Western North CarolinaThe Mountain Region including Asheville
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I am retired and will be relocating in a few months. I have been looking in Chattanooga and Florida. I know, I know, but there were reasons for such a seemingly insane pairing.
In any event, I have now shifted to WNC as my primary search area, specifically the general Hendersonville area, which seems quite attractive when viewed on line.
Prowling the Hendersonville real estate listings via Zillow, I have been struck by the long market times of some of the properties, quite a few of which are vacant, even after price reductions. Some listings are recent sales that have gone back on the market at substantially increased asking prices for such a short off market interval. Flippers at work? Market peaking?
If anyone has some insight into the Hendersonville real estate market they would care to share, I would love to hear it. What does someone looking in the area need to know that might not be apparent?
Info on what I am looking for:
Minimum 3 bedroom 1.5 bath single family home.
Rough price range of 200K to 250K.
Large enough lot or acreage to provide some privacy.
Attached garage or detached garage and attached carport.
Quiet neighborhood, no junky properties nearby.
High speed Internet access. (no satellite)
HOA acceptable if minimal fees and rules.
I am close enough to do a day trip to the area for a look see. What is it that I shouldn't miss?
The Hendersonville area is very nice, but it is difficult to zero in on your wants and needs unless you have actually visited the Western NC area. The housing market is still brisk in Hendersonville and the surrounding towns; listings have dropped off somewhat in certain price ranges because inventory is low. If you are not here to 'buy' the best thing to do is get a good map from a real estate office and have an agent highlight the subdivisions and roads that will lead you to homes in your price range. Yes, a good agent will do that if you are honest and have no need to 'get into' listings. (I did that several times and the people who decided they wanted to be here were loyal, and came back to me when ready.) City Data's terms of service do not allow posters to refer or post links to Realtors' websites. Caveat: please don't use Zillow, it is not accurate, and homes are not staying on the market for a long time unless they are either overpriced, poorly located or require a lot of work regardless of price. www.Realtor.com is the only accurate and up to date website directly from the nationwide and local MLS.
You may have to look in a higher price range or trim down your list of wants. $250K is 'about' average and you most likely will not get 'acreage'; you would have to be quite rural to get acreage. Increase your price range up to $299K and you will see more properties. This is not a flipper's market here, many homes in our selling season (from April to October) sold in a very short time. "Market peaking" is an unknown, no one can speculate or predict. e.g., there are 190 homes in one over 55 subdivision here, and 26 of them sold and closed during selling season. We may, or may not, have a similar market next year. And yes, when you decide to buy, get all of the disclosures, financial documents, long range planning financials and so forth if you end up in an HOA. (imo) HOA's are breeding grounds for power hungry people who have little or nothing else to do and have a 'need' to manage people.) There are some very good HOA's but you have to do your homework.
Hope this helps. Best wishes on your relocation, wherever you decide to settle.
In any event, I have now shifted to WNC as my primary search area, specifically the general Hendersonville area, which seems quite attractive when viewed on line.
I have been struck by the long market times of some of the properties, quite a few of which are vacant, even after price reductions. Some listings are recent sales that have gone back on the market at substantially increased asking prices for such a short off market interval. Flippers at work? Market peaking?
Well, a lot of people in this area move to Asheville and nearby cities like Hendersonville, quickly find it's not for them, and then move out again.
There's more crime and drugs here than a lot of people think of when they think of small towns.
Just recently there was a gun standoff with police by the YMCA and at the Apple Valley middle school a woman brought a gun on the property (luckily cops swarmed with shotguns before anything happened).
A while back there was a meth lab that got busted right in downtown. A few years ago they had swat out for a gunman running around by the public pool. Near the library a guy attacked a pair of police and was shot. And so on and so on. All sorts of crazy stuff like that.
Not to mention the town is heavily Republican and there is a good amount of support for the Tea Party there as well.
Although it is quaint and the craziness doesn't happen all that much.
Biggest issue is traffic for the most part.
You'll prob want to bump your price range up by 50k and be willing to get by with little acreage. The trend seems to be bigger houses, but smaller lots. Not sure about the quality of construction, but I do know it's not great with what I've got. As far as junky places it's hit or miss. Lots of trailers in random locations.
There are a number of illegals in Hendersonville, which you will see when/if you go out to Walmart or Smiley's Flea Market (in nearby Fletcher). Not sure if that's an issue for you or not.
I think a lot of people look at Hendersonville and other nearby cities as a cheaper alternative to Asheville, but then they discover it's not that much cheaper. I also think a lot of people coming to this area think they can just walk out their door and be in nature with a trail to hike, but in reality you're most likely going to have to drive 20-30 minutes and sit in traffic to do so.
