I work with someone who is looking to retire in that area. I lived there back in the day ('99) and I've read that that buying a home there is much more expensive now. Are there any areas surrounding Asheville that are still more reasonably priced? Does anyone know how the property taxes are there? My coworker is looking for something in the 2,000 sq ft. range.

8/19/2007 11:10:56 AM

My wife and I live in Haywood County, which borders Buncombe where Asheville is located. It is true, the housing market has exploded out of the roof here. However, there remains a few places not too far from Asheville where reasonable homes can still be purchased. North of Asheville is Woodfin; there are a few decent homes/land areas still there. Above Woodfin is Weaverville. Weaverville is an area that has both the small town feel, and the closeness of downtown Asheville. I wouldn't suggest any areas that are west of Asheville (Enka/Candler area) as most all the homes are either entirely overpriced or complete dumps. Madison County to the north has some decent prices the further from Asheville you go. However, most everything within, say 15 miles of the greater Asheville area, is simply overpriced. It all depends on what the coworker is looking to pay. If we were set on living near Asheville, Weaverville would be the top of our list of places to look. Additionally, my sister and her husband live in Weaverville and they absolutely love it there.

PS> We are in the process of buying a house right now in the Bethel area of Haywood County, and we have been looking at many homes from Sylva to East Asheville. We have looked at all the homes/land ads, books, flyers, etc for Haywood/Buncombe Counties. Don't try to go west, east or south, unless you get at least 20 minutes from Asheville. Property taxes are going up everywhere, but especially in the Asheville and surrounding smaller towns.

9/19/2007 10:00:14 PM

I live in Hendersonville about 20 miles outside of downtown Asheville. We picked Hendersonville because Asheville was out of our price range (for something that wasn't a total dump) and it seems like growth is moving this way. Asheville has no place left to develop but the south side of town so S. Asheville, Arden, and Fletcher are building up and real estate is getting pricier in those areas. We were hoping it would eventually move out to Hendersonville and property values would go up here as well. Our taxes are the lowest out of all the surrounding counties (Buncombe, Polk, Transylvania, Madison, Haywood) and are quite reasonable. Hendersonville is a pretty cute little town so we're happy, and we're close enough to Asheville to enjoy it whenever we want.

9/24/2007 10:53:37 AM

nuqo

9/24/2007 9:42:13 PM

Hendersonville, Brevard, Mills River, etc. are all still pretty cheap and within 20 minutes of anywhere you would want to be in Asheville.

9/26/2007 3:27:02 PM