September 26, 2008
How To Make Sure Your Dream Place in the Carolinas is Affordable
A big concern I hear from most of my subscribers is affordability. They ask me which towns in the Carolinas are more affordable than others, and if North Carolina is more affordable than South Carolina, and vice versa. There are a number of ways to decrease your costs and make things more affordable, whether you're retiring or relocating to communities in the Carolinas.
First of all, look for communities that are less like a "resort" and more like a "community". Remember, all those amenities cost money and someone has to pay for them.
Many communities in the Carolinas have golf memberships, tennis memberships, social memberships, and even equestrian memberships. There are fees associated with all of them, and you don't want to find out how much they are, after you buy or build your Dream Home in a community. There can be fees for using the health club, pool, boat docks, and community room for social events.
This week, I was researching several communities to include in my North Carolina Communities Directory. I came to find out that for a full golf membership at one community, there was an initiation fee of $100,000! Plus yearly dues of $7,000, and a dining minimum of $1400 per year. I don't know about you, but that's one heck of a chunk of change. It doesn't make much sense to choose a golf community, if you then can't afford the membership and fees associated with it.
Most communities, have either a Property Owners Association or a Homeowners Association, and each have fees associated with them. If you own a townhouse or condominium, the fees are usually higher.
Most people today are seeking out communities in the Carolinas to retire to based on a choice of lifestyle and their interests, and they need to find out before hand if the fees associated with those activities will make it impossible to pursue them.
In my North Carolina and South Carolina Communities Directory, I have interviewed each community using my 50 Point Survey. Also included is detailed information on all their memberships and fees.
In my next post, I'm going to reveal several ways to save thousands of dollars when you buy or build your Dream Place in the Carolinas!
2 Comments
September 27, 2008
iss :
Hi Bob,
Just wanted to thank you for the info you put out there. We have been wandering around for a couple of years trying to figure out where to have a second home in the Carolinas. We stayed in a home on Lake James in Morganton last year and found the elevation wasn't high enough for us. We really wanted to be on a lake, but soon found that it wasn't affordable. We spen one evening and night a few years ago in Henderson and found the town very nice. Now we are headed back again in about four weeks and thought we would look around Brevard, Asheville area. Looking at about the 300,000 range and wondered if you had any thoughts. Thanks again for sharing your blog and hope you have a great weekend too. Holly
September 29, 2008
robert bencivenga :
Hi Holly,
It's nice to hear from you!
As you've found out, you pay a premium for any property having to do with water, whether that be a lake, river, ocean, sound, bay or even a creek. However, the same holds true for mountain properties with beautiful views in the Carolinas. They don't come cheap, but are probably more affordable than the properties right on the ocean or sound. And more affordable than many other parts of the country.
Lenoir, NC was included in National Geographic's Adventure magazine as one of "The Next 50 Great Towns". It's just starting to show some signs of being found. They termed it "a hot bargain". I included it in my guides quite some time ago. It's in that same Marion/Morganton area, but not on Lake James, so it's still affordable. I like its proximity to Pisgah National Forest and places like Boone, Banner Elk and Blowing Rock which you should also check out, if you want altitude!
I'm assuming when you mentioned Henderson(above)in the context of mentioning Asheville and Brevard, you meant Hendersonville?(There's also a small town of Henderson northeast of Durham,just off Route 85.) If you check my previous posts, you'll find a link you can click on and print my report on Asheville. It's one of my favorites, and where I'm planning to move!While you are there, drive to Mount Mitchell which is at 6600', northeast of Asheville between the towns of Black Mountain and Burnsville. Burnsville is another area where you'll find good value, right now. I also like the views in the Lake Lure/Chimney Rock area, southeast of Asheville, and Waynesville, which is west of Asheville.
If you position yourself right, you'll stay within your budget in these areas.
As always, this is not meant as investment advice. Make sure you do your own due diligence.