yes Hendersonville is too hot! (Asheville, Chapel Hill: foreclosures, rental, HOA fees)

[sky view trail]

Starting a new thread, (after the Ingles grocery thread answers) on the climate/weather in Hendersonville while there from April 7-14. Yes, it was too hot, was constantly looking for AC, rented a small cottage downtown with ceiling fans only & endured, AC in the car was the lifesaver. After 7 days of doing family & personal business for future trips, indeed I did head for the hills, spent the last 24 hours in Highlands, much better elevation but holy cow, pretty pricey! Not ruling it out altogether but...

So now going to rule out H'ville & start looking at higher elevation towns on the next few trips. Be back up in early June (will stay in my very nicely air conditioned RV this time!) on the lookout for cooler areas for a new roost. Found a great place to store the RV in between trips, also found a lovely house for the rest of the family to stay on our trip in August, yes it has AC. (I will stay in the RV right down the road.)

Anyway it was a good exploratory trip but too many things happened that precluded me from getting out into the rest of WNC, all I know is that I need altitude! My house in MT (which I'll sell this summer, picture is on my profile page) is at 5,200+ ft. & I lived there all year long (loved being snowed in!) til this FL family situation came along. You know FL is torture for me! So, will be exploring higher elevation towns, tons of info here on that.

Every night it's realtor.com & searches on higher elevations: thinking anywhere outside of smaller towns up in the mountain areas, which are everywhere. Waynesville, Sylva, even as far as Boone....the house (if not the town) has to be above 3,000 feet. H'ville is just 640 miles from here, and I can do 800+ miles in a day with no problem.

Can't wait to get back up there & see some more of the area, it is beautiful & the people were just so nice, y'all are so lucky to be there already! Only thing is, the whole area is so huge, it's a bit overwhelming but I guess I'll just take my time & explore as much as I can til the right place turns up....funny but I'll be loading a truck in MT, driving it to WNC, then not sure where I'll live so it'll all be in storage for awhile. I guess climate control is the way to go, H'ville may be fine for storage.

Anyway, suggestions for places that have a nice town feel (but with homes higher up) are most welcome! This is such a great bunch, so much knowledge, expertise, thanks all in advance for any ideas! Oh, I am retired so a job is not a factor, thankfully!

[NCBND]

One thing I've noticed about Highlands is that there seems to be a lot of foreclosures there which seems strange for such an affluent place. You might keep an eye out for a good one and jump on it.

[carolinadawg2]

Blowing Rock is nice, elevation 3,500 feet.

[motordavid]

Not pumping the area, but we have been in/above Waynesville since 2001...
many houses on ridges surrounding town, with elevations of 4,000 ft and above.

We live at just under 5,000 ft. Summers won't see more than 75ish in the shade, though there is humidity.
Winter can be long and severe; not MT severe but it will get one's attention.

A community 'behind us' on the North face of EN Mtn is even cooler due to sun angle.

Plott Creek Mtn 'next door' to Eagles Nest Mtn, has homes to well above 5,000 ft elevation. Several other higher elevation communities/housing in area, and Jackson County adjacent to Haywood County, as you mentioned.

A ball park budget idea would be helpful. Whatever you look at be sure access road and driveway are paved/blacktop: gravel/dirt is no fun even when dry, on these inclines & slopes.
GL, mD

[sky view trail]

Thanks all, for the ideas, am trying to downsize & focus on the RV lifestyle & may be gone in the winters anyway, so hoping to spend no more than around $250,000....give or take....there seem to be plenty of smaller places around at that price level...2 BR 2 bath....of course nicer (& usually larger, i.e. more maintenance) homes can be found a notch higher at $250-300,000 but all I really want is a cozy place with a little space around me, maybe an acre or so, maybe less, depending....hopefully something in log, or maybe timber frame, long as it has something "interesting" going for it. MotorDavid I do like the sound of the area you all are in. Even with my 4 wheel drive, the driveway is important.

First item of biz is seeing the area, then the MT house (log with a view of the peaks of Yellowstone from the living room sofa, will be so hard to give up) has to go. Exploring the area is going to take some time but the $ from the MT house is also a factor, (though I do have some cash set aside for a DP if needed) in case something great turns up & I need to jump. One thing I'm very wary of is what I have to 'drive by' to get home...i.e. a little bit nicer neighborhood (no I'm not a snob but I just visited my grandmother's old piece of property up there & it was a real eye-opener)...less than 10 miles from downtown H'ville, up a mountain, but quite a scene leading up to it, doubt I'll ever go back.

I know it'll take some time, that's why I'm moving the coach (RV) to NC for the summer/spring/fall, (but into storage after the 1st week of June) til the MT house is dealt with. Soon as that's emptied out, sold, (things sell pretty quickly up there) then I can come back & take a really good look but I still have to be back in FL every 10 days or so for my mom. I can get away for about 10 days at a time. She's only 90 & threatening to outlive me, & Lord knows it could happen!

