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I have been looking at relocating to Charlotte primarily due to it's growth and affordable housing market.
Just to preface I'd like to explain that my background is that I am originally from England however I have lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, my wife is from Finland and has been in LA for 21.
Impressions of Charlotte.........
Cons
Underlying feeling of still being segregated in many ways
Hot and humid
The city is growing which is good unless it spirals out of control and the infrastructure and schools suffer, will Charlotte become the new Atlanta?!?!
Less character in many parts than where I live now, generic suburban US sprawl - Walmart, TGI Fridays, Burger King etc.
Less cosmopolitan and sophisticated, saw few Asians or Hispanics, seemed black or white.
Hard to understand some people I spoke with with heavy Southern accents
Pros
Affordable housing market
New territory to me with access to many historical interesting places - Charleston, Savannah, Winston-Salem, Asheville, even DC and NYC are relatively close
Saw my first Fireflies
Pleasure to drive - Easy compared to LA's congestion. Had to chuckle after reading about people mentioning the traffic.
Hard to get a really good feel for the place in only 4 days. Everyone I spoke with was from elsewhere. NY, NJ, Virginia, Minnesota, Cleveland, LA.
I drove to Winston-Salem and really only went to Bathabara. I then drove around downtown W-S but didn't really know where I was going.
Spent some time looking around with a realtor. For me Huntersville and Union County feel too isolated after living in Los Angeles for two decades.
I really liked the old historical downtown area of Matthews and the following sub-divisions due to their lay-out, trees and general feeling.
Sardis Woods, Sardis Forest, Matthews Estates, Brightmoor, Hampton Green. I also liked Yorkshire however that was more over towards the Steele Creek area.
A very good synopsis of the area some of the cons we really have no control over , weather (you miss a day like today you really would have thought it was hot)
roads alot of it has to do with the state and lately the state has been doing poorly with them and we use to be known as good road state. The state controls the funds of state roads in the area. The city streets are always in better shape.
Diversity we might not have as large of hispanic or asian population due to proximity they are from their origin.
If you travel in the north Charlotte and east charlotte they have a larger presence.
Raliegh has a larger Asian population due to they tend to gravitate to the more abundant of IT jobs in that location.
the more sophisticated areas is South Park, Ballentyne Tega Cay areas etc.
Fire Flies are cool but lol dont touch them they stink I remember when someone told me about fire flies when I was little I thought it was some new bug like a fire ant lol because we call them Lightening Bugs.. hehe
Wherever you choose a good price housing market doesnt make someone happy where they live it takes more than that, more ofthe things that you like to do in life and willingness and optimism for change and new beginning.
Charlotte doesnt want to loose it character nor wants to be LA or other cities it doesnt want to loose it culture or who she is.
I just moved to Charlotte three weeks ago and I agree with much of the original poster's views. When I visited, I definitely felt an underlying feeling of segregation between black and white, although it's not nearly the same feeling I get when in the deep South like Atlanta or Mississippi. There is a lack of other ethnicities and there isn't a ton of good ethnic food out here. I'm Asian but I really don't care that there aren't many other Asians (except for the lack of Asian restaurants). Everyone has been very welcoming and actually people are less likely to question my ethnicity here than they have been in every other state I've lived in where Asians are everywhere. Huntersville is definitely the epitome of the 'burbs to me but I wouldn't call it isolated. Traffic does get bad but no, not like LA! Actually, I live and work in Huntersville and I have pretty annoying traffic in the few miles that I drive to work because there are so many people living out here!
The great thing about Charlotte is that it is a city (small one) but you get the benefits of the city with plenty to do but it's small enough that it's very clean and green. People are very friendly and yes, houses are cheap, especially if you live a few miles outside of Uptown. It also is growing rapidly and I can pretty much gauranty that the Charlotte of five years from now will be quite different than the Charlotte of today.
