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I'm a recent graduate from the University of South Florida and I'm looking to relocate. Hopefully fairly-long term.
I'm going to work through the summer to save up and take off sometime at the end of August/beginning of September.
One of the first places I immediately homed in on was Asheville, NC -- for obvious reasons. I know that area must get a lot of traffic from those looking to relocate, but please be kind to someone who just wants to make a little place for herself!
I recently ran into an acquaintance from school who just returned back from Asheville after a month or two of trying to live there. She told me that the rent prices were high and the job market was flooded.
Can any native Asheville residents give me any more insight into what the situation is? I've been trying to gauge rent prices by checking Craigslist and things are as I'd expect -- anywhere from the low $600 to $1200 a month depending on the quality and size of living space. This doesn't seem outrageous to me, but she made it seem like it was impossible to find affordable living.
I received my degree in political science and am looking to possibly work for city or government agencies. I also am a karate instructor and am interested in any community non-profit organizations that may be looking for help in the area. I'd also consider a teaching job at a public school for something like history.
Can anyone give me any information specifically on job market and cost of living? She also mentioned that groceries were more expensive than here (central Florida) which I find very hard to believe.
I'd also consider living in the Charlotte area. I'm not opposed to looking at Chapel Hill or Wilmington.
Anyhow, thank you so much for helping me out -- I look forward to reading your responses!
Last edited by EveOnTheMove; 06-16-2009 at 07:41 PM..
Asheville Real Estate - Asheville Cost of Living (http://www.coldwellbankerkasey.com/realestate/asheville/ash_cost_living.htm - broken link)
Housing is expensive for it's size, but keep in mind that it's expensive because it's a very desirable place to live. Location, location, location. You should come check it out and compare it to the other cities you mentioned.
The cost of living is roughly comparable to the Raleigh/Durham area. RDU has far more white collar jobs, but then RDU doesn't have what Asheville has.
A simple google search will pull up lots of COL calculators, like this one:
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
The big economic drivers are health care and health care services, restaurant/tourism, professional services, and government/non-profit. And of course the job market stinks everywhere. I don't imagine teaching jobs are very easy to come by either, but you should check it out yourself.
My advice would be:
1. Research the cities you're considering, and create a document that compares the variables that are important to you (outdoor activities, social scene, housing expenses, population density etc.).
2. Visit each city that makes the cut.
3. Decide which city best suits you.
4. Apply for jobs in that city.
you can get a nice place, 3 br house, for under 1200. 900-1000 probably. Getting into govt agencies may be tough, it pretty tight knit community. Jobs overall are scarce and pay poorly. teaching anywhere in nc is a challenge. Its a non-union teaching state so poor pay and LOTS of extra work. Just an example in Asheville the median household income (yes household) is 35k while median house cost is 235k. Doesn't equate.
That being said it a great town, for now at least, and you should follow your heart.
With the recession even the state and local govts are shedding workers. Teachers are being laid off. Also, you don't say whether you have the credentials for a teaching job with a polysci degree--better check on wha they require. Food can be expensive or not so depending on where you shop--eat veggies and hit the coops and farmers market and you'll do better. You seem to have found the info you need on housing.
If you really want to get into a career track job then you'd better be looking first at places where you are likely to find one--the Feds are looking to hire a lot of people over the next few years so start searching their website. The jobs might not be where you want to move to so be flexible about locations--get your foot in the door and transfer later. Or sling hash in an Asheville restaurant and guide tours at the Biltmore. Fresh out of college and with no experience you don't have a lot to offer--many grads are turning to unpaid or low paying internships just to get a foot in the door. I can tell you that I've never hired anyone who just popped up in a database--it's always been someone I have experience with through an internship or volunteer worker, etc. That's how I got my foot in the door, doing an unpaid senior research project at a Fed research center when I was a senior in college. They hired me a few months later, paid for my MS and PhD, and 30 years later I have a 6 figure income.
There seems to be two general approaches to relocating:
1. Job-driven -- people move to wherever the jobs are, which is understandable. You gotta take care of business.
2. Quality of life-driven -- people find a place they want to call home, based on certain quality of life factors, and then move there once they can locate a job in that place. Of course, economic opportunity is a quality of life issue as well.
Sometimes people settle for their second choice when there are no job opportunities in their first city of choice. Depends on the individual.
Also, if you really want to live somewhere, you'll find a way to make it work.
At the rate we are going we won't get quality of life people moving here unless they are already wealthy. I love this area, have been here for 10 yrs and am digging my heels in as far as they can go, but from a financial perspective I should leave here but I just can't do it (at least not as long as i can pay my rent!). It's not like anyone builds anything that the average joes working in this town can afford anyways.
At the rate we are going we won't get quality of life people moving here unless they are already wealthy. I love this area, have been here for 10 yrs and am digging my heels in as far as they can go, but from a financial perspective I should leave here but I just can't do it (at least not as long as i can pay my rent!).
Unfortunate, but it's free market capitalism at work . . . when a product is in high demand, the price goes up.
Quote:
It's not like anyone builds anything that the average joes working in this town can afford anyways.
Affordable is relative though, 121k isn't that bad until you see that it's 566sq ft which is beyond tiny. They call it mixed use by making a super small unit at a price which looks okay. Most everyone I know couldn't afford a decent size unit at that complex and it's not like they're uneducated. Many have a masters and still end up waiting tables to make a living.
121K would be a challenge at $8 - 10/hour, unless you had two or three of those jobs, which many do.
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