Unfortunately all the time I'd set aside for my trips to other towns got eaten up dealing with the rental co. & the cottage we'd rented for this summer, had to run around & spend time looking for a new place for the family (my sister, her hubby & my mom) in August. Next trip I'll focus on the areas mentioned & anything else with higher elevations. I will not rule out Highlands but suffice to say the $ goes a lot further in other areas.

Thanks everyone, keep the suggestions coming, am looking forward to another several days visit in early June!

[roadpony]

I live outside Banner Elk (11 miles to Boone) at the foot of Grandfather Mountain. Our elevation is approx. 3,700 ft. We have central air but never turned it on last summer.

[QuilterChick]

Sky View Trail: have you considered southwestern VA, the Roanoke area? Lynchburg? Some beautiful land, topography, and views there, cooler summers yet average elevation. We considered "Salem" VA before moving here.

$250K likely won't buy you a log home on acreage in WNC, unless you go further west than Waynesville. Maybe Sylva, Bryson City, Cullowhee, Murphy, Maggie Valley etc. Possibly Johnson City, TN, Bristol, TN, somewhere along the I-26 routes. If you get a storage area somewhere in the Asheville/Hendersonville vicinity, you will need to get climate control unit(s). It's so hot here. You happened to hit a week that was unusually warm. Coming off a yucky winter, we loved it.

[poppydog]

SW Va is not cooler than Hendersonville. My family is from there for generations and I grew up spending part of every summer there and wondering why they didn't have A/C. Temps are similar to Hendersonville/Asheville or a little hotter in the summer.

I'd look above 3000 ft as suggested. We live in Chapel Hill, but have a family home in Boone. One summer recently (2012?) there was a week+ of 100+ temps around July 4th here in the Triangle, which is an exceedingly long spell for temps that high. We split and headed for the hills. It was easily 20 degrees cooler in Boone, about 10 degrees cooler than Asheville or Hendersonville.

They call the area around Boone "the High Country" because the average elevation is significantly higher than the average elevation around Asheville, etc. Not to say that you couldn't go up the mountain around Asheville and find a cool breeze, like motordavid did. I understand wanting to be closer to Florida, but if you can't find your place on the mountain in SW NC head a little further north to the High Country and you might find it there.

[sky view trail]

Originally Posted by QuilterChick

Sky View Trail: have you considered southwestern VA, the Roanoke area? Lynchburg? Some beautiful land, topography, and views there, cooler summers yet average elevation. We considered "Salem" VA before moving here.

$250K likely won't buy you a log home on acreage in WNC, unless you go further west than Waynesville. Maybe Sylva, Bryson City, Cullowhee, Murphy, Maggie Valley etc. Possibly Johnson City, TN, Bristol, TN, somewhere along the I-26 routes. If you get a storage area somewhere in the Asheville/Hendersonville vicinity, you will need to get climate control unit(s). It's so hot here. You happened to hit a week that was unusually warm. Coming off a yucky winter, we loved it.

Thanks QC, am looking at all those areas, (lots of interesting stuff in the Sylva area) & constantly coming up with new ideas, sometimes I even go for the idea of a condo (well...) & even log is not a must....tons of interesting places, I just need to see the areas surrounding them. Have seen a lot of nice cottage like homes. As long as it has "something going for it" I can handle just about anything, except of course a sketchy neighborhood. And really am very fond of the Appalachian lifestyle/culture, & VA seems to not have that as much as WNC. I've lived in log cabins for the past 30 years & I just prefer that kind of a homey feel, lots of wood, cabin decor, old country quilts, etc. Traveled all thru the area (but have forgotten a lot of it) about 25+ years ago, staying at country inns in Bryson City, etc. We even had the folks who owned the Hemlock Inn come stay with us in west Texas, lovely people.

I also realize HOA fees could be a part of it, (it is now, in my gated MT mountain community) & acreage is not a must as long as there's some sense of privacy in some way. As for VA, I lived in Winchester for 2 years, (worked in DC) & never considered VA again because of the heat/humidity.....(not at that elevation anyway.) I do think the elevations in WNC are more suitable, (I may be wrong) but mostly it needs to be a 1 day drive to west central FL....am pushing it with going more than 800 miles from this place. That is a long day's drive but I can do it. I just did 640 miles twice in my smaller car in 10 days and it was fine. I'd have the SUV up there, 4 wheel drive, snow tires, etc. However, it may be mostly a summer place anyway, at least til my mom goes to "The Great Beyond"! (& she's threatening not to ever leave, ha ha!)

Poppydog, I do like very much the thought of Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk....

Roadpony, thanks, I really like the area you're in, but of course the trip in June will help a lot to determine a lot of things. Thanks everybody, today is a Mom day...so now am off to the "battle zone!"

[saucystargazer]

You won't like Sylva/cullowhee if you don't like Hendersonville. It's in a valley and generally warmer then even Asheville.

I think your best bet will be waynesville, Boone, or Bryson city.

Can I have your MT house?!?