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Both Chapel Hill and the east TN mountain region of NC are lovely. How is the status of taxes, public transport, proximity to beaches, housing market.
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Both of these areas, as well as most of NC, have an "interesting split personality." You'll find high-end real estate bordered by lower valued areas - a lot of formerly agricultural land and old farms are being sold off for development as the heads of farming families die off, especially old tobacco farms. Anything in or near a "college town" will be over-priced. Chapel Hill is a 3-4 hour drive from the coast.
Western NC suffered greatly from NAFTA, when most of the furniture manufacturing moved to Mexico. It is recovering slowly - lots of mountain land was bought up to be developed as "luxury" home sites. The new growth industry there is retirement homes and health care for the retiring baby boomers. You might want to look at areas around Boone, and thereabouts.