Charlotte - Any places to avoid when searching for a home? (Mooresville: fit in, rent)

[NCgirl]

there are great areas with homes in your price range in the towns of Mt. Holly or Gastonia.

Since you've signed up with a real estat site, I just wanted to add on to Loves excellent (as usual) advice. In Gaston county there are some small towns in between Charlotte and Gastonia. In addition to Mt. Holly....Belmont, Cramerton, Lowell, Ranlo and McAdenville.

Also west charlotte is not the entire western part of the city. It is a small area that is west of uptown. The other part of on the western side of Charlotte are known as the Steele Creek area and the Northwest/Mountain Island Lake area. I think you can find a nice home in either area.

[bs13690]

Originally Posted by QC Misfit

Well if your working in Ballatyne currently you do not want to look for a house in Mooresville.

Obviously we know that things change during life....

The fact that things change in life was exactly my point. Why compromise where you are going to live for your work? I know plenty of people who live in West Virginia and commute to DC because they like living in WV better. The question was what places to avoid, not where is a good place in relation to their work.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by bs13690

The fact that things change in life was exactly my point. Why compromise where you are going to live for your work? I know plenty of people who live in West Virginia and commute to DC because they like living in WV better. The question was what places to avoid, not where is a good place in relation to their work.

Sorry, that may be some crazy "beltway" mentality, but here in Charlotte many of us are attempting to be conscious of living as close to where we work as we can to reduce our traffic congestion and carbon emissions. When people carelessly live on one side of town knowing they are going to be working on the other, they become part of the problem with our growth. We are very welcoming of newcomers here, for the most part, but we encourage newcomers to be part of the solution to our problems - not to come here just to make our problems worse.

[bs13690]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

Sorry, that may be some crazy "beltway" mentality, but here in Charlotte many of us are attempting to be conscious of living as close to where we work as we can to reduce our traffic congestion and carbon emissions. When people carelessly live on one side of town knowing they are going to be working on the other, they become part of the problem with our growth. We are very welcoming of newcomers here, for the most part, but we encourage newcomers to be part of the solution to our problems - not to come here just to make our problems worse.

Where you live is where you live. If it makes you happy enough to deal with a longer commute then it is well worth it.

[BarbJ]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

Sorry, that may be some crazy "beltway" mentality, but here in Charlotte many of us are attempting to be conscious of living as close to where we work as we can to reduce our traffic congestion and carbon emissions. When people carelessly live on one side of town knowing they are going to be working on the other, they become part of the problem with our growth. We are very welcoming of newcomers here, for the most part, but we encourage newcomers to be part of the solution to our problems - not to come here just to make our problems worse.

Loves, I really like what you've written. We do need to take personal responsibility for what happens to our city ..... and our planet.

[gizmobizmo]

Originally Posted by DarinsMom

Hi All -

I'm considering relocating from MA to Charlotte in the next 6 months or so. I have signed up with Ziprealty to look at homes in the Charlotte area, but I wanted to get the "411" from residents, whether native or transplants, on which areas to avoid.

I am a mother of 2 and wife of 1 and I am looking for a newer home, doesn't have to be huge, but I want a nice area to raise my children.

Thanks for all your help!

Darinsmom ~

Having made a couple inter-state moves myself, I am a strong advocate of renting first for at least 6 months to as much as a year before buying a permanent home in a new area.
Charlotte has a moderately priced housing market and I think you will be A-okay if you wait to buy in 6 months. Unlike many areas whose housing markets were way over-priced, we don't have that issue.

During the time you are renting, you can explore the area and decide what parts of Charlotte or the surrounding towns appeal to you the most. There are so many choices of nice areas here that it would be hard to tell another the best place for them to live.

Where you end up working down the road should be a consideration because you don't want to invest in a great home you will love only to find that you have a long, miserable commute to work. (Been there, done that! It sucked) It just eats into your personal time if you have a long commute.

I've been in Charlotte a couple months now and have altered my opinions of where I am going to buy based upon my own interests. My hubby and I also got many opinions from others and have found that a couple had slightly different standards of living than ours. What they thought was a great place to live just wasn't our thing.

[anifani821]

What concerns me w/ this post is a mother saying her family is going to move here w/o jobs.

It also concerns me that just b/c housing is less expensive then in the NE, people assume life here is gonna be great.

And as far as living close to where you work, that is only sensible. It is not like we have the LIRR here for people to jump on and go from Mooresville to S. CLT for work.

[QC Misfit]

Originally Posted by bs13690

The fact that things change in life was exactly my point. Why compromise where you are going to live for your work? I know plenty of people who live in West Virginia and commute to DC because they like living in WV better. The question was what places to avoid, not where is a good place in relation to their work.

I just want to mention that if you live in one area close to where you maybe are working there are to many nice places to list here on a discussion board. It is away of narrowing down some suggestions for the OP. If you could have what you are looking for and only drive 30 mins or have what you want and drive 60 mins which one would be the better pick?

[Niftybergin]

Originally Posted by DarinsMom

Ok I'm looking to purchase a home that will be under $140k. My kids are 5 and 9 and I have NO CLUE where I'll be working, as I haven't even started applying just yet.

I know it's so random but I was hoping that someone could tell me to definitely avoid "X" area.

Northwest Charlotte might be a decent place and in your price range. Zip code 28216, but right where it abuts zip code 28078. I live up there, at Exit 18 where Harris Blvd and I-77 intersect. The new mall is there and some other shopping. They're going to be opening the northern Outerbelt (I-485) section soon, which will make it easier to get around. One of the things I like best about that location is how accessible everything is. I'm right by the interstate, so it's easy to get north to the lake (where there is plenty of shopping, recreation, and restaurants) or south to downtown. Also easy to go east on Harris to get to the University Area and I-85 and the activity there. In that zip code or area, you should be able to find something in your price range. There are some sketchy areas there as well, kind of mixed in and mostly in the southern part of zip code 28216, but in general the northern part of that zip code is a decent area and pretty affordable.

I will warn you that if you work in Charlotte and live off I-77 NORTH of Exit 18 (in the North Meck/Lake Norman areas of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, and Mooresville), your commute will be a bear. The interstate is 4-lane until exit 18, but then drops down to two lanes. Back in 2004 I lived up at exit 28 -- just 10 miles further up the road -- and my commute home regularly took about an hour and fifteen minutes, even though it was only 10 miles farther. (Currently, with my living at exit 18, it's 20 minutes for a 12-mile commute vs. the hour-and-fifteen minutes for a 22-mile commute when I lived at exit 28.)

[bs13690]

Originally Posted by QC Misfit

I just want to mention that if you live in one area close to where you maybe are working there are to many nice places to list here on a discussion board. It is away of narrowing down some suggestions for the OP. If you could have what you are looking for and only drive 30 mins or have what you want and drive 60 mins which one would be the better pick?

I stand by my original point. Since you don't know what tomorrow will bring with your career why choose where you live based on it? If you don't want to live in Mooresville and you love living in Ballantyne then a 60 min commute may well be worth it.

I work with a lot of native Charlatans who commute in from Lancaster, Rock Hill, and places further away than that, so it is not just us carpetbaggers with a "crazy" Beltway mentality who think it is important to love where you live.