Sarahswims

Hi
I'm currently living in the NH Seacoast Area (near Dover). My spouse and I are trying to do some research on relocating to Charlotte NC (my company has an office there ) and we are hoping to try to move sometime hopefully in the summer of 2006. Although both of us are native New Englanders, I am SICK of 6 months of winter. The cost of living is another factor that has us considering moving. Housing prices are VERY expensive and after checking out some real estate sites on line, I am blown away by what $250 K can buy you down there versus up here! My husband’s brother may be relocating there in December as well so we will have some family around.

My husband works with financial reporting software so we are hoping for him to secure a job with one of the major financial centers down there. I have several questions.

1. Could any one comment on the true availability of software jobs down there, especially in the financial industry?

2. What are some good communities in the surrounding Charlotte area that are good for family life? We are mid 30's with two kids under 7.

3. Can anyone recommend a good Catholic Grade School? I did check it out on the web and found about 12 Catholic schools. Our oldest is in catholic school up here and although I don’t have a problem with public schools, our preference is for a religious education for our kids.

4. If any New Englanders are reading this who have relocated, any good advice on the adjustment factor from New England to North Carolina would be appreciated. My husband is a big Patriots/Sox fan as well.. is NESN available down there to order? Also, how are the people in terms of ease of getting to know you? Friendly or wary of New Englanders?


Thank you for your help and sorry in advance for so many questions!

SAnParis

Do a search on Charlotte or the carolinas & much info should appear. $250k will buy you a decent size house in the 'burbs, It will buy a 2-bdrm condo in the city proper. I would check monster.com as far as jobs as many companies here use that..I would also check w/all the major banks who are the areas major employers...Wachovia, B of A, BB & T, Wells Fargo & HSBC to name a few. My spouse who is an educator would suggest Charlotte Christian. Most of the Catholic schools here are fairly small, I think. There are a plethora of Northerners down here primarily due to the banks. I doubt that you will be able to get the local cable outlets you are referring to although the Patriots do play here this year. Baseball is not that popular so you get ESPN & the Braves. We've been here for 10 years from Ohio via Louisville, Ky. & we have no winter to speak of. You are also in close proximity to the beach (3-4 hours) & Mts. (1.5 - 3 hours). If you have other specifics I'll try to help but please do teh search as there is a lot of info already out there. I'll top anything I run across.

Brian_in_Charlotte

Other prospective employers: TIAA-CREF, Lowes (up in Mooresville - but convienient if you decide to live north of the city) and maybe Goodrich.

Satelite TV should get you any sports package you'll need.

Remember that those real estate sites don't give you info on how nice/safe the neighborhood is. I wouldn't want to live in a $250K house inside the city limits (unless it was a renovation project). $250K in the suburbs is better, but I wouldn't want to waste my time (or contribute to our ozone problem) with a long commute either.

And while we don't get much snow, it certainly does get cold/wet here in the winter. We'll see a few lows in the teens each year and every few years we'll get a really bad ice storm which causes a lot of damage.

Finally, don't forget the income tax difference. You'll be coming from a 0% tax state to one of the highest at 8.25% (top bracket).

Gretchen

Brian, you need to tour the neighborhood like Sherwood Forest. There are many homes in Charlotte in that range that are not fixeruppers. There are areas that are truly on the upswing. One of the very nice things about Charlotte is that even modest neighborhoods are extremely well kept with much pride.
We live near St. Ann's Elementary School and Trinity Middle School. We did a trip to a sister city (Limoges) with some of the nuns from ST. Ann's. They were a trip in and of themselves.
I did not know Wells Fargo was in Charlotte. The biggies are BofA and Wachovia, of course. Son is a computer project manager at BofA. And you are our kids' age. Charlotte is a great city for young people, I think.
A drawback for charlotte is its traffic and while it is trying to be addressed, it is a reality if you live outside Charlotte. To the north is Mooresville and Huntersville, a 30-45 minute commute into town. And housing prices are not inconsiderable there--near the Lake Norman area.
To the southeast is Matthews. Also a good commute.
If you are interested, I have good friends at two major real estate brokerages. A realtor can really help you with many choices as I am sure you already know.

BKelly

Check out Huntersville and Cornelius, just north of Charlotte. We live in Huntersville and it's a 20 minute commute if using the HOV lane or taking Charlotte Area Transit (we use both). 25 to 30 minutes if driving solo. St. Marks Catholic Church is in Huntersville and has a K-8 school. $250K will buy a very nice house in the area as well, as long as you don't expect to be directly on Lake Norman.

Get DirectTV sports package and you'll get to see your New England sports teams. I'm a former northerner and I had no problem w/ getting to know people down here. There are so many transplants from other parts of the country here and all of them were once in the same boat you'll be in as a newcomer, so usually everyone is very friendly. Just don't tell people "how we used to do it up north..." or they might tell you to go back

SAnParis

G - Wells Fargo has a big service center in Ft. Mill, HSBC is beginning to build a new $30M building down by Ballantyne in the near future just across the border in SC. Currrently on the Wachovia web-site there are 117 IT related postings. I'm thinking you won't have a lot of trouble finding a job. The area you choose to live in may be somewhat dependent on the location of your job. For example, I work in the University area but live near downtown (in Elizabeth) but my commute is only 15 minutes or so as I am going 'against' traffic. Just something that you may want to consider.

SAnParis

Based on Brian's comments I'm not sure he knows a lot about housing in the city of Charlotte. Although there is little in the way of single-family type residences in the $250k & under range (in a desirable neighborhood) they can be found. There is also a huge number of condo's that can be had in that price range, but may not be suitable for families.

