Another one thinking about relocating to NC from NJ.... (Charlotte: real estate, foreclosed) - City-Data Forum

EbbieThust · 08-25-2010, 06:25 PM

Yup, here is another one thinking about relocating from Central Jersey ( South Brunswick ) to Charlotte.
My company has a job opening in Charlotte, where I have a good chance of getting it. It will not be until Q1 / Q2 next year, but cannot be prepared early enough

The job is posted with app. 75k + 5k car allowance + incentif, which I do not want to calculate in. I am currently making app. 93k here in NJ + the above. Net is app 5K per month and we are paying for about 1400 sqf ranch 2200 rent, about 230 car insurance per month, 200 ac ( up to 400 heating in the winter ), pay off 2 cars with 650 per month + tv + phone, etc. These are the most significant points in our spending and believe it or not, we are living from paycheck to paycheck, mostly money not being enough. The wife cannot work currently, since we have an 8 month old and no family in the states ( we are from Germany ) who could support. We are the typical suburb family living in a good school district in a totally average home in a nice neighbourhood.
The big question is of course, if we would be better off in the Charlotte area with the above monies. Maybe I could squeeze out another 5K, but that is most, I could imagine, rather less. We would not want to live in CLT downtown area and would not mind living further out in nice area/suburb. We actually would like that

The office is close to the airport, right off of 485 , but I do not have to be there every day and could work from home or would be on the road quite a bit anyways. We would like to have a single family with 3-4 BRs and at least 2 Bathrooms - maybe Lake Wylie, if that would be afordable and a good neighbourhood with good schools.
It would be great if somebody could let us know their experience with maybe a similar situation and could give us their opinion. I somehow do not trust the salary.com pages, since there are so much differences, if you check multiple pages, each one giving you different figures.

Thank you so much in advance,

Ebbie

MikeyKid · 08-25-2010, 06:45 PM

Hoping southbound sees this... sounds like Gastonia could work well for you and there's no better expert on the boards about that area.

You could do very well in the Charlotte area on $80k.

southbound_295 · 08-25-2010, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EbbieThust

Yup, here is another one thinking about relocating from Central Jersey ( South Brunswick ) to Charlotte.
My company has a job opening in Charlotte, where I have a good chance of getting it. It will not be until Q1 / Q2 next year, but cannot be prepared early enough

The job is posted with app. 75k + 5k car allowance + incentif, which I do not want to calculate in. I am currently making app. 93k here in NJ + the above. Net is app 5K per month and we are paying for about 1400 sqf ranch 2200 rent, about 230 car insurance per month, 200 ac ( up to 400 heating in the winter ), pay off 2 cars with 650 per month + tv + phone, etc. These are the most significant points in our spending and believe it or not, we are living from paycheck to paycheck, mostly money not being enough. The wife cannot work currently, since we have an 8 month old and no family in the states ( we are from Germany ) who could support. We are the typical suburb family living in a good school district in a totally average home in a nice neighbourhood.
The big question is of course, if we would be better off in the Charlotte area with the above monies. Maybe I could squeeze out another 5K, but that is most, I could imagine, rather less. We would not want to live in CLT downtown area and would not mind living further out in nice area/suburb. We actually would like that

The office is close to the airport, right off of 485 , but I do not have to be there every day and could work from home or would be on the road quite a bit anyways. We would like to have a single family with 3-4 BRs and at least 2 Bathrooms - maybe Lake Wylie, if that would be afordable and a good neighbourhood with good schools.
It would be great if somebody could let us know their experience with maybe a similar situation and could give us their opinion. I somehow do not trust the salary.com pages, since there are so much differences, if you check multiple pages, each one giving you different figures.

Thank you so much in advance,

Ebbie

Hi Ebbie!

Where in Germany? One of my grandfathers came from a small village near Bitburg.

Now this will seem off-base at first, but I have a reason. Have you spent time in South Jersey? I came down from Cherry Hill. I do not feel that there is a lot of differences here. I don't live in Charlotte. I am further out.

Do you know where the job would be located? You don't have to be specific. A general area would be great. I live west of Charlotte. Real estate is cheaper & traffic is less west of Charlotte.

Oh, we have Aldi here.

