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Could you tell me more about where this neighborhood is located?
The Sanctuary is in southwest Charlotte (the Steele Creek area). It is a lovely neighborhood, however, not where you want to be for sports necessarily. You would also need to check out the schools on great schools dot org
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by noblibgal
I would say an "acreage house" is probably more what we are looking for. We have one now that sits within a top notch school district and community but is in an area that was once considered more "rural" although it has now been sold off into housing parcels. We have a home that sits on almost 2 acres and we share a common drive with two other homes. This type of property isn't the "norm" for what most people think of when they describe our suburb but you just have to know where to look.
Lax is becoming huge in OH. It now rivals youth soccer for field space and involvement. Our HS has won the state championship in the last 5 years in both Div 1 and Div 2. Football is of course big and hockey is gaining steam quickly. Wish Charlotte was more of a hockey town. We are certainly spoiled here in Columbus with the Blue Jackets. Youth hockey has exploded.
I think that Denver in Lincoln County may have what you are after. The eastern towns in Gaston County may also have what you want. Either would be good commutes. You probably can get what you want easier in Clover, SC or Kings Mountain, NC, but they are further out than you want to be for commute time.
FYI, in Gaston County, development tends to follow I 85 & US 74. Travelling north or south of those roads gets you to more rural areas that are what you want.
I know nothing about North Carolina as I have lived in OH all my life. Possible job move to Charlotte area. 6 kids. Need good schools, sports organizations (ie: youth football, hockey, lacrosse etc...) Would like home on large lot or 2-3 acres. Am I dreaming? (800K-1.5.)
Nope. I'm currently searching for homes on 2-5 acres within the city limits of Charlotte. There are at least 20 properties for sale. Some of them are even priced below your bottom figure. If you increase your acreage requirements to between 10-50 acres another 20 or so properties are available in the Charlotte metro area that are still within your budget. I'm using www.hotpads.com for my searches.
Last edited by Barkingowl; 05-14-2011 at 06:04 PM..
Yeah these will be banned in 99% of the planned communities in the area and are not allowed on public land or on any street. If you want to be able to use dirt bikes or similar, you will need to look for what is known locally as an "acreage house" that isn't part of a community. There is no specific area for them.
On commuting to uptown Charlotte, you will want to avoid anything outside of I-485 that is in the SE. This includes Union county, Mint Hill & Matthews. These areas are often recommended here, but they are traffic hell. It's endless subdivisions and strip malls connected to roads that were not designed for them. Misery loves company I suppose. I recommend heading West towards Lincoln or Gaston counties preferably off Hwy 16.
For the kind of money you are talking about, you could afford a house on the West side of Lake Norman where there is also plenty of acreage property and the Lincoln county schools are considered very good. The trade off will be water front with less land or water view with a lot more land. It's an easy drive down Hwy 16 straight to uptown Charlotte.
Just terribly biased advice for an OP who didn't make a single reference to lake access and wants schools and sports... Even then, if lake was on the list - why are you sending them up into the middle of nowhere? Lake + sports + schools would have to be Mooresville - especially LAX since they have a great program there. Mooresville has to come down to the South Charlotte area (AK, Provid, Marvin Ridge, Weddington, etc) to find even remotely competitive LAX programs. So, paying a lake premium for the sticks with no sports? Maybe you're replying to the wrong thread.
As for the "misery loves company" part - I've lived up in Lake Norman for a year and down in Union County for a year. For raising kids who are sports minded in good public schools, there's no question that Ardrey Kell, Providence, or Northwestern Union county (like I stated) is a much better QoL even with the "hellish" commute - which BTW isn't that much different trying to get in, around, or past Cornelius/Huntersville area anywhere close to rush hour. Talk about poor design of roads. Even the in town traffic in that general area is horrendous - you can't even get across 77. Meanwhile Weddington, Marvin, Matthews, Indian Trail, and Mint Hill all have convenient shopping without the insane in town traffic of the Lake Norman area and will have deals on acreage that are not going to be subject to "lake views" or "lake access" etc that will put the seller in a mind that they "deserve more".
Based on the complete requirements of the OP, up highway 16 is terrible advice.
Just terribly biased advice for an OP who didn't make a single reference to lake access and wants schools and sports... Even then, if lake was on the list - why are you sending them up into the middle of nowhere? Lake + sports + schools would have to be Mooresville - especially LAX since they have a great program there. Mooresville has to come down to the South Charlotte area (AK, Provid, Marvin Ridge, Weddington, etc) to find even remotely competitive LAX programs. So, paying a lake premium for the sticks with no sports? Maybe you're replying to the wrong thread.
As for the "misery loves company" part - I've lived up in Lake Norman for a year and down in Union County for a year. For raising kids who are sports minded in good public schools, there's no question that Ardrey Kell, Providence, or Northwestern Union county (like I stated) is a much better QoL even with the "hellish" commute - which BTW isn't that much different trying to get in, around, or past Cornelius/Huntersville area anywhere close to rush hour. Talk about poor design of roads. Even the in town traffic in that general area is horrendous - you can't even get across 77. Meanwhile Weddington, Marvin, Matthews, Indian Trail, and Mint Hill all have convenient shopping without the insane in town traffic of the Lake Norman area and will have deals on acreage that are not going to be subject to "lake views" or "lake access" etc that will put the seller in a mind that they "deserve more".