Internet coverage is decent, but slow. I think there's only one company in the area so you're basically stuck with them. Although depending on where you're at you will need a signal booster if you want phone service in a lot of the areas.
Oh yeah, almost forgot you have to keep on the lookout for bears! Personally I haven't seen one (outside of the nature preserve) since I've moved to NC, but members of my family have.
I agree with QC. I have a budget of $200,000 and have been looking since May. There have a been a few houses that were nice, but too small for my family of 5. We also want at least an acre and no restrictions, so it has made my search more difficult.
We just now found a piece of land (close to Flat Rock), now we just have to wait for the perk test. A lot of the homes I have seen on realtor's websites are fixer uppers (with land), if you want newer then your neighbor will more then likely be right on top of you or like I like to say "reach out and touch" them. I found more houses in the $300,000-400,00 price range then $200,000-250,000.
Zillow is not bad for looking around, but they do have houses listed are not on market. The realtor I am working with has not done any searches for me at all. I have done all the work myself. All he has done is put in the offer or show me a few houses that I found and wanted to look at. So be careful with who you go with.
I moved to Hendersonville from the Chicago area two years ago.
We did look in Asheville, but we could get much more house for the money in Hendersonville.
We found that we had to go to a $300,000 to $350,000 price range to get the kind of house we wanted. We were looking for a better than average quality house and we found a 2200 square foot, one level home, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, formal dining room, 11 foot ceilings, crown molding, granite countertops, hardwood floors and a 1/2 acre lot.
The time of year is definitely going to affect your housing selection. We purchased in October and there weren't a lot of houses to choose from in our price range (for our requirements). I would have had more choice, but I wanted a gas range (hate cooking with electric).
In terms of land or privacy, you may be hard pressed to find more than a 1/2 acre to an acre for your budget. The privacy can actually be more a function of where the house is than how much land you have. Our backyard neighbors are actually closer than I like because we live up the mountain from them. On the other hand, we can't actually see any of our neighbors because there are so many trees around our house. We do hear them on occasion. One issue you may run into is barking dogs. A lot of people here seem to keep their dogs outside 24/7 and the county animal control isn't really keen on answering dog noise complaints.
This area doesn't have strict zoning, so homeowner's associations are the way building rules get enforced. We really did not want a HOA, but ended up buying in a subdivision that has one. Our HOA rules were one page long and only focused on the type, size, construction and setbacks for the house. There are no crazy rules about parking, the color of your house, or how many rose bushes you have. We pay $25.00 a year so our entrance signs can be lighted and landscaped. The HOA does a lot of social activities like movie and dinner or a block party. It's perfect for us.
If you don't buy in a HOA neighborhood, there is no telling what the guy who owns the land next to you will do with it. We looked at one house where the land next door had a big metal barn that the guy used to store his race cars in. We liked the house, but who knows what the next owner is going to use that building for.
In terms of how long the houses stay on the market, you have to understand that a lot of the homes here are second homes or belong to retirees. The owner doesn't have to sell so it often takes a while for the to realize that their house isn't worth what they thought. I looked at a couple of homes where my realtor said they go on the market every spring and then off the market every fall. The owners were stubborn about the price and didn't really need to sell.
As I said, I'm from Chicago so the crime here seems non-existent to me. The incidents mentioned by another commenter really don't affect my everyday life. I'm a woman and I feel very comfortable any where I go in Henderson, Transylvania and Buncombe counties, day or night. We do live in a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else, so that probably helps.
One other issue is property taxes. If you buy within the town limits, your taxes will be higher than if you buy outside the town limits. Just be aware of what you're paying for. I like my town services which include garbage, recycling and leaf and brush pickup. I paid more for those services in Chicago than I pay in taxes for them here.
Internet and TV - We chose Morris Broadband. We got basic cable and their fastest, residential internet. We pay $107 a month. We are more than satisfied with them. When our kids come to visit, we have four computers connected and no slowdown in internet speed. We regularly stream TV shows.
Traffic - this is probably my biggest pet peeve about the area (including Asheville). I find that the drivers here, both young and old, are pretty bad. I've lived in Chicago, Austin, and Detroit. I've driven in about half of the states in the U.S. The drivers here are a pretty bad. The traffic itself is not terrible in terms of number of cars, but a lot of people go under the speed limit, stay in the left lane, refuse to use their turn signals and think the double yellow lines are just a suggestion. I've seen people come to a complete stop in the left lane just so they can move over into the completely empty turn lane. This is a daily occurrence. Some insist it's because there are so many elderly drivers, but I've seen people of all ages commit the same infractions.
