Moving from Cary to Charlotte (Gastonia, Monroe: relocate, budget, apts)

[Freud3]

Hi everyone. I have a question about Charlotte. My husband has to relocate for his job from Cary to Charlotte and I was wondering if there are any areas (safe areas) similar to Cary near Charlotte? I've never been to Charlotte so I don't know where the bad areas are, so if someone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome!

Thanks!

[SunnyKayak]

Huntersville was once modeled after Cary. Imagine where Cary was far as growth and development 12 years ago and that is the stage Huntersville is at now.

[BarbJ]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

Huntersville was once modeled after Cary. Imagine where Cary was far as growth and development 12 years ago is the stage Huntersville is at.

Very interesting. I didn't know this. Is this when Ann Hammond was the Huntersville City Planner?

[Freud3]

I'm relatively new to NC (8 months new) so I'm not sure how it used to be. It seems like Huntersville is quite a distance from Charlotte.

What about Rock Hill, SC? I heard that was only about 20 minutes from Charlotte, and rent seems to be reasonable there...I just don't want to end up in the ghetto. And I guess I should mention reasonable as in $500 or so a month. I realize the more you pay, the safer the area, which is why I'm a bit concerned about the price.

What about Belmont or Dilworth?

Also, are there any bad sides...like say the North or East sides are filled with gangs? I think I remember someone mentioning in one of these threads to stay away from the Northern part of Charlotte...but I don't know if they meant IN Charlotte or the areas in the North. And looking at the map, I guess Huntersville isn't any further than Belmont, I suppose.

Thanks for the replies, btw

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Freud3

I'm relatively new to NC (8 months new) so I'm not sure how it used to be. It seems like Huntersville is quite a distance from Charlotte.

What about Rock Hill, SC? I heard that was only about 20 minutes from Charlotte, and rent seems to be reasonable there...I just don't want to end up in the ghetto. And I guess I should mention reasonable as in $500 or so a month. I realize the more you pay, the safer the area, which is why I'm a bit concerned about the price.

What about Belmont or Dilworth?

Also, are there any bad sides...like say the North or East sides are filled with gangs? I think I remember someone mentioning in one of these threads to stay away from the Northern part of Charlotte...but I don't know if they meant IN Charlotte or the areas in the North. And looking at the map, I guess Huntersville isn't any further than Belmont, I suppose.

Thanks for the replies, btw

Huntersville is actually very convenient to uptown Charlotte. I personally would not want to live any further north than Huntersville and commute in to uptown however.

Fort Mill is 20 minutes to uptown Charlotte, not Rock Hill.

Charlotte does not have "ghettos". We do have some areas more dangerous or crime-ridden than others, but no ghettos. In fact, some of our worst areas don't look as bad as some cities BEST areas.

You will have difficulty finding anything to rent in Charlotte in safe areas for $500. a month. If you cannot go up to at least $600, preferably $650-700 you will need to plan to live in one of our surrounding towns, maybe Gastonia or Monroe. You cannot afford to live in Dilworth or Belmont if all you can spend on rent is $500. a month, sorry.

Also, you said, "are there any bad sides...like say the North or East sides are filled with gangs? I think I remember someone mentioning in one of these threads to stay away from the Northern part of Charlotte...but I don't know if they meant IN Charlotte or the areas in the North."

The area directly north of uptown Charlotte for about 5 miles is one of the bad sides I would not recommend you look at, but beyond that things become very nice. East Charlotte has a problem with too many rentals, which tends to make some parts of it more crime-ridden. However, not all of east Charlotte is considered bad. Some parts of it are actually nice and very convenient to uptown Charlotte. No place in Charlotte is "filled with gangs". While we unfortunately do have a gang presence now that never used to exist, crime numbers show that there are about 2000-3000 gang members in this city of well over half a million. Of those, more than half are thug teenager gang-wanna-bees.

[Freud3]

Thank you LovesMountains for all the information!

We can spend up to or around $700 a month, but we saw a place in Rock Hill that was $550 I believe, which is why I mentioned that.

I'm not exactly sure what TWC building my husband will be working at in Charlotte, so I don't know if it's uptown or not.

Sad thing about the gangs. I noticed that even where we live in Cary there are a couple of people I've met claiming to be in a gang, but like you said, it seems that they're gang-wanna-bees.

I thought about Gastonia...it seems like a nice place, but I'm not sure how far it is from Charlotte.

Thanks again for ALL the information! When I come up with more questions, I shall post again

I should also mention that we don't have any kids, so no need to worry about school districts or anything like that. And, obviously, we'll be renting, not buying

I'll look more into Huntersville and also find out where the TWC building is in Charlotte.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Freud3

Thank you LovesMountains for all the information!

We can spend up to or around $700 a month, but we saw a place in Rock Hill that was $550 I believe, which is why I mentioned that.

I'm not exactly sure what TWC building my husband will be working at in Charlotte, so I don't know if it's uptown or not.

Sad thing about the gangs. I noticed that even where we live in Cary there are a couple of people I've met claiming to be in a gang, but like you said, it seems that they're gang-wanna-bees.

I thought about Gastonia...it seems like a nice place, but I'm not sure how far it is from Charlotte.

Thanks again for ALL the information! When I come up with more questions, I shall post again

I should also mention that we don't have any kids, so no need to worry about school districts or anything like that. And, obviously, we'll be renting, not buying

I'll look more into Huntersville and also find out where the TWC building is in Charlotte.

At $700 a month you will have many more options

Gastonia is actually a pretty easy commute to Charlotte as interstate 85 is eight-laned from there to uptown. Rock Hill would be one of those other cities I was referring to with cheaper rents for sure. Commute from there is not terrible, but interstate 77 is not as wide as you approach uptown, so it does get a bit bottlenecked. Best of luck with your search! Let me know if I can try to answer any other questions

[NCgirl]

I know TWC has a building on Arrowood Rd. in the Steele Creek area. There are many 1 bedroom apts. in the $700-$800 range. 2+bedrooms, Townhomes and houses are more expensive. Gastonia is only about 30 minutes away either via 485 and 85 South or backroads into SC and then back into NC/Gaston County.

If your husband is working at the Arrowood location you may also want to consider Ft. Mill and Tega Cay in SC. As lovesMountains said, they are closer than Rock Hill.

I've never been to Cary so I don't know how these areas compare to where you live now.

[Patti1042]

Originally Posted by Freud3

Hi everyone. I have a question about Charlotte. My husband has to relocate for his job from Cary to Charlotte and I was wondering if there are any areas (safe areas) similar to Cary near Charlotte? I've never been to Charlotte so I don't know where the bad areas are, so if someone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome!

Thanks!

Like every city there are good parts and not so good. I think that you will be able to find a nice place to rent with your budget.
Huntersville, Gastonia and Belmont would be a pretty easy commute to uptown. If your husband is in the office on Arrowood then you should look at the Steele Creek and Fort Mill area.