Where to rent and buy in north Asheville and Black Mountain

[HDL]

I spent quite a bit of money traveling to North and South Carolina in 2003 and 2004 (from Northern CA) looking for a home and a job ! I had it narrowed down to Greenville SC, but when I started to run out of cash and had no job prospects, I just gave up . Add in fireants, humidity and all the hurricanes hitting the east coast in late August / September of 2004, and I moved my RELO search back to the West Coast !

After doing more research and getting a job offer , I decided to move to Boise instead and the rest, as they say, is HerStory !!! Oh, and I bought a HUGE home here because I thought I would be having some other people living with me, and that didn't turn out to be the case . So now I got a BIG home that I really LOVE, but is just too much for me, no job and I really don't know WHAT I want to do with my life when I grow up .

Now what was your question again????! LOL !! Honestly, when I sell, I don't know where I will go !!! Aren't you sorry now that you asked question Jan ?!

Originally Posted by the Parkies

Thanks, HDL! I think you're in Boise. Are you planning to move to WNC soon?

[the Parkies]

Well, ain't life an adventure!! Just makes ya wanna do it all over again, don't it??

Wait. Fireants, humidity, and hurricanes are on the coast, right? or at least in the Piedmont? Not in Greenville, not in WNC, right? Just want to check my info.

Idaho has been drawing a TON of folks from CA. It must have a lot going for it, no?

Um... Your house may be too big and your job too little, but you sure haven't lost your sense of humor!!! You must be very young.... HA HA....

Seriously, if you could live anywhere you want, I mean assuming you could afford to, where would that be? And what job skills/experience do you have to bring with you? I'm thinking that if you still long to live in the Carolinas, well, it IS going to become a buyer's market here, don'tcha think?

Or do you just love those fresh-off-the-farm Boise potatoes??

Jan

[HDL]

Out of respect for your thread and those reading it, I will answer your questions in a DM so as to stay ON TOPIC !!! But you'll have to wait a bit Jan, as I've got chores to do first !!!

Originally Posted by the Parkies

Well, ain't life an adventure!! Just makes ya wanna do it all over again, don't it??

Wait. Fireants, humidity, and hurricanes are on the coast, right? or at least in the Piedmont? Not in Greenville, not in WNC, right? Just want to check my info.

Idaho has been drawing a TON of folks from CA. It must have a lot going for it, no?

Um... Your house may be too big and your job too little, but you sure haven't lost your sense of humor!!! You must be very young.... HA HA....

Seriously, if you could live anywhere you want, I mean assuming you could afford to, where would that be? And what job skills/experience do you have to bring with you? I'm thinking that if you still long to live in the Carolinas, well, it IS going to become a buyer's market here, don'tcha think?

Or do you just love those fresh-off-the-farm Boise potatoes??

Jan

[the Parkies]

Me, too! Mashin' up some of those Idaho potatoes!!--YUM!!!

[2kate]

took the tour! wow on the views but I kept looking for you 2 around every corner!

[the Parkies]

Funny you should say that... our San Diego realtor-friend who lives next door just said the same thing. She said there's not one thing left in the house that suggests our personalities, yet for her and her hubby the house is "spirited" by Jan and Bill. Well, after 38 years in that house...!

It was so right for us all those years. It is so wrong for us now in the autumn of our lives. We have begun our internet search for an Asheville north/east home that's right for soon-to-be old-timers!

[lorriem]

Originally Posted by the Parkies

So you thought we were busy looking for a house here, huh? HA HA! SO MUCH FOR THE BEST-LAID PLANS OF MICE & MEN! We haven't even had time for our forum friends! (Thanks for missing us, lovesMountains!)

Since I last wrote on Feb. 14, we have passed two big milestones in our Herculean effort to sell our CA house: (1) CA's horrid 17-day(!) buyer's remorse period; and (2) signing off on the inspection contingency (just yesterday)!!! Now there’s a story worth telling to suffering comrades in this sick market:

As you may remember, our house--despite a unique and phenomenal 180-degree view, from all main rooms, of San Diego city and bay--has been nearly impossible to sell because of its 40 steps from street to top floor... and 26 steps from car and garage to kitchen. Today's young people can't afford the house, and older people don't want the staircases or a 50-year-old house that hasn't been remodeled in 20 years (doesn't time fly!). So we kept slashing the price every couple of months until we're practically doing a fire sale now. What else could we do?--install a funicular (lift)? We considered that. But that would entail far more time and money than we could manage, given the complexity, and there would still be no guarantee of a sale. So we just hung in there.

