Boone for retirees? (Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Asheville: for sale, real estate, home)

[GraniteStater]

How is Boone, NC for a retired couple? I realize the town has a hospital, is home to ASU, and has all the basic shops. Are many people actively involved in the community? What do the future plans look like for growth in the area down the road? Cost of living is not an issue as it is still a bit lower than NH. Any additional info would be much appreciated.

[GraniteStater]

No responses?

[hymnsinger]

Sorry you didn't get any responses! Usually someone is pretty quick to jump in. There's lots of posts already written about Boone, many by me. If you search, you will find MANY differing opinions, but mostly favorable I think. Boone is a great place to live, though growth is a bit insane right now. I should qualify that and say, Watauga COUNTY is a great place to live. Boone, not so much for me. Inside town limits can be challenging due to the student population and the road destruction/construction going on. NC-421 (King St.) is being widened so that the bottleneck through downtown will be even more of a challenge to negotiate! There are ways around that though. Living NEAR Boone is nice though (including Blowing Rock). You'll feel right at home in the wintertime . . . Do you live in the mountains of NH or more flat terrain? The differences in winter will be terrain and no long lasting snow on the ground to speak of. Other than that, the climate is much like New England, less the nor'easters of course. We have a large retiree community, but most of those head south in the winter. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me, though my days in the bed are about done. I'm taking it easy until Monday, then it's back to the office for me!

Blessings,
Pastor Tracey

[roadpony]

To add a little to Hymnsinger's comments...

I moved to Boone in 1988 after having lived most of my life in Raleigh and Winston-Salem. One of the things that struck me about Boone was that the community (social) life didn't revolve around a local country club, as in many parts of North Carolina. Yes, there are plenty of gated country club communities, but most of the homeowners in them are not fulltime residents. I think it's relatively easy to assimilate into the community by volunteering for United Way, Chamber of Commerce or any number of local non-profits.

For the time being, the economy has slowed from the crazy growth that Hymnsinger referred to. There is a LOT of real estate for sale right now, and few new developments starting up.

Besides tourism and the hospitality industry, Appalachian State University has been the principal economic engine in Boone for a lot of years. Since state funds are pretty tight, I don't know what that means for growth on the immediate horizon. I don't live fulltime in the area any longer (have a weekend place in Avery County), so I'm not staying as closely in touch with Boone as I used to.

In general, the High Country has not experienced the same rate of influx of fulltime retirees as the southern mountains (Asheville/Hendersonville, etc) because the climate is a bit harsher. Of course that's relative, and with your coming from NH, you should enjoy Boone's climate. I'd encourage you to take a look.

[srg]

You might want to consider Mountain City TN - about 15 miles west - much less expensive - very pretty.

[roadpony]

Don't mean to split hairs, but from downtown Boone to downtown Mtn City, it's 24 miles, according to Rand McNally. IMO, the only thing that Mtn. City has over Boone is no state income tax in TN.

[Raine Carraway]

I really like the Boone area, but the city itself is getting kind of built up because of the development around the colleges, and is still a "college town", so more oriented to that sort of lifestyle. For retirement, I'd personally look at Blowing Rock which is just down the road but seems a little nicer and more laid back, and is so much easier to find a parking space in.

[hymnsinger]

There's no shopping in Mtn City, and nothing to do except enjoy the scenery. It's also much more "backwards" with Good Ole Boy politics. I used to live there, but escaped!

Blessings,
Tracey

[GraniteStater]

Thanks for the helpful info everyone. I will hopefully be in the area next summer again to check out the area near Boone. It has been about 12 years since I last visited western NC. It sounds like it will be more built up compared to when I visited last.