Asheville, NC

[PsyopRanger]

I am still a good 15 years from ER but I love Asheville. Is anybody ER'd there are have any experiences in the area?

Lance

 

[smooch]

I am trying to convince my husband to check it out. I followed the temperature all summer on the internet and it was at least 10 degrees cooler than Baltimore, where we live. I'd love to work (part-time) at the Center for Creative Retirement! We love the Smokies.

 

[larry]

Spent some time visiting Biltmore and then over to Pigeon Forge in some rental condos for a while. Got to ride Dolley's "Fire in the Hole", or something like that. Overall, I thought the area was nice but very touristy. Didn't spend too much time in the downtown part of Asheville. Being a flatlander it is always difficult for me to get a feel for a town that you can never see in total (like you can in Kansas).

 

[Craig]

Consider TN as well. Effectively no income tax, for starters. Middle TN is booming.

 

[neo]

Consider TN as well. Effectively no income tax, for starters. Middle TN is booming.

Doesn't TN tax income other than wages? (I.e. most/all income for a retiree.)

 

[mickeyd]

Ashville...nice choice.

We used to own property in Blowing Rock and visited A'ville a few times.

 

[dex]

I am still a good 15 years from ER but I love Asheville. Is anybody ER'd there are have any experiences in the area?

Lance

I've been there. Can you tell me what is so great about it? No slam intended, but I don't get it.

I'm in Flagstaff, Az. right now and I would take it over Asheville.
Thanks

 

[prubin]

We just returned, 2 weeks ago, from a visit to Asheville. It was our 3rd trip to the area in the last 5 years. We are giving significant thought to taking our substantial San Francisco home equity to Asheville. Asheville's diversity and revitalized downtown are very appealing. The easy access to hiking and the outdoors is another big plus. The North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement (NCCCR) appears to be a great resource for ER's relocating.

 

[Janet H]

I lived 15 miles outside Asheville (Mills River) for a decade. My dad still lives there. What do you want to know about?

Land prices are going waaay up.
Large retired population - with good medical services nearby
Huge artists community
Some winter - just enough
Do you like humidity in the [-]simmer[/-] summer?
Cute, but tiny Airport
Loads of fun stuff to do.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

pretty downtown, beautiful area but too many tourists for me (& i live in lauderdale so that's saying something).

 

[prubin]

I lived 15 miles outside Asheville (Mills River) for a decade. My dad still lives there. What do you want to know about?

Land prices are going waaay up.
Large retired population - with good medical services nearby
Huge artists community
Some winter - just enough
Do you like humidity in the [-]simmer[/-] summer?
Cute, but tiny Airport
Loads of fun stuff to do.

I am not worried about escalating home prices since I will selling a house in San Franisco and I have been lucky enough to ride that wave. (I suspect locals are frustrated by Californians bidding up prices.) The other attributes you cite, other than humidity are real pluses for us. We are urban people who don't like to get in the car everytime you need to buy milk. We have no interest in gated communities, houses that require fixing up or yard work. A realtor showed us homes in the area around Beaver Lake and near the Grove Park Inn. We have also checked out Montford on our own. My ideal would be a townhouse within a 1 mile walk of Pack Place.

 

[prubin]

pretty downtown, beautiful area but too many tourists for me (& i live in lauderdale so that's saying something).

I know tourism is one of AVL's primary "industries." This doesn't concern me. I live in San Francisco where the sign in the window of Pat O'Shea's Mad Hatters sez --
"We cheat tourists and drunks"

 

[Janet H]

Also check out the Brevard area - not too far away. Small town feel - has a college and a great summer arts series.

NC has some great tax benefits.

 

[prubin]

Also check out the Brevard area - not too far away. Small town feel - has a college and a great summer arts series.

NC has some great tax benefits.

Thanks for the advice. We have been to Waynesville, Henderson and Black Mountain They are too small town for me. What are the great tax benefits? Do you have any sense of availability and cost of individual health insurance. I suspect it is the same sad story as everywhere else.

 

[Charlotte]

Tax benefits?

I live in NC, and I'm having a hard time thinking of what might be the great tax benefits... Sales tax starts at 6% and goes up (depending on the county you're shopping in), income tax starts at 7% and goes up to 8.25%(depending on your earned income). Perhaps property taxes?? They aren't outrageous here, in general, but neither are they dirt-cheap.

Charlotte

 

[W2R]

I live in NC, and I'm having a hard time thinking of what might be the great tax benefits... Sales tax starts at 6% and goes up (depending on the county you're shopping in), income tax starts at 7% and goes up to 8.25%(depending on your earned income). Perhaps property taxes?? They aren't outrageous here, in general, but neither are they dirt-cheap.

Charlotte

6% sales tax sounds pretty fabulous from here. Ours totals 9.75% in this parish (=county), and is ever spiralling upwards. The parish part of that even applies to groceries. Our income tax and property tax are reasonable, though.

Edited to add: OH - - I see. Your 6% isn't the total, but is just the state part. That might not be so great after all!

 

[Janet H]

There are some breaks for state and federal retirement plans, but based on your comment I went to the state site and discovered that they changed last year and are NOT as great as they used to be. Living in a place that taxes federal retirement is high on the list deal breakers at my house.

