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I grew up here and had to move to Greenville for a few years for jobs. Greenville has a much better airport and significantly better healthcare options. I’m not sure I’d willingly retire to Asheville knowing how bad some medical care is here. Greenville has a good teaching hospital and a medical school which helps bring in more talent too.
We are younger but my husband has a autoimmune disease and sees a Rheumatologist. He’s amazing but isn’t taking new patients now. Weve never been able to find any other good providers. All of ours are just ok. But we’ve both tried several now and got tired to trying to find good ones. We have a decent family practice dr but he is only in office once a week. So most times we end up with a PA. Not that this matters for you, but the pediatric choices suck. We’ve gone through several after being spoiled in Greenville I guess.
Flat Rock is convenient to medical care in both Asheville (26 miles) and Greenville (34 miles) and only 2 miles to Hendersonville, which has adequate medical care, including 2 hospitals. And if you need more extensive specialty care, Charlotte is only an hour and 45 min.
I did not follow my process on examining locations. After seeing no Costco in Asheville, I was baffled some until I looked up the population of that area. Its about the same size as NWArkansas which I have ruled out due to size after a visit. I had heard so much about Asheville and just had it bigger than it is in my mind. Thanks for the help. I will check out near Hendersonville focused on SC metro as I have run the traps on it and think it will work if i can find the right real estate option.
Thanks so much for your guidance.
Another reality in my life is wife and I may have one more voluntary move left in us at our age, around 70. Honestly only Franklin looks like a slam dunk at this stage. I may just suck it up and pay the $15k in property taxes, without my senior exemption, they would be over $20k. Avoid the rush hour with better trip planning and enjoy the top flight medical care we have located here after 8 years here. Im going to take my wife on an exploration trip on Tn, Franklin for sure and one option near the Smokey's probably around Knoxville and Hendersonville/Greenville area.
We moved here from the Plano area a year ago. I would say the biggest downside for me (and part of why I’m not 100% sure we will stay here) is the medical care issue. I have autoimmune issues too but also just thinking about other needs that come with aging. After being here a year I do not feel confident with the medical care. I was used to having really great doctors and hospitals nearby in Plano. My understanding here is that if you need good care you need to drive hours to Charlotte or Duke in either Durham, Winston Salem, or Chapel Hill. That is far to go if you need ongoing care. I actually love the Asheville area but the medical care is not up to par at all, in my opinion.
We have found the medical care to be excellent-though our health issues are different from yours. Urologist, cardiologist and orthopedic surgeon are on our radar. My husband has had three stays in Mission, and the nursing care was better than that of a top heart hospital where he had open heart valve replacement. I second Duke as a excellent medical facility. My husband was born there while his dad was in Med school.
We are retired so a trip every few months to Costco is no problem- we usually get there about lunchtime and have Thai at a little restaurant nearby. Just don’t go on a Sunday or you won’t be able to buy wine because of SC blue laws.
In the Retirement Forum, there was a thread about overall tax burden of states. North Carolina was in the middle of the list. Actually lower even than some of the no state income tax states. I know we pay about a third of our former car insurance and property tax rate. Electricity and local labor is less expensive— such as yard service and maid service. Because of our zip code our Medicare Supplement is considerably lower than my brothers in Florida. Same insurer USAA, same plan.
I’m not sure why you deleted Asheville from your list-but everyone has different priorities. We have found it to be a good place for us. I hope you can find your place. Asheville is bigger (than other towns of its size) in some respects such as: quality of restaurants, entertainment, amazing natural beauty, friendly people, and the art scene.
We didn’t have to do too much looking for a place for retirement because we have been visiting this area for over 50 years. If I were you, I would rent for an extended time,
anywhere you are considering. You cannot get a true feel for a place in only a few weeks.
...Just don’t go on a Sunday or you won’t be able to buy wine because of SC blue laws...
The city of Greenville (and I believe the county as well) allow beer/wine sales on Sundays - Costco and Total Wine are both in the city limits of Greenville (Total Wine is open on Sundays)
I know the retirement post you are talking about. I have calculated state and local taxes for my situation for all the states I am considering plus a few more than fell out before I started boots on the ground phase. Of the states I wanted to consider only Tn was lower than my Tx taxes. NC was higher but not by a lot. The assumption for this analysis is my home price and income are the same as now. For that home price I can find houses I can see myself living in in Eastern Tn, for Franklin it is a home much smaller than I am living in now and the same is true for W. NC as real estate is at least as high as Franklin Tn.
The bigger factors are medical nearby, Franklin has Vanderbilt within 10 to 15 miles. A comparable W NC option does not exist. Another criteria is I want a city not a big town, the size of Asheville shocked me, its not much bigger than Plano. But 300k population Plano is in a prime portion of the 7.2< DFW metro. Nashville is about 2M metro with better medical and I find scenic after relatively flat N. Texas. For my situation Tn wins by miles over NC.
