Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hey! You're lucky, you hit the lull between labor day and peak color season. I always look forward to this time of year when the weather is great and most of the tourists are gone. Another couple of weeks and we will be back up to our necks in leaf peepers.
Plus the year has been down, as hotel occupancy rate has been down 10% for the whole summer.
That's funny, we were just down there last weekend and came home Tues. after buying a house and had just the opposite experience. Don't remember a single horn blast, got a parking spot right in front of the Thai Basil at the Grove Arcade for dinner at 6 PM and only ran into traffic on Hendersonville Rd in Arden at 4:30 PM but by 5 PM it was empty. I live in Manassas right now so I know traffic congestion and Asheville has nothing to compare to my commute on I66 and the FFX County Parkway or the 24/7 snarl on Sudley Rd through Manassas. Everybody we ran into was extremely nice and polite (except for one counter person at the Well-Bred in Weaverville) and it all really confirmed our decision to move there after vising for 5 years and getting to know the place. One problem you might have run into is the disdain for Florida license plates that natives have--they refer to you guys as Foridiots. Showing up in Asheville with Florida plates is like going deer hunting while wearing a 12 point rack on your head!
Cofga, I think you are onto something (about the Florida plates). As much as we loved so many things about Asheville, I hated the sweeping disdain for anyone from Florida (which we are). We are just ordinary working folks who bought an older, outdated home in Kenilworth Forest and fixed it up - we appreciate all mountain culture etc. but were met with apprehension and outright hatred from many of the locals. Overall people were friendly, but the friendly people were mostly transplants from all over. I have heard horror stories from many other nice people from Florida who were treated horribly. I can certainly understand being resentful of rude people from another area who come in and act pushy and try to destroy the quality of life there, but it's not fair to treat everyone badly across the board just because they come from a particular state.
At the end of the day, Asheville will always be a lovely place for us to visit and we kind of miss our little house we fixed up, but we have decided to permanently stay in Sarasota, FL which we love and which feels like home. Sarasota is a lot like Asheville, cosmopolitan and with transplants from all over but without the huge disdain for any particular group of people from a certain area.
I'm speaking of Asheville, downtown, and yes, they honked at us, honked at each other, honked if the light turned green for a nano second and you didn't step on the gas... annoying. And parking! It was Thursday evening, Oct. 1st, not weekend, not summer season, and there was no spot to be had without paying $5.00 and the lots looked full too. We're checking out this morning and heading to Ponte Vedra for the last leg of our trip from Boston back to Vero Beach. I expected Asheville to be a little gem in the midst of rural NC, something like Roanoke, VA, but instead it was a tiny spot of urban blight on the mountainside.
Are you sure? I have NEVER been honked at at a greenlight in Asheville. Not one time in like 10 years. Are you sure it wasnt someone from South FL or a tourist that was behind you honking at you? I bet if you polled the people on this forum that less than half have even been honked at, period. Much less honked at a nano-second after the light turned green. I have family and friends there and I have never heard that complaint. And some of my family has been there since the early-to-mid 90's. Like CofGA said, completely different experience than what you had, and I lived there for 10 years.
Parking - I'll give you that one. Parking is a pain. Especially during this time of the year - tons of tourists!
Little sidenote: I know that many locals do not like the Floridians (I'm a native Floridian myself). The thing is, the "rude" and "inconsiderate" people that many of the locals come across arent even really from FL, they just have a FL license plate. They live in FL right now, yes, but most (I'd say less than 10%) are true Florida natives. Something to think about.
Are you sure? I have NEVER been honked at at a greenlight in Asheville. Not one time in like 10 years. Are you sure it wasnt someone from South FL or a tourist that was behind you honking at you? I bet if you polled the people on this forum that less than half have even been honked at, period. Much less honked at a nano-second after the light turned green. I have family and friends there and I have never heard that complaint. And some of my family has been there since the early-to-mid 90's. Like CofGA said, completely different experience than what you had, and I lived there for 10 years.