So who are our buyers?? A pre-approved couple maybe 60 years old who intend to live in the house as their primary (and only) residence and don't care about its brutal access or need for updating. Imagine that!! Yeah, yeah, well, that's because the husband is a commercial contractor and broker!!! He knows he's getting the house dirt cheap (excellent long-range investment) and he gets buying agent's commission, since he represents himself. The best part is that he has the wherewithal (money, knowledge, business contacts) to do anything he wants to do to improve the property, including its brutal access. He's planning major reshaping of the hardscape, both front and back. She has been measuring wall space to make sure it fits her antique furniture; she is thrilled to have our double office as her music room. They are excited!! Did you get that part about pre-approved?? Hallelujah!

Don't get me wrong. It hasn't been easy. These buyers have moxy. Their "hired gun" was an inspector who combed our property for five hours with a computer and camera, then presented a 44-page(!) report. Buyers followed up with a four-page letter of demand for money for repairs. I had three nightmares in one night. I felt abused and totally at the buyers' mercy, while Bill was clenching his teeth so hard his jaw muscles seemed permanently carved on his face; and his eyes were wild. But we got through it. In the end, we agreed to $6,000 in repairs we had not anticipated, but it’s costing us every month we don’t sell, too! (Our Hendersonville rental alone is $1,750.)

Today we filled out escrow papers and mailed them back. What a relief!!!

And that, dear friends, is where we've been lately. Selling this house has been the toughest thing we've ever had to do. There were days when all we did was mope. When we close escrow on March 17, St. Patrick's Day, we will have suffered through almost 14 months of high hopes and deep disappointments, countless cleanings and showings, and five or six painful price slashes. THIS St. Patrick's Day, I just may get drunk and disorderly, and I’m not even Irish!!!

Here's the virtual tour of our house for those interested in sharing our goodbye to it. The still photos capture the long-range views best, but it’s hard for any camera to pick those up. They’re incredible, and they change by the day and hour!! Moderator cut: url removed

BEST of luck to those of you still trying to sell. As a neighbor formerly in the car business calmly and confidently assured us months ago while he was still struggling to sell his 27th house (please excuse the coarse language), "There's an a__ for every seat." What strange comfort that odd remark brought at those times we felt discouraged!!!

NEW BEGINNINGS: We have seen only five houses for sale here (weeks ago), and none of them was right for us. We will soon resume our search in north and east Asheville--not in Black Mountain, we have reluctantly decided, since most of our needs will be in Asheville. We may have to extend our search up Merrimon Rd. toward Weaverville, though we hope not. We'd like to live within ten minutes of UNC-Asheville and the downtown (and just zip out I-240 to Black Mountain twice a week or so). Our first priorities will be location and floor plan (single level).

We will now search with a much more pleasant mindset. It will be SO MUCH FUN to find ourselves finally walking “on the sunny side of the street,” as Bill puts it.

THANK YOU for sharing and supporting us in our long and arduous journey. We’ll keep you posted, friends, and you will continue in our thoughts and prayers!

Jan & Bill

Jan
I just had to read your post to my hubby. Our realtor called again today and the buyer needs $4000 more to close so her realtor is giving back the $1000 bonus money from us and our realtor is taking $500 less from us and the biggie is that we had to drop the price of the home another $5000 . She will now have her extra $4000. Hubby thinks he is giving away the house. I dread tomorrow which is inspection day which is why hubby was told to read your post. I know it will cost us. How much who knows but at least he can see we are not alone.
Thank you for posting that post I think it has helped him.
Lorrie

[the Parkies]

Originally Posted by lorriem

Jan
I just had to read your post to my hubby. Our realtor called again today and the buyer needs $4000 more to close so her realtor is giving back the $1000 bonus money from us and our realtor is taking $500 less from us and the biggie is that we had to drop the price of the home another $5000 . She will now have her extra $4000. Hubby thinks he is giving away the house. I dread tomorrow which is inspection day which is why hubby was told to read your post. I know it will cost us. How much who knows but at least he can see we are not alone.
Thank you for posting that post I think it has helped him.
Lorrie

I'm sorry that I couldn't quite follow the math, Lorrie, but I got the bottom line: You had to drop the price of the home another $5,000. I also understand your dread of inspection day (now over with!)--I can totally relate! We didn't hear the results of inspection for five days, and it was like a funeral around here while we waited.... Then the unwelcome news that we needed to cough up more money YET for a 50-year-old home!!

Know what we learned? IT'S ALL SMALL STUFF IN THE BIG PICTURE. And so we prepared ourselves for MORE "small stuff." Didn't have to wait long....

Just two days ago, we heard again from our San Diego realtor. The BUYER'S insurance company is investigating a claim we made against OUR insurance company four years ago (a claim we originally DISCLOSED to the buyer, as required by CA law). That claim was settled and closed at that time (for $1,900), BUT the buyer's insurance company wants to inspect the dry rot area that was repaired (which is fine with us!) and wants written "PROOF" that it was fixed (AH, there's the rub). We can understand an insurance company's concern about assuming liability for a house which may (how can they know??) have long-term ongoing problems. We DO NOT have existing problems with our property, but we can totally understand the insurance company's concern! So of course! we want to document and "PROVE" that the old (and minor) problem has been permanently fixed!!!

