moving to western north carolina from louisiana (Asheville, Brevard: real estate, schools)

[catbunny]

Hi everyone......My family (2 boys, 8 and 9 years old, and hubby), is looking into moving to Western NC or Eastern TN from Louisiana. Hopefully I can get some help from ya'll on the pros and cons of each area. We just got back from vacationing in Lake Lure NC and loved the weather as well as the scenery there! I've read that several people that have moved to NC from the Northeast consider it too hot and humid, but obviously they haven't been to Louisiana!! That's one thing we want to escape from as well as the volitile storms and tornadoes. We are in the North part around Shreveport and are basically in what is considered "tornado alley".

What we are looking for is an area that offers land at a decent price which also has a good school system. Both of our boys are adopted/foster children and came to us with many problems, especially in school. The youngest has a major behavioral problem that requires special services which the school here does not offer. We would like a rural community large enough to supply our basic daily needs ,(at least one grocery store and maybe a small discount store or something) within about an hour from a larger city. My husband works in offshore oil, so we don't have to live in or near a large city for employment. I was also hoping someone could tell me about living expenses in both areas. I would really appreciate any info. Thanks

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by catbunny

Hi everyone......My family (2 boys, 8 and 9 years old, and hubby), is looking into moving to Western NC or Eastern TN from Louisiana. Hopefully I can get some help from ya'll on the pros and cons of each area. We just got back from vacationing in Lake Lure NC and loved the weather as well as the scenery there! I've read that several people that have moved to NC from the Northeast consider it too hot and humid, but obviously they haven't been to Louisiana!! That's one thing we want to escape from as well as the volitile storms and tornadoes. We are in the North part around Shreveport and are basically in what is considered "tornado alley".

What we are looking for is an area that offers land at a decent price which also has a good school system. Both of our boys are adopted/foster children and came to us with many problems, especially in school. The youngest has a major behavioral problem that requires special services which the school here does not offer. We would like a rural community large enough to supply our basic daily needs ,(at least one grocery store and maybe a small discount store or something) within about an hour from a larger city. My husband works in offshore oil, so we don't have to live in or near a large city for employment. I was also hoping someone could tell me about living expenses in both areas. I would really appreciate any info. Thanks

Hello from a Louisiana native As you can tell by my name, the mountains are my favorite place to be so I can understand how you feel.

Here's the good news, unlike so many other posters who show up asking for help in moving to the NC mountains, you actually can do it when so many of them can't. That's because your husband has a job and you are free to live where you want. Though I am curious...how do you guys plan for your husband to get back and froth from the oil fields all the way to NC every week (or 2)? That's quite a LONG drive!

There is only one "large" city in western NC, Asheville, which isn't even as big as Lafayette. In addition, it's a bit of a tourist/retirement area so it's more expensive to live there than other places.

I'd like to suggest the Brevard area - which still may be a bit expensive - but you could get out in the county and maybe find it more affordable (Transylvania County). The schools there are some of the best in that part of the state and it is really pretty.

What IS your price range?

[catbunny]

lovesMountains........thank you so much for responding to my questions. to answer a few of yours......Our price range depends on what we sell our place for here in Louisiana. As you well know, real estate here is worth considerably less than it is up there. What we have here is paid for, so we would be able to apply what we make off of it to the new place up there. We are thinking in the $250,000 - $300,000 range. Being country people, we would definately not be happy living in a subdivision or fancy gated community. We'd like to find something with at least 20 acres of land. Currently we live on a lake and absolutely love the lake part, but don't like the close proximity to neighbors and we have no room for gardening or hunting which we would like. What would appeal to us would be an old farmhouse that's maybe a "fixer upper" on some acreage or something like that. We don't require something to be turn key ready to move into as we are both pretty handy and aren't afraid of gettting our hands dirty.

As for my husband getting to work, right now his rig is in Canada, so he has to fly to get there anyway. As long as there's an airport not over an hour away, we're good.

What part of Louisiana are you from?? We live in Northern La close to Shreveport, but lived in Kenner for 3 years.

Again, thank you so much for the info. I'm gonna look into it online as soon as the kids go to bed. Thanks!!