Small home/townhome recommendations within ~45 minutes or so of Asheville.

[hardluk1]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

If something falls into place, I think it will be kind of a one-off like this. Realistically, I probably can't move until the fall for various reasons, but I'm going to keep this development noted and set alerts for this range.

You can't move until fall !! Well after almost 4 months now and knowing how long it can take to close on a property if you find a house today your "By FALL" time frame is coming way to quickly to even make an early fall time frame , may be early winter .

If your not ready to do a walk thru and start the process to buy on same day you find house that fits your needs and make a holding offer till testing and inspections are done it may be marked as, Sale Pending with in one or two days in your price range.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by hardluk1

You can't move until fall !! Well after almost 4 months now and knowing how long it can take to close on a property if you find a house today your "By FALL" time frame is coming way to quickly to even make an early fall time frame , may be early winter .

If your not ready to do a walk thru and start the process to buy on same day you find house that fits your needs and make a holding offer till testing and inspections are done it may be marked as, Sale Pending with in one or two days in your price range.

I need to sell my house first to use that equity to roll into a downpayment on the next house. I have some obligations that I need to tie off in Tennessee before I'd want to move. I'll probably have that done by early fall. Some things have changed since I made the OP.

I have looked at Hendersonville more closely. The more I spent time there, the less I liked the traffic going back into Asheville. It's probably slower to get my girlfriend's house from Hendersonville than from Johnson City. The traffic anywhere beyond the Brevard Road exit can be awful. There's not a ton in Hendersonville either. Prices really go down east of Black Mountain or so, but by then I'm not much closer, back into the small towns, and starting to get out of the mountains.

The big problem are the 7%+ rates. What I could afford at 5% is not the same as 7.x%.

At this point, I'm probably either "Asheville/close by" or bust. I want a bigger city than where I am. I won't be happy long-term somewhere half as big as what I have now.

Johnson City, possibly Erwin, are still options. I've been spending more time outdoors in Unicoi County, and really like it.

[Serious Conversation]

I thought I would update this. Some things here have dragged out, but I will be putting my TN house by no later than June. I wanted to run this by you folks to see if I've maybe overlooked anything. Here are the criteria.

1) Within an hour of Asheville. That's pretty much non-negotiable. Somewhere like Burnsville is probably about as far as I'll go. Marion and Hendersonville are about as far as I'll go in other directions.

2) I'm not that keen on being south of the Arden/airport area for traffic reasons.

3) Asheville remains the most desirable, but I'm also considering places like Burnsville or maybe even Spruce Pine - prices are much lower, and I've seen some townhomes around Burnsville and off of Highway 80 at higher elevations that I'd like. It's also closer to the BRP as well. I'll probably be spending more time with my girlfriend, who leaves between Marshall and Weaverville, so I don't really know how often I'll be at this house.

4) I'm fine with cosmetic stuff to redo, but I don't want anything that isn't livable or needs a major systems overhaul. I'm not very handy and it's taken months to find a plumbing contractor to do a relatively simple job at her house.

Anything is decent in Asheville proper is gone almost immediately. I don't how long I'll be living in this place, but I'm seeing some potentially nice townhomes in the Lake Lure area. Does anyone have any thoughts on townhomes around Lake James? If Asheville isn't realistic, something like this might be the next best thing.