The wildlife here is outstanding. We went out for a half day last week and saw wild turkeys, two fawns, a snake, a groundhog, and a blue heron. We weren't even in what you'd call wilderness. Most of it was in our neighborhood. Black bears regularly visit our yard. Don't be afraid of the bears. They are very skittish so if you just make some noise, they run off. You do need to be aware and make sure you don't get between a mama and her cub.
Utilities are more expensive than they were in Chicago, for gas, electric and water. This is offset by the milder climate. We're at 2000 ft elevation and this summer we used our A/C for about 2 weeks. We keep our heat at 73 in the winter and my gas bill is around $100-$150 a month in the colder months.
We absolutely love it here and are very glad we picked Hendersonville. It's close enough to both Asheville and Greenville that we have the pleasure of living in a small town with more amenities a half hour to hour away.
One issue I didn't realize would be an issue when we moved here is that it can be tough to get anywhere else by plane. I was invited to go to Las Vegas by a friend who had a free hotel for 3 days. I could not even get to Vegas in less than 8 hours so it just wasn't doable. We do use the Greenville/Spartanburg airport instead of the Asheville airport. It's about an hour from Hendersonville, is never very busy and it's cheaper to fly out of than the Asheville airport. I regularly pay over $600 round trip for my kid to get here from a major city in Texas and it always takes at least one plane change.
I agree with QC. I have a budget of $200,000 and have been looking since May. There have a been a few houses that were nice, but too small for my family of 5. We also want at least an acre and no restrictions, so it has made my search more difficult.
We just now found a piece of land (close to Flat Rock), now we just have to wait for the perk test. A lot of the homes I have seen on realtor's websites are fixer uppers (with land), if you want newer then your neighbor will more then likely be right on top of you or like I like to say "reach out and touch" them. I found more houses in the $300,000-400,00 price range then $200,000-250,000.
Zillow is not bad for looking around, but they do have houses listed are not on market. The realtor I am working with has not done any searches for me at all. I have done all the work myself. All he has done is put in the offer or show me a few houses that I found and wanted to look at. So be careful with who you go with.
$300K to $400K is totally not necessary for the OP. Many people 'think' they want acreage, but again, not necessary. A half acre is a very nice spread between homes. I'll stick by my opinion that the OP can be comfy for under $300K all day long. With a 'used' home in any price range, you have to be willing to make the changes that suit you. When building from the ground up, beware of the 'upgrades', that is where most people are shocked. It is difficult to keep the upgrades under control. Land actually in Flat Rock is very pricey in the better areas of Flat Rock. There is also East Flat Rock which is not as desireable, yet has the same zip code so that makes them feel better.
I moved to Hendersonville from the Chicago area two years ago.
We did look in Asheville, but we could get much more house for the money in Hendersonville.
We found that we had to go to a $300,000 to $350,000 price range to get the kind of house we wanted. We were looking for a better than average quality house and we found a 2200 square foot, one level home, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, formal dining room, 11 foot ceilings, crown molding, granite countertops, hardwood floors and a 1/2 acre lot.
The time of year is definitely going to affect your housing selection. We purchased in October and there weren't a lot of houses to choose from in our price range (for our requirements). I would have had more choice, but I wanted a gas range (hate cooking with electric).
In terms of land or privacy, you may be hard pressed to find more than a 1/2 acre to an acre for your budget. The privacy can actually be more a function of where the house is than how much land you have. Our backyard neighbors are actually closer than I like because we live up the mountain from them. On the other hand, we can't actually see any of our neighbors because there are so many trees around our house. We do hear them on occasion. One issue you may run into is barking dogs. A lot of people here seem to keep their dogs outside 24/7 and the county animal control isn't really keen on answering dog noise complaints.
This area doesn't have strict zoning, so homeowner's associations are the way building rules get enforced. We really did not want a HOA, but ended up buying in a subdivision that has one. Our HOA rules were one page long and only focused on the type, size, construction and setbacks for the house. There are no crazy rules about parking, the color of your house, or how many rose bushes you have. We pay $25.00 a year so our entrance signs can be lighted and landscaped. The HOA does a lot of social activities like movie and dinner or a block party. It's perfect for us.
If you don't buy in a HOA neighborhood, there is no telling what the guy who owns the land next to you will do with it. We looked at one house where the land next door had a big metal barn that the guy used to store his race cars in. We liked the house, but who knows what the next owner is going to use that building for.
