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I would love to visit for a week, but unfortuantly we wouldn't have the money for that. We have about enough money to visit for interviews and look for a place to live and possible moving costs.
If you don't have money to spare to visit I don't think you will be able to make it here. I would compare job salaries too. Another poster that was from FL moved here as a firefighter and ended up moving back due to low pay.
It's just that Asheville isn't the only place we are looking to move and we really need to save the money for the times he will have to travel for interviews. We don't have "real" jobs right now as we are both just finishing full time school, but we do both have a job. We would start to have money once we moved and got jobs in the fields we are finishing school in. Asheville is still significantly cheaper than where we currently live (Naples, FL). So what i'm getting is that Asheville is a great place, but has some wages and housing issues. We don't mind living outside of Asheville where it is cheaper and work in the city. Traffic is relative as we have major traffic issues down here specially during season. It is only getting more and more expensive where we live. Fire fighters start out making $39k but you can hardly get a place in town that doesn't cost more than $350,000 for a mediocre house on a 1/4 of land. Rent is outrageous, over $1,200 for a 1/1 apartment. Asheville seems kinda expensive but still a lot less than where we are.
The housing situation is crazy in the Asheville area now. If you look on Realtor.com you will see that agents aren't even posting photos of properties; they are going under contract within a few hours of hitting the MLS. It is no time to buy here.
And you definitely should come to experience the traffic. You may not like it, and with your housing budget you will no doubt be commuting into Asheville from the less expensive outlying areas.
Yeah we have seen that Asheville seems a bit expensive so we have been looking into the surrounding areas with the intents of working in Asheville. We don't mind living outside of Asheville and making the drive, traffic and all to work in the City.
It's just that Asheville isn't the only place we are looking to move and we really need to save the money for the times he will have to travel for interviews. We don't have "real" jobs right now as we are both just finishing full time school, but we do both have a job. We would start to have money once we moved and got jobs in the fields we are finishing school in. Asheville is still significantly cheaper than where we currently live (Naples, FL). So what i'm getting is that Asheville is a great place, buthas some wages and housing issues. We don't mind living outside of Asheville where it is cheaper and work in the city. Traffic is relative as we have major traffic issues down here specially during season. It is only getting more and more expensive where we live. Fire fighters start out making $39k but you can hardly get a place in town that doesn't cost more than $350,000 for a mediocre house on a 1/4 of land. Rent is outrageous, over $1,200 for a 1/1 apartment. Asheville seems kinda expensive but still a lot less than where we are.
Au contraire. It is very much the same here or worse, and you will need a major amount of down payment if you plan to purchase a home. For starters, call some of the banks in the Asheville area, or any area you plan to relocate to.
Why not just get a job in FL and save a boatload of money on a long distance move to a place where you have no history. You will need at least $3K maybe even $4K in cash for moving expenses.
Am I trying to discourage you from biting off more than you can chew? Yes.
Au contraire. It is very much the same here or worse, and you will need a major amount of down payment if you plan to purchase a home. For starters, call some of the banks in the Asheville area, or any area you plan to relocate to.
Why not just get a job in FL and save a boatload of money on a long distance move to a place where you have no history. You will need at least $3K maybe even $4K in cash for moving expenses.
Am I trying to discourage you from biting off more than you can chew? Yes.
I'm not really that particular into moving to Asheville, my husband is. We can afford to move just can't afford to fly back and forth to places we haven't researched first. If we got a job lined up and like what we have researched then we will spend the money to come visit. But taking a week long vacation to visit a place we have hardly researched online will not happen. That is why I posted this thread. I wanted to know more about Asheville. We don't plan on buying for the next couple of years, and i want to move asap because if not he will get a job here and then never leave. He doesn't want to start out in a department and the move. He wants to start in one and stick with it (and he happens to love the department down here). I'm not looking into living directly in Asheville as much as I just would work there and live outside of it We don't want to live in any big city, just work there and live outside of it. Commute is not that big of a deal to us. It's ok to discourage me from living there if it really is not a good fit (which i'm thinking it may not but thats why i asked). I hadn't planned on just up and moving tomorrow.
