Blue Ridge Homes w/Views (Buena Vista: travel, congested, hot)

[StuckPA]

No other needs really,that's just about it. A place on a mountain.
I'm assuming that would be quite rural.
As I had mentioned,a store or two not too far away would be nice. I'm used to pretty much walking to the store now here in the city.

[j1n]

Originally Posted by StuckPA

No other needs really,that's just about it. A place on a mountain.
I'm assuming that would be quite rural.
As I had mentioned,a store or two not too far away would be nice. I'm used to pretty much walking to the store now here in the city.

Well, you could probably find what you want in the Clifton Forge area, Ferrum, Floyd, Blacksburg, Glenvar, Damascus, and Marion areas as well. If you do the whole realtor dot com thing (or similar), often you can narrow results by "hill/mountain view".

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by j1n

Well, you could probably find what you want in the Clifton Forge area, Ferrum, Floyd, Blacksburg, Glenvar, Damascus, and Marion areas as well. If you do the whole realtor dot com thing (or similar), often you can narrow results by "hill/mountain view".

I lived in Roanoke for a couple of years back in the 90s so I'm somewhat familiar with SW VA. I'm trying to stay more accessible to my family here though so that's why I'm trying to find something as far north in VA as possible.
I did some online searching for realtors but haven't found many things with specifically mountain views as of yet but thanks for the keyword tips.

[j1n]

how about the Staunton or Waynesboro areas? Or maybe Front Royal

[StuckPA]

Those sound good.

[seanpecor]

Do you even need to leave PA to get some decent Blue Ridge views? Or are the Blue Ridge mountains in deep SW PA not in an appealing area?

Sean

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by seanpecor

Do you even need to leave PA to get some decent Blue Ridge views? Or are the Blue Ridge mountains in deep SW PA not in an appealing area?

Ugh not really
I like VA better

[seanpecor]

Okay, so you've got the problem then of balancing accessibility with actual mountains Probably the more convenient for your relatives would be the Front Royal area but since you're wanting a wee further south you might look into Elkton. You're going to get less for your money up there, to be sure. It's close enough to major metros to create plentiful demand.

You can have alot of fun with Google Maps with the Terrain view:

Virginia, USA - Google Maps

The trick you may have already encountered is finding a home with an actual mountain view. Often the market is riddled with listings that say "Amazing Views!" but just about 99% of the time the 'amazing view' is a small tip of a mountain poking above the treeline in the distance Yay. The best general location for a blue ridge mountain view is scoring a home that sits on a prominent hill not too far from the mountain range so your view is unobstructed. If you want more warmth, then (in general) stick to the East side of the blue ridge mountains. This would be the south facing side and if you're close enough you'll enjoy some heat gain from the south facing side of the range. For example, at our place in Boones Mill just south of Roanoke, we're on the east side and we're generally about as warm or 1-2 degrees warmer, even though we're at 1,300' looking north by northwest at Cahas Mountain (about 3,600'). Another tip is to look for a section of the range that faces more north/south as is the case with Cahas. You'll get more eye candy that way because the sun will rise and fall highlighting different contours.

For example, here is a morning shot of Cahas:



And an evening shot:



In our case since most of the Roanoke metro is on the other side of the range, the light pollution ensures that the mountain is visible even after twilight (overexposed, it's not _quite_ this intense in reality):



Of course you can always come back to Roanoke and make those relatives drive a bit further. Does a couple extra hours of driving a few times a year really weigh more than living in the mountains with some metro nearby and not having to compete with the NoVA elite for mountain land

Hope this helps,

Sean

[StuckPA]

Originally Posted by seanpecor

Okay, so you've got the problem then of balancing accessibility with actual mountains Probably the more convenient for your relatives would be the Front Royal area but since you're wanting a wee further south you might look into Elkton. You're going to get less for your money up there, to be sure. It's close enough to major metros to create plentiful demand.

You can have alot of fun with Google Maps with the Terrain view:

Virginia, USA - Google Maps

The trick you may have already encountered is finding a home with an actual mountain view. Often the market is riddled with listings that say "Amazing Views!" but just about 99% of the time the 'amazing view' is a small tip of a mountain poking above the treeline in the distance Yay. The best general location for a blue ridge mountain view is scoring a home that sits on a prominent hill not too far from the mountain range so your view is unobstructed. If you want more warmth, then (in general) stick to the East side of the blue ridge mountains. This would be the south facing side and if you're close enough you'll enjoy some heat gain from the south facing side of the range. For example, at our place in Boones Mill just south of Roanoke, we're on the east side and we're generally about as warm or 1-2 degrees warmer, even though we're at 1,300' looking north by northwest at Cahas Mountain (about 3,600'). Another tip is to look for a section of the range that faces more north/south as is the case with Cahas. You'll get more eye candy that way because the sun will rise and fall highlighting different contours.

Of course you can always come back to Roanoke and make those relatives drive a bit further. Does a couple extra hours of driving a few times a year really weigh more than living in the mountains with some metro nearby and not having to compete with the NoVA elite for mountain land

Hope this helps,
Sean

Thanx for the advice and cool pics,what I was ultimately looking for was possible views of the valleys I'd seen from I-77 in Carroll County...

Or heck I'd even take what I saw near the Smokies...

As for the temps,I do like it cool but I don't think there's anywhere there that gets as cool as I like it in summer

[Cdshiflett]

Buena Vista, VA