Educate me on Charlotte?

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steenh

steenh

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Cross posting from the Upstate Cruiser board... Gotten some good info so far, but probably more of you here know the area better than our UC guys.

I'm exploring a possible job/company change that would happen next summer and would mean a move to Charlotte. Not sure if I'd move the family right away since my daughter is a sophmore this year... but maybe. Might be nice to get in-state tuition to UNC for her?

Any insights? Housing market, schools, best locations to live, traffic (remember I'd be coming from Atlanta), stuff to do, crime, whatever you think I'd need to know.

I've been to Charlotte a total of two times. Once for a couple of hours to pick up the Hundy 5 yrs ago, and once back in the 80's for a week, so I know almost nothing.
 
I came to Charlotte in '88 to attend UNC Charlotte (Go 9ers!) and have essentially never left. I am somewhat familiar with all sides of town having worked at bank branches across town.

I agree that getting in-state tuition at a NC university should weigh heavily in your decision making given your daughter's age, although the Charlotte/Meck schools don't compare well to surrounding school systems, but certainly as well or better than other cities its size. The Charlotte Observer (the local paper) should have a recent article on the subject available online.

The neighborhoods that feed the better schools in the system command higher per square foot prices than others, as you'd expect. Sorry, but no Hope Scholarship in NC like they have in GA so you better start saving for her college if you haven't already.

Personally, before we had kids, my wife and I chose to move to just over the border into Tega Cay, SC as the school system is far superior to Charlotte/Meck (#1 or 2 in the state consistently, but that doesn't say much either given the state of SC's education mess). Also, real estate, sales and fuel taxes are lower here. The downside is in-state tuition is terribly expensive (almost the same as paying out of state to a NC university).

Traffic here is much better than ATL but worse than the rest of the state.

I hope this helps. Call me at Seven 04- Seven Seven 9-4999 sometime and we can discuss the pros and cons. My wife is from Dunwoody, GA and moved here in '99 so she can likely answer some questions your wife has.
 
The company is moving to Charlotte and they are in the process of picking space, so I'm not sure where it will be located. Meeting on Monday with a few owners and will know a lot more then. Could be a very exciting opportunity, and to be honest, leaving Atlanta wouldn't kill me.

David, I'll take you up on a phone call once I get a bit more info. Luckily I have plenty of time to work through the details. Earliest I could make a move would be August. Might keep two residences while she's in HS to keep the options open on college choices... we'll see.

Thanks all!
 
buy a house in union county (cheaper taxes), south of charlotte. I live in weddington ( good schools) , along I-485.
how big a home are you looking for? it is a buyers market here...and not to far to uwharrie
 
House something like 3k sq ft or so. Like larger lots if possible. OK with a commute of 20 minutes or so. My current 5 mile commute takes that now.

I'll pull a map out to bring to the meeting next week and let them show me where they'll be. That will help get a radius of potential places to live.

I do like the URE side benefit of this!
 
too bad ..you just missed out on my neighbors house 3000sft custom home,2 car garage, acre lot, best neighborhood..was on the market for a year@390k...dont know what it went for..
look up weddington 28104 on zillow....see whats around....although I am about a half hour from uptown charlotte
 
Like any city there are good areas and bad areas. But there are some nice places nestled between the bad areas.
Better schools demand higher prices of the houses.
David hit it on the head with the Tega Kay move, better schools and most everything is cheaper.
Mecklenburg county in general is expensive for taxes many will live just across the county line in Union or Gaston county or just over the boarder in SC for that reason.

I couldn't comment on Atlanta traffic having only been there a few times. Charlotte traffic drives me crazy for three reasons. Most roads should have 1 or 2 more lanes on it and everything would move a lot better. People here seem to be on super slow time and even when there is not real "traffic" everyone is doing 55 and slowing you down. (everyone here also rubber necks like crazy). There is no real direct way to get anywhere here. My sisters house is about 8 miles straight line distance from my house and it takes 20 miles driving to get there. I'm in west charlotte and if I need to get to east charlotte I might as well forget about getting where i'm going on time.
Also don't get me started on the street lights here, lets just say my wife used to live 2 blocks from her night job at a bar and it took 15-20 minutes to get there sometimes because the lights have no sensors.
I know bad traffic I lived in los angeles for 20+ years and there is some god aweful traffic there but it was traffic for a reason.... lots of people driving places or an accident. Here it just seems people are just driving slowly causing traffic or because there is only a few direct routes anywhere everyone is sitting on the same piece of road.

Overall it is a nice place to live though. There are many things to do and keep a family busy. From outdoor activites to huge malls to great shows at the theaters. We also have an abundance of great bars here. :beer:

I wouldn't start looking at specific places yet till you know where your company will land.
 
Looked around on Zillow. You all have a fantastic market on homes. Really amazing how far money goes and Atlanta is actually very affordable.
 
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