New Job in Winston-Salem (Charlotte, Raleigh: apartment, rent, crime)

[enlightenme]

Clemmons is where you will want to live once you reach the part of your life where you want to settle down with the wife and kids. For now, I recommend renting in downtown Winston-Salem, West End area or Ardmore. Ardmore tends to be more family and interns/residents from the local hospitals, but it is close to everything. I am in my 30's with the husband and kids and live outside of W-S in the 'burbs and it gets old at times even at this stage of life! I wish I could just walk to a coffee shop, deli, pub, etc. I have thought I would go nuts here as a younger, single person, but it sounds like you have your priorities in the right place and will be entering the next responsible stage of your life anyway. I would say it would be a boring place more for the college years than just entering your promising career. I am not very familiar with Greensboro, but I think you might as well live in the city where you work rather than make a commute to live in a neighboring city....

[BrandonFLL]

I managed to get approved a week off from the current position to fly up and visit in for a week in June. That way, I will really get a chance to see what it's like up there.

Ardmore - not at all familiar about it. Anyone can elaborate a bit?

Downtown - I know in the older threads (like from 2006 or so), many worried about crime in downtown but there were revitalization projects. Someone elsewhere also mentioned that the recent annexing has stretched civil enforcement authorities and their crimes really show it.

Plus, I also found references as to there being certain areas NOT to be in unless you really don't mind being in a high-risk area. Unfortunately, most of the posts did not actually mention the areas or are outdated (earlier than above). More pointers would be appreciated.

Ironically, I have lived in South Florida for most of my life and maybe go to downtown here a handful of times. Same with the bar scenes. I mainly hang out w/ friends (nobody I know in NC) and when I go out it is usually with someone I just randomly ran in to or met at work. The latter part will no longer be likely unless I then go out w/ coworkers.

If it helps: I loved the few weeks I spent in DC, few weeks in San Diego/La Jolla, few weeks in 'burbs of Toronto, but disliked the time in downtown Chicago and not really interested in the high-rise downtown environment of NY (although I have not really given it a chance).

[BrandonFLL]

For the future if this thread comes up in a search. The following has a couple of maps of W-S and Forsyth county to help picture where everyone mentions things.

Visit Winston-Salem Maps and Guide around Winston-Salem



I printed it out and am taking notes about where and where not to look at.

[akwebb81]

My wife and I are in our mid-20's and moved to WS last year after spending a few years in Houston and prior to that Columbus, Oh. This move was to be a permanent relocation so after renting for 2 months, we purchased a home south of WS. I am 10 minutes tops from downtown, my wife is about the same to her central office, and nothing is a long commute to get to. Being single and working downtown I would definitely suggest looking at renting downtown or in the Westend. There are certainly areas that I would not want to be around late at night by myself, but for the most part downtown is a very friendly place to be. You can't really compare it to any large city's downtown as it is a very small downtown comparatively. Most of what you would want to do is located on 4th st or up Trade (+/- a block off of those streets). I've not been in them, but you should check out the Nissen Building Apts, this was an old ~20 story building that was renovated with higher end apts and it's located in the center of the 4th st scene. If you take 4th street west out of downtown this will take you into the heart of the west end (mostly old Victorian style houses), on the outskirts of this area are small boutique shops and restaurants to the north and south, downtown to the east and to the west turns into the Medical center area/Ardmore. Just as a basic point of reference. I would stay away from anything north of 6th st or east of church, or right around liberty and 5th (bus station). You'll find that the north and east parts of downtown are still occupied by large warehouses and plants from the tobacco days of WS, most are not operational, but some still are and some are being converted to lofts(not a great area to live in right now though).
Some other areas to note, if you take Cherry st north out of downtown, it will turn into University Parkway, this will lead you to the eastern edge of Wake Forests campus (about 1.5 miles North of downtown). Anything in this area that is for rent will most likely be a college environment so not sure if you're looking for that. The area between campus and downtown is a little sketchy too, fyi.
The Hanes Mall Blvd/S. Stratford Rd area is chain stores galore. The traffic congestion in that area and the way they have the lights set will take you forever to get through there if you happen to look there. Something with easy access to Bus. 40 would be great, even out to certain parts of Jonestown rd would be easier to access.
That being said, if I were in your situation, knowing what I know, I would probably look at something downtown, since you will be working there. I just think of having that convenience factor would be great, but like I said, everything is basically 10 mins away(unless you sit in the lights on Stratford
Good luck on your search, and let me know if you need info about certain areas, I'll see what I can do.

