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Hello we are a family of 4 relocating to Charlotte, NC in early to mid Jan 2018. My husband got a new job offer in Downtonwn Charlotte. We have visited Charlotte/Ballantyne and loved the area but we are trying to look at more options. I would love any feedback on where the best areas to RENT are for young families with kids(toddlers). Max budget is $1600 month. Commute time no more than 30min. A rated Schools is a must! Thank you!
Ballantyne is a nice area. If you like it then maybe you have already found your spot. Huntersville is on the North side and very nice and close to Lake Norman ( or you will see people refer to it as LKN) Fort Mill SC is very popular but more suburban and growing.
Where is Florida are you coming from and are you trying to find something like you have in Florida?
Highland Creek in North Charlotte 28269 is always my neighborhood of choice and very popular. THey have a preschool, elem and middle school right in the neighborhood that people love. So for young kids it is an excellent choice. Close to 85 and an easy commute downtown. We did it for over 6 years. Highland Creek is a very large community with club houses, pools, golf, tons of walking trails, very wooded and mature trees. Homes range from about 200K to 550K and all types. NO Apartments just some townhomes and SFM. THe downfall as far ass schools go is that it is divided between two counties. Cabarrus and Meck. The Meck side goes to Mallard Creek High which is not a real popular school I personally see no problem with it and would have sent my kids there. We lived on the Cabarrus side and those schools are much more favored for some reason. I know people that have kids that went to both schools and i know people that teach at both sets and I would not worry about any of them.
Skybrook is across the road from Highland Creek and very nice community.
Steel Creek is becoming very popular.
A lot of people may push Union County but I am not a fan at all. very country, very rural, always going through rezoning, a long commute.
South Charlotte in the Providence area is very nice and the south charlotte schools are good. You wont get quite as much for your money but you will get beautiful mature neighborhoods and a good quality of life. Traffic gets heavy through south Charlotte but you may be used to traffic depending on where you are coming from.
feel free to PM me if you want. We live in the Tampa area now but I am very familiar with Charlotte and love the area.
I wanted to share this forum link. May give some insight to the struggles in South Charlotte in regards to Overcrowding. Probably would matter to you at this point with younger children, but it is good info and people may have some good points
Hello we are a family of 4 relocating to Charlotte, NC in early to mid Jan 2018. My husband got a new job offer in Downtonwn Charlotte. We have visited Charlotte/Ballantyne and loved the area but we are trying to look at more options. I would love any feedback on where the best areas to RENT are for young families with kids(toddlers). Max budget is $1600 month. Commute time no more than 30min. A rated Schools is a must! Thank you!
relocated from SWFL in July. I will tell you schools in Charlotte are very sub-par. I know I'll get bashed for it and someone will rave their kid goes to the best school ever in Charlotte. So be it. We did our research and I suggest you do yours also. Even the charters which people will rave about when comparing to where we came are C schools. Keep in mind charter schools are only required to have 50% certified teaching staff. Charter schools have the ability to certify their own staff. People will absolutely go bonkers for Charters here. Its like they're heaven sent or something. Its all I hear about. My sister also moved here from Fla in April and they're already talking of leaving solely on issues with schools. Her daughter is in a highly rated school and she's not impressed.
We simply chose to homeschool. Problem solved for us. We probably won't live in Charlotte forever as my husbands job is headquartered somewhere else. Its fine for now though. It does feel different than other places I've lived. Can be a good thing , can be a bad thing. Again no real complaints about any of it.
Ballentyne is a nice area, one of the more expensive ones. South Charlotte is very crowded so be prepared for that. My nieces class has a lot of kids in it.
The only gripe I've found (other than schools) is that Charlotte doesn't really have actual towns. Everything is just an outskirt of the city. In other words strips of roads with strip malls. I have yet to find a real homey lovely town other than one. I was recommended so many "nice" places like Matthews, Belmont, Huntersville, Steele Creek (where I ended up simply for convenience to hubs work) and none were actual towns. Steele Creek is what it is. Its not an actual town, just an "area" designated with that name. We are about 15-20 from actual downtown which is nice but I don't see us staying in this area past our year lease. We weren't impressed with any of the towns recommened and couldn't see ourselves there long term either. Many had very run down areas you had to go through to get to some sort of 1 road strip of "downtown". You'll see how many areas have nice new areas boarded by what I call "old south" areas.. AKA run down trailers. Sometimes right across the street from each other. We didn't encounter that in Fla or NH so its new for us. We really liked Baxter Village in Fort, Mill SC. Very picturesque. Also Tega Cay is very pretty. Again those are just either neighborhoods or areas.. Not towns.
Davidson in Lake Norman area is what I would consider an actual town. The only one we've discovered It has a downtown strip with a grassy area, church bells ringing etc. I lived in New England and so I have comparison to actual self sustaining towns when I think of what feel I want. Walkable downtown area etc. Its about 45 mins from the city though
Your price is fine to rent something, weather isn't bad. Was a very mild summer. Had my windows open most of it. Weather has so far been between 40'50's for highs the past couple weeks with lows in the 30's. No complaints there. I don't know how I feel about the people yet. Some are just hard core bible belt gun, jesus etc. I see so many cars with huge stickers/decals with "love Jesus" and "repent now". Being atheist it internally grinds on me but I try to ignore it.
