Apartments in Hickory

[Aly]

Thanks everyone! Carolina Girl, I'm sorry to hear your sister is ill. Don't bother her with this. I think I have enough info to go on now.

[Carolina Girl]

I'm not sure of too many complex apartments to rent in Hickory any more, seems they have many.
A couple I know about are The Coach House Apartments on 2nd Ave. NW going to the Airport. Another one is in the NE area near Lenoir Rhyne College they are The Colonial House Apartments.
There is another one near the same location but I've forgotten the name but its between the College and Hickory High School.
I will have to ask around for you.

(I'll check some more.)

Originally Posted by Aly

Thanks everyone! Carolina Girl, I'm sorry to hear your sister is ill. Don't bother her with this. I think I have enough info to go on now.

Thanks. I just posted a response from a friend of mine and can get more if you need it.

[hapaleeretired]

Hickory is a hub for many smaller surrounding more rural towns. I am confident that you'll be able to find a rental unit within 15-20 miles. check out this website: removed
Good luck but please don't move next door. I am a retired mailman and I hate pit bulls.

[Aly]

Thanks for the advice but your url was deleted by admin. Do you mind sending it to me via private message?

Oh, by the way, I don't have a pit bull. I used to have a yellow lab who hated mailmen though.....

[amitchell1]

If there is someone out there who can help me out, please reply. I am considering moving from Michigan to North Carolina. I am really hesitant because I know nothing about the area. There are alot of teaching job opportunities there are I would love the change in atmosphere. However, I need a heads up as to which school districts and cities would I NOT want to teach in or live in and which areas should I be checking out to live in and teach in?

[Investrman]

Reading these posts after coming to Hickory ourselevs 18 months ago for a job promise then, makes me have to respond in kind and truthfully from our experience.

First I will reply with words from agent at the Employment Security Commission (ESC) here in Hickory: "If you want the real truth of an area, contact its local ESC offices, not the Chamber of Commerce". This statement rings true about Hickory.

Hickory used to be known as the furniture capital of the world and had a lot of textile manufacturing here as well, but in the last several years, over 10,000 people lost those jobs. Unemployment is high here and the wages lower than average just about anywhere else in the USA right now. There is so muchr eale state sitting on market including commercial real estate and nothing really growing, except perhaps for medical related offices, etc.

If you move here and have retirement or such to rely on, fine. If you come needing a job (no prior home or assets to fall upon) as we and countless others have happened to us, you will be sadly mistaken after you invest time, money and efforts coming here- especially if you are from a northern region or elsewhere not from this area, you will find still deep rooted sentiment against "yankees' and outsiders from the locals and experince discrimination in seeking jobs over preference to a local candidate too. You will find you will work harder to get any type job here but dont expect to ever see more than $10.00/hour for a majority of the jobs in the region.

We have spent the last many months here hoping things would get better and sadly, they have not. We met so many having to drive 1000 miles per week or more just to get a job somewhere in Charlotte to exist in Hickory, as the local jobs pay low, and if you have to exists on your savings as we did, you will find out, it will disappear slowly and then you really get stuck in a bind. If you have children too, be prepared for a varying degree in each school too and again, the costs to raise your child verses what an employer is willing to pay will keep you in financial bondage regardless how much you cut back and sacrifice- Hickory simply is not a place to build a future for a family or survive long term unless you are related to someone locally or have money from other sourecs outside the area. MY wife's background was in medical/management and finance (19 years) and mine was in electrical construction and business management (27 years), and we have never had so much opposition to us trying to secure or get a job as it seems locals get offended if you are more educated or know things they never seen before and somehow hold that against you too.

My wife FINALLY got a job here after hundreds of interviews and wasted time and only is paid $11.00/hour and like most jobs here, you will only be hired thru a temp agency who gets a % off your true income. Problem is many firms do not hire direct at end of the 90 day terms, and go back to temp agent for new candidate, so you find yourself constantly out of a job regardless what your background, skills, experience may be. Myself after working several temp construction type jobs that come and go, I have reverted to trying to exist on self employment and managing some minor investments for time being, but we are getting nowhere and know we will have to use what monies we have left to move out of this area with our last son, to where there are truly opportunities to build, save and have a future from; as staying locally in Hickory, is destroying us and any sense of hope we had coming here and the promises we were told from others we trusted sight unseen moving here 18 months ago.

