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What northern GA cities are experiencing far more growth? We haven't seen many of them on ten Top Ten Cities list. Provide data that reflects the rapid growth you mentioned. See Just how big will Asheville get?. From that article: Over those past 40 years Asheville has grown at an average annual pace of 1.3 percent, which ranks the metro area in the top 20 percent for growth in all U.S. metro areas. Extrapolating our current population to 20 years ahead with a 1.3 percent growth rate, that would make us a city of 112,950 by 2035.
But the area isnt really growing that fast at all really. Cities in Northern GA (like mentioned above) have experienced far more growth, and I agree, same topography which can definitely make things more expensive. I would rather have a CBS home than a wood frame with vinyl siding (very popular in WNC), but thats just me. And you know the folks in FL (on the labor side) get paid higher than they do in WNC. And I bet the owners are making quite a bit more $$$ than they do in WNC. It has to be that the cost to making a lot buildable has to account for a HUGE part of the cost.
Actually, on average, you will see more brick homes here in the mountains, many also built with Hardi Board siding (both higher in cost). Vinyl sided, or partially vinyl sided homes can be found in the lower price ranges. You will also see metal roofs on many homes in the mountains. New construction always goes with the trends that are popular with buyers. Since WNC is a popular retiree destination, and second home destination, people are attracted to homes with the least maintenance. Land in the mountains, (any mountains in the country) has always been more expensive. Everyone wants a view, a babbling brook or a creek, high elevation and shopping close by.
What northern GA cities are experiencing far more growth? We haven't seen many of them on ten Top Ten Cities list. Provide data that reflects the rapid growth you mentioned. See Just how big will Asheville get?. From that article: Over those past 40 years Asheville has grown at an average annual pace of 1.3 percent, which ranks the metro area in the top 20 percent for growth in all U.S. metro areas. Extrapolating our current population to 20 years ahead with a 1.3 percent growth rate, that would make us a city of 112,950 by 2035.
An annual rate of 1%? That's not much at all really.
Great discussion; thank you all so much. We are coming up next month to narrow down a couple of properties that we *really* like. The plan is to either look at the lots with a realtor or builder, or preferably a realtor/builder. What we may end up doing is holding onto the lot for a couple of years while we really put our efforts into the move and save a lot of our income. This may allow us to move the $/sq ft. needle a bit north so that we don't have a 4-wall forgettable house that we won't love.
Having said that, $200/sq foot probably isn't in the cards. Somewhere in between our current max of 150/q ft and that number might be the goal. In that time, we will pay down even more on our house that is appreciating pretty quickly and have a much larger down payment towards the construction loan.
We haven't given up. We've considered N GA, TN, Virginia etc, but we have a deep love for WNC. Right now we have about 10 lots we are curious about, but want to have that number down to 5 by the time we come up next month.
An annual rate of 1%? That's not much at all really.
1.3% a year is 13% over a decade, which pretty a pretty fast growth rate. Of course, its all relative, which again leads to the question...which north Georgia cities/counties are growing faster than that?
An annual rate of 1%? That's not much at all really.
Then there's this:Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not ok "As of 2014, Asheville's population is 83,796 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of 13.12 percent."
They quote ~$85-95/sq ft to build in Asheville. If you type in that "builder"'s name the top hits are thousands of customers that got hosed by this company. They use the worst of the worst materials, laborers and everything else. Unfinished houses, failing houses, or worse.
I found a list of what looks like reputable Asheville area builders, but not many of them have any of their build-able plans online.
It seems like the areas around Blue Ridge and Blairsville Georgia are growing like crazy, but it doesn't show up in the population figures as they contain second homes for ATL residents.
They quote ~$85-95/sq ft to build in Asheville. If you type in that "builder"'s name the top hits are thousands of customers that got hosed by this company. They use the worst of the worst materials, laborers and everything else. Unfinished houses, failing houses, or worse.
I found a list of what looks like reputable Asheville area builders, but not many of them have any of their build-able plans online.
there are some great local builders, no doubt about it. just with the cost of land, I dont see how they can make enough money and/or stay busy enough to do it there full time.
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