relocating Western NC have 12 and 20 y.o thinking Boone, Banner Elk, or Asheville (Morganton: real estate)

[D1499]

I would like to relocate to western NC. I have visited, Maggie Valley and Beech Mountain on vacation. I have a 12 year old, so schools are important. My 20 year old is graduating this year with a degree in outdoor leadership. He would like to find work with Outward Bound or an Outfitter. My employment is not and issue as I work from home. I want to live in a town that is not smaller than 5,000 but close to a town or city that has things to do. We have lived in cities but in the last 3 years have lived on a working farm outside a town of 3500 in the midwest. We are still considered outsiders. We enjoy diversity and people that accept ideas other than there own. I have been looking at the areas outside Asheville and areas such as Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, even Waynesville. I am now on information overload. I would like to rent a 3 br house that would accept my dogs.
I am open to any and all the guidance out there.
Thank you.

[Catbirds]

Boone might be a good fit for you. The Deep Gap and Todd area are more country and just outside of Boone. A little over 14000 folks call Boone home as well as Appalachian University which is a wonderful and growing University. My daughter graduated there and my son is a senior who plans to get his masters in computer science. If the outdoors are your thing, it is heaven on earth. You need to come for a visit. In Blowing Rock, down the road from Boone, we are having a winter festival Jan. 22-25 so it would be a fun time to visit. Blowing Rock has been named one of the best small towns in the south by Southern Living Magazine. Boone is also named in other lists as one of the best small towns to live. Check us out.

[hymnsinger]

The Boone area sounds like the best pick, for many reasons. Unfortunately I don't have the time to list all the reasons at the moment, but I can certainly help answer your questions.

I have been living in the area 9 years now, and I'll be happy to help any way I can.

Right now I have to run to the thrift store (Ram's Rack, downtown Boone, on King St.) to pick up a recliner for a friend and drop it off. It's the place everyone here shops. The college kids drop most of their belongings there when they graduate!

Hear are some news and classified links:

Mountain Times

www.wataugademocrat.com

Secondhand News Online

and the schools link:

Watauga County School System

Blessings,
Tracey

[hymnsinger]

Originally Posted by D1499

I would like to relocate to western NC. I have visited, Maggie Valley and Beech Mountain on vacation.

Ok, I have a minute to give a more concise reply! Forget everything you learned or saw while on vacation! Except for the scenery, that is!

Boone is located in a narrow valley. All roads lead to Boone, and it can be confusing for the first 6 months! State Roads 221, 321, 421 and NC highway 194, all come together, split apart, and come together again somewhere else, in entirely different combinations! And then there's NC 105, the 105 extension, and the 105 bypass! Anyway, the place where all these roads come together is in central Boone (not downtown) and is known as the "Wendy's" intersection.

Within a mile of this point is just about everything you'll ever need, including the High School, App State, Wal-Mart, the Wellness Center, and just about 2 miles away is the Hospital. Draw yourself concentric circles on a map, radiating from this point. The further you get from this center, the lower the rents are and the more likely you will find pet friendly rentals. Only 5 miles outside of the city center you will find rental property suitable for farming and gardening, though rents are high. Ten miles out is better, especially to the north, towards Ashe County or west towards Tennessee. The best area for rent is in Ashe County, in the communities of Clifton, Creston, and West Jefferson. (The roads are windy-twisty and it takes 40 minutes to drive 20 miles!)

These are about 30 miles outside of Boone, but Ashe Co. has it's own laid back charm and all the ammenities you might want, with Boone "just around the corner" if necessary. Toward the east is Deep Gap and Stony Fork, in Watauga Co, and just to the north of Deep Gap is the community of Fleetwood (back in Ashe Co).

Rent in Boone can be as high as $2000 for an executive home on a cul de sac in town, to $600 a month for a modest house or trailer on three to five acres 10 miles out. It can also be anywhere in between, anywhere in the county (or area), but you get what you pay for, as they say!

Mark every suitable rental you find in the paper on your Google map, and decide which one is best for you. I had a problem with my son boarding a school bus in Todd (194, 18 miles north of Boone in Ashe Co.) at 6:15 in the morning for a 17 mile ride to his school in Creston when school didn't even start until 8 AM!! Then he didn't get home until nearly 5 in the afternoon. I ended up driving him most days so he could sleep later and get home earlier.

There are no real Outfitter's in the area that I'm aware of, but there are many camps. The outfitters tend to be over towards the Smoky's in Tennessee, or down towards the Nantahala and even up in Virginia along the New River Gorge. Outward Bound has a location in Morganton. Might want to give them a call.

"Things to do" is a relative term. It all depends on what you enjoy. In addition to all the outdoors stuff, we have a nice movie theatre, a bowling alley, a small mall, the Wellness Center, lots of golf, tennis, etc, an art gallery, lots of music and drama, but don't look for the club scene!

The college has it's own culture, complete with the bar/music scene geared to 18 to 22 yr olds.

Boone is relatively safe, but safer the further outside of town limits you are. We have a Meth problem, but who doesn't? The users tend to keep to themselves. Petty larceny is pretty common.

I understand the information overload thing and I hope I didn't just add to it! The sooner you narrow your search to one specific area the easier it will be.

I currently live "off the mountain," in rural Caldwell County. It's OK but I'd really like to get back up to 75 - 80 degree summers! I live on 3 acres with a horse, a dog, 9 cats, 40 chickens and a rabbit! If I were in Watauga County, I'd expect to pay $600 to $700 per month, in Ashe County maybe $500 to $600. As it is, I got lucky (read blessed!), and found an old farmhouse on a dead end dirt road for $125/mo. Remember, you get what you pay for, LOL! It's rough, but I love it!

Look hard enough and you'll find just what you need. You may need to "settle" until you get here, and find it then. It's way easier to look once you're already here!

Blessings!
Tracey

[roadpony]

Nantahala Outdoor Center is the Granddaddy of outfitters in the entire Southeast. It's quite a ways southeast of Asheville.

There are several small outfitters in Watauga and Avery counties that operate canoe/kayak/rafting trips, as well as fishing guides. You can google online yellow pages and find most of them. Your older son could also check out opportunities at ASU in their Outdoor Programs department. There may be other outing-related employment opportunities at Grandfather Mountain (soon to be owned by the state of NC) and the Blue Ridge Parkway (federal gov't).

For your younger son, most of the schools in Watauga County are very good. There is quite a competition locally for teaching jobs with ASU's excellent College of Education. For that reason, I would recommend Watauga County over Avery (or Ashe), even though Banner Elk could be a great fit. Our most recent next-door neighbors just moved from Avery to Boone, in part because their son is starting high school next year, and Watauga H.S. offers so much more.

Obviously there are always exceptions, but Blowing Rock is probably not the town for you... very high real estate prices due to tourism and second home/wealthy retiree population. It's a GREAT place to visit, but living there year-round .... is different.