Moving to Charlotte -HELP ME! (Concord, Huntersville: real estate, apartment complex, crime rates) - City-Data Forum

mmorgan · 04-13-2009, 10:11 AM

I am a 22 yr old female moving to Charlotte for Graduate school. I am looking for a place to live that is SAFE. I have been looking in the University area but have heard that gand violence is bad around there. Someone please help me.. where should I be looking, what regions should I be looking in that are safe for a single women and where should I stay away from

vindaloo · 04-13-2009, 11:04 AM

I believe that University City has some safe areas but can be ticky. You can count on safety in Davidson, Cornelius, much of Huntersville, Matthews, Southend, uptown, Ballentyne, much of southeast Charlotte. If your graduate school is at UNCC, I would check out University City. There are lots of singles there and a safe area can be found there if you ask around.

HomeSweetHomeNY · 04-13-2009, 11:07 AM

Will you be working? people will tell you to look for a place to live near where you work. what school are you going to? Eh, I wouldn't want to live in the University Area if i was a single 22 year old girl. I'm a married 25 year old girl and still don't like it. I guess it's personal preference, but just talk to any cop in this area and they will tell you it's not the greatest of areas.. but lots of people are going to tell you there's nothing wrong with it.. so go with the safer than safe areas, and erego, this (university area) is not one of em. But it depends on where you go to school and work...

Metallisteve · 04-13-2009, 11:09 AM

If by "gand" you meant "gang," you've received mis-informed advice. In fact, there are not any sort of "bad" problems with violence. For the past 6 months, crime int eh University City area has dropped by large percentages. Granted, the area immediately surrounding UNCC does have it's isolated problems, largely due to vulnerable students and crimes of opportunity, but the area as a whole is not a problem. If you have a car and don't mind driving a couple miles up the road, you can get away from the student crowd and be in a more stable area that is mainly professionals and families. Travel north on WT Harris Blvd until you cross over Mallard Creek Rd. or even further to beyond W Sugar Creek Rd. Appartments up there are nicer looking, newer, and less of a student crowd.

There are some far-fetched outrageous threads on this forum about the area...usually started by someone with an agenda who is just trying to bad mouth an area. Don't be fooled by them. There are far more happy residents of the area on here (myseld included) who will give honest opinions and paint a more accurate picture of the area. Being a grad student, I trust you're smart enough to not be duped by the average forum troll.

Hoagie58 · 04-13-2009, 11:23 AM

I love people that offer opinions of an area, with NO statistical backup!! It just so happens that crime in the northern division of CMPD has decreased more than any other division in the city. To imply that an entire section of the city should be avoided, with no knowledge of that area is plain ignorant and unfair. UC extends from Old Statesville Rd to Hwy 49, and from 485 to Sugar Creek. While there may be a few "bad" areas in this HUGE section of Charlotte, there is nothing inherently dangerous about it.

As for a place to live? There's a nice apartment complex off of 49, just inside the city limits, that I personally have lived in. Aside from the very sporadic car break-ins, crime was nonexistant.

The long and short of it is, UC is no more dangerous than any other section of Charlotte. The Highland Creek/Prosperity Church/Mallard Creek area is some of the most sought real estate in the city proper.

lovesMountains · 04-13-2009, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metallisteve

If by "gand" you meant "gang," you've received mis-informed advice. In fact, there are not any sort of "bad" problems with violence. For the past 6 months, crime int eh University City area has dropped by large percentages. Granted, the area immediately surrounding UNCC does have it's isolated problems, largely due to vulnerable students and crimes of opportunity, but the area as a whole is not a problem. If you have a car and don't mind driving a couple miles up the road, you can get away from the student crowd and be in a more stable area that is mainly professionals and families. Travel north on WT Harris Blvd until you cross over Mallard Creek Rd. or even further to beyond W Sugar Creek Rd. Appartments up there are nicer looking, newer, and less of a student crowd.

There are some far-fetched outrageous threads on this forum about the area...usually started by someone with an agenda who is just trying to bad mouth an area. Don't be fooled by them. There are far more happy residents of the area on here (myseld included) who will give honest opinions and paint a more accurate picture of the area. Being a grad student, I trust you're smart enough to not be duped by the average forum troll.

Steve, you know I love ya - and I agree with you for the most part about the University area - HOWEVER, the crime around the campus itself is very worrisome and just because people talk about that doesn't mean they are being trolls.

