North Carolina?

[Kate66]

Just musing again - heck, getting further into hurricane season and I am getting itchy feet again.

This is what I need:
- relatively close proximity to good medical facilities (for my daughter)
- decent education (she's not ready for school yet, but will be in a couple of years)
- decent land prices (not dirt cheap, but not too crazy) - would like to have minimum 5 acres, prefer a little more
- in an area where my husband (architect) could get some decent business (residential)

This is what I would like:
- fantastic scenery
- proximity to either mountains or sea
- decent weather - i.e. not Houston hot on the summer but not Siberia cold in the winter!

Nice locality to trail ride would be really great. Would plan on keeping horses at home.

So - given this info - where in North Carolina would I start to look? I have messed around on a realtor site tonight and generally land prices don't look too bad, however, you know what it's like - you look at a state, take your finger out and look for towns or areas with nice names.....when you know almost nothing about the State.

[Carolinadreamin']

Have you checked out the Landrum/Tryon area?

[gotabuk]

We are in Rowan County, which is northeast of Charlotte.
We have pretty much everything on your list here.
Closer to mountains than the beach tho.

There are great medical facilities in Concord (CMC - Carolinas Medical Center), which is nearby.
Good schools up in Salisbury, which is nearby.

It's rural, but you can drive 15 minutes up I-85 and get to any store or restaurant you need.

We bought 6 acres with a house and got a fantastic deal on it.

Depending on what type of riding you do, I think this area is fairly decent for dressage, but if you want hunter jumper stuff, I think it's best to head towards Raleigh. There is a really nice place not too far called Morrow Mountain that has beautiful trails to ride on.

We moved to NC from PA 2 and a half years ago and I've NEVER regretted the decision! We love it here.

[StefffiC]

I am in Gaston County, closer to the mountains than the beach. ;)

Land isn't terrible expensive, I went looking last year and found several 5 - 10 acre properties with decent houses for $200,000. All were bigger houses and smaller barns than I wanted as a single woman. Right now I rent a barn apartment on 62 acres, I decided to test ride a farm before I bought one.

We have great Dressage and some good jumper trainers around here. The summers are hot and humid, but not like Houston from what I've heard. Our winters usually have a cold snap where it doesn't get above freezing, other than that week it's not that bad

Schools are good in here. I believe Rock Hill in SC is top ten in the nation for schools, but I don't have kids and could have misheard that statistic. Gaston county is top ten for the state, though.

There are lots of trails around here, too. I love the area!

[dani0303]

I am in Davidson County in a town called Thomasville. We live on 65 acres with affordable (low) property taxes. Land prices are decent here but we are still in close proximity (20 minutes) to Winston-Salem, High Point, and Greensboro. Winston-Salem has 2 excellent hospital (Wake Forest Baptist and Forsyth). We're about 2 hours to the mountains and 3-3 1/2 to the beach.

[farmgirl88]

i was just in North Carolina 6 miles up the beach in Corolla. Let me tell you that it was very hard to pry myself away from that place and come home to new england. someday...i will live in North Carolina

[HenryisBlaisin']

I'm in Iredell County-the schools are very good (NC does a LOT of teaching to tests per NCLB/state regs, no matter which county you're in, so be prepared for that), and we just won a MAJOR presidential award and were the only school system in the country to win it (and one of only a handful to EVER win it). There is not, however, a lot of money for education anywhere in the state-teachers are being put on furloughs and having pay cut, and they are considering shortening the school year next year to save money. Education in NC definitely gets mixed reviews on a statewide basis!

But, I live between Mooresville and Statesville, there is always land for sale (including a beautifull small horse property a couple miles from me) and there are some very nice boarding/lesson/training facilities as well. We're 45 minutes from Concord/Charlotte and yes, CMC is a very good hospital, with an excellent pediatriatric unit (Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital) as well.

The one drawback is the jopb market-we're at well over 11% unemployment right now, and a lot of residential development has ground to a crawl of not a halt from a few years ago, so I'm not sure if thre's a market for architects right now.

I board in Rowan County, nice horse country there as well.

I LOVE living here and would not live anywhere else.

[lesson junkie]

The Tryon area is a true horse community, with all the supporting services established. People in riding clothes are common all over town, horse trailers at the grocery store...downtown Landrum has parking spots signed up for trailers! Our land can be expensive, especially for farms on established trail systems.

SteffiC-that's great news about Gastonia! I grew up there-the amount of development is scary. It's wonderful that you've got good trails.

[Mr.GMan]

I live in Chatham County, next to Wake County. The schools (at least near Jordan Lake) are decent, and land is not as expensive as Wake County. I live 15 minutes from any major town in the area and about the same from the good hospitals, 2 med teaching schools UNC and Duke, as well as Wake Med and Rex Hospitals in Raleigh (maybe a 30m minute trip).

