Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ah, that makes sense! June 1 (or even May 1-- although we are getting very close) is reasonable for our timeline so that is great info. I will be MUCH more comfortable once we are certain on a location (DH a candidate in both Winston and Asheville)-- I am a PLANNER, and these few weeks where I won't be able to pick ONE location and focus on it with housing and job search (for me) might KILL ME.
If it all comes together for you and you move here, welcome to the area! Wife and I have lived several different states (grew up in NYC northern suburbs) and moved to NC in 2005; to Triad in 2011. Winston-Salem is a very close second to San Diego as my favorite place to live...SD is not practical financially.
If it all comes together for you and you move here, welcome to the area! Wife and I have lived several different states (grew up in NYC northern suburbs) and moved to NC in 2005; to Triad in 2011. Winston-Salem is a very close second to San Diego as my favorite place to live...SD is not practical financially.
Emelvee, thank you! Would you mind taking the time to tell me what makes Winston-Salem such a desirable place to live to you?
Emelvee, thank you! Would you mind taking the time to tell me what makes Winston-Salem such a desirable place to live to you?
We moved to NC for the relatively low cost of living and moderate climate while still having a change of seasons. Most importantly, I moved (from Oregon prior to NC) for a job. That company went bankrupt and a new job is what brought us to the Triad.
I like the relatively low taxes. In northeast Davidson County, we have good schools (not great, but I'm generally satisfied) while paying only $2,200 per year in taxes while living in the nicest home I've ever lived in. Here, my wife doesn't have to work...she may choose to at some point, but we can do well enough with the additional income.
I like being fairly equidistant to the coast and mountains. Sometimes I want to be closer to one, but then I'd be farther from the other. We have plenty of shopping options, plenty of dining options (local and chains)
Baseball is my favorite sport and love minor league ball. NC is great for that, and I think Winston's stadium is my favorite (compared to Durham, Greensboro, Zebulon, and Kinston that I have also visited).
There are a lot of very good or excellent public universities in NC. Even though I went to college in SD while growing up in NY, I don't know if our daughter will leave the state, and she shouldn't have to in order to get a good education and a relatively low cost.
I use "relatively" a lot...NC in general is a very happy medium IMO compared to other states. I'd love to be in San Diego, but the cost of living is crazy (our home is worth around $400k, and something similar in SD would be around $1.5 million - and wages would only be maybe 25% higher). And Winston is in general a happy medium compared to other areas in NC - less expensive than the Triangle, though not as much growth (which can be a good thing, depending on what you're looking for). It's fairly conservative here, but there is a fairly wide range of viewpoints...Winston is a fairly "artsy" city. We lived near Portland OR, but that was too liberal for me personally. I grew up in NY, didn't care for the longer winters than here - and we still had a fair amount of humidity (note that we didn't have A/C growing up, at home or in our vehicles, so that makes the NC humidity more bearable).
This is great info. Thank you so much. W-S seems to be a similar cost of living to where we are now (WNY Buffalo area) but the other area we are looking (Asheville) is about 10-13% higher based on some COL calculators I've looked at.
I am most certainly looking forward to settling down somewhere that is not WINTER for 6 months each year, but still having 4 beautiful seasons. The 4 seasons here are more like 2 seasons: winter season, and the season of dread knowing winter is right around the corner.
Sounds about right as far as cost of living - I had looked at a job in upstate NY and the COL was fairly similar to here. For me, it was a no-brainer...you'd have to pay me a LOT to live that far north.
Asheville is nice, but a much smaller metro area than the Triad. It's a nice-place-to-visit type of area, IMO.
Hello all, I just wanted to provide an update here that we visited Winston for a long weekend and really really liked it. My partner's job interview went very well and they're preparing an offer for him. So, it's looking like this is really going to happen now! If anyone has recommendations for agencies to work with in searching for a rental from long distance it would be very appreciated.
(I'm certainly not opposed to Craigslist-type rentals, but thought searching through an agency might be easier from afar.)
Our needs (or, let's be honest, our wants):
-Pet friendly! Deposit or rent adjustment for pets is fine.
-Single family home, 2 BR preferred but 1-3 would work.
-Yard, fenced strongly preferred.
-Budget $1000 per month max.
Last, if anyone has general info about typical cost of utilities or any other tidbits of info you think might be helpful it is very appreciated. I had never used this site prior to looking into this move, but I have to say, being able to ask you friendly folks questions has been immensely helpful.
Cheers to you! I posted some property managers in your other thread. Good luck!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