(I think though that you meant one particular poster who claims the whole University area is crime-ridden?? Since he hasn't posted on this thread YET I just don't want others who have to think you are referring to them being trolls).

The area around the campus itself has it's defenders for sure who have lived there with no problems - but overall, there have been problems on campus (usually at night) and in the apartments surrounding the campus itself. I believe this happens for two reasons, 1) students make great targets - they aren't always aware of their surroundings and think nothing bad will ever happen to them. They leave valuables in their cars and don't always lock their apartment doors. 2) At its southern border the campus is very close to some less desirable areas with makes the campus very convenient to a certain criminal element.

All that being said, there are plenty of very nice places to live in what we call "the University AREA". Our grad student poster should look to live in some of those, in places off of Mallard Creek, Eastfield Rd or Prosperity Church Rd. To feel even safer she could look up in Concord, which has a fairly good commute back down to UNCC.

Metallisteve · 04-13-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

Steve, you know I love ya - and I agree with you for the most part about the University area - HOWEVER, the crime around the campus itself is very worrisome and just because people talk about that doesn't mean they are being trolls.

(I think though that you meant one particular poster who claims the whole University area is crime-ridden?? Since he hasn't posted on this thread YET I just don't want others who have to think you are referring to them being trolls).

The area around the campus itself has it's defenders for sure who have lived there with no problems - but overall, there have been problems on campus (usually at night) and in the apartments surrounding the campus itself. I believe this happens for two reasons, 1) students make great targets - they aren't always aware of their surroundings and think nothing bad will ever happen to them. They leave valuables in their cars and don't always lock their apartment doors. 2) At its southern border the campus is very close to some less desirable areas with makes the campus very convenient to a certain criminal element.

All that being said, there are plenty of very nice places to live in what we call "the University AREA". Our grad student poster should look to live in some of those, in places off of Mallard Creek, Eastfield Rd or Prosperity Church Rd. To feel even safer she could look up in Concord, which has a fairly good commute back down to UNCC.

Yes, please excuse my bad manners. In my defense, I was typing my post before there were any replies to this, so I can see how it looks like I was talking about the previous posters! While I don't appreciate any bad talk about my area, I will admit that calling any nay-sayers a troll is a bit harsh

And you're correct about emphasizing crime on campus and the immediate areas surrounding UNCC. I tried, but maybe I light-footed it too much. But as we've discussed in other threads prior, there's a certain phenomena about universities attracting slightly higher crime rates than surrounding non-university areas. In that sense, I'd expect Harvard to have higher crime rates than say surrounding Cambridge, MA. Maybe some intellectual tea parties gone bad or something...or a book throwing.

Whytewulf · 04-13-2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

All that being said, there are plenty of very nice places to live in what we call "the University AREA". Our grad student poster should look to live in some of those, in places off of Mallard Creek, Eastfield Rd or Prosperity Church Rd. To feel even safer she could look up in Concord, which has a fairly good commute back down to UNCC.

Agreed 100%... I used to live off WT Harris and Davis Lake.. No real problems in that area and it was considered "University" area. If you are going to be on the campus most of the time, I wouldn't go much further than that and lots of apts to choose from. You will get your car break ins and other Random Crime, so if you can afford it, get one with a garage, but, until you get further our, which you may hate the commute, I think thats a fine area.

Shawn A. · 04-13-2009, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmorgan

I am a 22 yr old female moving to Charlotte for Graduate school. I am looking for a place to live that is SAFE. I have been looking in the University area but have heard that gand violence is bad around there. Someone please help me.. where should I be looking, what regions should I be looking in that are safe for a single women and where should I stay away from

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/Neighborhood+Dev/Sustain+Neighborhoods/Quality+of+Life/Home.htm

I'm too new to be allowed to post links on here, so copy/paste away. I'm in SE Charlotte, just moved a few weeks ago, quiet and safe here but probably farther than you'd want to be out.

JanuaryGirl · 04-14-2009, 08:05 AM

Yeah, it's not gang violence, it's more so random mugging/break-in type violence at the campus and surrounding area. There are usually a few bulletins a month about people getting robbed. However, they are almost ALL occurring late at night when people are walking alone or with just one other person. I know a lot of my peers (grad students) live near campus and feel safe, but they aren't stumbling home drunk by themselves at 3am and putting themselves in bad situations. Also, the university does a really good job offering safety escorts and shuttle services. The question is more do you or don't you want to live by a bunch of other college students that are for the most part loud and obnoxious to live by. Maybe fun, maybe not.