much smaller house after heating, cleaning and maintaining this old farmhouse for so long.
Yes the real estate has gotten expensive here in Asheville. Realtor.com has our home valued at 160k more than we paid-a little under 3 years ago. But the quality of life is wonderful. We are impressed with the healthcare, and the welcoming nature of the area. Every day cost of living is much less for us.
You could look around Fairview or Woodfin on the Outskirts of Asheville,and be downtown quickly.
I do not like South Carolina. The roads are in terrible shape. We make sure not to stop at rest stops there on our way to see friends in Florida. They are getting quite run down and dirty in my experience. We have been to Greenville to shop Total Wine. Greenville has some beautiful areas--but is too hot for us.
Last edited by funisart; 12-01-2016 at 07:54 AM..
Reason: Spelling
What about the unbearable (to me) summer heat in G'Vllle?
It's not TOO bad. For some POR, I thought I would post the following electric bills for you. I use the A/C very liberally especially since I hot flash a lot, LOL. I will admit we had a relatively mild summer this year.
I found Greenville an interesting mix with one part hillbilly, one part Southern genteel, and then you have a lot of professionals that have moved there from all over that give an interesting mix. Like I mentioned before, I grew very fond of Greenville after living there awhile after doing everything I could to keep my employer from sending me there as I had a negative pre-conceived notion of South Carolina. I also think that climate is the best climate on the eastern half of the USA.
I like Greenville a lot. South Carolina's three major cities are all doing well and are pretty cosmopolitan without losing their identity. I was in Nashville last weekend and heard as many Chicago/upper Midwestern accents as I did Southern accents. Nashville's a nice town, but has lost its identity - SC is not that far down the rathole, hopefully it never will be.
Quote:
Originally Posted by funisart
Yes the real estate has gotten expensive here in Asheville. Realtor.com has our home valued at 160k more than we paid-a little under 3 years ago. But the quality of life is wonderful. We are impressed with the healthcare, and the welcoming nature of the area. Every day cost of living is much less for us.
You could look around Fairview or Woodfin on the Outskirts of Asheville,and be downtown quickly.
I do not like South Carolina. The roads are in terrible shape. We make sure not to stop at rest stops there on our way to see friends in Florida. They are getting quite run down and dirty in my experience. We have been to Greenville to shop Total Wine. Greenville has some beautiful areas--but is too hot for us.
It's important to keep in mind that while Asheville proper is expensive (although if you're coming from a rich, prosperous place like Boston/NYC/coastal CA - it won't be), there are plenty of places within 30-45 minutes of Asheville that are much more reasonable. Asheville is a reasonably small metro and the traffic is not bad, so getting into downtown is not bad, even from a surrounding small town. With that said, I'm used to driving long distances so what seems fine for me will make other people frustrated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveinMtAiry
I am getting very frustrated at my search, focusing on the mountain range from WV to NE TN. We love the mountains and the milder climate than the south traditionally has. After reading this thread I did look at Greenville, SC. But the summers will be just too hot for my wife, she was pretty set on not moving anywhere that is hotter than it is here in MD
So it's back to Asheville I look. It's expensive but the healthcare in NE TN concerns me and I'd rather have solid health care than a 3rd bedroom. I'd be perfectly fine in a much smaller house after heating, cleaning and maintaining this old farmhouse for so long.
I understand the concerns but as long as you stick relatively close to Johnson City or Knoxville, most medical concerns can be handled locally. If you need a sophisticated cancer center, burn treatment facility (this is a big one - we have no way to handle severe burn patients here), or some other niche medical facility, you probably won't find it here. If you want to live out in the middle of nowhere is some two-bit county, there won't be much available period. With that said, I doubt you'll find much health care in Asheville that you can't find in east TN.
Still, I still think Greenville is the far and away the best city in the southern Appalachians if you're looking to be on the outskirts of somewhere up and coming and more sophisticated.
Last edited by Serious Conversation; 12-02-2016 at 07:29 AM..
I like Greenville a lot. South Carolina's three major cities are all doing well and are pretty cosmopolitan without losing their identity. I was in Nashville last weekend and heard as many Chicago/upper Midwestern accents as I did Southern accents. Nashville's a nice town, but has lost its identity - SC is not that far down the rathole, hopefully it never will be.
It's important to keep in mind that while Asheville proper is expensive (although if you're coming from a rich, prosperous place like Boston/NYC/coastal CA - it won't be), there are plenty of places within 30-45 minutes of Asheville that are much more reasonable. Asheville is a reasonably small metro and the traffic is not bad, so getting into downtown is not bad, even from a surrounding small town. With that said, I'm used to driving long distances so what seems fine for me will make other people frustrated.
Also Asheville is very retiree friendly. I don't know about Greenville.
