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Charlotte is not a city in any northeastern definition where city means Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, etc.
Downtown Charlotte, while nice, is a joke compared to this area.
Atlanta is the one city I'd consider moving back to in the southeast. It is truly a major city in my opinion.
And at this point I'd only move there for retirement. The opportunities here both professionally and personally are so much greater. Obviously this may not be true for every single individual. But in general, the south still leaves a ton to be desired.
Ditto!! We are on the same page I agree about Atlanta too - there is a city that can compete with the NE.
I agree, NJ itself is nice with lots of options. The issue is the cost trade off. Are the amenities of NJ really that much nicer than Charlotte to warrant the HUGE COL increase? Probably not. Pretty much anything you can do in NJ you can do in a large Southern city, but your home will be 4x the size, 100 years newer, and cost half as much each month down South.
Here is an example of a beautiful home in the Charlotte 'burbs in a good school cluster - its on .35 acres, which is a good size for these subdivisions; price tag - $489,000
I suspect that OP works in financial services. One big difference between NJ and Charlotte is that there are a million different employers in NYC, whereas Charlotte is basically a 2 horse town as far as financial employers go. That means that if you get laid off or stuck in a crappy position in Charlotte, you are kind of screwed. Thus, if comparing NJ and Charlotte and thinking about settling down in either, you can't just compare a current job in NJ vs a current job in Charlotte. You have to think about the long term prospects in both. NJ/NYC has more long term opportunity by far, but you pay for that in terms of COL and stress. It all depends on what your priorities are. But there are no magical places with low COL and lots of high-paying 9-5 jobs.
In a school district rated as "Exemplary". The assigned High school, Providence HS, was rated the highest in Charlotte and has the highest Average SAT scores in the Charlotte area.
Show me anything comparable in northern NJ and I will eat my hat. I understand that people up here can't comprehend how much cheaper major Southern cities are, but they really are. A comparable home here, especially close to top rated schools, would be 1.5 million or more, and property taxes would be obscene.
100% NOT TRUE. We recently visited Charlotte with hopes of relocating there - primarily looking for a lower COL. But its just not the case. To purchase a home in a good school district (there are not that many of them) you are looking to spend a minimum of $400,000 on a home. If you don't care about the school district - then go ahead and move there and buy a big (2500+SQFT) house that will be hard to re-sell. But even that house will cost you around $300K and the houses are not double the size here. And they have no basements.......... Do you want to rent an apt there? Expect to spend $980 a month on a one BR, at least.
We did ALL the math that I won't get into here - but our savings would be about $3000 per year b/c the property taxes are lower BUT we'd have a lot size that would be smaller then our 1 + acres here in NJ.
My husband's salary would stay the same but I'd have to find a new job and my salary would be much lower - so that $3000 savings would be ZERO savings. We'd actually be losing money.......
Ten years ago a family could move to Charlotte and get a house for a low price and come out ahead - but NOT today. The whole the COL is so much less in Charlotte days are over........... especially b/c housing has gone way UP and salaries have not budged. BUT property taxes are rising by leaps and bounds to pay for the huge influx of people.
In 5 seconds I found a house for $489,00 on trulia (see my above post) that's 5,000+ square feet, close to the highest rated high school in Charlotte.
I suspect that OP works in financial services. One big difference between NJ and Charlotte is that there are a million different employers in NYC, whereas Charlotte is basically a 2 horse town as far as financial employers go. That means that if you get laid off or stuck in a crappy position in Charlotte, you are kind of screwed. Thus, if comparing NJ and Charlotte and thinking about settling down in either, you can't just compare a current job in NJ vs a current job in Charlotte. You have to think about the long term prospects in both. NJ/NYC has more long term opportunity by far, but you pay for that in terms of COL and stress. It all depends on what your priorities are. But there are no magical places with low COL and lots of high-paying 9-5 jobs.
thats a great point not many make, the difference between the number of jobs
In a school district rated as "Exemplary". The assigned High school, Providence HS, was rated the highest in Charlotte and has the highest Average SAT scores in the Charlotte area.
Show me anything comparable in northern NJ and I will eat my hat. I understand that people up here can't comprehend how much cheaper major Southern cities are, but they really are. A comparable home here, especially close to top rated schools, would be 1.5 million or more, and property taxes would be obscene.
For a house that size, that kitchen is inexcusable - pretty, but tiny. That would seriously be a deal breaker for me.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by NJ Person
100% NOT TRUE. We recently visited Charlotte with hopes of relocating there - primarily looking for a lower COL. But its just not the case. To purchase a home in a good school district (there are not that many of them) you are looking to spend a minimum of $400,000 on a home. If you don't care about the school district - then go ahead and move there and buy a big (2500+SQFT) house that will be hard to re-sell. But even that house will cost you around $300K and the houses are not double the size here. And they have no basements.......... Do you want to rent an apt there? Expect to spend $980 a month on a one BR, at least.
We did ALL the math that I won't get into here - but our savings would be about $3000 per year b/c the property taxes are lower BUT we'd have a lot size that would be smaller then our 1 + acres here in NJ.
My husband's salary would stay the same but I'd have to find a new job and my salary would be much lower - so that $3000 savings would be ZERO savings. We'd actually be losing money.......
Ten years ago a family could move to Charlotte and get a house for a low price and come out ahead - but NOT today. The whole the COL is so much less in Charlotte days are over........... especially b/c housing has gone way UP and salaries have not budged. BUT property taxes are rising by leaps and bounds to pay for the huge influx of people.
I stayed out of your Charlotte search but you looked at the most expensive areas in the region. You could have been looking at areas that cost less have more land, and good schools. Property taxes are going up because the idiots in Raleigh passed a Christie Whitman style income tax cut.
In a school district rated as "Exemplary". The assigned High school, Providence HS, was rated the highest in Charlotte and has the highest Average SAT scores in the Charlotte area.
Show me anything comparable in northern NJ and I will eat my hat. I understand that people up here can't comprehend how much cheaper major Southern cities are, but they really are. A comparable home here, especially close to top rated schools, would be 1.5 million or more, and property taxes would be obscene.
Just took a quick look and noticed that the same house sold for $800K 6 years ago. I don't know that market at all, but has the market recovered a lot less there than in NJ where values have regained most of the recession decline?
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I agree about Atlanta too - there is a city that can compete with the NE.
