Asheville is effectively the capital of western North Carolina. When people contact me about relocating to western North Carolina, they tend to have at least heard of Asheville, or more often have a good knowledge of it. Most say “We want to be within thirty minutes of Asheville.”, to which I respond, “Why?” Its typically because that’s the only town about which they know something. Asheville is truly a cool place, and is on just about every travel or lifestyle magazine’s “top ten” list of where to live or retire. Its surrounded by mountains, has the Blue Ridge Parkway traversing through it, the lazy French Broad River, an architectural wonder of a downtown, and of course The Biltmore Estate, America’s largest private home situated on over 5,000 acres. Its a great place. But must you be within thirty minutes or even an hour in order to enjoy living in our mountains? Nope.
Most often what happens is that folks meet with me and want to be near Asheville. However, after spending a day or two, they realize that scattered throughout the surrounding counties there are numerous small hamlets and towns that provide all they need on a day to day basis. This allows them a wider selection of properties as well as better pricing by being further from the economic halo of Asheville. Some of these towns include Black Mountain, Old Fort, Waynesville, Marshall, Weaverville, Burnsville, Mars Hill, Brevard, Bryson City, Franklin, Hayesville, etc. Each one is unique, but all of them provide for ones’ daily needs. So it really just becomes a matter of recognizing that you can enjoy Asheville from a distance without having to put up with its traffic or higher property taxes. Therefore, consider something such as this property in Hayesville, or this one in Clyde, or this one in Marshall, or this one in Burnsville. There are lots of options.
