Relocating to Statesville area...help?? (Salisbury, Broadway: 2009, violent crime, daycare)

[allyf]

Thanks for all of the advice, everyone. There is a house I like on W. Front st over by Race st. I love the idea of walking to places, since we are totally car-dependant now. I loved living in NY city when I was young. Of course, I know Statesville is NOT NYC, .
This is a personal question so I don't know if anyone is willing to answer or not. If you live in a typical 3 bedroom home, say 1/2 acre, what are your avg. monthly payments like? To heat/cool a home of under 2000sq feet? And electric? Our electric rates are thru the roof: an easy $200 month when the ac's are running....I would like to have a sketchy idea of what our monthly expenses will be. They have all these mortgage estimators online so that gives me the big picture but the other stuff adds up quickly. NC has 8% sales tax on food and clothes, right? NJ doesn't but everything else makes up for it! What do your cable rates run? Is there Verizon fiber-optic available in Statesville/Mooresville area? That's what we have now. Verizon will probably charge a right arm for moving and changing service! Oh, and for whatever reason, NJ gas prices are the lowest in the country: and we don't pump our gas!! I have to learn that! Probably some mob connection from up north, kickbacks keeping the prices low, hehe. Well anything you can tell me about the monthly expenses would be great.

[susan42]

Originally Posted by allyf

Thanks for all of the advice, everyone. There is a house I like on W. Front st over by Race st. I love the idea of walking to places, since we are totally car-dependant now. I loved living in NY city when I was young. Of course, I know Statesville is NOT NYC, .
This is a personal question so I don't know if anyone is willing to answer or not. If you live in a typical 3 bedroom home, say 1/2 acre, what are your avg. monthly payments like? To heat/cool a home of under 2000sq feet? And electric? Our electric rates are thru the roof: an easy $200 month when the ac's are running....I would like to have a sketchy idea of what our monthly expenses will be. They have all these mortgage estimators online so that gives me the big picture but the other stuff adds up quickly. NC has 8% sales tax on food and clothes, right? NJ doesn't but everything else makes up for it! What do your cable rates run? Is there Verizon fiber-optic available in Statesville/Mooresville area? That's what we have now. Verizon will probably charge a right arm for moving and changing service! Oh, and for whatever reason, NJ gas prices are the lowest in the country: and we don't pump our gas!! I have to learn that! Probably some mob connection from up north, kickbacks keeping the prices low, hehe. Well anything you can tell me about the monthly expenses would be great.

We have a home in Mooresville, but outside the city limits. Our property taxes are around $1500 per year for 1800 sf ft which is on a double lot of just under an acre, so we pay tax on the lot with the house on , and then tax for the extra lot.
We have well water and septic tank so no water/sewerage charges.
Our electric bills are highest in the Summer as we only have the A/C that is electric.Last Summer when rented they were $140 at the most per month in July and August. At the moment they are only about $30 per month because we are trying to get acclimitised to the heat so that we can be outside more, so not using it very much.Wooden house so it is only in the last week or so that the temp inside the house has gone up past 80 and we have the AC set on between 80 and 85. I should also say that I have a clothes line and hang washing out to dry virtually all year round so we don't use the tumble dryer much.
Electric in the winter is about $30 per month
Our trash is $39 per quarter.
We have LPG (we have a tank)for the central heat (and also a wood burning stove which produces loads of heat-better than the central heat-which is cheap to run as we have a load of trees on our lot!) and a tankless gas water heater, and I would say we use about $600 of LPG from October thru to June.
Our cable and internet is $80 per month through Time Warner Cable- that isn't digital but is high speed internet. We use SKYPE for home phone calls so don't have a telephone line.

Hope this helps!

[allyf]

Thanks Susan, yes it does help a little. I know there will be some big changes coming but it seems at least the bills will be lower than we are used to. My husband has 2 very promising work connections down there in the Statesville/Mooresville area so he is as lined up as you can get. Me, I'm gonna focus on the house for awhile, finding a church, getting myself around w/o gps (lol) and then look for something part time. Thanks again for responding!

[chicagocubs]

You probably will want to be careful of Front St. Much of that is a drug dealer's haven. The south side of Statesville is known for it's crime and drugs.

I have been to Statesville many times as I have a very good friend that lives there that is a native. The best area in Statesville is around the hospital (or so he says). Hartness Rd. area.

Also, your husband might have a hard time with the natives. You are Yankees, remember (and you will be reminded as such often) so not trustworthy. Statesville is still a very old Southern town. They look after their own and distrust newcomers. Be very wary of the real estate agents. Was working with a couple to help my friend buy a house and they were not...shall we say? above board and compliant with NC real estate law. This was probably because they were dealing with me (a midwestern transplant) as my friend does not know anything about real estate transactions. I had to call them out on it and even threaten reporting them to the NC RE commission. Now, it probably was just the few that I worked with at Weichert Realty, but, still, be on your guard.

There is a fantastic historic area. Your husband might well get contracts to restore them; especially if the new owners are not natives.

Not wanting to be negative, just want to tell you the way that it is. Statesville is a very beautiful area. You can get a lot of house for your money and it is still relatively close to other areas (Charlotte about an hour, depending upon traffic, downtown Charlotte, 1.5 hours). The mountains are closeby, too. But, just be aware, it is still Southern Americana...which is not bad..just not terribly accepting of newcomers.

