Moving at some point (Charlottesville, Elkton: renting, houses, to buy)

[casper514]

My husband and I will be moving to the Elkton area at some point in the hopefully not too distant future. The when depends on when the company he works (ed) for snaps their fingers. Our son is grown so schools aren't a consideration for us. Any suggestions for a quiet, resonably priced area to look?

[lunachick]

May i ask what area you are moving from? If you are looking for quiet, then Elkton is a good place for that. It's flanked by 2 diff mountain ranges, so the views are hard to beat! If you like to shop you'll have to "drive to town" for that. When we first moved here a year ago i thought that was so funny since traffic is non existant except for 5:00 and then 33 is brisk driving. It takes 15 min to get to harrisonburg where we have a target, wal-mart etc. If you want more upscale shopping you'll have to drive the 40 min to Charlottesville..but that's fun too. My husband likes to call it "petticoat junction". The downtown needs revitalizing..it could be almost quaint..but it is still thriving. The library is closet sized. I have all the information you need if you want it, plus i have been milking the forums here since i learned that we may, or may not, be moving to Chicago area...so it's best to keep the good Karma flowing.

[lunachick]

I also forgot to ask what you consider "reasonably" priced...when i think about the term "reasonably priced", it just makes me chuckle. I have lived on the range of all spectrums but shopping for homes in the Chicago area and here at the same time was still a shock to me. i guess i expected it to be a little more comparable with here, i think alot of it was the taxes, you'll get pretty low taxes in Elkton...of course it's a sleepy little town, so it's equaled out i guess! There is some really nice new housing going in Elkton that is almost complete, and not all of them are "McMansions" like in most new burbs. I know i looked at one last year there that was a gorgeous 1 level home, 3 bedrooms with a great floorplan for around 275k, it sure doesn't look like your typical ranch! I'm sure the prices have dropped since i quit looking last year. Just west of Elkton is McGaheysville., a very small town too , we don't even have a grocery store here! Although the mountain in this town is a 4 seasons resort, that's where i live. I call all 4 of the nearest towns home, since they are all so small. If you or your husband golfs, i gurantee it is one of the prettiest golf courses you will ever see. Alot of "out of towners" like myself live on the Mt..we get imported for work at Merk or Coors i suppose. There is always some event going on here, and vacationing families to fund it..so it can be peaceful or lively. There's no doubt in my mind that this is the best time to buy in the resort as there is a court ruling in process to determine if short term renting of homes will be alowwed to continue. Either way it comes out, just having the issue resolved will put home prices back on track. When we moved here 2 yrs ago it was an inflated market, and i'm glad i didn't buy then. houses here are about 30-40k cheaper than last year...and the resort is pretty well run and only gaining in popularity and there are only so many more lots available!