Hello WNC Community!
My bride to be and I are interested in moving to Asheville area (5-10mi radius) in about 1.5 yrs post wedding this fall. We are not having children, and are fairly middle of the road politically, like outdoorsey stuff, and don't ski.
We both own houses in the Colorado Front Range area, which is getting waaaaay too crowded and are over some of the attitudes here. I rent my house and we live in hers. Here's the plan and the sitch', and I'd appreciate the community giving us some feedback.
First a little background: I moved to Colorado 13+years ago from what I call the Raleigh-hole. Having lived there 17+ years and originally being from NC, I am hesitant for many reasons but there's a pull many of you know about and a certain feeling that only NC natives know!
I left Raleigh having felt like I had exhausted my resources as a culinary professional, wages were sliding and I felt I needed new scenery and a break from the big city and the hot as an oven summer. The culinary field dwindled from hiring qualified leadership as chefs and began appointing kitchen managers to do the work of chefs and I bailed on the industry in Colorado as the recession hit and wages plummeted. Places were just as well satisfied hiring folks to do the same work for far less pay just like every other industry, especially in service/trades. I am now a Lead Medical Assistant and Phlebotomist with an urgent care and will eventually continue schooling to rise from medical grunt with a needle to something using my hands less and my mind more. My wife to be has been an Assistant Branch Manager for 13 yrs for a large multinational bank who will remain nameless but is NOT in NC, so a move there would be scary, but albeit, we think, potentially highly transferable to other financial institutions given her tenure with a large bank.
As an MA with a few yrs experience I only make around 28k'ish/yr in Colorado and she's in the neighborhood of 42k'ish. Does anyone here have any advice about jobs and the prospects of transferability of someone into the Banking sector in AVL? What are the largest Banks there? Sadly I see there's an MA type trade school there probably pumping out new semi-competent Medical Assistants bi-annually just as it is in Colorado and the market is flooded with people/MA's looking for work just as it is here. Does anyone know of any MA's working in AVL area and what they are saying? Any NP's, PA's MD's have any advice for me too, I take super great care of my providers!!
I've perused this forum a bit and see the theme with the employment situation and I know it's not exclusive to AVL/WNC area. We are all struggling all over the place.
The idea is to sell my home (crazy sellers mkt in colo right now, avg time on mkt is 7days) first, make some minor improvements on the home we live in now, Pack up a cube, Relocate to WNC, sell the home we live in currently as soon as we leave via agent, and rent for a couple mos. Then, use the capital from two homes that sold in Colorado to put a down pmt on a new home in WNC and we should still have a nice cushion to get established. Get the cube and make a home. (And hopefully grow things again, gardening is hard as hell in Colorado for me for some reason. I could plant a pencil and grow a pine tree in Raleigh.)
Thanks everyone!
Catbird Junglist
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