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by chicagocubs

You probably will want to be careful of Front St. Much of that is a drug dealer's haven. The south side of Statesville is known for it's crime and drugs.

I have been to Statesville many times as I have a very good friend that lives there that is a native. The best area in Statesville is around the hospital (or so he says). Hartness Rd. area.

Also, your husband might have a hard time with the natives. You are Yankees, remember (and you will be reminded as such often) so not trustworthy. Statesville is still a very old Southern town. They look after their own and distrust newcomers. Be very wary of the real estate agents. Was working with a couple to help my friend buy a house and they were not...shall we say? above board and compliant with NC real estate law. This was probably because they were dealing with me (a midwestern transplant) as my friend does not know anything about real estate transactions. I had to call them out on it and even threaten reporting them to the NC RE commission. Now, it probably was just the few that I worked with at Weichert Realty, but, still, be on your guard.

There is a fantastic historic area. Your husband might well get contracts to restore them; especially if the new owners are not natives.

Not wanting to be negative, just want to tell you the way that it is. Statesville is a very beautiful area. You can get a lot of house for your money and it is still relatively close to other areas (Charlotte about an hour, depending upon traffic, downtown Charlotte, 1.5 hours). The mountains are closeby, too. But, just be aware, it is still Southern Americana...which is not bad..just not terribly accepting of newcomers.

Please reserve your negativity for the area you currently live in and know (I'll assume) something about. I lived on Alexander Street near the college when we first came here, but now live in the county (outside city limits, but not by much ) I have had nothing but welcoming and positive dealings during my 30+ years in Statesville. The area around Iredell Memorial Hospial is ok, but so is the area immediately surrounding Mitchell Community College, as well as other areas. Should the OP decide to come here, they will be met with as much courtesy and civility and friendliness as they give.

[eve11706]

I live in Statesville and I'm from LI, NY. Hubby is from NY, NY.

"Southside" is considered a bad area due to weirdness without offending those who live in the "Southside."

I'll tell you what I saw in the "SouthSide". A woman and female friend walking together. Her shirt was see through. I had to take a double take. She had no bra on. I was appalled and shocked but laughing at the same time. That was the first time I have ever seen anything like that craziness and I'm from NY.

Also most of the people who live in the SouthSide of Statesville seem to like to hangout in front of their houses during the weekday. You wonder if any of them have a job. Renting a house in the Southside is cheap. Trust me I've looked.

I like Statesville. It has a long way to go regarding Club scenes and big malls that we are accustomed to. But your not that far from Charlotte, Winston Salem, other major cities NC have to offer.

Please check out Statesville.com for news regarding violence or other things that occur here. I check it daily.

Its not that violent. They arrest you here for spray painting the walls. They had a posting of $1000.00 for anyone knowing anything. Not that big of a town. Hope this helps.

I would suggest you to rent and look around. I've been here going on to 2 years this November. We like it here cause it's cheaper than Mooresville, Huntersville, and Charlotte.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Email me if you like.

[eve11706]

Oh yeah a realtor...I've met one and she sends me houses all the time. Really nice ones too. I can forward you her listing that she had sent me if your interested. She's such a nice lady and not judgemental at all.

[allyf]

Mary and Eve, what area of town do you define as the South side? I had one poster say it was south of the Depot Hill along 21. Not up around the college.....
Oh, and Chicago, we have a couple of solid work contacts in the area~ people we know from up here who have been down there for decades, so while it will be slow going at first he can work under the 'guidance' and name of a local. Thanks for the heads up, though.

In Jersey you meet people all the time who are snotty. You also meet some of the nicest people you'll ever know. I imagine it's the same everywhere to some extent. We live near the ocean in a lovely town. In the summer we are flooded with out-of-towners until it takes 20 minutes to get to a store that is normally 5 minutes away. A lot of the visitors are from the north(they are really rude, pushy and loud) and we call them 'Benny's which stands for "Bayonne~Elizabeth~Newark and New York: from the old train line that used to tag the luggage that way. So I understand to some extent the mentality of a group of people who are somewhat different coming in and changing things: especially since the transfer is permanent (i.e.coming south) and the people will be voting, etc. I am and always will be a Jersey girl at heart. I will be a transplanted Yankee, but I hope to at least give Jersey a better reputation and not worse. If 'some' people in NC don't like me for that then there is not much I can do about it. I would like to think that most people have a more open mind than that!!
ps. I am a moral and fiscal conservative and grew up in the Baptist church...maybe that will help?

[eve11706]

It's off Gardner Bagnal Blvd. There's really nothing there just houses and some torn down buildings. It's off Interstate 77 Exit. 49 B. I'm really not in that side of town since there's really nothing there. Some small shops/businesses.

They just opened the Boys & Girls club there and it looks really nice. I've also read on statesville.com that they are looking to put a police station down there. I hope that helps the area out.

Around the college area is nice. They have the school administration there off Race St. The police department is also around that area. A man from Jersey opened up his Hair Salon Shop by the college area. Pretty cool guy. Also by the College area has a nice Tennis Court. They've just opened up a nice indoor basketball, gym, daycare, and children's waterpark that my family loves. That's passing the Tennis Courts and our sad mall.

If you live in Statesville you may want to invest in a moped. I want one. You don't have to pay insurance on it just to drive around town. Cheap on gas too!

[allyf]

I have a nice bicycle my dh gave me with a basket......good excersize!