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Hello all! So we will be coming down south at the end of January for a family wedding in Florida. Since we want to move down south we are going to use this time to look at two different cities. My husband is citing towards the Atlanta Metro area and I am siting towards the Charlotte metro area. We are looking to live in a suburb around one of the cities not necessarily in the main city itself.
My husband will have his Master’s degree in Cyber Security in about two months along with his CISSP certification. A lot of this means nothing to anyone and it was very confusing to me but he’s like an anti-hacker pretty much. Anyway, his plight for Atlanta He says that it is now a “tech mecca” And he believes that it would be very very simple for him to find a job there. I have looked up jobs in Charlotte (mostly in Uptown) in his field and there are many and many that he is qualified for already without his masters. My side of the fight is that there are so many tech people in Atlanta that it might be difficult for him to find a job since there will be so many more applicants. Not that I am not confident in my husband’s ability but I just want to keep it real at all times especially since Atlanta has so many applicants from overseas that are so highly qualified. Not that Charlotte doesn’t it just seems that Atlanta has more.
My major issue with Atlanta is the traffic. I have joined every single Facebook group for every single suburb around Atlanta and all I keep hearing about is the traffic. Even Horrific traffic to go to a grocery store. We were originally from Long Island and I detested the traffic. Now for the past five years we have lived on a mountain in the Poconos and let me tell you it is scary. So I don’t want to go back to Long Island and I don’t ever want to find a completely rural and isolated area like the one I live in now. We have two grocery stores in the hole town and they are small and when you want to go “into town” It’s 25 minutes away and when I say that I don’t mean a town like Charlotte I mean like a town where there’s a little row of stores including the Rite Aid and a Dunkin’ Donuts and a post office and Walmart is 40 minutes from my house.
To be honest I just want to live in suburbia with neighbors that I can wave to end a nice flat backyard with like a quarter of an acre to half an acre where my kids can run. We have 6 kids So I am not about living in a city. I will definitely be a soccer and dance mom and I absolutely love that and I know that’s not for everyone but that’s my dream with my six kids. My husband likes that too. Our budget is 500k and under, for me preferably 400k and under. The only reason our budget went so high was because we were looking in the suburbs of Atlanta and they are really pricey if you want any type of backyard or square footage (6 kids!) and we are regular people who got lucky to get really quick equity in our house here in PA which we will be using as down payment.
Does anyone have any comments on whether or not it’s the traffic in Charlotte is better than Atlanta from either experience or from friends that you know what from anyone that you know that has been there. It just scares me to death that the only thing I read about in every single forum regarding the suburbs of Atlanta is how bad everyone’s commute is. I’m talking an hour and a half to 2 hours each way! My husband swears that he is OK with any commute as long as we have a beautiful house with the nice backyard but I’m pretty sure he says that now and then when he sits in the hour and a half of traffic every day he would hate his life. I am OK with 45 minutes or less and would love half hour or less but we just don’t want that Long Island traffic back. I have read about schools and you have very good schools So I am not really worried about where to live because we will drive around and see what we like. We are open to any area within a decent commute. I just want to make sure that if people live in Mathews or in Mint Hill or Belmont or Harrisburg (hope you get my drift) That you don’t just sit in traffic for two hours every morning and every evening because that’s not the type of quality of life that we want.
Well I hope my post made some sort of sense and I appreciate your feedback. I hope I worded everything OK as I usually talk into my phone because of so many little children running around. We are excited to come look around and I just hope when we look at one city compared to another that it’s an easy decision for us. Thanks so much and have an awesome day!!
Definitely come down and visit. A cyber-security job with a Master's Degree should make him highly qualified for many jobs in Charlotte. The large concentration of financial service companies makes those jobs in high demand since banks are hyper-vigilant on security. Bank of America for example (headquartered in Charlotte), has said the cyber-security department is the only department in the whole company not managed with a budget -> whatever it takes. Just an example of some of the large financial companies in Charlotte include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Bank, TIAA, Brighthouse Financial, Ally Financial, PwC, LPL, etc...
Of course, many other companies also need cyber-security, but financial services is just a start.
Commute wise, traffic is not as bad in Charlotte as Atlanta, but I also wouldn't call it a walk in the park either. You will find many roads still feel like a "country road", but now there are eight subdivisions with 5,000 people living off of it. Many of the neighborhoods I think that would most appeal to you (Union County suburbs like Weddington, Waxhaw, Indian Trail), Fort Mill in SC, and northern suburbs like Concord, Harrisburg, Huntersville, etc... are going to have longer commutes to Uptown in particular (though that might not be where he works). Concord is definitely one of the better options if you want a commute under 45 minutes to Uptown.
$500k is a generous budget and you should have no problem finding a house that meets your needs in a suburban community.
Charlotte is a good amount smaller than Atlanta, so it should be easier to get your arms around the city when you visit.
Atlanta definitely has us beat when it comes to traffic. We went down to the burbs of ATL on a Saturday and couldn't believe how backed up the interstate was on a Saturday afternoon.
I live in Concord (near Concord Mills) and I also work in uptown. My drive in the morning is about 45 minutes and my drive in the afternoon is around 40-45 (if I leave before 5pm) and around an hour if I leave after 5. I'm not sure you will find the acreage you're looking for, but you will find houses within your budget.
From what it sounds like, you'll end up winning the house fight, which means you'll end up a bit further outside of the city to get the bigger yard. I can only speak to South Charlotte, but in general, there is an interstate loop around the city I-485. You'll get your 0.5 acre+ yard in your price range if you stay outside of the loop and will be looking at about a 60 minute commute. You'll get a ~0.25-0.40 acre yard in your price range if you stay inside of the loop with about a 30-45 minute commute. In short, the closer to the city, the smaller the yard and older the home.
