Visiting soon, looking for advice (Charlotte, Asheville: for sale, employment, to buy)

[lilyfromlevittownny]

Hi,
My first post.
My husband and I are visiting the Marion area, Boone, Henderson and surrounding area for property to buy 5-10 acres to semi-retire to in 5 years. My youngest will be just graduating HS. We are visiting from Levittown Long Island, NY from July 19-23, if I have any information to share I will when I get back. Good luck We're so excited, heard how beautiful it is there.
Any Long Islanders living there that want to give us some advise where to look, weather, places to meet others. My husband is 48 and I am 46, he is into construction Pile Driving and I am getting my masters in Mental Health Counseling. We are both very social and would love to meet people in our age range. I have a daughter in her 2nd year in college, a son in 11th grade St. Anthony's H.S. and a little one going into 8th grade.

Love Long Island but excited to move on in our lives.
Lily

[hymnsinger]

Congratulations on your decision! You have named 3 areas that are as far removed from each other culturally and geographically as Buffalo, Albany and Massina! Well, almost.

Hendersonville is fairly flat compared to the Blue Ridge to the north, hot in the summer and chilly in the winter, with not too much snow but fairly frequent icy conditions. It is a haven for retirees and service industries are the major employers. Many people in H-ville commute to jobs in Asheville, the largest city in Western North Carolina. Henderson County is very rural, hilly and beautiful. Schools are decent too. I used to live in a Henderson County community called Etowah. A very nice place to live, but a little pricey in places.

Marion is another foothills town, very similar to H-ville in many ways, but the biggest challenge for Marion is lack of employment. It is a long commute to either Asheville or Charlotte, about an hour. I live about 40 minutes from Marion in Lenoir. It gets very hot in Marion as well, but it's a short 30 minute drive up to the mountains to cool off. Upper Burke county is where Last of the Mohican's was filmed (or was that in neighboring McDowell?). It was in Linville Falls anyway, just north of Marion.

Boone is another story entirely. Your culture shock in Boone will be much higher than in either of the foothills towns. Boone operates mostly on "mountain time," which means that if you hire someone for a job, they'll get to it in due time . . . which may or may not be convenient for you! There is also a greater bias against northerners, or anyone moving in from out of state. There is very much an "us vs, them" mentality. If you come in and adapt to the mountain culture you'll be warmly, if cautiously, welcomed. If you complain and wish it were the way it was "back home," the locals will quickly point out the correct highway for you to get "back home" on!!

Property cost is VERY high in the mountains, especially in the northwestern areas of the state and the recession hasn't hurt things here in that regard. There is a development advertising "cottages" on postage stamp property in the $400,000 range!! *rolling eyes* In comparison, there are 37 rolling, buildable acres on my road for sale with a small farmhouse and barn in the $387,000 range!

Schools are excellent in Boone, with only one high school in the county, Watauga High. They have an excellent sports program as well, but with current teacher and program cuts . . . Coach Wright has had to become an assistant principal because of the cut-backs. He's doing the job of two for the salary of one. And so it goes . . .

The population swells in the fall with the college kids (Appalachian State University) and in Summer with the seasonal residents. There is a surge in tourists in the summer when school gets out, the fall for the leaf change, and in the winter for skiing. Boone is a very congested little town with no room to expand roads, though they are trying! Boone is in a valley and all roads (and streams) lead to one major intersection! When it rains, the Boone Mall parking lot becomes Boone Lake! Outside of Boone proper it's quite lovely. Winters can be trying, but are NOTHING like Long Island winters! Our snow melts! We do get more ice than you do up there which has caused me to have two serious wrecks (no injuries thank the Lord!) in 10 years, not bad by Boone standards.

The cost of living in Boone is slightly higher, affordable housing is hard to come by for many, and employment is mostly low wage and also hard to come by. This is why I live near Lenoir, 2000 ft down the mountain to the south! Oh, and there is no pile driving in the WNC mountains. It's too steep and the mountainsides are largely unstable. The locals would never allow it. Blasting, yes. Pile driving, no way.

I can tell you what the unemployment rates (currently about 8.0) are doing before the numbers come out by counting the people that come in to our church food pantry on a weekly basis. We currently have about 900 families coming in to the pantry for food assistance. About a third of my clients are the "suddenly poor," those who have lost a job, are dealing with illness or injury, or have another type of crisis in their lives.

Boone is an excellent example of the divide between the haves and the have nots. People in Boone are either comfortably well off, or they are below federal poverty guidelines. If you have money, it's an AWESOME place to live! I would very much like to get back up "on the mountain," but until my income increases it's just not possible. So, I drive the gorgeous 20 miles to work and back, driving though 3 climate zones and a ten degree temperature difference. I have been in the Boone area for going on 12 years now and love it. I am a native Floridian but am more like the locals than many locals!

I wish you well in your search and also pray that you have a safe vacation!

Tracey

[lilyfromlevittownny]

Dear Hymnsinger,

Thank you so much for all the great information, that was so nice of you. We went, we looked, but nothing really caught our eye. We tried the mountains but the land was steeper than we had anticipated, Beautiful views! Thank you again and bless you for serving in the church food pantry, it is a very hard time for many. If everybody did a little for the less fortunate, there would be less fortunate.
Regards, Lily

[hymnsinger]

You're very welcome Lily! I hope that you find that perfect place, just right for you and your family.

Blessings,
Tracey