Any members in/near Franklin, NC?

[John Schmidt]

A couple that are long time friends of Rita and myself are selling their place in the Mill Creek County Club and offered it to me at a good price. They, and another couple that lives there, were riding buddies on our Gold Wings years ago. The other couple still lives there, having retired there maybe 20 yrs. ago from the Orlando area.

The area is a gated community but the course is open to the public and is actually playable year 'round. I plan to travel down to look it over before committing, but I'm cautiously optimistic....emphasize "cautious."  For me, the big draw is quite simple....it's 30 deg. warmer.  Plus I'd be near some folks my age that have been good friends for close to 40 years.

So....back to the title question; are there any members near Franklin, NC?

[WoodyFL]

Hey John!
Wish you had posted this a day or so earlier. We just got back from a 5 day trip to Franklin. My brother has a cabin there and offered for us to stay. Love the area, and of course there's great riding opportunities there. We were unable to take my Valk but we caged some of the roads anyway. Weather was great and the scenery was awesome!

Bob

[hubcapsc]

I live near (an hour and a half) there. Smokin' Joe's
Fall Color Ride is near there, we went through Franklin
on the Fall Color Ride this year. There's others for whom
Franklin is within the circle of a day ride they might do...

-Mike

[_Sheffjs_]

Dang John we were in Franklin two hours ago.  We have our property just up the road in Sylva. We are very impressed with the area. 

[..]

I'm just down the road in Clayton, GA.

[f6john]

Hope it works out for you John, sounds like a good fit for you and a good deal on the property would be icing on the cake!

[Thunderbolt]

Hope it works out for you John.  Love the whole area.  You have had enough bad vibes, hope you get a big smile out of this deal.  My Dad and Mom bought a lot with a trailer on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee in their later years and it was also near some of their friends from way back.  They really enjoyed that renewal of friendship and Dad loved fishing on the lake.  They sold it later on when travel back and forth got to be too much.  But you won't have that problem.  I think North Carolina has a state income tax and some other personal property tax that Tennessee and some other states nearby do not have so take a look at that aspect.

[John Schmidt]

I weighed the cost of driving down to look it over, compared to the cost of flying. It's a bit over 900 miles one way so driving would be tiring at best so leaning toward flying down to Asheville. Roundtrip booked far enough ahead is just over $300 R/T, I'd rent a car and would stay with my friends that live there. Cost is close to the same but not as rough on the old body as driving. They'll sell it furnished if I so desire which would be nice, wouldn't have to have a huge truck to haul the rest of my stuff. When I asked how much they would want for leaving all the furniture, they told me since it was me they didn't want any extre $$. Besides, it saves them the trouble of removing it all and having to sell it locally instead of hauling it back to Orlando.

Now, re. the temps, today it was 37 degrees here in Wisconsin, 71 where the villa is located in NC. 

[..]

I weighed the cost of driving down to look it over, compared to the cost of flying. It's a bit over 900 miles one way so driving would be tiring at best so leaning toward flying down to Asheville. Roundtrip booked far enough ahead is just over $300 R/T, I'd rent a car and would stay with my friends that live there. Cost is close to the same but not as rough on the old body as driving. They'll sell it furnished if I so desire which would be nice, wouldn't have to have a huge truck to haul the rest of my stuff. When I asked how much they would want for leaving all the furniture, they told me since it was me they didn't want any extre $$. Besides, it saves them the trouble of removing it all and having to sell it locally instead of hauling it back to Orlando.

Now, re. the temps, today it was 37 degrees here in Wisconsin, 71 where the villa is located in NC. 

75 in Clayton and higher than normal.

[..]

I see the location is just off Wayah Rd. Good riding north from there or west on Hwy 64 up over the mountain towards Hayesville, NC. Hwy 64 is good enough to zip up and down a few times in a row.

There's also first class fly fishing in Jarrett Creek north on Wayah Rd.

You will be 25 miles from me.

If you have a suitable vehicle there are a lot of forest roads to explore.

And about 41 miles to the southern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

All in all a good location for a bike rider.

[Jess from VA]

The question I have is.... are the county real estate taxes on that property reasonable?

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Good riding in that area beautiful country. Next door to The Highlands.

[scooperhsd]

NC in general is somewhat cheaper than NOVA, part of that is the fact that real estate prices are lower - or said another way - you get more house / property for the same amount of money. Real estate values are higher near the "big cities" ( Raleigh Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte). You will find the climate to be generally warmer than you saw in Wisconsin, all year round (conversely - between KC and Wake Forest it's cooler in the summer (although more humid) and warmer in the winter - Heat pumps are a common way to heat / cool your home pretty much all over the state. Natural gas is usually available in bigger population centers, but you get far enough away from them - it's propane only (and it ain't cheap either). You're not going to mistake NC (at least in Franklin) for FLorida, but there is some good in that too.

People in NC tend to be pretty nice folks. It used to be that you could count on "Southern Sweet Tea", but with more of the Yankee invaders, unsweet is becoming more common.

If it hadn't been for MIL needing assistance - I could have spent the rest of my life there.

[Serk]

Now, re. the temps, today it was 37 degrees here in Wisconsin, 71 where the villa is located in NC. 

While I'd love to see you move back into more reasonable climes and politics, don't let one day's temperatures fool you TOO much..... It was mid 30's and rainy most of the day here in The Republic of Texas...

[..]

Now, re. the temps, today it was 37 degrees here in Wisconsin, 71 where the villa is located in NC. 

While I'd love to see you move back into more reasonable climes and politics, don't let one day's temperatures fool you TOO much..... It was mid 30's and rainy most of the day here in The Republic of Texas...

NC governor is a D. It's spreading into western NC.

[scooperhsd]

NC used to be a reliablly RED state, it has been edging over towards blue the last couple election cycles. As of when we left, they weren't as whacked as California D's  - there's still enough Republicans to keep them honest.

[John Schmidt]

I'm well aware of the country around there, been visiting our friends up there for years. We've made day trips to all the various spots of interest such as Cashiers and points east. Have taken some of the more isolated mountain roads, doing a big circle ride in a day. Great riding for sure....even with my recently purchased trike. In talking to the folks there, they had one major snow storm last year which was gone in a couple days. My friend George plays golf pretty much year 'round and before he finally sold his Wing he also used it....again pretty much year 'round for running errands. Yes, it does get pretty chilly there at times, I've been there. But it's nothing like up here, plus the deck off the back overlooks the 18th green. In years past, the six of us have sat on that deck sipping wine or ?? of an evening, watching the golfers fuss and cuss on the greens.

I love playing that course. It's loaded with hills and valleys, one has a drop of about 80' directly off the tee, with a large pond near the bottom. You have to ride the brakes on the golf cart to retain control going down....it's just that steep. Another hole is fun, you can't see the golfers in front since the fairway drops down enough to hide them so you can't tee off without chancing hitting them. So, the course has a cowbell alongside the cart path so when you're done hitting your second shot, you ring the bell which lets the next group know it's safe to tee off. Lots of wildlife at different times, fun course to play. One time I had a group of four deer watch me tee off, then a beautiful fox watched me putt out. When we finished holing out, he just stood up and walked away. Kinda cool!

[Charlie McCready]

Just over two hours from me John.  Come on down !!!

[RNFWP]

Just over 2hrs for me too... went through there recently headed to the T-Bird Memorial Fall Color Ride.
Nice riding area including North GA.