Older Neighborhoods Near Charlotte? (Concord, Kannapolis: mobile home, find a job, wedding)

[Sharon R.]

My fiance and I are hoping to relocate within the next year -- he has to find a job (publishing field) first. I am self employed as a petsitter. No kids at home. I'd like a smallish town outside of a larger city (Charlotte). He just wants some space between houses. I love older neighborhoods with trees and sidewalks and large lots as I'd like to be able to walk places. He wants an acre or two so we can add an extra garage for his car collection. We also have 3 big dogs. He'd like no more than a 45 minute commute, and I'd be working right in my area (10 mile radius). Residents of my area have got to be the type with disposable income that they spend on their pets, not tying them up out back.

Union County seems interesting because of taxes, proximity to Charlotte, plus quite a few smaller towns. I went through Waxhaw on my last trip up and it's really nice. Then came back up 16 through Weddington, then onto 485 and out of town (on the way home to Atlanta). Weddington seemed like it had a lot of new subdivisions with expensive homes, which is very nice (and full of potential petsit clients) but not where we'd like to live. Don't care for new subdivisions with HOAs and no personality. Our price limit is probably going to be around $200K. We'd even be interested in finding a pretty piece of property with a mobile home and building a house. Trying to narrow it down to an area so we can find a realtor to concentrate on that for us once we're ready. Any suggestions for my own little Mayberry are welcome!

Sharon

[fromcenFL]

200K doesn't sound like much for some of those areas anyway. If its space you are looking for, look into Mint Hill on the eastearn edge of Charlotte (485 cuts through it). Its still in the Meck county so theres not much tax relief but the roads feel more rural and spread out, older neighborhoods with lots of trees. From what my realtor told me they have been fiercely independant to not be annexed into Charlotte, so essentially Charlotte will grow right up to its
edge and not change it too much in the future. Matthews might be in that price range as well, its very nice. Less pretentious than weddington or waxhaw with lots of families so theres a wealth of pet owners I'm sure
74 (independance) takes you right into downtown Charlotte from both of these.

Originally Posted by Sharon R.

My fiance and I are hoping to relocate within the next year -- he has to find a job (publishing field) first. I am self employed as a petsitter. No kids at home. I'd like a smallish town outside of a larger city (Charlotte). He just wants some space between houses. I love older neighborhoods with trees and sidewalks and large lots as I'd like to be able to walk places. He wants an acre or two so we can add an extra garage for his car collection. We also have 3 big dogs. He'd like no more than a 45 minute commute, and I'd be working right in my area (10 mile radius). Residents of my area have got to be the type with disposable income that they spend on their pets, not tying them up out back.

Union County seems interesting because of taxes, proximity to Charlotte, plus quite a few smaller towns. I went through Waxhaw on my last trip up and it's really nice. Then came back up 16 through Weddington, then onto 485 and out of town (on the way home to Atlanta). Weddington seemed like it had a lot of new subdivisions with expensive homes, which is very nice (and full of potential petsit clients) but not where we'd like to live. Don't care for new subdivisions with HOAs and no personality. Our price limit is probably going to be around $200K. We'd even be interested in finding a pretty piece of property with a mobile home and building a house. Trying to narrow it down to an area so we can find a realtor to concentrate on that for us once we're ready. Any suggestions for my own little Mayberry are welcome!

Sharon

[doublet]

Matthews is nice, with a quaint little main street square, saturday farmer's market, and unique gift, pottery, antique, hardware stores. They do fight hard for their independence from Charlotte. It's a very white-bred, conservative, traditional way of life they wish to maintain.

Mint Hill is a rural area adjacent to Mathews (North of 74/Independence Blvd), with farmland converted into developments and small retail/strip malls. Not very old since it is fairly recently converted pastures.

Both Mathews and Mint Hill are a hike into downtown Charlotte. And 74/Independence is stop and go into the city until the bottleneck opens up at the newly expanded part of the highway.

Have you looked at Concord or Kannapolis? We briefly considered moving to Concord but decided the rush hour(s) communte into Charlotte was too much. But I really liked the cobblestone main street and historical buildings, surrounded by large, turn-of-the-century homes. Further out is farmland turned developments with TONS of new homes in different price ranges. Anyway, good luck in your search!