Traffic is a huge factor. Don't count on the "no more than 20 min" rule. We live 7 miles on the dot from my husbands job. Some nights it takes him 45 mins to get home. It doesn't matter how fast you think you'll get there, double it. He leaves an hour and 15 before work starts to get there on time. In Naples we lived 15 miles and he left 30 mins before so he could enjoy a cup of coffee before starting work.
Also my understanding is to avoid east and west Charlotte due to high crime. Someone who's more familiar may want to back that up/dismiss that though. I'm still learning the area.
Last edited by Sweetbottoms; 11-14-2017 at 08:53 AM..
relocated from SWFL in July. I will tell you schools in Charlotte are very sub-par. I know I'll get bashed for it and someone will rave their kid goes to the best school ever in Charlotte. So be it. We did our research and I suggest you do yours also. Even the charters which people will rave about when comparing to where we came are C schools. Keep in mind charter schools are only required to have 50% certified teaching staff. Charter schools have the ability to certify their own staff. People will absolutely go bonkers for Charters here. Its like they're heaven sent or something. Its all I hear about. My sister also moved here from Fla in April and they're already talking of leaving solely on issues with schools. Her daughter is in a highly rated school and she's not impressed.
We simply chose to homeschool. Problem solved for us. We probably won't live in Charlotte forever as my husbands job is headquartered somewhere else. Its fine for now though. It does feel different than other places I've lived. Can be a good thing , can be a bad thing. Again no real complaints about any of it.
Ballentyne is a nice area, one of the more expensive ones. South Charlotte is very crowded so be prepared for that. My nieces class has a lot of kids in it.
The only gripe I've found (other than schools) is that Charlotte doesn't really have actual towns. Everything is just an outskirt of the city. In other words strips of roads with strip malls. I have yet to find a real homey lovely town other than one. I was recommended so many "nice" places like Matthews, Belmont, Huntersville, Steele Creek (where I ended up simply for convenience to hubs work) and none were actual towns. Steele Creek is what it is. Its not an actual town, just an "area" designated with that name. We are about 15-20 from actual downtown which is nice but I don't see us staying in this area past our year lease. We weren't impressed with any of the towns recommened and couldn't see ourselves there long term either. Many had very run down areas you had to go through to get to some sort of 1 road strip of "downtown". You'll see how many areas have nice new areas boarded by what I call "old south" areas.. AKA run down trailers. Sometimes right across the street from each other. We didn't encounter that in Fla or NH so its new for us. We really liked Baxter Village in Fort, Mill SC. Very picturesque. Also Tega Cay is very pretty. Again those are just either neighborhoods or areas.. Not towns.
Davidson in Lake Norman area is what I would consider an actual town. The only one we've discovered It has a downtown strip with a grassy area, church bells ringing etc. I lived in New England and so I have comparison to actual self sustaining towns when I think of what feel I want. Walkable downtown area etc. Its about 45 mins from the city though
Your price is fine to rent something, weather isn't bad. Was a very mild summer. Had my windows open most of it. Weather has so far been between 40'50's for highs the past couple weeks with lows in the 30's. No complaints there. I don't know how I feel about the people yet. Some are just hard core bible belt gun, jesus etc. I see so many cars with huge stickers/decals with "love Jesus" and "repent now". Being atheist it internally grinds on me but I try to ignore it.
Traffic is a huge factor. Don't count on the "no more than 20 min" rule. We live 7 miles on the dot from my husbands job. Some nights it takes him 45 mins to get home. It doesn't matter how fast you think you'll get there, double it. He leaves an hour and 15 before work starts to get there on time. In Naples we lived 15 miles and he left 30 mins before so he could enjoy a cup of coffee before starting work.
Also my understanding is to avoid east and west Charlotte due to high crime. Someone who's more familiar may want to back that up/dismiss that though. I'm still learning the area.
These are fair comments. I lived there for over 6 years and still go back to visit. Davidson is a nice little town, Kannapolis has really been up and coming in their downtown expansion, Pineville has a cute little downtown (emphasis on the little) Harrisburg and Concord both have downtowns and festivals, but I don't think any of them would be considered small cities.
Schools are definitely not top rated. There are good schools around but not good because the subject matter is challenging and college readiness is key, but because they do a good job keeping your children safe and involved. The charter schools are a joke in my opinion. We saw so many of them go thru so many issues.
