pros and cons anyone (Raleigh, Greensboro: transplants, real estate, chapel) - Western North Carolina - North Carolina (NC) -The Mountain Region including Asheville - City-Data Forum

lorriem · 09-24-2007, 06:29 PM

We found three homes when we came up here a week ago. One house I loved had a lenoir zip but was in the Cajahs mountains. The other two were in Hudson. One was in Deer creek subdivision and the other was in Olde Farm subdivision that also had a water treatment plant nearby. All the homes are so different and prices but I want to decide on area. What are the pros and cons of these different locations. Any help would be so appreciated.

lorriem · 09-25-2007, 12:55 PM

Doesn't anyone know these areas?

kittiless · 09-26-2007, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lorriem

We found three homes when we came up here a week ago. One house I loved had a lenoir zip but was in the Cajahs mountains. The other two were in Hudson. One was in Deer creek subdivision and the other was in Olde Farm subdivision that also had a water treatment plant nearby. All the homes are so different and prices but I want to decide on area. What are the pros and cons of these different locations. Any help would be so appreciated.

just happened upon your question. I live in Lenoir proper and wish I did not. Taxes too high and too busy with traffic. Hudson is cute but limited (a lot). It has citizens who have lived there since the beginning of time and it's hard, very hard to break in to the community. All of Western NC is that way to a degree. Deer Creek is nice & new but 321 is kinda too close for me and there's nothing nearby. Don't forget Walmart will be close and traffic will be worse than now. Cajah Mt. seems very nice and close enough to everything without being too far. Taxes much cheaper & Connely Springs Rd sort of a private short cut to everything. Olde Farm I have just passed while traveling. Not so sure I'd want a private water treatment plant. I guess a lot would depend on the house you prefer too. Neighborhood wise, .........good luck.

lorriem · 09-26-2007, 10:18 AM

Thank you kittiless for the reply. Everyone seemed so friendly when we were there but then again it was only a few days.We were in the supermarket and a nice young man just started up a conversation with us and the people across the street who lived near the other home in olde farm when I asked about the water treatment plant were very friendly but they were transplants also. I ask about the water treatment plant only because in our first house in CA we lived near one and sometimes that smell really got to you. As far as the shopping Hickory we past and they had a lot of shopping and a mall.
I do love the home in Cajahs mts it had everything we need but we do need good cell phone service because of hubby's job so we have to work around that. Maybe just finding the right carrier. What concerns me about Deer creek was right behind a home we also looked at there were trailers maybe I shouldn't worry about that I don't know but that has to be addressed.
Thank you again for your help

chbowman · 10-06-2007, 03:44 PM

Hi,

I lived in Cajah's Mountain for two years. I am originally from Greensboro. I did not find it hard to break into the community. But, I was attending the community college, so I guess I did have a built in meeting place. I made lots of friends in the two years my husband and I lived there. People in the area were very friendly, honest, and just down-to-earth good people. It's a place where your mechanic is honest, the librarian knows you by name, and your neighbors leave produce on your porch. We were convenient to Lenoir for most things we needed. Hickory is only about a half hour away for whatever you can't find in Lenoir. I have recently moved to Vermont. Maybe I am just homesick, but I miss Cajah's Mountain and the good 'ol Southern people in Caldwell County. Oh, and we had Sprint for cell-phone service and never had a problem with coverage unless we drove up to Boone (then it's roaming).

lorriem · 10-06-2007, 04:24 PM

Thank you so much for your reply. I do love that house but I was worried about the people who have lived there for a long time. I don't want to be an outsider.When we were up there for our second time we went to Hickory to see how far it was from all three places we are interested in and it is not far at all.
Thanks again and have a good life in Vermont.(we lived in NH for a few years and I loved it)

vq1 · 10-06-2007, 06:54 PM

Hello again Lorriemm.

Sent you a message earlier today about our experience since our move to Caldwell county earlier this year and how we are very pleased with it.

We are in the Oak Hill area, a rural area above the Grace Chapel area that has been recommended by another poster for you to look at. Most of the homesites in this area are on multiple acre sites.

From what you have described, it sounds like you are looking at subdivisions and you have a concern about the long term residents and their willingness to have new-comers. Please let me elaborate on our situation. We are the new-comers into our area. It is in an area where I can not find any comparable real estate transaction information because there is no turnover here. For the most part, it stays in the families.