The only other thing that wasn't mentioned is that there are definitely a lot of very Southern restaurants--it's hard to find too much on a menu that isn't fried. They even fry their pickles here!
The only other thing that wasn't mentioned is that there are definitely a lot of very Southern restaurants--it's hard to find too much on a menu that isn't fried. They even fry their pickles here!
Is that a pro or a con because I'm thinking that's a major selling point?
Doesn't sound like you're sold on Charlotte. I hope you found Winston interesting. I grew up there and am Moravian.
Yes, it is hot in the south. Accents are strong here as well. You know, I have a hard time understanding some people from remote Scotland or Ireland too. Same thing. Culture.
I just moved to Charlotte three weeks ago and I agree with much of the original poster's views. When I visited, I definitely felt an underlying feeling of segregation between black and white, although it's not nearly the same feeling I get when in the deep South like Atlanta or Mississippi. There is a lack of other ethnicities and there isn't a ton of good ethnic food out here. I'm Asian but I really don't care that there aren't many other Asians (except for the lack of Asian restaurants). Everyone has been very welcoming and actually people are less likely to question my ethnicity here than they have been in every other state I've lived in where Asians are everywhere. Huntersville is definitely the epitome of the 'burbs to me but I wouldn't call it isolated. Traffic does get bad but no, not like LA! Actually, I live and work in Huntersville and I have pretty annoying traffic in the few miles that I drive to work because there are so many people living out here!
The great thing about Charlotte is that it is a city (small one) but you get the benefits of the city with plenty to do but it's small enough that it's very clean and green. People are very friendly and yes, houses are cheap, especially if you live a few miles outside of Uptown. It also is growing rapidly and I can pretty much gauranty that the Charlotte of five years from now will be quite different than the Charlotte of today.
The only other thing that wasn't mentioned is that there are definitely a lot of very Southern restaurants--it's hard to find too much on a menu that isn't fried. They even fry their pickles here!
I totally agree on the lack of good Asian restaurants. That's a staple for us and while we make do with the Americanized stuff, if a really good Thai or Chinese or Indian place opened in Huntersville (or anywhere close by), my family alone would probably keep it afloat. There used to be a fantastic Thai place on Independence by Ovens but I was said to hear it had closed.
Now I’m not picking on any of the posters, because everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I’ll tell a quick story. A couple of years back, there was a committee put together to determine “what Charlotte needed to make it more cool”. And one of the responses that kept being said was “more ethnic restaurants”. Personally, I have a problem when people say that. Because in my opinion, Charlotte has a wealth of ethnic restaurants for a city it’s size. In Charlotte you can get all kinds of foods. We have Vietnamese restaurants that serve things like those little banh mi sandwiches and the pho soups, we have a few African restaurants that serve Ethiopian food, Greek restaurants (there was a thread recently about some of those), and too many Caribbean, Indian and Asian restaurants here to name. I just feel like when people say we need more ethnic restaurants, what they really mean is we need the ones that are here to move to Uptown or SouthPark or somewhere like that. Just my opinion.
Now I’m not picking on any of the posters, because everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I’ll tell a quick story. A couple of years back, there was a committee put together to determine “what Charlotte needed to make it more cool”. And one of the responses that kept being said was “more ethnic restaurants”. Personally, I have a problem when people say that. Because in my opinion, Charlotte has a wealth of ethnic restaurants for a city it’s size. In Charlotte you can get all kinds of foods. We have Vietnamese restaurants that serve things like those little banh mi sandwiches and the pho soups, we have a few African restaurants that serve Ethiopian food, Greek restaurants (there was a thread recently about some of those), and too many Caribbean, Indian and Asian restaurants here to name. I just feel like when people say we need more ethnic restaurants, what they really mean is we need the ones that are here to move to Uptown or SouthPark or somewhere like that. Just my opinion.
Please tell me where I can find the good Indian and Asian restaurants! Seriously... I will travel for good food.
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