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I did my first cross country drive in my life and it was a great adventure. I live in the greater Seattle area and drove down to Charlotte, North Carolina. I have now been in the city for a few days and really am loving it a lot. Wow, this place has really shocked me. IT is so clean, people are so friendly, beautiful people, traffic is not so bad and the scenery is mind blowing. Considering I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, to be so impressed with the beauty of North Carolina says something.
I would love to write pages and pages about what I love about the place, but I am facing a tough dilemma. I've been searching and searching for days for houses/townhouses/condos to rent, but everything I see is rented. Any available house is either in a pretty bad area or near train tracks or noisy roads. I even thought I would look at farther out areas like Mooresville, but cannot even find anything in that city that is available anymore. I mean, it literally appears like the entire town is sold out and I would be stuck living in noisy, overpriced, tiny apartments. After a miserable experience living in apartments in Seattle, where my neighbors would blast music at 3AM, despite me constantly asking them to stop, I know that I cannot ever live in an apartment complex again. Of course, the landlords assured me the neighbors were all very quiet, so I cannot ever believe a landlord or rental agent, since all they really care is I sign the papers and not that I am happy living there. Another issue is I have a lot of stuff that I have owned for years and that I would have to either pay a lot of money to store or sell or give away. IT would be hard for me to part with so many of my possessions. Being a person who likes some space, I woudl be miserable stuck in a box that i cannot just go walk out on my front porch and have a cup of coffee.. I would probably go nuts from claustrophobia.
I will admit I am somewhat of a country person and grew up in rural Oregon and lived many years in Portland when it was just a small city, not a growing metropolis as it is now. After leaving the Pacific Northwest, I was very impressed by how nice so many of the cities I have seen were on my journey. It amazed me how clean other cities are, the lack of homeless colonies all over the city and crazy people walking around, garbage littering all over the place. I know I will never return back to the Pacific Northwest and will pretty much accepting living anywhere else, except California or the Northeast. Those are two other regions I have no desire to ever live either.
Anyhow, I really loving Charlotte. I have a friend who lives here and the Rabbi from Jewish community is the friendliest I have met and would love to be apart of it. People seem accepting and unlike Seattle which pretends to "Celebrate Diversity", this place is the most diverse and integrated I have ever seen in my life. I actually love how so many different kinds of people intermingle together. Also, I love the North Carolina and Tennessee accents.
The sad part is that I don't think I can afford to live here and there is nothing available for me to rent. Sadly, I will be taking a paycut for the next two years while I train and learn new technologies and keep a small family business alive. My budget will be from $1200 to $1500 a month. I am looking to rent a place that is over 1200 sq ft and it doesn't have to be the most hip, trendy or prestigious area. However, I just want to live in a place that is safe and quiet. I'm staying at an AirBnB up in North Charlotte and despite what some people told me, I find the area to be enchanting, quiet, peaceful and beautiful. I'd have no problem living there. However, I cannot even find anything to rent in that area either.
So, can anyone give me any suggestions? Is there any types of services, agents or anything I can do to find sources for rental houses/townhouses/condos, etc? I was looking on Zillow, but appears all the rental houses there are scams from these national companies. They make you give them a credit card to view a house and then want you to apply online. You pretty much never deal with a local person and thati s very sketchy. When I ask if they can give me number to local office they give me a number and nobody ever answers or calls back. All the local property mangement companies seem to have nothing available at all. I've never seen a rental market so bare bones and empty in the summer. People told me
Anyway, I may be stuck living in Knoxville, since I am running out of time and money to search. I stayed in Knoxville and found the area to be quite nice. The people seem friendly. However, being Jewish I think I will encounter my fair share of Anti-Semitism living in Tennessee, which is notorious for having these type of issues. Even though I do like the people I met in Tennessee, I don't think it would be a safe place for a Jewish guy to live. However, Knoxville is so much cheaper and does have lot of amenities. If I ended up living there I 'd probably be miserable, because it seems to be a fairly religious city and people seem to all have grown up there and married with kids. I'd probably be pretty lonely and miserable living there, but it may just be my only option, since it is only 3.5 hours away from where I am now. Charlotte seems like a thriving , booming small metropolis for every demographic.
I know some may suggest Nashville, but I have looked at the prices there and it is even more expensive than Charlotte and something tells me I would probably not like it nearly as much as Charlotte. I actually don't have any desire to live in a big tourist city, but it is a place I would love to visit and go to music shows and such.