 

[tangomonster]

I've loved my couple of trips to Asheville. While the Biltmore Estate doesn't do much for me except for the gardens, I get a kick out of the lifestyle/vibe (kind of old hippieish with a European flair). Sometimes I wonder if it would be nice to live there, or if I would get bored with a smaller town after living in metro Atlanta. Moving is not an option right now due to health insurance not transferring out of state, but maybe in twelve years when Medicare (if it's still around) kicks in...(or sooner, if the person who gets into the White House can really reform health care).

 

[dex]

tangomonster,
I have to agree with you - I think living outside of the ATL would present a person with more options Atl for night life and culture? - go north to the mountains - east to the Atlantic - South to the Gulf and West to Taladega

 

[wallygator69]

Hi,

Went in early Sept for only 3 days with DW

We both went to College in Boston and not fond of Big cities.

Asheville was a small town but had all the bad elements in a very small condensed area.

Lot of Homeless, several loud screaming types, 18-20 somethings eating out of garbage cans on the side of the road, pan handlers (well dressed and smart too). Main park appears to be the homeless druggie hangout. Lots of folks there all nigh and up and about early in the morning right on the ver fringe of downtown.

Large Homosexual population which I have no problem with but some were a bit over the top weird. That's fine but 2 were very rude when they realized I/we weren't. At one bar my wife got literally pushed out of her seat by the back of a stranger. He brushed into her with a decent amount of body contact and we had been talking to his "friend" and the guy were talking to never said a word to his friend. My wife moved to the other side of me. DW convinced me that knocking the SOB on his butt was not a good idea. Still kicking myself I didn't.

I developed a kind of "spider sense" while in Boston for 5 years, where I see and here everything around me in a sureal kind of way when I feel threatened. I hadn't felt the sensation in several years. It got "activated" twice in Asheville.

I would recommend vacationing there a few times at different times of the year before making the leap.

Good Luck,

W

 

[MileKing]

Although ER is a ways off, Asheville is on our short list of possibles. We spent a 3 day weekend there about two weeks ago and niether Mrs. MileKing or myself were wowed. Our assessment:

- We want to get away from the hot/humid DC summers. From looking at historical weather data, the summer temps run about 5 degrees less than the DC area, but humidity is actually higher (as hard as that is to believe). Rain & snow amounts are similar to DC as well. No real weather benefit.
- Can't see any tax benefits to NC, with the possible exception of lower property taxes. VA income and sales taxes are lower.
- Asheville has an extraordinarily large number of quality restaurants for a town this size. A real plus.
- We travel a fair amount so access to a good airport is desired. Connections out of Asheville are primarily to Atlanta, Cincy, and Charlotte on Delta or US Air. American and United don't even serve Asheville (United codeshares with US Air) and they are our preferred airlines so this is a negative. Charlotte is about a two-hour drive (120 miles) which is just beyond our desired limit for airport commutes.
- Overall housing and living costs are clearly less than the DC area, although that can be said for most all places on our list.
- The fact that UNC is present is both a positive and a negative. We desire access to a quality educational institution, but students did seem to overrun the downtown area at night.
- From what I've read, medical care in the area is supposedly very good and there are a number of hospitals.
- Tourism is a big industry in Asheville, particularly during the Fall. Makes for crowds and traffic...and difficulty parking downtown.

All in all, a rather neutral to slightly less than neutral view. For the moment, it remains on our list.

 

[prubin]

In contrast I see downton Asheville as a vibrant urban space. We have made 3 trips to AVL in the past 5 years and we always seek out downtown. Perhaps 30+ years of living in San Francisco have innoculated me regarding negatives cited by wallygator69.

 

[W2R]

In contrast I see downton Asheville as a vibrant urban space. We have made 3 trips to AVL in the past 5 years and we always seek out downtown. Perhaps 30+ years of living in San Francisco have innoculated me regarding negatives cited by wallygator69.

Also the prices there probably look good to you, coming from SF. Online real estate prices there look terribly expensive for a southern town, to me, in comparison with southern Louisiana. Even if I could afford to live there, I would be concerned that others moving there would be more into conspicuous consumption and yuppification, than they would be in LBYM. Maybe that is an incorrect assumption!! I have never been there.

 

[prubin]

Also the prices there probably look good to you, coming from SF. Online real estate prices there look terribly expensive for a southern town, to me, in comparison with southern Louisiana. Even if I could afford to live there, I would be concerned that others moving there would be more into conspicuous consumption and yuppification, than they would be in LBYM. Maybe that is an incorrect assumption!! I have never been there.

Yup, prices look great from here. After spending 1/2 day with a realtor it looks like AVL prices are ~1/3 of SF Bay area prices. If rampant yuppification results I hope I live long enough to see it rival what I seeing now in San Francisco. I plan to use inflated CA equity to provide a chunk of the means to live. perhaps I have seen the future and I am trying to flee from it.

 

[mahoneycutt]

I've lived in Asheville my entire life (45 years). I've worked at UNC Asheville for 25 years and would be happy to answer questions about Asheville or the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement.

Mike Honeycutt