Oops! You gave the location! Sorry about that. How long are you willing to drive?

oldway · 08-25-2010, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeyKid

Hoping southbound sees this... sounds like Gastonia could work well for you and there's no better expert on the boards about that area.

You could do very well in the Charlotte area on $80k.

Agreed! I think you will like it here. i moved down from DC a few months back and recently bought a foreclosed home. Your money will go much further here. Not to mention I like the size of this town so much more than DC. Come down for a visit and check it out. I'll be suprised if you don't like it here.

EbbieThust · 08-25-2010, 07:16 PM

We are from Wiesbaden

And Aldi is already making the deal

The job would be located south of the Charlotte international airport. We would be totally open in where to live. We live in Central Jersey, so I am not familiar with South Jersey and have not been there enough to be able to compare with CLT. Do you mean differences moneywise ??? We just don't want to be in the same situation as we are now, but be able to breathe a little bit more at the end of the month. Right now it is really tight with the money, with my wife not being able to work, so this opportunity seems like a blessign at first.

lumbollo · 08-25-2010, 07:34 PM

Wait. You mean you are making close to $100K/year and that isn't enough to meet expenses? I would say that taking a $20K/year cut to move to the Charlotte area is not going to fix your money issues.

southbound_295 · 08-25-2010, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EbbieThust

We are from Wiesbaden

And Aldi is already making the deal

The job would be located south of the Charlotte international airport. We would be totally open in where to live. We live in Central Jersey, so I am not familiar with South Jersey and have not been there enough to be able to compare with CLT. Do you mean differences moneywise ??? We just don't want to be in the same situation as we are now, but be able to breathe a little bit more at the end of the month. Right now it is really tight with the money, with my wife not being able to work, so this opportunity seems like a blessign at first.

I asked about South Jersey because most of it is rural. Cherry Hill is a big suburb outside of Philadelphia.

There are a string of towns west of Charlotte.

The school system is different here. It goes by county. There are 3 excellent elementary schools in Gastonia. It is a smaller city than Charlotte but has most of the same stores. I will get you the names of those schools. Belmont is a small town between Gastonia & Charlotte. They have a nice little downtown & part of Belmont shares one of the elementary schools in Gastonia.

I live just west of Gastonia in City of Kings Mountain. 2 of the elementary schools are excellent here. In my town, we go o Gastonia for most of our shopping, just like most people in the towns out here. Think of Gastonia as the American equivalent of a market town.

In my town as long as you live near highway 74, the time to drive to the airport would be about 25 to 30 minutes. The time is less from Gastonia, & would be about 15 or 20 minutes from Belmont.

The further out you go, the cheaper the real estate is. I can post the town websites for you. I will post the school names. Then you would decide which town you like & look for real estate listings that say that students go to that school.

MikeyKid · 08-25-2010, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lumbollo

Wait. You mean you are making close to $100K/year and that isn't enough to meet expenses? I would say that taking a $20K/year cut to move to the Charlotte area is not going to fix your money issues.

Looking at about 44% net to housing alone and knowing how expensive other things are up there, I think the 13k (assuming no incentives) less is a very reasonable step up overall. There are many good housing options for under 2k in this area.

southbound_295 · 08-25-2010, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeyKid

Looking at about 44% net to housing alone and knowing how expensive other things are up there, I think the 13k (assuming no incentives) less is a very reasonable step up overall. There are many good housing options for under 2k in this area.

I agree totally, Mikey. Plus, the new governor has been busy as a bee doing stuff that is guaranteed to raise property taxes even more.

EbbieThust · 08-25-2010, 07:55 PM

Right, no incentives in the 93K. Yes, I am also ashamed to say that money is not enough, making that much, but it is really getting crazy here. I heard of people, who were not able to pay their heating bill last year, because they were getting exorbitant. Of course, if they easily double in the winter..... And considering that the housing portion takes up easily more than 50% of the income ( incl. utilities ), it is getting tough. And with the wife not being able to work, our expenses increase ( diapers, formula, safety stuff, clothes, etc. ) but the income has decreased - it is tight !! We are not overspending, just the regular stuff, like going out to eat once in a while. We also have a teenager, and boy, are they adding to the overall costs......