I think it takes at least 2 years of living there to see if you will like it. There are a lot of hidden gems and places to go and things to do that we didn't even know about until we were there over 2 years. Highland Creek was a true blessing to live in. They held events for every holiday. Adult nights like Bingo, Casino Night, Pool parties, etc. as well as events for kids all the time. They also had summer camps for kids each week in the summer. It was a great community to meet people and get involved.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by Sweetbottoms
I
relocated from SWFL in July. I will tell you schools in Charlotte are very sub-par. I know I'll get bashed for it and someone will rave their kid goes to the best school ever in Charlotte. So be it. We did our research and I suggest you do yours also. Even the charters which people will rave about when comparing to where we came are C schools. Keep in mind charter schools are only required to have 50% certified teaching staff. Charter schools have the ability to certify their own staff. People will absolutely go bonkers for Charters here. Its like they're heaven sent or something. Its all I hear about. My sister also moved here from Fla in April and they're already talking of leaving solely on issues with schools. Her daughter is in a highly rated school and she's not impressed.
We simply chose to homeschool. Problem solved for us. We probably won't live in Charlotte forever as my husbands job is headquartered somewhere else. Its fine for now though. It does feel different than other places I've lived. Can be a good thing , can be a bad thing. Again no real complaints about any of it.
Ballentyne is a nice area, one of the more expensive ones. South Charlotte is very crowded so be prepared for that. My nieces class has a lot of kids in it.
The only gripe I've found (other than schools) is that Charlotte doesn't really have actual towns. Everything is just an outskirt of the city. In other words strips of roads with strip malls. I have yet to find a real homey lovely town other than one. I was recommended so many "nice" places like Matthews, Belmont, Huntersville, Steele Creek (where I ended up simply for convenience to hubs work) and none were actual towns. Steele Creek is what it is. Its not an actual town, just an "area" designated with that name. We are about 15-20 from actual downtown which is nice but I don't see us staying in this area past our year lease. We weren't impressed with any of the towns recommened and couldn't see ourselves there long term either. Many had very run down areas you had to go through to get to some sort of 1 road strip of "downtown". You'll see how many areas have nice new areas boarded by what I call "old south" areas.. AKA run down trailers. Sometimes right across the street from each other. We didn't encounter that in Fla or NH so its new for us. We really liked Baxter Village in Fort, Mill SC. Very picturesque. Also Tega Cay is very pretty. Again those are just either neighborhoods or areas.. Not towns.
Davidson in Lake Norman area is what I would consider an actual town. The only one we've discovered It has a downtown strip with a grassy area, church bells ringing etc. I lived in New England and so I have comparison to actual self sustaining towns when I think of what feel I want. Walkable downtown area etc. Its about 45 mins from the city though
Your price is fine to rent something, weather isn't bad. Was a very mild summer. Had my windows open most of it. Weather has so far been between 40'50's for highs the past couple weeks with lows in the 30's. No complaints there. I don't know how I feel about the people yet. Some are just hard core bible belt gun, jesus etc. I see so many cars with huge stickers/decals with "love Jesus" and "repent now". Being atheist it internally grinds on me but I try to ignore it.
Traffic is a huge factor. Don't count on the "no more than 20 min" rule. We live 7 miles on the dot from my husbands job. Some nights it takes him 45 mins to get home. It doesn't matter how fast you think you'll get there, double it. He leaves an hour and 15 before work starts to get there on time. In Naples we lived 15 miles and he left 30 mins before so he could enjoy a cup of coffee before starting work.
Also my understanding is to avoid east and west Charlotte due to high crime. Someone who's more familiar may want to back that up/dismiss that though. I'm still learning the area.
Belmont is an actual town in Gaston County, adjacent to Mecklenburg. Matthews is a town in Mecklenburg County, adjacent to Charlotte. Both have downtown areas. Huntersville is another town in Mecklenburg County. Steele Creek is an area of Charlotte.
Have you looked just passed Ballantyne in Union County? Waxhaw, Marvin schools are highly rated schools. Waxhaw has an adorale downtown with a few restaurants and shops. It's growing, but it's still quaint.
Have you looked just passed Ballantyne in Union County? Waxhaw, Marvin schools are highly rated schools. Waxhaw has an adorale downtown with a few restaurants and shops. It's growing, but it's still quaint.
And there it is.... I was wondering when the Union County people would jump in. I'd strongly suggest a few good long visits and some heavy research on schools. The rezone about every year. Read some forum posts on this, you'll find plenty
And there it is.... I was wondering when the Union County people would jump in. I'd strongly suggest a few good long visits and some heavy research on schools. The rezone about every year. Read some forum posts on this, you'll find plenty
I moved here from Florida as well, as since everyone was trashing Mecklenburg County, I thought that I would offer an alternative. And, yes, I do live in Union County and I love it.
I moved here from Florida as well, as since everyone was trashing Mecklenburg County, I thought that I would offer an alternative. And, yes, I do live in Union County and I love it.
I dont bash anyone who lives in Union. I just encourage people to check it out thoroughly first. I dont think it is a bad area, I just dont get the sense that it is what this poster is looking for. And, I know the schoolz are going through re-zoning almost every year. That has to get frustrating. To me personally Union County is too rural. I know it is slowly growing and there are a lot of big box shopping out that way, but it lacks character and any kind of charm. It is a decent suburban life though. I have been out there several times.
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