With the WNC area being as active as it is at the moment, you can imagine the amount of inquiries there have been on this forum. Read through previous threads and you will learn a lot.
You mention you are in Naples. That is a totally drivable distance to WNC. Leave early morning, get here in the evening, look around that evening as well as the next day or two, then drive back. It doesn't have to be very expensive, especially if you find an AirBnb or a similar option further from Asheville. Find one with kitchen privileges and cook your own meals. All doable. You will at least get a sense of the area and see how you both feel being here.
If you did opt to move here, the move does not have to be very expensive, either. Rent a UHaul or similar, load your own stuff (after getting rid of a lot of it - moving is always a great time to purge) and voila, not such a big deal and not all that expensive at all.
First, however, you two need to see how you feel being here. My suggestion is you take a trip, even if it's not a very long one.
Good luck in whatever you do!
With the WNC area being as active as it is at the moment, you can imagine the amount of inquiries there have been on this forum. Read through previous threads and you will learn a lot.
You mention you are in Naples. That is a totally drivable distance to WNC. Leave early morning, get here in the evening, look around that evening as well as the next day or two, then drive back. It doesn't have to be very expensive, especially if you find an AirBnb or a similar option further from Asheville. Find one with kitchen privileges and cook your own meals. All doable. You will at least get a sense of the area and see how you both feel being here.
If you did opt to move here, the move does not have to be very expensive, either. Rent a UHaul or similar, load your own stuff (after getting rid of a lot of it - moving is always a great time to purge) and voila, not such a big deal and not all that expensive at all.
First, however, you two need to see how you feel being here. My suggestion is you take a trip, even if it's not a very long one.
Good luck in whatever you do!
We do not mind taking the time off work and spending the money to visit a place we have researched. I just did not want to up and go to a place we know nothing about, I like to learn as much about a city as I can through the internet first. Money for moving isn't an issue either. We know how to travel cheaply as well. We also do not plan on taking a job and moving to a place we have not visited either. We research the place first, list the pros and the cons and decide from there wether we will make the trip up to visit or not. But thank you for all the suggestions. I hope we find a fit for us soon!
We do not mind taking the time off work and spending the money to visit a place we have researched. I just did not want to up and go to a place we know nothing about, I like to learn as much about a city as I can through the internet first. Money for moving isn't an issue either. We know how to travel cheaply as well. We also do not plan on taking a job and moving to a place we have not visited either. We research the place first, list the pros and the cons and decide from there wether we will make the trip up to visit or not. But thank you for all the suggestions. I hope we find a fit for us soon!
There is nothing cheap about Asheville in general and low paying jobs doesn't help. Traveling cheaply is good because you'll need to save the money to live here. Try looking outside of Buncombe country that's how we ended up back in this area. That was the ONLY way we could afford to be back up here.
There is nothing cheap about Asheville in general and low paying jobs doesn't help. Traveling cheaply is good because you'll need to save the money to live here. Try looking outside of Buncombe country that's how we ended up back in this area. That was the ONLY way we could afford to be back up here.
Yes we got the sense that Asheville was expensive to live in. We have found some houses we liked in our price range (we won't be buying for awhile though) in Weaverville, Old Fort, Arden, Flat Rock, Hendersonville, Leicester and Biltmore Lake. All a bit of a drive but nothing we aren't ok with. Down here he was willing to drive all the way to Cape Coral which is a 45 min drive so we are willing to commute for work, but nothing over really an hour.
You say low paying jobs are a problem in Asheville. Does that apply to every field? I will be in the medical field. Is the pay for medical awful?
Have you checked out Greenville, SC? It is about an hour south of Asheville, most of the Fire Departments in the area are hiring, and there are two hospital systems (GHS and Bon Secours) with plenty of jobs in the medical field. Also, you can catch a cheap flight on Allegiant from Fort Myers to GSP (maybe to Asheville too, haven't looked in a while) for under $100/person most of the time. Housing near downtown Greenville is kind of pricey, but nothing like AVL and there are less expensive options in the suburbs with reasonable commute times. I work in downtown Greenville and can see the WNC mountains from my window, and we visit Hendersonville frequently so it is not that far of a drive. Good luck!
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