[NewDad]

check out this post I made a while back

stick to these zip codes if you are thinking about the winston area

Post

[enlightenme]

akwebb81, it sounds like we have similiar ideas....I moved about 20 minutes south of downtown W-S near the Davidson county border. We kicked ourselves a few months later after discovering the Ardmore area. We love 4th St. and Trade St. too. If we could do it all over again, I think we would have gone for a smaller, more charming house near downtown....Have you been to Sweet Potatoes on Trade St? Excellent food!!! Anyway, I would recommend to the poster to rent near downtown and check out the area before buying first. We bought first based on internet research and a realtor's advice. I wouldn't call it a big mistake, but I do wish we could walk to more places.

[BrandonFLL]

So I've been getting ready for the visit to W-S. Coming up from Mon June 16th - Sun, Jun 22nd. Got a hotel in High Point and am renting a car for the week.

However, I still have too much choice and too little direction. Using the map and zip codes referenced in an earlier post, I found the following 15 properties off of Rent.com. However, I do understand that using only one apartment site can be biased. My new manager sent me an apartment book that had like 100 pages in it. I really focused more on comparing what I found online to what it said in the book. But they both are all advertisements without any real story.

Only one of the apartments was on apartmentratings.com and thus, I would appreciate if anyone can give any thoughts on these apartments and feel free to add to the list. Not just apartments too, but townhomes as well. Also, the surrounding areas of up to 10 miles (or maybe even 15-20 if worthwhile) are not a problem. My manager lives in Clemmons and likes it. Another team member lives in Ardmore and a third in High Point. They each like their areas. The big thing is my budget. I really can't see myself paying much more then $500/month. Does that limit the selection a good bit? Or am I going to find ample, good places to live for that.

I can't remember if I mentioned it in another post, but I have one cat that is coming up with me. She is indoor only and at her age, does nothing much other than lie on the bed. Scratching and messing things up are not a problem.

Here is the list:

• Woodsmill
• Plaza West
• Pines at Bethabra
• Carolina Woods
• Brookberry Park
• Crowne Club
• Brookford Place
• Sedgefield
• Briarleigh Park
• Hampton Corners
• Highland Oaks
• Savannah Place
• Madison Hall
• Sherwood Station
• Salem Ridge

Thanks in advance for any help.

[roadpony]

$500/month won't get you much other than an older cookie-cutter apt. If you're going to be working in downtown W-S, why are you staying in High Point on your visit? Brookstown Inn (WELCOME) is on the southern edge of downtown W-S and is a super hotel... a converted cotton mill. And best of all, it's across the street from Ollie's Bakery and Mary's Of Course (great for Sat or Sun brunch.

I agree with the others who've recommended renting in downtown. Clemmons is for families, not young singles.

[BrandonFLL]

Originally Posted by roadpony

$500/month won't get you much other than an older cookie-cutter apt. If you're going to be working in downtown W-S, why are you staying in High Point on your visit? Brookstown Inn (WELCOME) is on the southern edge of downtown W-S and is a super hotel... a converted cotton mill. And best of all, it's across the street from Ollie's Bakery and Mary's Of Course (great for Sat or Sun brunch.

I agree with the others who've recommended renting in downtown. Clemmons is for families, not young singles.

Thanks for the info Roadpony. I can go higher than $500 if need be, but it really is some sticker shock as my mortgage on my house I sold last year was only $350 a month. But of course, I bought the house back in 2002 and prices have gone up since then (hopefully the will get closer to there again). I will definitely spend much time driving around the entire area and spend a good chunk of time checking out the West End for a place to stay. However, most everyone I asked said that they would recommend going up to 10 miles away to cut down on cost and commuting to work (but they are all from Charlotte instead of W-S).

As for the hotel, it couldn't be helped. This trip (flight, car, hotel) is not being picked up by the company and thus, I had to budget for it tightly. The Radisson gave me a room for $39 per night through Hotwire and I jumped on it since the next highest was a Days Inn for $48 per night.

[akwebb81]

Well, you'll probably end up spending more than $10 a day in gas just to and from High Point. I would reitterate that you would be best served looking downtown. I know the Nissen apts start around 650?, for a studio and go up, but they are extremely nice inside. You really probably won't find much outside the college area for $500, except in some less than desirable areas, but I'm basing that off of when I had looked for apts last year and was looking for 2-bedrooms. I would say no to Clemmons as it is a family town, not really a great place for singles(ie: you'll be bored). When you're in town, you should check out the events downtown, Thursday there is music in the park by the BB&T building, I don't know if the Friday you're in they will have Jazz and then Saturday night they block off Trade and 6th streets and have music, etc... Just something to look at doing while you're here.