Our experience with the neighbors has been totally positive. Within the last hour I spoke with a neighbor on the telephone and she has invited us over to visit tomorrow. Her family has had the land since her great-grandfather. Others in this area go back much further than that!

While I am not familiar with the subdivisions you are looking at, I doubt that any of the residents of them claim heritage for any period approaching that amount of time and I doubt many of your potential Hudson neighbors would reach back that far.

Realistically, I believe that any of the areas here will welcome you as they would prefer to see an occupied house rather than an unoccupied one. This of course assumes that you do not come in here telling us how bad we are, how we should be doing it the way they did it where you moved from, with barking dogs, with undisciplined children, or telling us how you long for "real" bbq - the type you had someplace besides NC!

On the tax thing, even though we feel justified in complaining about the 22 percent increase our county commissioner put into place, we still pay a lot less than most coming in are used to. Not a valid reason not to be upset about the increase, though and we hope that you will add your 2 cents worth and votes to help this be reduced in the near future!

On the Lenoir traffic: We find it very easy to travel. Nowadays, a major traffic delay would be a couple of minutes!

If you do locate around Cajahs Mountain, I think you will find the Ingles Supermarket on Connelly Springs Road to be very good. We go out of our way to shop there at least once a week and the gasoline prices are usually the lowest in the county.

To gain brownie points with the neighbors:

1) Choose a school team. A "safe" team to root for is Appalachian State. They have developed a strong following in football. Basketball, say you want either UNC, Wake Forest, NC State, or Duke (I would prefer it to be UNC!)

2) Possibly even more important is your preference for the official State Food - BBQ. Their are two types (and only two types, both made from pork. If you do not like pork, at least claim to like BBQ chicken.) The summary is that there are two types: Down East (generally from Raleigh to the coast) and (what we from down east call) Tomato based. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR RELOCATION SUCCESS. I suggest that you Goggle "NC BBQ" and get up to speed on this serious topic.

Again, our wishes, and we feel certain that the wishes of almost all in Caldwell County, are for your happiness here and success with your relocation. If any questions, please ask.

lorriem · 10-06-2007, 09:06 PM

Hi Again vq1
I answered your other post this morning and my husband is still talking about that apple butter.
Thank you so much for the tips and that supermarket will be the # 1 stop if we go to NC this weekend to look and re look at homes. That 10 hr drive seems longer and longer.
Yes we are looking into subdivisions and almost made an offer on a house but they had restrictions on pets. 2 dogs or 2 cats. We have three little ones and I will not get rid of any of my dogs so we now have to make a point of asking about any restrictions.
Thanks again for your advice it as helped me so much.

kittiless · 10-06-2007, 09:17 PM

With regard to subdivisions and heritage. Believe me, in subdivision or not, whenever you move in with locals in Caldwell county they all have long pedigrees in the area. They are all children of fathers and grandfathers who have lived here forever. They all have parents who, if deceased, have a 'HOME PLACE' with brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents........they all go way back. And that's a good thing. No one wants to ever leave this paradise or move away from family. The newcomers are usually welcome with open arms, unless, like stated by someone else on this thread, you try to change zoning, raise taxes, or say "we did it like this where I came from." Hope to see you here soon.

lorriem · 10-07-2007, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kittiless

With regard to subdivisions and heritage. Believe me, in subdivision or not, whenever you move in with locals in Caldwell county they all have long pedigrees in the area. They are all children of fathers and grandfathers who have lived here forever. They all have parents who, if deceased, have a 'HOME PLACE' with brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents........they all go way back. And that's a good thing. No one wants to ever leave this paradise or move away from family. The newcomers are usually welcome with open arms, unless, like stated by someone else on this thread, you try to change zoning, raise taxes, or say "we did it like this where I came from." Hope to see you here soon.

Wouldn't want to change a thing in NC.I hope to be there soon also. Hubby just made reservations for next weekend to look at more homes.My poor furbabies have to go to the kennel again but if we find the right home and maybe we already found it it will be worth it.This is costing so much $$$$ going back and forth.It would be nice also if we could sell this house before we have two mortgage payments.