Recently Relocated North Carolinians (Houston, Dallas: amusement park, buying a house, buying)

[UNCMetsGal]

Hello!

Looking for feedback from any North Carolinians who’ve relocated to the DFW (or TX in general) area. Why’d you leave NC? What area of NC? How do things compare?

Hubby has a choice of working in Charlotte or DFW (Addison or Plano).

And insights are appreciated!

TIA!

[nsumner]

I worked with a family of 7 that moved from Charlotte to DFW last fall. They had lived there 11 years. They ended up buying a house in north Garland. The wife is a teacher in Plano ISD and the husband is in the tech business. He works from home. They moved to get a change of pace, they have no family here. They have made a lot of friends since then and they looove being here. Their girls are thriving in school.

Naima

[TeamLynn]

Well....I'm from SC, but my family spent summers in Ashville area. One thing I would say that is a lot different is probably 2-3 hours from Charlotte you can be at the beach or in the mountains. Maybe you can be in DC or Atlanta? As my buddy told me before I moved to DFW from Bay area...is when you are 2-3 hours from Dallas, well...you are 2-3 hours from Dallas. Not to say there are not interesting places to go, but not the same as West Coast or East Coast. I remember the summers being pretty hot and humid in NC and SC, but it is dang hot in Texas in the Summer.....can be 2-3 months super hot where it is not a lot of fun to be outside.

Guess it can also depend on if you like green and nature....if you're inside most of the time, then maybe it doesn't matter.

I'm guessing cost of living is probably about the same.

Is the stress/pay/growth of the job the same?

[tmtex]

I would go to Charlotte if it was me. Dallas or DFW is boring, can get very hot from May-Sept. Nothing scenic and traffic gets worse every year.

[DallasParent86]

I lived in Dallas (M Streets) from 2010-2016, moved to Charlotte (Old Cotswold) in April of 2016, and turned right back around to move back to Dallas in 2017. My husband, who is from Columbia, SC, and we ended up not liking much of anything about Charlotte, after having really high hopes for it.

We are big travelers and thought it would be nice to be closer to the mountains and beach, but ended up missing the fact that Dallas is in the middle of the country, and most trips on a plane do not last longer than 3 hours or require a connection. Most of the direct flights out of Charlotte are only on the east coast.

We found the people there to be incredibly rude! They were very insular, and did not like newcomers. It is my understanding that a lot more people have moved there since Covid, so maybe you will find others that are new to the area too and befriend them. We also moved during a very heated state and presidential election cycle. The behavior we saw from people day-to-day was horrible. I have never witnessed strangers treat each other so poorly! It felt like we were living in a Twitter thread.

We found that there is not much going on in Charlotte. Their arts scene is pretty much nonexistent, if that is what you are into. The traffic is terrible due to poor city planning and infrastructure. I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better with more people moving there and nowhere to expand the main thoroughfare - I-77. When it comes to shopping, most of the stores there were B and C stores. For example, their Nordstrom was just sad. Why even bother? The grocery stores are definitely lacking there, too. It was the land of Harris Teeter and one Whole Foods (they have since added another). Dallas has many Whole Foods and Central Markets. In the same vein, we found the restaurant scene in Charlotte to be lacking too. Overall we found that Charlotte lacks in any sort of city pride or sense of culture. The heart of the city is South Park, which is a mall.

Also, Charlotte's economy is very much centered around banking. DFW has a wide variety of industries.

We were lured in by a very pretty city, and close proximity to the beach and mountains but decided that our everyday life took a steep decline moving from Dallas to Charlotte. Think about what matters most to you in your daily life to make your decision is my suggestion!

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by DallasParent86

I lived in Dallas (M Streets) from 2010-2016, moved to Charlotte (Old Cotswold) in April of 2016, and turned right back around to move back to Dallas in 2017. My husband, who is from Columbia, SC, and we ended up not liking much of anything about Charlotte, after having really high hopes for it.

We are big travelers and thought it would be nice to be closer to the mountains and beach, but ended up missing the fact that Dallas is in the middle of the country, and most trips on a plane do not last longer than 3 hours or require a connection. Most of the direct flights out of Charlotte are only on the east coast.

We found the people there to be incredibly rude! They were very insular, and did not like newcomers. It is my understanding that a lot more people have moved there since Covid, so maybe you will find others that are new to the area too and befriend them. We also moved during a very heated state and presidential election cycle. The behavior we saw from people day-to-day was horrible. I have never witnessed strangers treat each other so poorly! It felt like we were living in a Twitter thread.

