Torn between Fort Mill SC; Charleston SC; Charlotte NC (living, best, state)

[samsdad]

Hello All,

*Love this site and value everyone's feedback and greatly appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.

My wife and I and our 9 yr old son are planning to move from NJ (too cold too high taxes) to the south. I've narrowed it down to Fort Mill SC, Charleston SC, and Charlotte, NC.

*I work from home so job is not an issue.

Here is what we are specifically looking for:

-Good school

-No "cookie cutter" developments. We tend to be drawn to homes which offer a little more architectual style and charm (ie craftsman style).

-Sense of a nice community which to us is nice people but also a sense of feeling connected to other towns, that is we don't want to live in a community where you have to drive down a long rural road to get to the next town. It would be nice to have neighboring towns very close.

-We don't want to be in overly spacious developments but rather smaller neighborhoods where my child could easily find friends. We of course don't want to be on top of each other--a half an acre would be just fine.

-If possible would like a charming downtown but ok if we don't get that.

-Can spend 300k to 350k

-Like the hot weather but not as hot as FL or GA.

-We are not very religious so being near a church will not be important to us.

-Would like to have areas for entertainment (plays, restaurants) but don't need a wild night life.

-I of course realize that you can't get everything on your wish list but thought I should mention everything we are trying to achieve.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and we are open to other areas that I may not have mentioned.

Thank you!

[bchris02]

Fort Mill, SC is a cookie cutter suburb of Charlotte. Might as well live in Charlotte because thats where you will be working. Charlotte has a much larger feel than Charleston. Charleston is more centered around the beach and is somewhat of a mini-New Orleans. Both are deep South cities with a deep South culture, but Charlotte has more transplants so is slightly more cosmopolitan. I would recommend the Uptown, Dilworth, or NoDA areas of Charlotte.

[samsdad]

Thanks bchris02.

Is all of Fort Mill cookie cutter because they seem to have a good school record and housing is lower than Charlotte which we are drawn to.
I had done some research on Dilworth which has exactly the type of architecture we like in home but thought it would be out of our price range--we're able to spend up to 350k but only need a 3 bedroom home but don't want a fixer-upper. Do you know if that is possible?

[wsobchak]

Charlotte is McMansion Central. I'm embarrassed to be living there. Fort Mill is the same.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by samsdad

Thanks bchris02.

Is all of Fort Mill cookie cutter because they seem to have a good school record and housing is lower than Charlotte which we are drawn to.
I had done some research on Dilworth which has exactly the type of architecture we like in home but thought it would be out of our price range--we're able to spend up to 350k but only need a 3 bedroom home but don't want a fixer-upper. Do you know if that is possible?

The vast majority of Ft. Mill is new suburbia, but yeah, the schools are some of the best in the Charlotte region. So it's a trade-off.

If you like Dilworth (which is quite a desirable neighborhood; it was the last neighborhood I lived in before moving to GA and I very much enjoyed the neighborhood and location), then you might also want to check out Plaza-Midwood and maybe Elizabeth. I know Plaza-Midwood is a little less expensive on average, but Elizabeth might be along the same lines as Dilworth.

As far as Charleston goes, most transplants are attracted to the Summerville area, which, like Fort Mill, is pretty much new suburbia. You might want to check out West Ashley within the city of Charleston itself or maybe the suburb of Mt. Pleasant.

[calgirlinnc]

I have lived in the Charlotte area and am curious why it made your short list. I am sorry to say I cannot recommend Charlotte. Some of the outer towns like Davidson are quite nice, but overall we really disliked Charlotte.

--The weather is not great; very short spring and fall weather with HOT summers and prone to icing in winter. Yes, it is hotter in Charlotte than say Greenville, SC, or Raleigh, NC.
--Traffic is horrible, not just on the interstates but also on side streets. It is bad nearly all the time.
--People were not the friendliest. (IMO, but I have heard this also from other people who left Charlotte).
--It's fairly expensive in terms of groceries, etc.
--Apart from Lake Norman (which is a man made lake with only ONE public swimming area) it is not as pretty a part of the state as other parts.
--Private schools there are expensive compared to other cities, again say Raleigh or Greenville.
--Charlotte's economy was greatly tied to banking and since the banking mess, the local economy is suffering greatly. I would not buy a house there now.
--The amenities offered downtown, such as shows and restaurants, are also available in other cities across the SE.
--There is very good shopping in Charlotte, I will give them that.


Charleston--we live here now and so far we LOVE it. You probably would not be able to afford the historic downtown, but you could get in West Ashley, older Mt. Pleasant, or James Island for certain.

--Some good public schools, lots of private school options...you have to investigate.
--The BEACH.
--Downtown Charleston...nuff said.
--Hot here as well, but you can escape to the beach. Some areas are cooler than others....and yes, this is really true.
--I don't drive on 526. Traffic can be horrible or it can be fine...no rhyme or reason to it. If you live on one of the islands, there are only so many ways on and off.
--So far the people I have met have been mostly very nice. Some snooty people but overall very friendly.
--There is A LOT to do. This is a great place to have children.

I am sure if you post on the individual forums you will get more of a response.

