<p>How has the real estate bubble impacted the Virginia/NC mountains? Is it possible to get a place (approx 2400 sq. ft) with a nice view but also accessible to a moderate sized town with shopping/restaurants/etc. without breaking the bank? How about also on a lake?</p>
<p>Sure–for around $200,000-$300,000 or so depending. Asheville is very nice and still reasonable. Staunton, Roanoke, Lynchburg, etc all have some view homes in or near town. Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia is the fastest growing area in the state and not too expensive yet. Just a few minutes from Lynchburg and Roanoke.
For example</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lynchburgmls.com/cust_mls/cust_srchsfh_res.asp?sqlargs=(220364,H[/url],,)”>http://www.lynchburgmls.com/cust_mls/cust_srchsfh_res.asp?sqlargs=(220364,H,,)</a></p>
<p>Better link. Look under residential-Bedford County</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lynchburgmls.com/default1.asp[/url]”>http://www.lynchburgmls.com/default1.asp</a></p>
<p>barrons, if I send you all my so calif clients can we work out a referral system? ;)</p>
<p>I have a friend who lives near Peterborough, NH – apparently the area attracts a goodly number of retired folks, many who summered in the area prior to retirement.</p>
<p>It is very pretty there, charming New England town etc.</p>
<p>I have been thinking about becoming a residential agent when I retire back in Virginia. Until then I only provide information with no financial interest, etc.<br>
Most SoCal folks could afford a few houses at Va prices once you get away from DC area and C’Ville to an extent.</p>
<p>Hanover (NH) itself has a substantial retired population; so does the Sunapee/Enfield area. All close enogh to Boston via interstate for day or weekend trips, and also convenient for taking advatange of Dartmouth cultural activities. And of course good medical facilties because of DHMC</p>
<p>Barrons, thanks. According to this site <a href=“http://smith-mountain-lake.com/[/url]”>http://smith-mountain-lake.com/</a> it is 30-45 minutes to Roanoke or Lynchburg. Call me lazy, but that is a long drive to go out to eat. Other than that, the lake looks great.</p>
<p>
Now there’s a nice pollyanna view of our seasons up here. We definitely have Mud; it’s just that soozie’s not admitting that it <em>replaces</em> Spring, doesn’t add to it. ;)</p>
<p>But I totally agree with soozie that, for a Gulf Coaster, a second home in NH/Vt/Maine is a beautiful thing. Come up here for (at least) July-October; avoid the hot-humids, experience the absolute glory of fall. Go down there for deep winter and “mud.”</p>
<p>FF–when you are retired a 30-45 minute drive means something to do that day. During my year off semi-retirement deal we’d drive an hour to C’Ville just for breakfast.</p>
<p>One of my tennis friends was commenting that she takes 2x as long to do everything now that she is retired. Nothing is a rush… Going to the vegetable market can be a field trip.</p>
<p>All kidding aside, there are several articles that recommend college towns as ideal retirement communities. Lots of social, sports, theatrical, events, concerts, lectures, etc. I think its a great idea. Here are several articles about this. the last article lists AARP’s :eek: top 10 retirement community picks. Many are college towns.
<a href=“http://www.collegetownlife.com/college/ct_retire.htm[/url]”>http://www.collegetownlife.com/college/ct_retire.htm</a>
<a href=“http://www.collegetownlife.com/[/url]”>http://www.collegetownlife.com/</a>
<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7193144/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7193144/</a>
<a href=“AARP The Magazine - Feel Great. Save Money. Have Fun.”>http://www.aarpmagazine.org/travel/Articles/a2003-03-27-mag-bestplaces.html</a></p>
<p>Barrons,</p>
<p>figured I would just pick a place to retire before I needed to and before we couldn’t afford the area, so yep NC is were we ended up when leaving Cali 4 years ago. Of course we had that lovely stop over (sojourn) in Vegas before getting here but are happy I moved the fam here. Yep, there are 4 seasons, but not too terribly cold, not too much rain, lots of sunshine and less than 2 hours to the beach, 2 hours to the mountains.</p>
<p>Oh and that little thing that drove us all here to CC, in state colleges which are very affordable, with lots of choices. And some very good in state grad school programs. I figured with 5 kiddos all heading to college, this would really make a difference. The move was hard to initiate but once we all got into motion, it was all very exciting. Sis and her family and other friends also made the move from the west coast. So far we are all really having a good time!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>We lived in Roanoke, Virginia for a year and I thought it was pretty near perfect. It had four seasons and each one last three months. The people were friendly, colleges nearby, and the appalachian trail and Blue Ridge mountains were a ten minute drive away. The only thing missing was our family. As our parents get older I know we wouldn’t move any farther away then we already are. </p>
<p>I also really like where we are here in PA. Winter is a little too long but everything else is great.</p>
<p>We did about the same without the permanent move. Looked at a bunch of medium-sized cities in the southeast, found one we liked (Lynchburg, VA) and bought a house. Took a year off and tried it on for size and found we would be happy there albeit with a few hard lessons attached. We rented out the house and bought another to rent out last year and hope to do so every other year until real retirement in about 9 years.</p>
<p>Main negatives we found found were it is pretty hard to make new friends in smaller cities. Jobs–even low paying unskilled ones-- are also a little hard to come by for “outsiders”. We had planned to work some such jobs during our time there but found it tougher than expected to get one. We are seriously thinking about taking up church-going again as that’s a MAJOR social-connection activity center in the smaller southern cities. I think folks with kids fit in faster as that’s an instant in with other families in the neighborhood.</p>
<p>jym626, I like the links, but those home prices look a little too low.</p>
<p>Barrons: How’s the cash flow on the rental house? Does the rent cover the PITI including income tax impact? How do you manage it from a distance?</p>
<p>We put about 75% down on house #1 so it flowed fine from the start although we have been aggressive with some repairs as we plan to live there eventually and are “fixing” some things ahead of time that would not be needed in a pure rental. To buy house #2 we took an equity line on #1 and some cash so there is no mortgage yet. We plan to payoff the equity line in a couple of years out of pocket so that we can rotate that $$ into #3. We had a nice tax deduction for 2005. As you might surmise we are not that concerned with current cashflow but want to build equity ASAP and get tax deductions. We will wait on cashflow until we need it for retirement income. Once we have a track record as investor landlords we might be able to get purchase mortgages easier but at first it’s a little tricky and expensive.</p>
<p>We have a great handyman and lawncare guy to take care of basic maintenance and keep an eye out for us. For leasing we did it ourseleves while we were out there for a week. We now are using a local leasing person to take care of a vacancy in #1. They charge 1/2 a month’s rent plus advertising. In order to take full tax benefits we must be actively running the properties and we do make all the mgt. decisions. We try to do onsite visits twice a year (tax deduct.) just to keep in touch with the tenants and to make sure things are all as we expect. We even send our tenants nice gifts at Christmas so they think we are the best landlords ever. We try to be.</p>
<p>Then again, you can always retire to ALL of the above. We are LEAVING the NC mountains to become nomads in a motorhome by early summer (so you can have OUR house if you want it!) for at least five years. Why choose one when you can wander without being lost?</p>
<p>Oh, and fundingfather, you could manage it by hiring a property management company, like the one my husband just retired from here.</p>
<p>SBMom - Hope the 2x doesn’t apply to her tennis.</p>
<p>Others: </p>
<p>Annapolis, MD
Charleston, SC
Chapel Hill, NC
C-ville, VA, but as barrons noted is becoming more expensive
State College, PA
Rock Hall, MD (down the road from Chestertown (Wash. College))</p>