Need Help Deciding Whether to Move to Asheville (Chapel Hill, Henderson: real estate, chapel)

[wendyp4]

Hello,

I am the mama in a family that consists of 2 adults and 3 (so far!) children. We currently live in Arlington, VA and love the city aspects of life here: ethnic restaurants, lots of music and arts culture, festivals, farm markets & CSAs... I could go on. What we don't like is that it takes an hour or more to get out to the "country" and the people here seem obsessed with being important and having power, and so that creates a stress-filled energy field around here. Or maybe I'm just over that part of my life. :-)

Anyhoo, a friend of mine (very close one who knows me well) visited Asheville and keeps urging me to move there. I've never been, but from what she's said and what I've read, I could fall in love. I just don't want to get my hopes up... I'd like to know about the warts of the place, too, so to speak.

We'd be looking for a place just outside of the city, a family-oriented community maybe, but also one that would provide us with some uninterrupted land, hiking and horseback riding would be just divine (we currently board horses 1 hr. away.) I must have easy access to the city, however. Walking distance would be nice, and we are known to walk 6 miles, and could bike a further distance. We are a physically active family.

Yes, I want it all. :-)

I should also mention that we are a homeschooling family, not of the religious variety, though we do attend a Christian church. I am drawn to earth-centered traditions, and the reason I choose to homeschool has nothing to do with my religion, or lack thereof. Alas, access to a like-minded homeschool support group or co-op would be necessary.

Hubby currently practices law (like everyone else here) and so may need to continue that for awhile, at least until we figure out another way to make a living. I just keep busy with raising up the kids, and managing our house and family. :-)


OK, I suppose that's enough info for now. Please, hold nothing back, and let me know if I need to disclose anything else about what we're looking for!

Thanks.

[RaleighRob]

I think Asheville will have most of what you're looking for.
Since it is a tourist-destination city, I suggest going down for a weekend stay and seeing what you think.
That way, even if you decide you don't wanna live there, at least you've gotten a good vacation out of it.

[spunky1]

Wendyp4 it sounds like we are looking for a lot of the same, I too am looking for a place around the Asheville area that would allow me to indulge in the outdoor lifestyle w/access to hiking etc. Also, a place where one could walk/bike to town would be great. I am hoping someone chimes in with ideas of exactly what part of Asheville this would be. . .

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by wendyp4

Hello,

I am the mama in a family that consists of 2 adults and 3 (so far!) children. We currently live in Arlington, VA and love the city aspects of life here: ethnic restaurants, lots of music and arts culture, festivals, farm markets & CSAs... I could go on. What we don't like is that it takes an hour or more to get out to the "country" and the people here seem obsessed with being important and having power, and so that creates a stress-filled energy field around here. Or maybe I'm just over that part of my life. :-)

Anyhoo, a friend of mine (very close one who knows me well) visited Asheville and keeps urging me to move there. I've never been, but from what she's said and what I've read, I could fall in love. I just don't want to get my hopes up... I'd like to know about the warts of the place, too, so to speak.

We'd be looking for a place just outside of the city, a family-oriented community maybe, but also one that would provide us with some uninterrupted land, hiking and horseback riding would be just divine (we currently board horses 1 hr. away.) I must have easy access to the city, however. Walking distance would be nice, and we are known to walk 6 miles, and could bike a further distance. We are a physically active family.

Yes, I want it all. :-)

I should also mention that we are a homeschooling family, not of the religious variety, though we do attend a Christian church. I am drawn to earth-centered traditions, and the reason I choose to homeschool has nothing to do with my religion, or lack thereof. Alas, access to a like-minded homeschool support group or co-op would be necessary.

Hubby currently practices law (like everyone else here) and so may need to continue that for awhile, at least until we figure out another way to make a living. I just keep busy with raising up the kids, and managing our house and family. :-)


OK, I suppose that's enough info for now. Please, hold nothing back, and let me know if I need to disclose anything else about what we're looking for!

