Possibly Moving to Charlotte..Need advice (Concord, Huntersville: apartments, rentals, townhomes)

[lec1219]

Hi,
My husband and I might possibly be moving to Charlotte in August. He is currently in Physical Therapy school and Charlotte is one of the cities he will be interviewing with. We will be visiting it this upcoming weekend and wanted to know the areas to visit to decide if we like the city. (Neither of us have been, but have heard great things!)

Could you please reply with areas of the city to see, things to do, shopping areas, ...just how to get a feel for the city as we drive and sightsee. Thanks!

Also, does anyone know much about physical therapy jobs in Charlotte? Thanks and I look forward to this board and reading your responses!

(Other helpful info about us... Young couple 25 years old.. and I have a marketing degree so I will be looking for entry level marketing job.)

[Metallisteve]

I couldn't piece together a full tour of the city/metro area simply because I haven't been here long enough...but I can offer a little advice. My wife and I first stayed in the South Park part of town (near the intersection of Park Rd. and Tyvola/Fairview Rd.). It made a very good impression on us as just a nice clean part of town with a lot of trees. It's alittle pricey to live in that area, but you may find a rental within range.

There's the university area (called University City, but still within the Charlotte limits) located in NE Charlotte (kind of straddling I-85 near the WT Harris Blvd. exit). UNC-Charlotte is located in this area as well as the research park area.

The very bottom/south side of Charlotte is Ballantyne (located on the outside of the I-485 loop). It's sort of a higher-end part of town with a lot of newer construction.

The south/southeast part of town is the Matthews and Mint Hill...a more rural part of the county. You're more prone find a larger lot size at an affordable price, but it is developing.

Southwest Charlotte is the Steele Creek part of town. Once a small rural area that is now booming with new construction ranging from townhomes to homes to apartments. Growing a little faster than I personally like, but it has a lot of shops and conveniences.

The northwest part of town, in my opinion isn't so hot and you're more prone to find some not so great neighborhoods. All cities have them...

North of Charlotte is the Huntersville and Mooresville area. Mooresville is race town. Instead of office parks, they have race shop parks...seriously. I can't speak for Huntersville much since I haven't been there much. I know most people like the area, but it does come with a commute during rush hour.

And of course there's downtown (some call it "uptown"). There's plenty of parking garages to park in for not-to-exorbitant prices...around $10-12 will park you all day. There's not a whole heck of a lot to do besides building sightsee, maybe catch a basketball or hockey game at the arena, maybe catch some sort of show at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, a handful of good places to eat ranging from good and normal prices to very expensive.

Most of the parks within the county are very nice. Check out the Parks website at Home (http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Park+and+Rec/Home.htm - broken link)

If you're here long enough and if mountains are your thing (they're everyone's thing, right?!), head west for 1.5 hours to see Chimney Rock Park or northwest to see Grandfather Mountain. Both are great parks that cater well to sightsee'ers.
Chimney Rock Park | North Carolina hiking trails with incredible mountain views Grandfather Mountain

I'm sure others will chime in and fill in the blanks I've left here...

[dankimnc]

We moved to the Mallard Creek area almost 10 years ago, and oh my has it gown. Once the beltway (I-485) is complete, we will be inside of it, if you can get into an area like that, your home value will go up, about 10 years before it will be complete though. Every area will have it's crime. We have a brand new HS (this is it's first year), and a new middle and elementary school will be complete in a couple of years. The Mallard Creek area is 10 minutes from Concord Mills, 15 minutes from Northlake. Grocery stores, drug stores everywhere. The Ikea store will be opening next year. It all depends on what you want, we wanted to be near stores....Two new Wal-Marts are going up, the University Store will be closing, as it should, it's old and run down (everyone needs at least one Wal-Mart in the backyard). The Mint Hill area is really nice also, kind of in the middle of the East side of town. We don't get to South Charlotte much, but when we do, we enjoy the large trees and older homes that have been kept up very nice.

[lec1219]

Thank you for your help!!

[lgrandst]

HI,

I moved here 1 1/2 years ago from Maine. I looked around and did a lot of research.

If you are thinking of buying and commuting I would definately go South of Charlotte over the Union County line. There are some great neighborhoods and schools are the best in the state. Resale here is wonderful. I live only 2 miles from the Charlotte Line.

The taxes are lower too. There are also rentals here.

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