Possibly relocating to Charlotte or Orlando from Columbus, OH (Raleigh: neighborhoods, wedding)

[mortmac]

Hello, my wife and I are looking to relocate to either Charlotte or Orlando from Columbus, Ohio. We are tired of the brutal winters and little to do. My wife is from Orlando and her family is there but there are plenty things we dont like about Orlando. My choice is Charlotte because of the great weather and being close to mountains and not far from the ocean. The problem is we dont know anybody there and have spent minimal time there but we are planning on going there in June to do more research. I would appreciate any advice I could get, especially on what areas are best around Charlotte. From doing research it seems the north and south areas are best. Any advice would be great!! Thanks

[ZnGuy]

I lived in Dublin,OH in mid-80's and then lived in Cleveland before moving to CLT in 2004. Our main reason to move south was our tiring of living in snow belt. We thought about Raleigh but chose Charlotte eventhough we never had been to NC before, it's been a great move. Our kids were 9 and 11 when we moved down here. I like the transient nature of Charlotte, fabulous neighborhoods, most with amenities (pool, tennis, basketball, etc) which is great for kids. My wife says people remind her of college where most neighbors, people are all interested in meeting new people and friends. I live in Weddington (south of Charlotte) in Union county. Schools are good and you are 20 min. from downtown. You'll also find out that there are many Buckeye fans down here.

[joanchris2000]

When we were looking to move more south, when DH was sick of his job, we talked about what we wanted, ie: lower cost of living, warmer weather, decent schools etc. Due to circumstances we eliminated some states due to their lack of programs for my special needs daughter, and decided to stay "east" if possible. THEN my DH started looking for a job (or I did while he was working, keeping his old job )
Not until we had some specific options for work did we consider the specific areas.
Even if you've decided on an area around Charlotte, should you be lucky to get a job here right now, you could possibly end up picking an area you love, then finding it's over an hour from where the job ended up being.
Please start with the job, then try to work from there.