Unfortunately, given California's suit-happy mentality, the owner of our pest control company refuses to give us anything in writing to satisfy that request for proof! All we have is his invoice for "termite repair work," which isn't specific enough to satisfy the need. He'll talk to anyone on the phone, but refuses to put anything in writing. This after 38 years as his customer. AHHHHHHHH......!! I'm sure we'll get it resolved somehow, but it takes lots of time AND temporarily takes the wind out of our sails.....

This latest issue will no doubt end up being just another "bump in the road" and cost us nothing but aggravation. BUT: Even if it WERE to cost us another few thousand, we'll STILL be celebrating the beginning of our new lives in WNC at close of escrow on March 17. We have learned--gradually and with pain along the way--to accept PAIN, first of all, as part of life, and to focus on the BIG picture, which isn't always or only about MONEY.

Life is in fact about everything ELSE, we have finally learned. Money is merely a FACILITATOR. It is important in that it meets practical needs. So, while we gnash our teeth and deal with nightmares at the loss of yet another few thousand dollars, Bill and I also TRY to keep our perspective. We will never be hungry. We will never be cold. We will never be without a roof over our heads. We will always flourish in the warmth of whatever friendship we choose to seek out and nourish. We will always be SO much more fortunate than millions of other good people struggling to survive in the world we all share. And we will ALWAYS find comfort and courage in the love of God, who sustains us.

THIS philosophy from ordinary, hard-working, middle-class retired folks who have lost HALF THEIR LIFETIME ASSETS this past year to the tumbling CA real estate market!! If MONEY were our god--hey!--Bill and I would both be falling on our swords this evening.

Friends, I do not mean to suggest that our growing perspective has been EASY. We TRY to keep a few thousand dollars, and then a few thousand dollars more, and then a few thousand dollars more, in perspective. Believe me, it has NOT been easy. We are now living on a fixed retirement income while supporting two houses (one owned, one rented). We had a difficult discussion just this evening, in fact, over how much we should add to our realtor's contractual commission for finally selling our house. If you knew what she has DONE for us for 14 months (everything but donate a kidney), I hope you would laugh at the insignificance of any bonus we might give her! Yet we struggled over it just today.....

I have come to believe that it's an automatic knee-jerk reflex, ultimately, that builds a wall around us and our money, making us as defensive as a mother bear protecting cubs. In the end, anxiety about money easily separates us from the good, giving, peaceful people we are inside! If we could just learn to let go of our death-grip on money (beyond our needs), I think we could be far happier people!!

PEACE to you, Lorrie and hubby, and all the rest of you struggling like us to figure out what's important--and what's not!!

Jan

[HDL]

Good post Jan!!! I agree with you and can understand your perspective :-) I hope that you got my DM and I will keep you in my prayers that all goes according to God's plan and timing!

Congratulations on your move last week too Lorrie and I will be praying that your FL home sells soon also!

Blessings,

~HDL~

[daintylu]

Originally Posted by the Parkies

Thanks, Gypsy! We'll definitely check all of those out. It seems so obvious now that we should locate east of Asheville. Man, this mental process is interesting!

I've also had a huge insight today about how I've changed since I left San Diego just last October. I was a "city girl" in CA and unwittingly brought my city mentality with me here. For as long as I can remember, I've looked forward to living in some big, fancy development like Carriage Park or The Ramble, with ultra-modern everything and a fancy clubhouse.

Today I realized I'm a mountain girl at heart, and I want a mountain home! No gates, no HOAs, no granite/corian/slate, no fake gas fireplace. I want a real, old-fashioned wood-burning fireplace. I want to be surrounded by mature trees and lots of wildlife. And I want long-distance views of those eternal mountains. Which means I'll probably buy an older home and renovate whatever needs renovating--and that's fine. Old and traditional is warm and cozy and genuine compared to the plastic new housing on balded mud flats that we've been looking at.

Funny how long it took for me to realize that coming home to the mountains will be a lot more meaningful and fun if I leave the city girl behind!! I LOVE THE NEW ME!!! Bill does, too. He says I just saved him a few hundred thousand dollars--LOL!

Ain't life fun!

Jan

Jan,

I'm living in West Palm Beach, FL, but I am from LA. I am 54, divorcing and looking to move from Florida because it is soooo hot & humid in the summer. Cannot afford to live in CA any longer, and would never go back to LA anyway, but I really miss the mountains.

It seems that you have been there for more than a year now. Can you tell me what you like and don't like about that area? I too am looking for a smaller town than WPB. I want to see fall foliage, and have a REAL fireplace. Would you be willing to share?

Thanks

Lucie