One example of what we value and find more prevalent in a larger city is eating options. I live less than 1 mile from Walmart Neighborhood Market and a Trader Joe's. My Costco is 2 miles from me. Two other nearby options are Central Market and Eatzi's. They have chef prepared foods fresh daily to feed a family or individual with incredible and healthy options. We use this extensively. Within 2 miles are a Whole Foods and a Marketstreet grocery store. I have restaurant options with in a 2 mile radius. I am not finding small cities with these options. Franklin appears to have some but I need a trip with my wife to explore this area more.
Anyone wanting to dive into Taxes deeply as I have let me know if you want a link to a state by state income tax and property tax info. Check for your situation, if one has a pretty high retirement income and a big housing budget the list of low tax states for a retired person does not always line up with the general ratings I have seen, for example NW Arkansas was way above Texas for combined income and property taxes.
No one size fits all as you all obviously know. From a scenery and climate standpoint W NC is high up but medical is huge to us, My wife has MD visits monthly when stable and more when issues are flaring. I cant fully explain how this drives our life. Her conditions are a challenge for a Doctor. Some like challenges and can handle it but most can not in my experience. That is the case with our Primary care Dr, an Internist but also her specialists.
I have been retired now for 11 years and moved to Plano from Houston. my process for evaluaating a place works for us, we loved Plano initially it just has grown too rapidly for some older folks like us.
The city of Greenville (and I believe the county as well) allow beer/wine sales on Sundays - Costco and Total Wine are both in the city limits of Greenville (Total Wine is open on Sundays)
We haven’t gone to Greenville. Maybe we’ll try it next
We haven’t gone to Greenville. Maybe we’ll try it next
LOL gotcha - I often forget there is a Costco in Spartanburg too - the city of Spartanburg and Spartanburg County both passed laws in 2016 allowing restricted alcohol sales on Sunday (I just don't know the specifics) - I believe the city of Greenville has the least restrictions on Sunday alcohol sales in the Upstate
At any rate, Sunday alcohol sales is up to municipalities/counties in SC
I remember seeing your other posts in regard to the autoimmune disorders.
My girlfriend has lupus, and is having a full hip replacement surgery tomorrow at Vanderbilt from avascular necrosis due to the long-term steroid treatments. She's only 24.
There has not been one orthopedic surgeon in the medical systems from Knoxville to Asheville willing to even consider doing her surgery due to her age and underlying medical problems. She went to a preadmission appointment at Vanderbilt last week with around twenty other people, mostly seniors. The surgeon at Vanderbilt has done numerous hip replacements in younger patients. She has seen rheumatologists in Nashville in the past because there simply isn't sufficient care in our local area. She spent a month at Vanderbilt last year (before I knew her) before they were finally able to get her lupus somewhat manageable. There are some specialists in Knoxville, but there is nowhere near the concentration of high quality autoimmune specialists in Knoxville that I'd expect there to be in Nashville, Raleigh, or Charlotte. You may be able to get by in Knoxville or Asheville by flying somewhere else for the rheumatology specialist and having sufficient GP/emergency care, but I wouldn't recommend putting yourselves through that. She's not been able to find an appropriate specialist Mission in Asheville.
For us, the situation is so bad regionally that once her hip replacement is done and she's rehabbed and walking again, Nashville is on our short list of relocation choices. I like Franklin and Brentwood, but Nashville has never clicked with me personally. Unless she is somehow discharged and sent back home by the weekend, I will be going down there to take another look.
Another wrench thrown in is that Mission Health, the not-for-profit Asheville based health system, has now sold out to Hospital Corporation of America, a for-profit based out of Nashville. My assumption is that some rural/community hospitals will be closed or repurposed, many jobs (some clinical but especially on the corporate side) will be lost, and that patient care could end up declining. Top providers and out of area job seekers are just not attracted to this kind of thing.
I love Asheville, and the medical care there is probably sufficient for the vast majority of people. However, autoimmune disorders require very sophisticated specialists and treatment that probably isn't readily available. Also, the lack of Costco has been mentioned, but Asheville has a wonderful farmer's market called WNC Farmer's Market, and it also has a Whole Foods and Earthfare, a similar store based out of Asheville.
Given the need for the specialized medical care, I don't see how any of the other choices can compete with Franklin. But Franklin also has the congestion, lots of new corporate jobs in the metro, and the other issues you don't like about Plano.
Thanks for sharing this experience with me. My wife has had auto immune issues for 30 years now. Most recently RA is the issue, before that Lupus was her chief challenge and it took us nearly 10 years to find that lupus was driving the issue she had in her 30s.
The responses from CD have helped me put the fortunate medical experiences we have had in DFW and in Houston in proper perspective. I started this search with a vague feeling I wanted a good sized city but without the clarify of why that is necessary for her condition. It is crystallized by learning from the experiences of others in some areas.
We definitely are going to visit Franklin, really Williamson County, Im not sure we should seriously consider other options. I liked Nashville metros size and and feel. I have a few ideas of areas to be near the amenities I like yet out of the hustle and bustle and higher growth areas in the county. I am clearer eyed and mind now.
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