In terms of how long the houses stay on the market, you have to understand that a lot of the homes here are second homes or belong to retirees. The owner doesn't have to sell so it often takes a while for the to realize that their house isn't worth what they thought. I looked at a couple of homes where my realtor said they go on the market every spring and then off the market every fall. The owners were stubborn about the price and didn't really need to sell.
As I said, I'm from Chicago so the crime here seems non-existent to me. The incidents mentioned by another commenter really don't affect my everyday life. I'm a woman and I feel very comfortable any where I go in Henderson, Transylvania and Buncombe counties, day or night. We do live in a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else, so that probably helps.
One other issue is property taxes. If you buy within the town limits, your taxes will be higher than if you buy outside the town limits. Just be aware of what you're paying for. I like my town services which include garbage, recycling and leaf and brush pickup. I paid more for those services in Chicago than I pay in taxes for them here.
Internet and TV - We chose Morris Broadband. We got basic cable and their fastest, residential internet. We pay $107 a month. We are more than satisfied with them. When our kids come to visit, we have four computers connected and no slowdown in internet speed. We regularly stream TV shows.
Traffic - this is probably my biggest pet peeve about the area (including Asheville). I find that the drivers here, both young and old, are pretty bad. I've lived in Chicago, Austin, and Detroit. I've driven in about half of the states in the U.S. The drivers here are a pretty bad. The traffic itself is not terrible in terms of number of cars, but a lot of people go under the speed limit, stay in the left lane, refuse to use their turn signals and think the double yellow lines are just a suggestion. I've seen people come to a complete stop in the left lane just so they can move over into the completely empty turn lane. This is a daily occurrence. Some insist it's because there are so many elderly drivers, but I've seen people of all ages commit the same infractions.
The wildlife here is outstanding. We went out for a half day last week and saw wild turkeys, two fawns, a snake, a groundhog, and a blue heron. We weren't even in what you'd call wilderness. Most of it was in our neighborhood. Black bears regularly visit our yard. Don't be afraid of the bears. They are very skittish so if you just make some noise, they run off. You do need to be aware and make sure you don't get between a mama and her cub.
Utilities are more expensive than they were in Chicago, for gas, electric and water. This is offset by the milder climate. We're at 2000 ft elevation and this summer we used our A/C for about 2 weeks. We keep our heat at 73 in the winter and my gas bill is around $100-$150 a month in the colder months.
We absolutely love it here and are very glad we picked Hendersonville. It's close enough to both Asheville and Greenville that we have the pleasure of living in a small town with more amenities a half hour to hour away.
One issue I didn't realize would be an issue when we moved here is that it can be tough to get anywhere else by plane. I was invited to go to Las Vegas by a friend who had a free hotel for 3 days. I could not even get to Vegas in less than 8 hours so it just wasn't doable. We do use the Greenville/Spartanburg airport instead of the Asheville airport. It's about an hour from Hendersonville, is never very busy and it's cheaper to fly out of than the Asheville airport. I regularly pay over $600 round trip for my kid to get here from a major city in Texas and it always takes at least one plane change.
Good luck with your move!
When Chicago, NY, NJ, CA, and 'big city' people move here and complain about what 'they don't have here', they quickly learn to heed the advice to not 'let the door hit you ......" and so forth. If it was so damned good where you were, why are you here? Hopefully not to have what you had. You all came here to escape what you had ... so don't complain about what you have or what you think you need. If you didn't do enough homework, shame on you. Not shame on us.
We do NOT want what you had before, or even what WE had before. I spent half my life in the northeast, and pray that I never have to go back there and I've never wished for what I had up there, and I had a lot believe me and I worked ungodly hours to get it and maintain it. The laid back southern lifestyle invites you 'in' and whispers: RELAX, chill out, and assimilate. The superficialities are not important here.
Let's keep it that way! When other posters come on and ask for a moderate lifestyle, it's not necessary to tell them that you couldn't find it; everyone has different wants and needs, and different size wallets. Many people want less than what they had, believe it or not. They don't need to buy a $400K house here because they sold a $750K house 'there' and have money to throw around because they want a mountain view. Priorities boys and girls.
OK, thanks now ... for listening to my rant for the day.
I'm surprised someone mentioned seeing deer as this area has to be one of the least populated I've been in for them. Up north you'd always have to worry about them running in front of you at night, but here not so much.
Interesting replies. Thanks to all of you. Now, one more question.
I just discovered that NC has something called a Due Diligence fee. I've lived in 10 different states and have never heard of that one before. I have now read up on it. Apparently, it is not applied evenly across the state. What is the normal practice regarding the fee in the Hendersonville area?
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