We found that there is not much going on in Charlotte. Their arts scene is pretty much nonexistent, if that is what you are into. The traffic is terrible due to poor city planning and infrastructure. I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better with more people moving there and nowhere to expand the main thoroughfare - I-77. When it comes to shopping, most of the stores there were B and C stores. For example, their Nordstrom was just sad. Why even bother? The grocery stores are definitely lacking there, too. It was the land of Harris Teeter and one Whole Foods (they have since added another). Dallas has many Whole Foods and Central Markets. In the same vein, we found the restaurant scene in Charlotte to be lacking too. Overall we found that Charlotte lacks in any sort of city pride or sense of culture. The heart of the city is South Park, which is a mall.

Also, Charlotte's economy is very much centered around banking. DFW has a wide variety of industries.

We were lured in by a very pretty city, and close proximity to the beach and mountains but decided that our everyday life took a steep decline moving from Dallas to Charlotte. Think about what matters most to you in your daily life to make your decision is my suggestion!

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[hereticiam]

Originally Posted by DallasParent86

I lived in Dallas (M Streets) from 2010-2016, moved to Charlotte (Old Cotswold) in April of 2016, and turned right back around to move back to Dallas in 2017. My husband, who is from Columbia, SC, and we ended up not liking much of anything about Charlotte, after having really high hopes for it.

We are big travelers and thought it would be nice to be closer to the mountains and beach, but ended up missing the fact that Dallas is in the middle of the country, and most trips on a plane do not last longer than 3 hours or require a connection. Most of the direct flights out of Charlotte are only on the east coast.

We found the people there to be incredibly rude! They were very insular, and did not like newcomers. It is my understanding that a lot more people have moved there since Covid, so maybe you will find others that are new to the area too and befriend them. We also moved during a very heated state and presidential election cycle. The behavior we saw from people day-to-day was horrible. I have never witnessed strangers treat each other so poorly! It felt like we were living in a Twitter thread.

We found that there is not much going on in Charlotte. Their arts scene is pretty much nonexistent, if that is what you are into. The traffic is terrible due to poor city planning and infrastructure. I'm sure it hasn't gotten any better with more people moving there and nowhere to expand the main thoroughfare - I-77. When it comes to shopping, most of the stores there were B and C stores. For example, their Nordstrom was just sad. Why even bother? The grocery stores are definitely lacking there, too. It was the land of Harris Teeter and one Whole Foods (they have since added another). Dallas has many Whole Foods and Central Markets. In the same vein, we found the restaurant scene in Charlotte to be lacking too. Overall we found that Charlotte lacks in any sort of city pride or sense of culture. The heart of the city is South Park, which is a mall.

Also, Charlotte's economy is very much centered around banking. DFW has a wide variety of industries.

We were lured in by a very pretty city, and close proximity to the beach and mountains but decided that our everyday life took a steep decline moving from Dallas to Charlotte. Think about what matters most to you in your daily life to make your decision is my suggestion!

Thanks for sharing. When we started looking for a new state to live in we had chosen NC(Raleigh/Charlotte) and TX(Houston/Dallas). We were able to rule out NC due to some of the reasons you mentioned above. Still haven't moved but will be moving this summer. Will move to either Atlanta or Dallas.

[NorrinRadd]

We considered a move to CLT from the Triangle, but after visiting there a couple times, never found CLT very appealing. In general the people seemed less friendly, the city uninteresting, and being further from the beach than the Triangle were among the reasons we didn't move there.

DFW has better restaurants and food options, and airports than NC, so far we prefer NC for a number of reasons.

[R1070]

Originally Posted by tmtex

I would go to Charlotte if it was me. Dallas or DFW is boring, can get very hot from May-Sept. Nothing scenic and traffic gets worse every year.

What makes Charlotte more vibrant and entertaining of a place to live? Curious because I've always viewed CLT as a very blah place. Carowinds is a nice amusement park though.

[NorrinRadd]

Originally Posted by TeamLynn

Guess it can also depend on if you like green and nature....if you're inside most of the time, then maybe it doesn't matter.

I'm guessing cost of living is probably about the same.

Is the stress/pay/growth of the job the same?

The greenery and more sun cover in similarly residential areas to here are indeed among the things we miss about the Triangle area of NC, along with the overall milder climate.

We find the cost of living here to be considerably more than the NC Triangle, which is probably about as expensive as that of CLT.