Brian_in_Charlotte

Sarah - forgot to mention that the best website for Charlotte real estate is www.carolinahome.com. Much better listings than realtor.com. It does help to have the name of the neighborhood you are interested in.

SAnParis - we are neighbors.

Brian_in_Charlotte

You're right - there are plenty of nice neighborhoods in south Charlotte in which $250K will buy a nice 1950s ranch-style house with 2000-2500 sq ft - and there's nothing wrong with that other than needing a little updating. Just depends on what you're looking for/are used to.

When Sarah says she's "blown away by what $250K can buy" I imagine she's looking at newer houses outside of the city. It's easy to get unrealistic expectations based on those thumbnails on websites. You really can't know until you hit the ground and start looking.

SAnParis

B in C - Where do you reside ? I am in the multi-colored condos between Central & Hawthorne. (At least until my house in the 'burbs is completed). Know anyone who wants to buy a condo ? lol

Brian_in_Charlotte

Let's just say that puts you much closer to Hawthorne's pizza that us. We're on the other side of 7th.

Sarahswims

Thanks for all your responses. B in C, you mentioned that you get some temperatures in the teens as well as wet/ice. That certainly does not seem so bad compared to cold/dark/snow/sleet from November through April that we get here.

When does “Spring” start down there? I mean, grass growing, flowers, etc? Here it’s April but this year we had miserable damp/cold rainy weather all the way through Mid-June.

I was not aware of the tax either..very helpful information. I suppose I would need to do a cost comparison based on the high cost of living up here with no taxes (well, I shouldn’t say NO taxes…we pay very high property taxes) versus living down there with lower cost of living and a tax. What are property taxes like? I do think we would be looking more in the suburbs for a place to live than in the city (we like our yard/acreage) although the real estate websites we were looking at the lots seem smaller than where we are now. But I guess that’s that much less lawn you have to mow!

Another question, do many of the communities in the suburbs have a community/neighborhood pool? Some friends of ours who moved up here from Atlanta mentioned that it was like that down in GA (not to compare the two but that’s the only other Southern State I have heard about), and I was not sure if it was the same type of neighborhood arrangement in NC.

iw

Have you ever thought of Virginia? We have lots to offer from theme parks to day trips to beaches! Home lots and houses have a tremendous variety in prices. Ask if you have any q's on Chesterfield, Henrico or Hanover counties!!!

SAnParis

Suffice it to say, the weather won't be an issue. The taxes in Meck. Co. are higher than surrounding counties which is why we have so many commuters. (That & housing costs in general). For the afore-mentioned $250k home you'll pay about $2500/yr. in taxes. The surrounding counties & particularly SC are cheaper. Also much less than you are probably used to paying. In addition, many communities in the 'burbs do have pools, play areas, tennis courts, workout rooms,etc. & you'll pay for that too. Probably bwtween $100-$200/mo. in HO fees. The primary things you have to weigh is how much you want to spend (on housing) v. how long/how much time do I you to spend commuting. By commuting, I mean not only to work, but also to the theatre, football games, museums, etc. as all of those types of entertainment are downtown. (Or Uptown as the natives refer to it.)

BKelly

Just about all the newer suburban neighborhoods down here will have a swimming pool at the very least. Our neighborhood is close to 3 years old and we have a large pool, children's pool, waterslide, large clubhouse that can be rented for private events, small playground and a long walking trail that winds through the neighborhood. Yearly dues are $375, but I'm sure they'll be increasing. With so much development going on in the region, builders are providing whatever amenities they can to lure buyers.

Sarahswims

Wow, SAnParis. I pay $5600 per year for properaty tax on a 250K house up here (it was when we built it 3 years ago). I know there is income tax down there which there is not here, but I have a feeling it all washes out in the end. These are good things to consider in our decision. We have a "Pros" and "Cons" list going so it will help to add this information to whichever column it falls into!

SAnParis

I figured it was much higher up there. I think it is actually 1.03 or 1.05 so that is a rough guess but less than half of what you would be paying. And also keep in mind that is the highest tax rate you will find in this area. Private schools are not cheap here either, but again I doubt that they would be more than what you would be paying in NH, unless you get a break because you are a member of the church as some diocese do.

Gretchen

I think SanParis's tax estimate is about right.
Where is your company's office--downtown or elsewhere. Yes, the community leaders/Chamber do call it "uptown"--it isn't really the "oldtimers"!
You asked about spring--late March, early April are just fairyland months here with the azaleas and dogwoods in bloom. We did have a rather strange and cool spring here also. Usually by May we are burning up, but we actually did have a "spring".
I was just with our son downtown at lunchtime. It really is a neat young community there.
We also have a new Johnson & Wales university which is revolutionizing an already pretty nice restaurant scene.
I don't know if I said it on this thread--don't think so. But Charlotte, for a big city, does have a small town accessible feel.

JPreston

I don't know if this will help you but I saw "financial" and "software" and just thought I would mention that LendingTree's corporate headquarters are also in Charlotte.

Also, as a side note, there is an historic reason for referring to Uptown as Uptown. The intersection of Trade and Tryon is located at the very top of a hill. Since the center of the city was at the top of a hill from all directions people had to walk or ride streetcars uphill to get to town from the streetcar suburbs. Later in the Seventies the city decided that it just sounded nicer. However there is concrete reasoning behind calling it Uptown instead of Downtown .