We're 5 years out on retirement, looking for a comfortable place to retire. Looking for very nice, reasonably priced housing with a view, good restaurants, access to regional or international airport, and some cultural venues. Access to shooting ranges is important, as is reasonable access to medical care.

NC is on our short list of Texas, NC, SC and Georgia. I have plenty of time to visit and decide, but we have members in all of these areas with great things to say.

Money IS a hurdle, we are well off but not FU wealthy.

Hickory is still foothills, no much up there to do but they have the largest exotic wood store which is nice. Boone is a great mountain/university town. Morganton is similar to Hickory but closer to the mountains. If I were to choose, I would do Boone all day long although land will be cheaper in Hickory or Morganton.

Where we currently live, halfway between Denver and Boulder Colorado, is perfect, except for altitude. My wife has asthma, and the high/dry makes it much worse. I'm looking for a place much like what I live in with a better view, and smaller population. And lesser need of a snowblower.

I just recently relocated to Winston Salem. Not sure what is available medical-wise out toward Boone, but Wake Forest is in Winston Salem and has some top-notch care.

My stepdaughter got her PhD from Wake medicine in genetics in 2015. I certainly agree!

I live in a neighboring county to Boone/Watauga County. I am 25 minutes from Boone (lower property values where I live-but higher than Morganton & Hickory). Boone property will be considerably higher than any of the other NC areas mentioned (Hickory, Morganton, etc.). The campus of Appalachian State University and university housing is always in competition for acreage. The university system of NC wants App. St. to increase their student population annually.

Also, Boone for reference is at 3300+ feet elevation vs. approximately 900+ at Winston Salem that someone mentioned earlier. Cooler summer temps and more wintery conditions vs. “off of the mountain”.

Of course, compared to Denver/Boulder the snow amounts will be minimal to inconsequential.

It is a great area to live in. Good luck with your decision. Let me know if I can provide additional info regarding the Boone area. Just for reference again, I am approximately 1.5 hours from Winston Salem.

quote:

Originally posted by scratchy:
We're 5 years out on retirement, looking for a comfortable place to retire. Looking for very nice, reasonably priced housing with a view, good restaurants, access to regional or international airport, and some cultural venues. Access to shooting ranges is important, as is reasonable access to medical care.

NC is on our short list of Texas, NC, SC and Georgia. I have plenty of time to visit and decide, but we have members in all of these areas with great things to say.

Money IS a hurdle, we are well off but not FU wealthy.

if you vote D stay in CO

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I live in Morganton and work in Catawba county. I’ve been here my whole life. Hickory is a pretty decent town, some areas better than others. Lake living is expensive but it’s the better part of Hickory. Across the lake from Hickory is Alexander county, nice homes and decent property taxes.

Burke County has it all. Lakes, rural areas, mountains, farmland, pretty much whatever you like. Morganton itself is a great town but I prefer living out in the country. I’m still less than 10 minutes from grocery stores and the Interstate.

My email is in my profile if you have questions about specific areas or anything else.

We have had a second home outside Banner Elk (technically we are in Elk Park) for about ten years. We also plan to retire there in about five years. Pretty familiar with Boone and Morganton, not so much with Hickory. I really like both, very pretty and quaint towns. Boone is more in the mountains and closer to ski areas if that is something you enjoy. Morganton is about 45 minutes closer to Charlotte and the airport, among everything else. Also closer to Asheville and it restaurants. I think the choice between Boone and Morganton depends on what lifestyle you want. Boone is bigger and busier, can be more congested, especially with Appalachian State U, but it has more stuff in town along with the cultural, athletics etc that go along with a college town. Morganton is still big enough to have everything you need but it is less crowded, quieter, slower. As mentioned, somewhat less expensive. Both have hospitals, which becomes a consideration for my wife and me at our ages and as we get older, neither is top tier but that is to be expected.

Our daughter lives in Greensboro, NC. It's a pretty nice area.

Boone has Jeff Yarchin. It snows a lot. You have to like cold. And mountains. And antique shops. Fly fishing is pretty good there

If my wife and I were to ever leave Michigan we would likely end up in WV. It's a beautiful state, decent gun laws and good people.

We lived in Tryon, NC for three years. Reasonably priced housing, decent to very good restaurants locally and a lovely place to live.

Less than an hour to major cities, reasonable taxes etc. Adequate local health facilities as well.

Good luck!!

You may want to consider NC, Surry or Stokes counties which boarder Virginal these counties are semirural but are are reasonably close in location to Winston-Salem (Medical) and Greensboro (Airport)

As another alternative you may want to look into the Blacksburg/Roanoke VA area.

great medical Center. Great University (VA Tech) decent airport and at the base of the Blue Ridge mountains..

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
if you vote D stay in CO
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This was not a political thread, but for the record, no I do not vote D

I know a pretty good pet shop in Boone if you need one.

We live in the western part of NC, Murphy. We're 2 hours from Atlanta or Knoxville. Definitely small town life but we love the slower life style.

Its been alluded to, when retiring, hospitals will eventually become very important. Living out in the boonies is nice for youngin's.

I’m in NE GA mountains, about an hour from Atlanta and have lived in Roanoke.
Both fit the bill.

We love Boone. We live outside of town, in Watauga County. It’s definitely less expensive outside of town limits. We have 5 acres. Our real estate taxes are $1200. We are on a well with septic and prefer it that way.

If you like outdoor life.... camping, hiking, hunting, fly fishing, canoeing/kayaking it’s a great place to live.

We do get snow but it melts pretty quickly. It does get cold in the winter, a trade off for mild, summer temperatures.

Give me a shout if I can help you or answer any questions.

Boon NC gets terrible winter weather...
Aka "Gets the chit kicked outta it"