Two questions for you, OP:

1) Have you visited these places yet?
2) What other SE cities have you considered? I would highly recommend Raleigh, NC, or Greenville, SC or even Asheville NC over Charlotte (and I am not a big fan of Greenville so that's saying something). Any place in Virginia or Tennessee make the list?

Good luck!

PS: Charlotte is hotter than Atlanta. I've lived in both and know this to be true. South of Atlanta it gets hotter than heck, but Atlanta and north is not hotter than some parts of NC, SC or TN.

[eek]

i feel like northern virgina or even the outskirts of atlanta would be a better choice than any city on the OP's list but maybe that's just me...

[samsdad]

Thank you everyone for your wonderful feedback.

To Calgirlinnc and others as well: We put Charlotte on our short list because we're trying to head south for the warmer weather and thought it may have fit our criteria based on other blogs--but maybe we were wrong? You said that you presently live in Charlston and love it. One main concern of ours is trying to find an area with affordable housing (approx. 350K) for a 3 bed home but also hoping to have towns to be fairly connected to one another--not separated by long stretches of rural roads. In NJ we're used to having one town next to the other which gives you a feeling of being connected rather than isolated in one nice area. Not sure if this is offered in Charlston or anywhere in the south. Interested in your feedback or anyone else that can answer this question.

Thank you again to all!

[samsdad]

To Akhenaton: You mentioned you moved from Charlotte to GA and wanted to know if you're happy there and if so what area would you recommend. We had concidered GA at one point but concerned about the intensity of the heat and if we could find a small town feel with charm.

Thanks

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by samsdad

We put Charlotte on our short list because we're trying to head south for the warmer weather and thought it may have fit our criteria based on other blogs--but maybe we were wrong?

You said that you presently live in Charlston and love it. One main concern of ours is trying to find an area with affordable housing (approx. 350K) for a 3 bed home but also hoping to have towns to be fairly connected to one another--not separated by long stretches of rural roads. In NJ we're used to having one town next to the other which gives you a feeling of being connected rather than isolated in one nice area. Not sure if this is offered in Charlston or anywhere in the south. Interested in your feedback or anyone else that can answer this question.

I agree, Charlotte seems nice on paper, but it is one of my least favorite places in the SE and I wouldn't move back unless I absolutely had to.

OP, I'll try to answer your questions...I'm no expert but have lived in Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Asheville and now Charleston (yeah, a lot of moves).

ATLANTA or NORTH of Atlanta (Dahlonega, Dawsonville, Marietta, etc.) will be cooler in the summer than Charlotte NC or Columbia SC. It is approximately the same as Greenville, SC or Raleigh, NC. The reason is the elevation...Atlanta is the southernmost tip of the Appalachians. (The exception to this is Rome, GA; it is always hotter there).

Once you get South of Atlanta, off the fall lane, e.g., Macon, GA or Augusta, GA, or Columbia, SC, then it will be hotter than hot.

So, in any case, Charlotte is one of the hotter cities in the SE. And trust me, you don't want it unnecessarily hotter. Plus Charlotte is prone to icing due to the placement of the mountains (as are Greenville SC and Raleigh NC). I just do not want you under the false impression that Georgia is automatically going to be hotter than North Carolina.

Don't get me wrong, Charleston is way humid and hot too, but if you can catch an ocean breeze it is a wee bit more tolerable.
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As far as going from town to town, I am not exactly sure what you mean. I think the only way you would feel isolated from the next town is if you lived in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The places you are mentioning are not small nor are they isolated.

The Charleston area is actually a collection of smaller "towns" or "communities"--there is downtown proper, then Mt. Pleasant over one bridge, James Island over another bridge, Johns Island over another bridge, plus all the beach communities, Folly Beach, Isle of Palms, and Sullivan's Island. Also Daniel Island (but it is not on the ocean). (Kiawah may also be included in that list). Some consider Summerville part of Charleston. The only one you need to take interstate to is Summerville; the rest are all accessible from major roads. Except for the bridges, they would all blend in to one another.

Charlotte, you will have to drive a way from say Ft. Mill to downtown to Huntersville, to Davidson, to Mooresville. Charlotte is more the feel of a center city with bedroom communities around it.

Ditto that for Atlanta....moving to Atlanta is a whole other ball game and I don't know that you would get that feel of "community" you described that you would like unless you could get a historic house in one of the smaller towns surrounding Atlanta. (There are a bunch).

Raleigh is a more manageable city, but still sizable. It does have smaller towns surrounding it (Chapel Hill, for example--very expensive, but lovely). It seems to me that you could get from town to town on secondary roads/highways.

Keep in mind that this whole SE corridor has a very good interstate system and most people do not hesitate to jump on the interstate to get from point A to point B. I am one of the few I know who avoids interstates.

Other places you might want to look into (if you haven't considered them already): Winston-Salem, NC; Camden, SC; Chattanooga, TN; Nashville, TN; Charlottesville, VA; Lexington, KY; Asheville, NC (if you like mountains); even Savannah, GA (if you REALLY want south and you REALLY want hot).

So, OP, have you been down this way? Have you been in July? Come visit and in the meantime, I'll try to answer any more questions you have.

Hope this helps.