Thanks.

I would say since your friend who knows you so well highly recommended Asheville to you it is definitely worth a look-see. Why not plan a visit to get a feel for the place yourself before you make any decisions? Most everyone I know LOVES Asheville. Many of us would live there if it were a viable option. Problem is, the job market is really not that great so you can't plan to move there unless you know you could support yourself - that rules a lot of us out
But as an attorney your husband may have better options than most.
The area has seen a huge influx in people moving in looking for their dream retirement community. The traffic at times can be a bear because of this growth. I do think it would be kind of hard to have land for horses AND be within walking distance of the city though. There are several regular from Asheville who post here, I'm sure they'll have lots more information than the general info I've given you. Best of luck in your decision - don't blame you for wanting to leave the "stress-filled energy field" you are in

[gypsychic]

Based on your post, you will LOVE Asheville. The population is only 72,000 so I don't find the traffic that bad at all, usually it's when there are a lot of tourists, also some areas are worse than others (like around the Biltmore Estate) You will not be able to get country horse property within walking distance to Asheville, but I would suggest you go a few miles east and look around Swannanoa or Black Mountain. At least Black Mountain has a little town to it and can supply your daily needs, but is only about 15 mi. east of Asheville.

Definitely come and check it out, it would take all day for me to tell you all the things I love about Asheville!

[mattattack25]

I agree with everyone that you need to come down and vacation... I've posted this before, but I live in Arden which is South Buncombe county... It's a mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway, then take either direction and you're in the mountain country within minutes with PLENTY of hiking/trails... and downtown is only 15 mins also... I would definately recommend somewhere in South Buncombe County, but there are many other areas as well...

There are many, many different kinds of food and places to eat as well as many local shops/antiquies/art...
Lots of all-natural, organic restr. and grocery stores
Friendly people and unlimited hiking/scenery

Cons I would include.. slightly high homeless population for the size, traffic can be bad for the size, but not like a major city like Atlanta or DC

[Bull City Rising]

Wendy,

First of all -- Asheville is definitely worth a look. It is a *beautiful* town with wonderful people and a very fresh attitude towards the world. My wife and I used to live in the D.C. metro (downtown Silver Spring) and I know what you mean about the long commutes.

If there was one thing that was a red flag in reading your post... it is that your husband is an attorney. From what I understand, jobs in law are hard to come by in Asheville, at least with law firms (don't know about public defender/D.A. office, land use in city/county gov't., etc.) From what I've heard, Asheville is a bit of a 'good ol' boys' network for the legal community, and it is even hard for recent grads of law schools who grew up/have family in Asheville to get jobs there out of law school! Not many big state-wide firms in Asheville/Buncombe, either. UNC Law is the big feeder as the state school.

As a lateral, things might be different, but it's a very small market for law (about 75,000 people in the city of AVL itself, IIRC?) I would suggest definitely lining up a job before moving, or at least doing a lot of professional networking and getting some comfort level with the market before taking the big plunge.

If you can make it work... it's an awesome town. Good luck!

[CRock]

The OP wrote........"I'd like to know about the warts of the place, too, so to speak."

There is resentment among some of the locals about outsiders moving in and driving up the price of real estate. Affordable housing is harder to come by.

Other complaints are traffic, I am in Asheville frequently and have experienced it myself on several occasions.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Asheville is a great town. I must say it is nothing like the rest of western North Carolina though. You won't find the diversity and openness in the town in other areas, but that doesn't make anyone less friendly. There is a large arts and multi-cultural community and there are a lot of "hippies" and a large homosexual community. I once heard that there was a sign in San Francisco that read "Tired of the scene here? Go to Asheville, N.C." From what I recall from the D.C. area, the two are very different. Not saying that is good or bad. I love Asheville, even if I consider it an almost "ultra-liberal" town now

I'll add my opinion on a few topics.

