Which areas are good in Charlotte? (Concord, Kannapolis: section 8, real estate market, foreclosures)

[thefloridians]

We have lived in Miami all of our lives. It is VERY busy here, but we enjoyed it while growing up. Last year however, we welcomed a daughter, and now have a strong desire to leave this busy,unsafe city and head somewhere we feel will be safer to raise our precious baby.
While we have visited South Carolina, we have actually never visited Charlotte. We always drove through Cherokee while on our way to Tennesse on various trips there. We, well, my husband, has done an extensive search on crime rate, housing prices,salary averages etc. on Charlotte. We already like Charlotte because insurance there, on average is $600 yearly....we pay $3,100 yearly! In addition, housing there is significantly lower than it is here where we average at 240k on houses, on 25k average salaries, and Charlotte has averages at 47k salaries, and homes average at 159k! How does that make sense? I read that ridiculous review on traffic and water on here, and they, apparently have not been to Miami! We have 6 lane highways, and it still takes over 40 minutes to drive 20 miles on I95 with tolls along the way! This is assuming there are no accidents. We hate it here! We actually didn't seem to mind prior to our daughters arrival. Now, I just don't want her around this life style.
That said, we are moving as quickly as possible, and we will be visiting Charlotte in October. We are unsure of which area to visit, and would love your advise on this.
We would love to stay in an area that:
*Has plenty of bodyshops and dealerships as my husband is in the automotive painting industry.
*We need to stay in somewhat of a city with shopping,highways, schools,etc. within convenient reach.
*We would like to have a combination of,essentially, what everyone wants.....a "safe" neighborhood with affordable housing (150k is affordable to us)

Any suggestions as to which areas to consider, and which to stay away from? Since we will be on "vacation" , we wouldn't mind visiting some attractions. Fell free to include those as well! As a city girl, I feel the transition would be easier in a larger city area of Charlotte, obviously. But would that mean leaving one super busy,unsafe city to move to another?
Thanks for reading and sharing,
Desperate to leave Floridians

One last thing, what is all the raave about the weather there? EVERYONE on here talks about the "great weather".

[solnechko]

Probably most of the "great weather" raves are from NYers who like the fact that it doesn't snow here.

You do realize that Charlotte is in North Carolina, and that it's not near Cherokee?

I don't know what kind of neighborhood you'll get into for 150k for good schools and all that. You would want to stay away from neighborhoods with lots of foreclosures, which are turning into the new slums.

I think most of the body shops are going to be along South Blvd or Independence, where most of the auto dealerships are. You might look at Concord or Kannapolis; there are lots of dealerships out there and you might find homes in your price range. Also try the Indian Trail area in Union County.

But once again, I'm amazed that someone has decided to move here, never having visited. I'm not sure where you're pulling all your numbers from, but how do you even know they are valid? Things here are changing quickly -- the real estate market is in the tank, the banking industry is in a mess (and this is a banking town), unemployment is high and the cost of living is rising somewhat rapidly.

Good luck to you -- just remember that this is not the promised land. Charlotte has its issues, just like any other major city.

[sstarrx3]

It is not humid here like it is in Florida. Anyone who gets on here and tells you it is, has no idea. We get some hot days in the summer, but it isn't brutal, as long as you have AC in your home. I have only been here 13 months and I love the weather. This is my second summer and unless it has been unusually cool, I don't think the summers here are bad. Texas and Arizona are much worse.

[mspiggy007]

We've just visited Charlotte one whole week and came back yesterday. It is hot and humid here in the Midwest and extremely cold in the winter. We think Charlotte is such a nice city, and we still will think of moving to Charlotte real soon. I know there is bad and good in every city, but so far, we think the Charlotte people are extremely nice and pleasant to deal with. Everyone is so laid-back and friendly. I talked to a couple of locals and they said that the city balance out everything, upscale neighborhoods will also home to section 8 people, mostly seniors ...Looks like the city doesn't group one whole area as "ghetto" or rich ...I'm sure as long as people have their neighborhood watch going, crime will have no chance to occur to you.

[indraman]

I agree with a pp that Indian Trail is probably a great pick for your profession and your price range. There are some great buys right now in neigborhoods like: Brook Valley and Shiloh Trace. Union County has slightly lower taxes than Mecklenberg Co. and schools with great reputations.
My recommendation is to find a really good real estate agent who knows all of the areas. I'm not a re agent, but we had one that really made our move a lot easier. She was able to answer just about all of our questions. We moved here very quickly (10 days after my dh accepted his job) and she had quite a job to do. Feel free to PM me if you'd like a recommendation.

[pink caddy]

I don't think you will be happy here. And I don't think it is wise to move here.

Yours in tough love,
john