Based on the complete requirements of the OP, up highway 16 is terrible advice.
And your opinion isn't biaised?
Yantosh actually posted about the West side of the lake-never mentioned Mooresville.
As for Even the in town traffic in that general area is horrendous - you can't even get across 77-
that's plain untrue
Yesterday was race city festival and we crossed the I77 4 times between 10.30 and 1.30. Yes traffic on 150 was heavy but not impossible, plus if you know the back roads there's options for avoiding it.
Northwestern Union county (like I stated) is a much better QoL even with the "hellish" commute
I guess that involves Independence ? Now that really is hellish.At least on I77 you don't have to stop at traffic signals every 2 miles (or less).
As for the lake premium-it only applies if you want a lake view/waterfront or lake access.
If you look at prices in Waxhaw,Weddington and Indian trail and compare to the Lake area house for house the prices are not much different.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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This really is not a contest. The OP wants something a bit different than what we usually get here. She is also dealing with a larger than average budget, with a roughly 30 minute commute to Uptown.
One requirement is sports. Are they travelling sports, very competitive, or just plain ordinary sports? That was not clarified &, really, some people just want the sports available & aren't that interested in the highly competitive variety.
As far as schools go, Redd Jedd posted a link that ranks the schools within the state. I checked it out & some of the results are rather interesting. You can check for district rankings & by category for individual schools. Like Great Schools, it's a year behind. North Carolina State Districts - NC School District Rankings
Don't tell me that your high school is #2 or #3. According to this, there is a 35 school tie for #1. That means that #2 is really #36.
This has Union County ranked as #43, Cabarrus is #91, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are #96, Lincoln County Schools are $55, Iredell-Statesville Schools are #69, Gaston County Schools are #111, & Cleveland County Schools are #53. Does that mean that all schools in Gaston County are bad? No, no more than if you say that all schools in Union County are good.
Keep in mind that the current rankings are for last year's testing results, but both of these sites are a year behind.
As the OP I really do appreciate all the feedback I have gained from this site and thread. It helps put some of the pieces together. Slowly I am getting some kind of bearing for the area.
Quality sports programs are definitely high on list. Have done travel programs but most of my kids are now of the age where they need good school based programs. We have three HS in our current school district. Each HS is known for its strong sport. One is Div 1 football powerhouse another is a lax powerhouse. People move into the school boundary lines based on what sport they want for their kids. That is the kind of minutiae that goes into moving that right now feels like I am on Google earth looking from outer space.
A lake front property would not rank high on the list. Probably wouldn't rule it out but wouldn't go searching in that area first either. We have a home now that we would never have found had we not already lived in the area and knew of all the locations in our current schooling districts. We would like a newer home "off the grid" of sorts meaning that we would prefer to not be in a designed neighborhood community but within the good school district areas. Our home is located off what looks like a country/county road but there are long driveways that lead to beautiful homes that you may or may not be able to see from the road. That is my ideal. Finding that may be like looking for a needle in a haystack but I am giving it a try.
Don't tell me that your high school is #2 or #3. According to this, there is a 35 school tie for #1. That means that #2 is really #36
Is this elementary/middle or high schools that there's the tie for?
To the OP Finding that may be like looking for a needle in a haystack but I am giving it a try.
Not impossible though! Good Luck and don't rule out either side of Lake Norman before you investigate yourself.
There are homes available well within you range and criteria, and with lake views/community access.
Last edited by Whatsthenews; 05-15-2011 at 09:58 PM..
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whatsthenews
Don't tell me that your high school is #2 or #3. According to this, there is a 35 school tie for #1. That means that #2 is really #36
Is this elementary/middle or high schools that there's the tie for?
To the OP Finding that may be like looking for a needle in a haystack but I am giving it a try.
Not impossible though! Good Luck and don't rule out either side of Lake Norman before you investigate yourself.
There are homes available well within you range and criteria, and with lake views/community access.
High School. I referred to high schools, why would it be something else? 35 high schools are tied for 1st place on that website. Many of them are Early College high schools.
High School. I referred to high schools, why would it be something else? 35 high schools are tied for 1st place on that website. Many of them are Early College high schools.
So the criteria you selected in the drop down menus were
1. High Schools
2. End of course
3. 2009-2010
4. EOC Algebra I English I
Yes?
Now in the top 35 schools that tied for 1st
around 4 were elementary and middle schools,and as you said, many were early college highs or specialist schools with smaller numbers of older students and some amazing student/teacher ratios.
If you change the criteria for
2 to 10th grade
4. to Writing (I chose writing rather than Mathematics or reading because the number of schools ranked was much higher)
It's a slightly different (more realistic I think?) picture.
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35 high schools are tied for 1st place on that website. Many of them are Early College high schools.