If anyone can help advise me before I have to leave Charlotte and give up, I would appreciate it. I'm loving this city, but getting discouraged in the rental search. I only have 4 days left before I have to leave and then I will be stuck going to Knoxville.
Last edited by RotseCherut; 06-09-2018 at 10:02 AM..
Have you thought about Raleigh, it’s about 2 hours from Charlotte. I think you might have better luck finding a nice apartment there. Just curious, did you find CLT really hot and humid since you are used to cooler weather?
Last edited by loveautumn; 06-09-2018 at 10:04 AM..
Reason: Add question
Have you thought about Raleigh, it’s about 2 hours from Charlotte. I think you might have better luck finding a nice apartment there.
Yeah I have thought about Raleigh/Durham area and have decided against it. One issue is that it is too far away from the mountains. Many people I have talked to told me it is pretty much an overgrown suburb and if you are a single guy and not married, there really won't be much to do in the area. I hear Raleigh is an area that caters more for families and is more suburban in nature. I know I have heard mixed opinions, but that is the consensus I get. I'd probably just go with Knoxville over Raleigh if I was stuck with that choice. Knoxville is quite a bit cheaper than Raleigh too and if I am going to be in an area I don't desire to live, at least I can save money living there. Knoxville also is at the base of some of the most beautiful mountains I see. Even if I have nothing to do in Knoxville I can spend a lot of time hiking in the mountains. I grew up in the mountains of Oregon, so I would miss the mountains, being far away from mountains. Charlotte is about as far away from mountains as I wish to be.
Hi Hey_Guy.. I really know little about Greensboro and Winston-Salem. I'd think as a single Jewish guy though, I have no clue how well I would fit into those cities. I'd assume being a smaller Southern city, most people would be married with kids and church would be an important part of the life and culture. Maybe, it would not be much different than Knoxville in that regard. I feel I'd probably not have much of a social life or much to do living in either area. Of course, I am thinking of how things are in the Northwest. The smaller cities and suburbs, everyone is married with kids and keeps to themselves. Not much to do unless you live in the larger cities if you are single and didn't grow up in the area.
I guess it is not that far from where i am and I can take a day to check the area out as well. I've heard Winston-Salem is really beautiful area though.
Columbia SC would be perfect for you. Try to look around Arcadia Lakes and Forest Acres. Large Jewish community there. And you’ll get a lot of bag for your book and it’s only 90 miles from Charlotte. Don’t worry about “small town”. The area has 900,000 in its Metro and with the largest training military base in the country is very diverse and use to different walks of life.
I don't know anything about being Jewish but out of all the options listed here I would avoid Columbia, SC. Probably the hottest most humid place in the southeast. August in Columbia is miserable.
Last edited by TheAdmiralHalsey; 06-09-2018 at 07:34 PM..
Yeah, I already live near a military town and actually want to avoid military towns like the plague. As well, I am a gun owner and gun rights are important and South Carolina's gun laws are way too restrictive for my tastes. Also, the taxes in South Carolina are even higher than North Carolina, which is about the limit of what I want to pay. I have always wanted to visit Charleston, but I think I will be enjoying South Carolina as a tourist rather than a resident.
I didn't know that Columbia, SC had a large Jewish community, so I appreciate sonofaque86 for mentioning about that and would be interested to check out that community. Still, don't desire to live in South Carolina and I have heard its hotter and more humid than North Carolina.
Anyhow, I have come to the conclusion that I am priced out of Charlotte. I've been struggling to find a place between $1200-1500 and my time is running out, because I am paying for an Air Bnb.. I think I am throwing the towel in on Charlotte. I'm thinking I will look at moving to Knoxville, TN or Winston-Salem, NC instead. I'm assuming Raleigh will be like Charlotte with the prices.
I got a lot of stuff I will be moving including some heavy objects, so I cannot move into a small apartment, which seems to be the only thing available in my price range in Charlotte. I didn't realize Charlotte is becoming more expensive than even Portland, Oregon. I'm really sad, because I actually really like the area and was pretty impressed by the city. It is so clean, there is a lot to do and people are friendly. I"m impressed by Charlotte's beer scene which easily rivals Seattle's and the beer I had at the first brewery I tried was great. The people are so vibrant, smiley and outgoing. It is a serious culture shock coming from the depressed, introverted and somewhat unfriendly and dismal Northwest.
I'm currently going to decide if I will pack up my stuff and head to Knoxville or Winston-Salem in the next few days.
Greenville/Spartanburg area, probably the largest metro area in the state. Much closer to the mountains and cooler weather.
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