Schools are another factor. I'm going to use the general "good/bad" here. Most Charlotte area schools south of the city are "good" (again, I'm not familiar with north of the city). There are pockets of "bad" though, mostly right close to the city...though the ones further from the city and still inside the I-485 loop are still "good". Most schools outside the I-485 loop are "good".
In terms of "traffic", at non-peak times, your "60 minute rush hour commute" would be about 30 minutes. Most of suburban Charlotte in general is development based with yards and neighbors that wave hi to you.
Day to day traffic at non-rush hour times (supermarkets, shopping, etc) isn't really too bad in this general area to be honest.
Commute wise will also really depend on where your husband finds a job. For example, let's say your husband gets a job at the TIAA campus in "University City". This area is pretty close to Concord or Harrisburg where you might find a house / subdivision / school combination to your liking AND a commute under 30 minutes.
On the other hand, if he lands a job in the "Ballantyne" area at Brighthouse Financial -> Concord is not an option for a reasonable commute. However, Fort Mill, Matthews, Mint Hill, Indian Trail, Waxhaw, etc... all become good options.
People often use Uptown as the base-line commute option (myself included), but he may very well find a job at a more suburban office campus which makes some suburbs a shorter commute and others a further commute.
You are rught CLT4! The one thing that I do notice that is a big difference is that in Atlanta all the major jobs are either “in the perimeter”,which is the city, where in Alpharetta. And I’m just talking about tech jobs. When we looked in Charlotte there are many companies outside of uptown so to me that is also a plus! We will be definitely renting for six months (Hopefully we can find something short term or Maybe corporate housing of some sort) So that we can find something within reasonable distance to his place of employment. When we come down in January it will definitely be to choose which City feel we like more. In ATL We would have to live really close to the city close to Midtown and that’s just not for me. Like in no way at all! When I lived in Long Island I couldn’t fathom living anywhere near New York City and when I worked there to meet was a total nightmare even though some people love it! In my heart I already know that the Charlotte area is the winner I will appease him and go to both LOL
Hey, It’s the first time that we will be away from our six kids so it should be interesting! They are 13, 4, 3, 2 and 1 year old twins! I will either have the time of my life away from them or I will cry every day! Maybe a mix of both but the excitement of finding a new place to live is pretty awesome !!
You will talk about and discuss the kids all day on the first day you're away. By the last day you'll hopefully remember to call them At least that was always our experience on our yearly jaunts away from our four.
Good thread! I like both metros, but love Charlotte better overall. Though traffic can be bad in some areas in and around Charlotte, it doesn't compare at all to Atlanta. I loath having to drive through OR around Atlanta during any time of day (except 10pm-6am, lol). Though the cost of living in metro Atlanta is reasonable, Buying Power (cost of living vs average annual income) in metro Charlotte is better (with the national average index being 100, Charlotte is 91.29 and Atlanta is 111.34). You will have no problem finding a very nice home in your price range. Depending on where your husband's job is located will depend on the best suburb to look at. Suburban cities I'd suggest would be Belmont, Ft. Mill, and Harrisburg. I would avoid Union County and the Lake Norman area (Mooresville, Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson). These areas have horrific traffic and Union County has the only housing costs in the metro area above the national average (10% above the national average and 19% above the CLT metro average). Though Atlanta is more of a tech hub than Charlotte, you CAN find good paying tech jobs here. Charlotte and Atlanta are really similar in many ways with the exception of metro sizes (CLT 2.6 million and ATL 5.5 million). Charlotte's a bigger city, though (2018 estimates CLT 878,000 and ATL 522,000) They're both green, rolling hills to the north and west, lots of recreational assets, outdoorsy, similar climates, great economies, etc. But I'd suggest Charlotte. You'll just get more bang for your buck and have less traffic headaches to boot. You can PM if you have any specific questions. Good luck wherever you guys end up. If's it's Charlotte, welcome!
Visit both and get a feel for each city and go with your gut. We moved here from the West Coast and were really torn between the Raleigh area and CLT. After a TON of research on this forum, we were 90% sure about CLT before we ever saw it. When we got here we fell in love. We ended up in Fort Mill (a suburb of CLT that's actually located in SC) for the schools and while my husband's commute SUCKS, everything else makes up for it.
If he's in Cybersecurity, he might not need to commute at all. This company hires remote workers: https://www.secureideas.com/careers.html and many companies allow telecommuting. The Coworking spaces are popping up in every section of town and the better ones take cybersecurity seriously.
Good luck to you! It's BIG move but it will be worth it!
Depending on where your husband's job is located will depend on the best suburb to look at. Suburban cities I'd suggest would be Belmont, Ft. Mill, and Harrisburg. I would avoid Union County and the Lake Norman area (Mooresville, Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson). These areas have horrific traffic and Union County has the only housing costs in the metro area above the national average (10% above the national average and 19% above the CLT metro average).
I don't want to hijack the thread, but we've visited the area three times now and plan to move to Charlotte next Spring. We've looked all over.
My uneducated observations, please correct me where I'm wrong.
Ft Mill is a bargain and we found a home we just loved, but there's nothing going on there and not many amenities without a good drive. So we are focused on Huntersville and Cornelius, and the only consistently bad feedback we get is traffic. However, once the construction on 77 is done I would think that would improve some? And I hear rumors some/much of the new 77 will become toll roads, which might get traffic flowing much better if you're willing to pay tolls. We're coming from Chicago anyway, Charlotte isn't as bad on it's worst day. And there are far more amenities around Huntersville/Cornelius, just as close to downtown Charlotte as the SC suburbs, and Lake Norman is a draw for us.
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At least that was always our experience on our yearly jaunts away from our four. 
