Arden, Fairview or Weaverville?

[Cofga]

Univ. NC is the biggest with a campus in N. Asheville. There are also other colleges in the area. Mission Hospital is centrally located just north of The Biltmore and Pardee is further south around Fletcher. There are also hospitals in Hendersonville and Waynesville. Can't help with rental rates but you shold be able to find those online--Larry

[gardengrll]

Curious77
Have you made any progress on your move? We will be in Asheville next week and plan to visit schools as well as look at properties. Wish I could find the perfect piece of land in Fairview or Arden area! Still planning our move for this summer - house goes on the market in early March so we will see how it goes. Just checking in on your progress

[gardengrll]

Just back from NC and thought I would post up the results of our trip. We visited Weaverville and TC Roberson High Schools as we were looking at properties in both regions. My thoughts on Weaverville -- good solid small town/rural school system. Kids won't get lost here and there are activities (beyond football) including a very competitive band/symphony program. About 80% of kids go on to some post-secondary ed - about half each to 4 year and 2 year colleges. Some percentage of the kids who go to 2 year schools will transfer into a 4 year. It felt very similar to the high school I attended - solid, maybe not earth-shatteringly exciting. Kids in the school system are together from k - 12. Schools go by grades as follows: k-1; 2-4; 5-6; 7-8; 9-12.

TC Roberson -- much more urban, diverse school. More college prep in feel - about 60% go to 4-year schools (first kids we saw were wearing Duke sweatshirts, NC Chapel Hill, etc). 30% 2 year schools (again, some will then transfer to a 4-year school), rest work or military (about 2% on the latter). As all schools in the area - competitive football & basketball. But also competitive in other sports - soccer, track, etc. Competitive band program. Experiencing more rapid growth (adding about 140 kids/year past several years) which brings good and not-so-good. Has given them the chance to establish a 9th grade academy - which many schools are doing with good results. Definitely more diverse racially, economically, socially.

My final thoughts? I would put my children in either school. In Roberson - I will watch more carefully to assure they stay out of trouble. In Weaverville I would push a little harder to be sure they are motivated to the highest academic achievement. But I would be happy with either.

Our decision came down to other factors. We like the Arden area for proximity to the airport and also the "rural/suburban" feel - we can be in the country, but my suburban/urban kids won't go into shock. We're under contract on an acreage property a little way out. So we are now working towards closing. And selling our house here in Pasadena. Then we'll have the fun of designing & building what we want.

I'm also working on little things - like where my daughter will attend preschool in the fall. Any thoughts anyone on good preschools in Arden? And at some point I'll probably need to figure out where we live while we build....our property is in Avery's Creek area.

Hope the input is helpful to others coming this way.

[curious77]

Hi gardengrll. Thanks for the update. Its exciting and sounds like a well thought out and planned decision. I agree with your school evaluation. I am that way between Roberson and Reynolds: we could go with either.

As for our situation, our home has been on the market for about a month. We have had at least one showing a week, which is encouraging. We are going to keep it on the market through the summer, and if we sell, we will make the move, find a home on the market that works for us, purchase and get settled. The housing market in Asheville has gotten fairly soft, so there are some good deals to be had, and we know that we will find something that works for us for a good price.

I will check out Avery Creek as well. Sounds interesting.

Keep us posted as you get closer to the move. I will do the same.

[gardengrll]

Hi Curious77 & others --

Have been busy so haven't been on here. Our house is just now on the market here in CA and we have open houses & showings scheduled this week. Hopefully things are picking up a little here.

We're just waiting for final details to close on our property in Arden - well, septic, title, etc. I've found a preschool I think will work - would like to visit it but that may have to wait. Willbo1 was very helpful with a list of potential preschools in the area.

My next big thing is finding a suitable rental for while we build. Want to be in the Arden area for school and convenience to our property. If anyone knows of anything, let me know. We could be there as early as June and definitely by August.

Our builder is in the Ashley Woods division (I think) in this part of town - which seems nice, and he just sold a house in the Avery Park development - very nice. We decided against the development route because of our interest in multiple home sites (in case my parents join us) and horses. Hopefully the new zoning laws will help with long-term value.

Good luck on your sale and continued searching. There are a lot of homes on the market - I feel like we saw all of them on line or in person! At least in Arden & Weaverville...

[willbo1]

What pre-school did you end up going with?

Congrats on things moving forward for you.

[gardengrll]

Hey all --

Another quick update. We sold our house! It seems there are buyers out there - we had 7 offers, we sold over asking price, and we showed the house for just 4 days. A whirlwind week to be sure. So here's hope for all you looking to sell. (It helps to price right!) In Arden, we now have septic permit & a well on the property and we'll close next week. We've applied to Bell's School for People Under 6 for our daughter, hopefully we have a spot. We have to be out of our house here in Pasadena June 14th (4 days after school ends!). So we are looking for a rental house in Arden area - we want to be in the Avery Creek elementary district for our son (our property is in that district). Drop me a note if you know of anything. Someplace with kids near by would make our transition so much easier.

I am also investigating summer camps for my son - he's 9 and right now loving baseball. He also enjoys soccer. He's going to really miss his friends here - so need to keep him busy and help him make new ones. Sports are good for that. Again - love to hear from anyone on good programs in the area.

I'm always looking for info here - but hopefully it helps others as well. Thanks!