Charlottesville v Chapel Hill Triangle: Good Place For Late 20s Loner? (real estate, apartment)

[Hudlander]

I'm in my very late 20s currently living in NOVA.
I hate the area, the traffic, high prices, crowds, and general just inhospitable.

I have Aspergers and have struggled to make friends and maintain work. My goal is to work at in Academia or a research/learning environment doing research related to Geography/Demography/Social Science; however at this point I'd settle for any job in such an environment that can pay bills. I am not cut out for the 9-5 corporate lifestyle.

So basically I'm looking to relocate to an area which is affordable (where I can have my own place, no roommate), nice, and "open" to people of my kind where I can in their friendless and the community is welcoming enough that I can find things to do, clubs, groups, people and have a more fulfilling life.

I wanted to know if Charlottesville is such a place for a person like me and how it'd compare to the UNC Traiangle.

[ncjoy]

Have you posted also on the NC board?

I do know that real estate in Chapel Hill is amazingly expensive.
The large number of students, faculty, and research facilities
makes apartment prices much higher than you might expect.

[NeedsToGrowUp]

Originally Posted by Hudlander

I'm in my very late 20s currently living in NOVA.
I hate the area, the traffic, high prices, crowds, and general just inhospitable.

I have Aspergers and have struggled to make friends and maintain work. My goal is to work at in Academia or a research/learning environment doing research related to Geography/Demography/Social Science; however at this point I'd settle for any job in such an environment that can pay bills. I am not cut out for the 9-5 corporate lifestyle.

So basically I'm looking to relocate to an area which is affordable (where I can have my own place, no roommate), nice, and "open" to people of my kind where I can in their friendless and the community is welcoming enough that I can find things to do, clubs, groups, people and have a more fulfilling life.

I wanted to know if Charlottesville is such a place for a person like me and how it'd compare to the UNC Traiangle.

I completely understand and sympathize with disliking NoVa. The big risk you are taking in moving to a small city is job opportunity. There isnt a whole lot of options here both for employers and employees. There are people in good jobs who like it (particularly with UVA) but there are a lot of people either underemployed and/or hating their jobs...but they stay because they like the area. Having moved from a job rich area myself I now appreciate that. There is also a lot of good old boy/girl networks. That can make work frustrating.

[Fundman]

I think these areas are very different. Charlottesville is much more geographically isolated and smaller population. The Research Triangle area in N.C. consists of Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill. All four of these cities have a population greater than Charlottesville.

[dontstressem22]

Raleigh/Durham & The Entire Triangle Area in general is where I would look @ before I consider Charlottesville. I love Charlottesville to now do not get me wrong but The Triangle is where its at

[Just the Facts Ma'am]

Eh...I will give you warnings about each. Let me start by saying that both are great areas. Can't go wrong with Cville or Chapel Hill in terms of lifestyle, culture, cuisine, etc.

However...Cville is a place to move once you have a job there. I will say this about some other comments: there are good jobs there besides U.Va. However, U.Va. still dominates the job scene. Places to look besides U.Va.? SNL, Cville Tech Council, U.Va. Research Park's corporate clients, G.E., Northrup, Center for Open Science to name a few.....

Chapel Hill, as noted, is extremely expensive if you want to live in town. People think Cville is expensive, but try getting a nice home in Chapel Hill. And this is my warning about the Triangle....you can go to Durham/Wake County/etc. and it may look "affordable" in terms of housing. But do your due diligence. More than one builder down there has been known to do some really shoddy work on hundreds of houses. Job opportunities are plentiful, but be careful about what you buy in terms of real estate....

[YellowKing]

Originally Posted by Just the Facts Ma'am

Eh...I will give you warnings about each. Let me start by saying that both are great areas. Can't go wrong with Cville or Chapel Hill in terms of lifestyle, culture, cuisine, etc.

However...Cville is a place to move once you have a job there. I will say this about some other comments: there are good jobs there besides U.Va. However, U.Va. still dominates the job scene. Places to look besides U.Va.? SNL, Cville Tech Council, U.Va. Research Park's corporate clients, G.E., Northrup, Center for Open Science to name a few.....

Chapel Hill, as noted, is extremely expensive if you want to live in town. People think Cville is expensive, but try getting a nice home in Chapel Hill. And this is my warning about the Triangle....you can go to Durham/Wake County/etc. and it may look "affordable" in terms of housing. But do your due diligence. More than one builder down there has been known to do some really shoddy work on hundreds of houses. Job opportunities are plentiful, but be careful about what you buy in terms of real estate....

Trulia would disagree on your assessment of housing costs between the two cities:

Charlottesville, VA real estate overview - Trulia.com
Chapel Hill, NC real estate overview - Trulia.com