Also Asheville is very retiree friendly. I don't know about Greenville.
I honestly don't see why Greenville wouldn't be retiree friendly. It is growing in a much healthier way than Asheville.
The economy isn't catering largely to retirees and tourism like Asheville is, and if you're looking to simply be in a place that isn't "corporate," then Asheville fits the bill. One of my biggest complaints with Asheville is that there is basically no middle class or professional level jobs there. You have a lot of younger, poorer transients who have come because "it's Asheville," a lot of lower skill/low wage jobs that locals hold, and a rapidly rising cost of living, largely driven by transplants with money from elsewhere (who can simply afford it) and growth in the poor (who get subsidized by the government).
Asheville has a lot going for it, if you like its dynamic and can afford it.
We retired last year and ended up moving to the Greenville SC area. We moved from Western NY partly due to weather (snow) and taxes. I came to the conclusion I could save $5+k/yr in taxes by moving and not have to deal with the snow.
We looked in many places, wanted to go south enough to get out of the snow, but still have four seasons. Florida was a possibility, but we talked to friends there and insurance, higher heat, other things ruled that out. We also noted people moving out of Florida to the Carolina's (since many came down from north, they were nicknamed "half-backs").
California would be ideal - too expensive in a wide range of ways. Considering the Midwest and West, many states had issues with healthcare, real estate costs, weather (tornado alley). I was on a business trip in Oklahoma City and remembering looking at the TV at 2am looking at all the tornado "hits" wondering if I would survive the night. No thanks.
Long story short, we ended up with Greenville SC.
One driver in decisions was access to healthcare. Not that we have any major issues, but going forward expected that to be more of an issue. As an example, I worked with several western state governments and found a deficiency of providers. New Mexico indicated they were short 2000 drs and ~5000 PA/Nurses. People in the frontier areas were air lifted to ER care. In many cases in those states traveled to other states for specialists. Again moving in maybe different than being there all your life as many drs are not accepting new patients. We did not find that an issue in Greenville.
Cost of real estate was better in SC as well, we built a house here at ~$200k at 2400 sq ft. ($82/sq ft) with upgrades such as hardwoods, tile, sun room etc. Real estate taxes are ~$1500 vs ~7500 in NY. You do pay property tax on cars ~$700 for our cars.
We are also close to the coast, Charleston/coast (3.5 hrs), Gulf (8hrs), Smokey mts (45min). Mountains are quite visible from here. The mountains also protect the area from tornadoes though we do get thunderstorms. Locals do indicate we can get ice storms occasionally. We did have a day or two of snow in January - nice to look at . Then back to T shirt weather. It is hot in the summer (June-August), sun is more direct as well. Spring and Fall are really nice, more extended than up north.
Overall a reasonable choice for us.
Albuquerque seems to have a decent medical community. I'm sure the rest of NM is probably as you described.
I honestly don't see why Greenville wouldn't be retiree friendly. It is growing in a much healthier way than Asheville.
The economy isn't catering largely to retirees and tourism like Asheville is, and if you're looking to simply be in a place that isn't "corporate," then Asheville fits the bill. One of my biggest complaints with Asheville is that there is basically no middle class or professional level jobs there. You have a lot of younger, poorer transients who have come because "it's Asheville," a lot of lower skill/low wage jobs that locals hold, and a rapidly rising cost of living, largely driven by transplants with money from elsewhere (who can simply afford it) and growth in the poor (who get subsidized by the government).
Asheville has a lot going for it, if you like its dynamic and can afford it.
You are a 30 something, working person. Of course Asheville wouldn't be best for you. This is the retirement forum. Being catered to is a plus at our age. Large cities with bad roads and traffic are not. Also the heat and humidity are not to our liking. Others might like heat and congestion. We are not looking for a middle class job. We found a comfortable- interesting-welcoming home to enjoy our retirement.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimrob1
Albuquerque seems to have a decent medical community. I'm sure the rest of NM is probably as you described.
Las Cruces and Los Alamos are very nice, active retirement communities with plenty of medical services. Each are within reach of ABQ if a specific need arises, but 98% can be handled locally.
What about the unbearable (to me) summer heat in G'Vllle?
I also hate heat and humidity, if you want to get away from summer heat and humidity, you gotta come to the west.
Asheville is cooler but you still have humidity. About G'ville, I worked there awhile and alternated between there and DC...I thought G'ville wasn't as bad and when you look at the summer temps, G'ville gets a couple degrees cooler at night due to the higher elevation. Still, in my opinion, the entire eastern half of the USA is too humid for me to enjoy the summers there.
California has the best climate in the USA but you're going to pay for it.
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We love it here
. Then back to T shirt weather. It is hot in the summer (June-August), sun is more direct as well. Spring and Fall are really nice, more extended than up north.