Traffic

Two interstates (I-26 and I-40) intersect southwest of Asheville and I-240 begins. I-240 on the west end of town now carries I-26 traffic to the north of town and on to Tennessee. This section is designated "Future I-26" because it doesn't meet interstate standards. There are some tight turns and accidents occur frequently in the entire area. You'll soon learn to understand the meaning of "malfunction junction" for I-26/40/240.

Traffic is relatively bad for the size town it is. Many afternoons I-26 is at a stand-still south from the I-26/I-40 interchange. Much of this can be blamed because it is the same infrastructure from when the interstates were first built in the 60's and only four lanes (both way) while the population in the region has outgrown the capacity of many of the facilities. But, I-40 is being widened at I-26 as I type this, and the I-26 connector will widen I-240 to eight lanes when built (construction is supposed to start around 2012). There are plans for widening I-26 from the interchange into Henderson County, but no funding as of now.

Many people have pointed out that it is a small town of only 72,000. You have to consider that Asheville is the hub and business center of western North Carolina and brings in workers and shoppers from many miles around. The entire region itself is larger than many realize. These are only bordering counties:

• Buncombe County: 218,276
• Henderson County: 97,217
• Haywood County: 56,482
• Madison County: 20,256
• McDowell County: 43,201
• Yancey County: 18,201
  
  Total: 453,633

Being from metro D.C., I can imagine this is nothing for you to be concerned with. But don't be surprised if you have to sit in traffic more than you expected.

Country Living

I'm afraid there aren't going to be many places within walking distance of town with large areas of land (I'm assuming you want a fair amount since you mentioned hiking and horseback riding). You'll have to decide either on proximity to town with less land, or more land and have to drive into town.

Polk County has a very large equine community. It's probably farther away from Asheville than you would prefer (roughly 40 miles by interstate), but you're more likely to find larger tracts of land, especially for horses. There are even real estate agents that concentrate on equine properties. The Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE http://www.fence.org/index.html (broken link)) might be of some interest to you.

As CRock mentioned, property values have gone up very fast (most likely still cheap by D.C. standards). There is a lot of resentment by locals toward "yankees" (yes, you most likely will be called that at some point if you have any accent other than a southern one ), but it is typically toward all "outsiders" in general, not individuals. I think you'll find most everyone very friendly.

One example of the increase in the cost of real estate is from the Tryon Daily Bulletin in Tryon, Polk County. Sorry I keep mentioning this area when we're supposed to be talking about Asheville, but it's my hometown and many of the changes are the same across western North Carolina. The quote from the article is about a golf course being built in rural Polk County (as if the county weren't rural enough as it is).

As an example, [Polk County Tax Administrator Kathleen] Gregory said a .85-acre lot at the new Bright’s Creek golf development sold on Jan. 24, 2006 for $219,500. That same lot resold on June 5, just six months later, for $375,000 – a 71 percent increase. Gregory said the lot’s current assessed tax valuation by the county is $183,000.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Part II:

Employment

My sister worked for a work's comp. firm in Asheville while she was doing her undergrad. at UNC Asheville. She's now in her first year of law school at UNC Chapel Hill. As I mentioned above, Asheville is the economic and business center of the mountains, and being based in Asheville means you will have access to more people than you think. Also, the majority of the population is still blue collar, so worker's comp. does get a fair amount of cases.

Property or environmental law might be something to consider. Developments are coming into the entire area at a never ending rate, and many counties are looking at various zoning and slope regulations. Issues are bound to come up on both ends. Just tossing out suggestions, not sure what your husband's specialty is.


I hope I didn't ramble too long or paint a negative image of Asheville. It is a beautiful area full of wonderful people. But, I would make sure you visit at least once and do plenty of research before making a final decision on where you wish to move to.

If I had to make a choice, I would consider looking at the North Asheville/Weaverville area. After that, East Asheville/Swannanoa/Black Mountain. South Asheville/Arden seems too much like suburbia to me, but I’m just a country boy at heart.