Parking - I'll give you that one. Parking is a pain. Especially during this time of the year - tons of tourists!
Little sidenote: I know that many locals do not like the Floridians (I'm a native Floridian myself). The thing is, the "rude" and "inconsiderate" people that many of the locals come across arent even really from FL, they just have a FL license plate. They live in FL right now, yes, but most (I'd say less than 10%) are true Florida natives. Something to think about.
I am very sure they are right, downtown is chaos, you cant park, people(mostly tourists but thats mostly whats downtown) drive like they are still in jersey or miami or wherever. The standing joke is you can tell locals from tourist by who stops to wait for cars at crosswalks and who knows its there right to walk. The town is changing alot, much more rudeness than in the past and I hear horns all the time.
Cofga that 6pm parking spot was lucky don't get used to it.
Cofga, I think you are onto something (about the Florida plates). As much as we loved so many things about Asheville, I hated the sweeping disdain for anyone from Florida (which we are). We are just ordinary working folks who bought an older, outdated home in Kenilworth Forest and fixed it up - we appreciate all mountain culture etc. but were met with apprehension and outright hatred from many of the locals. Overall people were friendly, but the friendly people were mostly transplants from all over. I have heard horror stories from many other nice people from Florida who were treated horribly. I can certainly understand being resentful of rude people from another area who come in and act pushy and try to destroy the quality of life there, but it's not fair to treat everyone badly across the board just because they come from a particular state.
At the end of the day, Asheville will always be a lovely place for us to visit and we kind of miss our little house we fixed up, but we have decided to permanently stay in Sarasota, FL which we love and which feels like home. Sarasota is a lot like Asheville, cosmopolitan and with transplants from all over but without the huge disdain for any particular group of people from a certain area.
I love reading these threads and posts to learn about the area; it's like a train wreck that you can't stop watching.
So in summary, the Ashevillians love what Floridians did to their home prices and the money they brought into the local economy, but the people themselves, well they just hate them and wish they'd get the heck out. And to think I entertained the idea of making Florida my winter residence and Asheville my summer residence. Guess that means I would have Florida plates, doesn't it?
And now that the Floridians are largely broke and suffering from hard times, it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out in a downward spiral, much like the Lake Lure/HGTV dream house threads. After all, the days of "wow, if my house made me this much money, how much would two houses, or three, or four make me?" are clearly over for years to come.
I am very sure they are right, downtown is chaos, you cant park, people(mostly tourists but thats mostly whats downtown) drive like they are still in jersey or miami or wherever. The standing joke is you can tell locals from tourist by who stops to wait for cars at crosswalks and who knows its there right to walk. The town is changing alot, much more rudeness than in the past and I hear horns all the time.
Cofga that 6pm parking spot was lucky don't get used to it.
LOL, is this supposed to steer folks away? Sorry, not buying it. Not trying to be rude, so please dont take it that way, but I spend a lot of time in Asheville... I dont see any of this "rudeness" that you and VB are talking about.
So in summary, the Ashevillians love what Floridians did to their home prices and the money they brought into the local economy,
That is a grossly incorrect assumption, as with that comes tax bills that are forcing many off of their property, or a reduces standard of living to pay yankee land style property taxes. The quality of life has deteriorated significantly for most natives, as artificially high home prices benefit only those that want to sell and leave, but are a detriment for the majority of long time residents.
Perhaps where people are shallow and impressed with boasting about the value of their possessions it might be seen as a benefit, but I don't know any natives that shallow, and it is a hell of a price to pay for stroking one's ego.
Know a retired couple that live in a modest home on 6 acres they have owned for over 40 years. All of a sudden the property was reevaluated at at 1.5 million because developers wanted to buy and build 80 homes on it. The taxes drove them off, as even on a livable retirement income, the taxes broke their back.
"So in summary, the Ashevillians love what Floridians did to their home prices and the money they brought into the local economy"
^^^ LOL, that's like saying Floridians love what NY'ers did to their home prices and the money they brought into the local economy.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
