Looking for a liberal, urban, but relaxing area in NC. Located with access to some bigger cities nearby (Charlotte: transplants, for rent)

[ncsualum2004]

There are many areas of the triad where you can find a detached home in the upper part of your price range and it meets some of your criteria although I don't really consider it urban at all. Both Greensboro and Winston-Salem have very small downtown areas. The other criteria of "open minded people/progressiveness/diversity" is a bit mixed, it certainly wouldn't feel that way compared to Chicago but I don't find it oppressive either.

But it does have lots of outdoor options, ok shopping, a few movie theaters and bookstores, restaurants, and a few healthy grocery stores (Winston has a WF).

BTW NC is very hot in the summer, Florida just stays hotter longer.

[yellowbelle]

Your list reminded me of Asheville (also popular for weddings and driveable to Gatlinburg ... wedding central!) or Chapel Hill/Carboro. But 90K-125K is tough!! Maybe Mebane? Apex?

[mellonkat]

Try Winston-Salem. Although it's downtown is fairly small, its getting a lot better. It has tons of shopping/restaurants, and a surprising amount of arts related stuff... Winston-Salem is called, actually, the City of the Arts. They had the first Arts Council in the entire country.
You could probably afford a nice sized home on that budget and be within a few minutes drive to the Whole Foods or Fresh Market. It's also only about an hour and a half to both Charlotte and Raleigh, which have a lot to offer. Greensboro is also only about 25 minutes (17 if you drive fast) away, so you could commute there every day if needed, I guess. You can get to the mountains in a few hours, the beach in about four or five, and Lake Norman in just about an hour. There's a lot to do if you take the time to look.
There are plenty of good restaurants, although there certainly could be a better selection. Greensboro has more international offerings, although I find the atmosphere in Winston to be nicer. If it helps, smoking was banned in all public places last year, so that's not really a problem. There's a great Thai restaurant downtown, along with Italian, Irish, Latin American, and a really good pizza place. There's also a few Indian places, and plenty of Chinese Take-outs.

[saucystargazer]

You wont get anything in that price range in WNC so skip Asheville. Manufactured homes on 1 acre go for for 150k unless they are in a trailer park (people want the land). Also, the area around Asheville is flooded with wedding photographers, so I think you will have a lot of competition.

Why not TN? Knoxville might meet your needs better and is close to mountains/really in foothills and has a larger wedding scene with the smokies close. That or Greenville SC/upstate area. I'm starting to plan a wedding in between Asheville and Greenville, and there are a lot less choices in Greenville, you can live a bit outside of it and be in the foothills again. There are tons of state parks too that people get married at a lot (I'm one of them).

[cry_havoc]

Originally Posted by brempert

Husband and I are planning on relocating to NC and are trying to figure out a good spot for us. We are both in early 30's, are somewhat social on occasion (mostly bookworms though) and probably won't have kids for another 2-5 years though. We have two dogs and would like to buy a somewhat nice starter home with a backyard ($90-$125,000) in the next two years in a peaceful area that has access to a bigger city feel within 30 mins.

We like : mountains/open spaces
open minded people/progressiveness/diversity - hopefully without the yuppiness
shopping/movies/good bookstore - somewhat nearby
we love eating out when we can - good restaurants would be nice
and we are health conscious and gluten free - would prefer to be near a large health food store for access to the foods that we can actually eat, i.e a Whole Foods type place.

I am a wedding photographer and can pick where I would like to live, but I would do better near a higher income area (within 30 mins preferred) as those are most of my clients, or near a large population of 25-35 yr old creative types (usually in bigger cities as it turns out) as they are also my photography demographic. Being centrally located between a few bigger cities would help with work since I am willing to travel up to 2-3 hours for a wedding if need be if I can't get all my clients from one general area.

We are taking a roadtrip in August and stopping in different cities to check them out and see how they feel and would love some suggestions for places to investigate. Thanks ahead of time for any input.

As a side note, we lived in Chicago for 8 years - love the access to food and a variety of people and shopping, hated the pollution/noise/crime. We wouldn't mind living near a bigger city at all since it would be good for work, but we would be happy in a smaller place that has a lot of charm as well.

Im not from NC and have only driven through it, but it sounds like you might want to check out Ashville.

[js1mom]

You can get a starter house in the Charlotte suburbs in that price range. (I have been researching ad-nauseum, so I know they exist.) That's where I'm going to escape the brutal winters, and it is a very sizable city with many other sizable towns surrounding it. Good luck!

[urbancharlotte]

Originally Posted by brempert

As a side note, we lived in Chicago for 8 years - love the access to food and a variety of people and shopping, hated the pollution/noise/crime. We wouldn't mind living near a bigger city at all since it would be good for work, but we would be happy in a smaller place that has a lot of charm as well.

Ok, this is the part of your post that caught my attention. A "smaller place" compared to Chicago could be anywhere in NC. Many of the suggestions you have gotten so far (ie Asheville and Chapel Hill) are towns that are comparable in size to Gary, Indiana (and are far less urban than Gary). With that said, be very careful of what you ask for in NC because many folks are not considering your 8 year Chicago background.

From what I've seen, most folks looking to "step down" from a Chicago/NYC type city end up being bored in towns that are "too small". Therefore I would highly suggest that you look carefully at NC's largest city (Charlotte) then work your way down the list (Raleigh, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham etc).

If you are doing a driving tour of the state, start in Charlotte. From there, you can take I-85 North to US 52 North into Winston-Salem. From Winston, take I-40 East to Greensboro. From Greensboro, take I-40 East to Durham. From Durham, take "The Durham Freeway" South to I-40, then I-40 East into Raleigh. This entire trip is about 3 hours of driving without stops and you will get a glance at NC's five largest cities.

[Francois]

I second the Winston-Salem suggestion, having just spent a weekend with friends there. It has changed a LOT in the few years since I'd been there, all to the good as far as arts/"culture" scene goes. NC School of the Arts is there and I suppose that fuels a big creative vibe, but there are other colleges/universities there too, which adds to the youthful/nightlife scene, and the Triad is generally more affordable than the Triangle or Charlotte. Winston-Salem is also near the Yadkin Valley wineries, where most of them rent out their facilities for events (such as weddings) so there is that bit of business possibly there to pick from.

[brempert]

Okay, so I should have been more clear in my post about housing...we are not looking to buy a house for a couple years and we are planning to live in an apartment until then. I think I just threw that in there to see what places people suggested, so I should have clarified in the beginning it is not as important immediately. If we have been living in NC for a few years anyway we will have a better feel for a good place that we can afford. But thank you for all the insight and suggestions with that.

Asheville has always sounded nice to me, but I worry about how small it is, but if it's close to bigger cities it could still work. And for the poster who warned about the wedding competition there, I am not too worried about the competition, but thank you for the heads up. I'm pretty confident with what I bring to the table in that respect.

Also, thanks to UrbanCharlotte for comparing the suggested cities to other cities I might be familiar with, that actually helped visually a ton! I should have specified that I was looking for a "step down" from Chicago, and you got that right away from my post.

I noticed a lot of posters talked about the winston-salem area and surrounding, and fewer mentioned Raleigh.
Is there a big difference between the areas? I thought Raleigh was maybe larger, but I wasn't sure.

[meh_whatever]

Raleigh is larger.

It's just not got quite as many of the things you listed (in Raleigh proper).

It's also not much of a wedding destination, though no doubt there are plenty that get married here just to do it close to home.

You might like places like Carrboro and Chapel Hill, but your price range cancels those out.

Maybe Hillsborough. Cute downtown and close to Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Not nearly as expensive.