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Hello, my name is Crissy. My bf, 3 children, and I are moving to NC in August. I've been looking on so many websites it's driving me nuts... lol!
We're looking to rent a house for hopefully under $900/mth. Obviously, good schools and nice neighborhoods are #1 on our list, but we're also really concerned about crime. We currently live in the Wilkes-Barre area of PA and it just keeps getting worse here. Everywhere you go here, you're sandwiched next to your neighbor and the towns are getting more and more riddled with drugs and crime.
We've been looking at Charlotte since it appears to be a great town, including the surrounds, but also are considering Raleigh/Durham.
My boyfriend has his own business refacing kitchen cabinets and countertops, as well as reglazing bathtubs. I am going to finish up my Associates Degree in Human Services (Social Work) in NC and continue on for my Bachelor's in Social Work. For the time being, I plan on either relocating with my current job at Macy's, if I can, or find a job when we get there. We have a savings to live on until I find work, which I'm sure won't be hard to do. I just need a job where I can have flexible hours, like I've had with Macy's. They're wonderful about it!
Any info that anyone can provide would be awesome! We really do appreciate it! Cannot wait to get out of this state!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We currently live in the Wilkes-Barre area of PA and it just keeps getting worse here.
Everywhere you go here, you're sandwiched next to your neighbor
and the towns are getting more and more riddled with drugs and crime.
My bf, 3 children, and I are moving to NC in August.
We've been looking at Charlotte ...but also are considering Raleigh/Durham.
OK... you're not happy up there. We get that.
But why *NC** as your destination?
More specifically... why NC rather than any one of the other 46 lower states?
or even some other part of Pennsylvania? Like Philadelphia? Or Pittsburgh?
Quote:
My boyfriend has his own business refacing kitchen cabinets and countertops...
Does he expect to find a shortage of K&B remodeling people here?
Quote:
I plan on either relocating with my current job at Macy's, if I can, or find a job when we get there.
We have a savings to live on until I find work, which I'm sure won't be hard to do.
Before others make snide remarks about negativity...
be clear that I wish you nothing but good.
But I will caution that a move have something to come TO... rather than away from.
At the TOP of that list is at least one solid job ...that will feed and house the FIVE of you.
I'd be more concerned about wanting to rent a HOUSE for under $900/ month.
A 2 bedroom apartment in a decent area is going to be hard to find for under $900/month; and with 3 kids a 2 bedroom apt is probably not what you're looking for. But a whole house for under $900....not happening in Raleigh or Charlotte unless it is in an area of town like the one you are trying to get away from.
I'm not as familiar with the Greensboro/ Winston-Salem area but I bet it would be a better fit. It's not as "hot" as Charlotte and Raleigh which are both experiencing rapid growth so it's more affordable. More of a blue collar workforce there too (Charlotte and especially the Raleigh-Durham-CH area are much more white-collar/professional/higher education oriented and thus there isn't much of a market for the typical blue collar middle-class household). I don't know if you'd be able to find a house big enough for your family in a decent area for under $900/month in Greensboro/Winston Salem...but I'm sure you'd be able to get more for your money there than here.
Outside the Philadelphia area most of PA has a lower cost of living than most of NC just FYI.
Cannot wait to get out of this state!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, as someone else asked, by NC? "Getting out of PA" leaves you a lot of other states to consider, but you haven't said thing about why you chose NC and you don't seem to know much about the state.
It would probably be best to cast a wider net and look for someone affordable for your budget (in NC, that's not going to be the greatest neighborhoods, probably--SC or further south would probably be cheaper). If there is no specific reason that "only NC will do", that's one thing, but "getting out of PA" can mean a lot of places.
People should move somewhere because they want to be THERE, not because they want to be "away from somewhere else".
Well, all I can say, is that if you haven't lived where I have lived, pretty much your whole life, you won't know how it is here. PA is so depressed, especially the eastern side, it's crazy. Crime is unbelievable here. It went from a place where you could leave your doors unlocked at night to a place where you want 10 deadbolts onthe door. Jobs do not pay well here, either. Degree or no degree. I've lived in California for 3 years and decided to move back b/c of my family. It was too costly to travel back even just once a year. We want to stay on the east coast where we could drive in less than a day to come visit at least for the weekend.
If you are looking for a house under $900, in a area with good schools and a nice neighborhood, you can really rule the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) area out. Rent is pretty high around here right now.
Well, all I can say, is that if you haven't lived where I have lived, pretty much your whole life, you won't know how it is here. PA is so depressed, especially the eastern side, it's crazy. Crime is unbelievable here. It went from a place where you could leave your doors unlocked at night to a place where you want 10 deadbolts onthe door. Jobs do not pay well here, either. Degree or no degree. I've lived in California for 3 years and decided to move back b/c of my family. It was too costly to travel back even just once a year. We want to stay on the east coast where we could drive in less than a day to come visit at least for the weekend.
I've been through some small towns in PA along Route 15 and I-81; Carlisle, Williamsport, Mansfield, Hazleton, etc....and while some of them look like they've seen better days; they're in much better shape than Kinston, Goldsboro, or Rocky Mount! That would pretty much apply to all of the towns in NC that would fit the OP's budget.
15+ years ago it would have been a different story.
Last edited by TarHeelNick; 04-14-2015 at 10:52 PM..
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