A house down the road on about 10-12 acres with about 4000 sq. ft is about 550,000, not fenced in, but pretty none the less. I have 5 acres myself and love it.

As for trails, you can be on the American Tobacco Trail in about 15 mins. trailer time or if you find a place next to the ATT, you can walk out your door. There is Umstead Park, Moss Foundation, Uwharrie forest, Raven Rock State park (all within about 1-2 hours away if you want a more challenging trail, longer)

We are about 4 hours to the mountains and 2-3 hours from the beach (so we are in the middle of the state) and then there is Jordan Lake about 10 minutes from our home, so if you like water sports in a lake, we've got it.

The weather is pretty decent. We have had pretty hot temps so far this summer, but I think pretty much everywhere is too. Not as hot as "down east" near the beaches, not as cool as the mountains in the summer, don't get much snow, when we do it is usually 2-3" and melts pretty quick.

I like calling North Carolina home!

[Kate66]

Aaaarrrgh - you are all killing me!!! It's really time for me to move. I am just so tired of NO SCENERY!! I have been in TX 13 years and I've had some good times, but the beach is just disgusting, the weather is SO hot, there is always a threat of hurricanes and to me it's just freeway and chain shopping hell. I never get to trail ride. I have a lovely arena and that is where I ride, if it's ever cool enough to ride. Get the feeling that I am fed up of it!?

[ESG]

L, my parents live part time in Hendersonville, just outside of Asheville. They move up there every May, and back to Florida the first part of November, to ride out hurricane season in safety.

My mom had to have triple bypass surgery last summer, and she lucked out - the hospital where she had it done is ranked in the top 10 in the country for that particular procedure. Medical care in that area is wonderful.

The scenery is absolutely gorgeous, the weather temperate ( a bit warm (90 degrees is HOT for them!) in the summer during the day, but usually around 65 degrees at night, in the mountains). We used to vacation there when I was a kid, and I'd give a LOT to move there permanently. Someday, maybe.

Oh, and housing/land/taxes are reasonable - moreso than here, especially on the property taxes. There is a state income tax, plus a couple of other taxes that we don't have here (road use tax for your car, etc), but all in all, if you're looking for a change, NC would be a great place. :yes:

[hosspuller]

Former corporate gypsy... 13 years ago I made a decision to buy a farm here. Corporate home relocation policy stopped at 10 acres... No more relocation for me.

Greensboro (a bit north of Charlotte, west of Raleigh) is middle of NC. Easy to get to mountains, further to the coast. Overnight trail riding is plentiful within 2 hour trailer haul. Baptist/Wake medical is highly ranked teaching Med center. (my personal choice) Also, Greensboro is a college town with UNCG, Greensboro College, A&T, Guilford, etc. County has the most horses in the state according to something I read a while ago.:confused:

[shawneeAcres]

OK am durn near a native NC"er here, moved her when 8 yrs old which is 43 years ago! So I pretty much know everything there is to know about NC! Proximity to sea and mountains is pretty easy to obtain in this state, in many locales it is merely a few hours to both. I now live in eastern NC (coastal plain) but used to live mid-NC (piedmont). Very big "horse community" across this state with "hotbeds" like S. Pines that are "horsey communities". Land can be bought reasonably BUT don't expect that near a major city like Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro, pretty pricey there. If you are willing to live "out" aways you can find great deals and the road system has SUBSTANTIALLY improved the past ten years and much better access now to soem fairly rural areas. Since I do not have children hard for me to say much about education except I understand NC schools run the range from pretty bad to terribly good, so check into that in the areas you are interested in. You mentioned "hurricane season" hate to tell you but we get our share! And not just eastern NC, western NC all the way into the mountains are often badly affected by hurricanes. It is a fact of life here so be prepared! However we don't get it nearly like Florida and the gulf states. NC has some of the msot AWESOME views and gorgeous land in the US in my opinion and it is quite a variety! I live in a flat part of the state and there isn't a rock in sight, go 20 miles west and you get into roling land, clay soil and ROCKS! So don't expect things to be the same sometimes even within a few MILES of each other! Really LOOK at the areas quite extensively if the quality/type of land concerns you.

[hosspuller]

... County has the most horses in the state according to something I read a while ago.:confused:

Here it is ...

http://www.co.rockingham.nc.us/feasibility.pdf

[StefffiC]

The Tryon area is a true horse community, with all the supporting services established. People in riding clothes are common all over town, horse trailers at the grocery store...downtown Landrum has parking spots signed up for trailers! Our land can be expensive, especially for farms on established trail systems.

SteffiC-that's great news about Gastonia! I grew up there-the amount of development is scary. It's wonderful that you've got good trails.

I'm in Cherryville, right off Dallas-Cherryville Hwy. On a QH breeding farm, but it's still farm, live in a barn, and love my little piece of heaven.

I lived in Gastonia and don't ever want to move back to the city!