Moving to NC - Help (Charlotte, Raleigh: house, look for a job, neighborhoods)

[lfc611]

My fiance and i are planning on moving from S. Florida to NC once we get married. I am a web designer and she a nursing case manager, we are looking into Charlotte, Raleigh or Durham areas.
we need help deciding which has better job opportunities, affordable housing with nice sized back yard for our dog . We want a cooler climate with four seasons.
please give us your opinion on each area

Thank You

[nascarnancy]

Originally Posted by lfc611

My fiance and i are planning on moving from S. Florida to NC once we get married. I am a web designer and she a nursing case manager, we are looking into Charlotte, Raleigh or Durham areas.
we need help deciding which has better job opportunities, affordable housing with nice sized back yard for our dog . We want a cooler climate with four seasons.
please give us your opinion on each area

Thank You

Check out the local papers online for classifieds. I look at the Charlotte Observer and The Charlotte Business Jounal. I am sure there is a business journal for the Raleigh/Durham area. I am not living there yet, but have
done lots of research on line and having fun on the forum.

[lovesMountains]

With your backgrounds getting jobs in either city should not be a problem. Housing costs are about the same too. You should plan to visit both areas for a few days to get the feel of them, both have good selling points. Just know, Charlotte's population is about twice and much as Raleigh's, then again we do have the Carolina Panthers and Charlotte Bobcats because of that

[opstand]

I'd say that weather in both is about the same, but Raleigh is a bit cooler in the summers. It is also closer to the coast so you tend to get affected by tropical storms and hurricanes more than the Charlotte area does. It's rarely bad here, but once every ten years or so there is some flooding from a hurricane.

As for jobs, both cities are the best places in the state for employment. Raleigh/Durham has RTP which is well known as the home of many tech companies, so if you are in a tech field it is a great place to look for a job. There are also a number of hospitals in the area, including the Duke and UNC hospital systems which are huge. Raleigh also has a couple big WakeMed facilities and Rex, so nursing jobs are fairly abundant here.

I've lived near Charlotte for a short time and currently live in Cary, near Raleigh. I think they are similar cities. The big difference is that Charlotte is bigger and a little more metropolitan. The downtown area there is well established and there are a number of things to do. By comparison, Raleigh's downtown is mainly government related with a few pockets of urban downtown living. Areas in Durham's downtown have really come along in recent years making it a desirable place to live and visit. Still overall Charlotte has more of a big city feel that the Raleigh Durham area.


It's really a matter of opinion as to which is better. Having lived in both, I would not want to live in Charlotte. Just a personal opinion. Housing in both is equally affordable if you are coming from anywhere in FL that's been part of the housing boom there. You could probably get a starter home in or near both cities with a decent sized lot for ~$150k. Obviously you can spend as much as you want as there are very affluent neighborhoods in both areas as well.

Good luck and if you have more specific questions please post them.

To the above post - we have the Hurricanes (Stanley Cup champs!) and all of good NC ACC teams within 30 minutes of each other. The Bobcats...who are they??

[ANNETTEMARIA]

we too are a couple from south florida who would like to eventually move to the carolinas, possibly tennessee and am completely inundated with suggestions...we definitely dont want to live anywhere where there are tons of new housing developments (we've got plenty of them in south florida and it takes away from the country feel)...we'd like maybe a couple of acres, with or without a house on it, we're willing to build something small...we have dogs, love nature and LOVE friendly people...we've heard cary is great...i have friends that moved to a place called fuquay varinas (SP?), also heard frankin and murphy are nice...it's so hard to decipher where is best to live with so many opinions...we dont want to be more than about a half hour to 45 minutes from at least a semi-major city where we can get good jobs...bottom line, we'd like to live in a friendly town with plenty of space but a quaint feel as well (kind of like where the Ghost Whisperer is set in)...any help you can give us would be soooo appreciated....

[MrTudo]

Your a web developer? You better make sure you can even get high speed cable in NC.

There is none in Murphy or Franklin. There's satellite which was totally unacceptable to us and I own a web development company and do a large percentage of all my business online.

There will be no problem with that near the larger cities like Charlotte ( huge traffic ) or even Raleigh but even then I would suggest you go to the appropriate section on dsl reports and check the forums for feedback on the overall quality. Charter can be spotty although it CAN be acceptable but you should make it a contingency on anything you buy that it's installed ( at your cost ) and working to your satisfaction. We can tell you stories........

Mediacom, well.......

[ANNETTEMARIA]

hey, i want to make sure you dont confuse my post with the other couple from south florida looking to relocate....we are looking for a down-home, southern friendly place to eventually retire in but be able to go visit a couple of times a year in the meantime....i've heard boone, banner elk and blowing rock are nice too...any suggestions are welcome