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Help...moving to the South from California - can't afford to stay here!
We are a couple in our early 60's, and retired. We like walking trials, healthy foods, farmers markets, staying active, art, and being near the water. We do not have to work although we may work part time if needed. (I do freelance graphic design and art from home).
Our budget is 250K. We would LOVE TO BE BY A LAKE OR RIVER IF POSSIBLE, and near to amenities - restaurants, libraries, farmers markets, art galleries, etc.
We are concerned any ocean front property would have high insurance but lakes or rivers not so??.. probably a 250K budget not enough to be water front anyway?...
I lived for 3 years in Cary, NC and liked it quite a bit. It seems that the property prices in RTP are a bit higher maybe for the South perhaps due to Research Triangle Park jobs.
Pittsboro, NC looks nice - but not sure what the new 7000 acre development Chatham Park will do to the town though. Pittsboro not too far from a Lake Jordan, which is nice.
We crossed off FL and Georgia due to humidity. I thought the humidity in Raleigh, NC was bearable. Not sure if Charleston, SC will be worse in humidity, but expect property prices to be less than RDU?
So far we're considering Nashville, TN, Charleston, SC, and Pittsboro NC. How do these compare? Any other ideas/candidates for cities and areas to research?
I asked the moderator to move your post to the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hiil sub-forum, since Pittsboro is in the Triangle.
But, here's a couple of comments. Pittsboro is a good choice, but no-body knows when the Chatham Park will start developing.
It is probably true that your budget will not get you waterfront on a lake or river.
Not sure why you are considering Nashville. Have you considered some of the mountain TN areas like Crossville and Fairfield Glade? There are more likely to be affordable lake properties there.
Similarly, there are more good lakes in the mountain of western NC than there are in the Triangle.
Property prices in Charleston are high. And going up, now that everybody on earth wants to live there. The Lowcountry is hotter and very humid in summer compared to Raleigh.
I would make a list of things that are important to you in retirement. It may be health care, access to veterans groups, traffic congestion, recreation, social activities, you did mention hiking and so on. With your list, prioritize the items. Look at county and city web sites for the areas you are interested in. Figure out what area seems to meet the most items on your list. Then start home searching.
A quick search on Zillow in the Pittsboro area showed 18 homes out of 39 between 200 and 300k. None were near lake Jordan. on the other hand, doing general search in and around Raleigh shows between 500 and a 1000+ homes in the same price range.
Hi Charisse10. As far as Nashville....the largest lake community near Nashville would be Hendersonville. There are houses in your price range near the lake, but not lakefront. There is a price premium for that. If you also want information about areas around Nashville you might want to create a thread in that forum. I saw this one by accident.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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This isn't on your last, but another place you might consider is Northwest Arkansas (NWA). It is an up and coming area with lots of lakes and amenities with relatively low prices for housing. Check out Bentonville, Fayetteville, and a few other towns around there (there is a board on C-D for NWA).
Charleston is one of my favorite cities. Great restaurants and that historic feel to it. The humidity is pretty bad from May through September but we sort of adjusted to it. I am a big college sports fan, missed it tremendously, and moved to the Raleigh area last year. Very nice here, even with all the New Yorkers...only kidding, from Philly...
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