Our frustrtaion doing and trying everything we can here, is do we move our son midway while in school here or hang in until end of school year to move away once school is out for the year?

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by Investrman

Our frustrtaion doing and trying everything we can here, is do we move our son midway while in school here or hang in until end of school year to move away once school is out for the year?

I will have to agree w/ what you posted. I do not live in Hickory now - but have family there, many close ties and business there - and used to live there.

My advice: You need to immediately start a job search in the Charlotte area. There are many things about Hickory wh/ make it a great place to live . . . the lake being one of them. However, your description of the economy and job loss is correct, and this has brought many changes to the area. Hickory is still a wonderful place for an entrepreneur (always has been), but only for the right type of business (and virtual business being one of those choices).

With your wife's qualifications, you would do well to check out Mecklenburg Co, as well as Mooresville and Iredell Co - as the job opportunities (medical) and pay will be much better. You can find affordable housing, too.

Even if you find a job and have to move the kids out of school, it won't be the end of the world. I had to do it several times as a kid and even tho it is not ideal, they will adjust . . . the main thing is to get into a better financial situation in an area with a decent cost of living.

If you don't feel comfortable in Mecklenburg or a surrounding county, check out the Raleigh-Durham area, wh/ also should have job openings that fit your wife's qualifications. I would feel sure that you could find employment in either RDU or CLT, too.

Do not get discouraged.

[Carolina_native]

Investrman,

Hickory earlier this decade did experience a decline economically after many of the textile and manufacturing jobs closed and went overseas. But the situation is quickly improving.

1. Two new businesses at the Fairgrove Business Park in Hickory will be moving there and will bring over 100 new jobs with approximately $10 million in investments.

2. Adevco Corp will be opening a new business park at the intersection of Tate Blvd and McDonald Parkway in Hickory soon. They will be investing $8 million dollars in the project and is expected to bring hundreds of jobs.

3. In Newton, which is Hickorys close neighbor directly east of Hickory, Target Corp. will is finished grading and will begin construction soon on its 247 acre site at the intersection of Hwy 321 and NC Hwy 10. It is a $100 million dollar and 1.6 million square foot distribution plant that will open in the summer of 2009. It will eventually bring 600 jobs to the area.

4. In Lenoir, which is a city directly west of Hickory, Google is constructing its $600 million dollar data center. When completed, the data center will eventually bring 200 jobs to the area.

The economic situation is getting better, and more businesses are relocating to the Hickory area. It has taken time for Hickory to re-invent itself but it is happening.

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by Carolina_native

Investrman,

Hickory earlier this decade did experience a decline economically after many of the textile and manufacturing jobs closed and went overseas. But the situation is quickly improving.

1. Two new businesses at the Fairgrove Business Park in Hickory will be moving there and will bring over 100 new jobs with approximately $10 million in investments.

2. Adevco Corp will be opening a new business park at the intersection of Tate Blvd and McDonald Parkway in Hickory soon. They will be investing $8 million dollars in the project and is expected to bring hundreds of jobs.

3. In Newton, which is Hickorys close neighbor directly east of Hickory, Target Corp. will is finished grading and will begin construction soon on its 247 acre site at the intersection of Hwy 321 and NC Hwy 10. It is a $100 million dollar and 1.6 million square foot distribution plant that will open in the summer of 2009. It will eventually bring 600 jobs to the area.

4. In Lenoir, which is a city directly west of Hickory, Google is constructing its $600 million dollar data center. When completed, the data center will eventually bring 200 jobs to the area.

The economic situation is getting better, and more businesses are relocating to the Hickory area. It has taken time for Hickory to re-invent itself but it is happening.

Your post was very informative about new jobs and businesses moving into the area. I personally think Catawba County is a beautiful area and hope the economy will continue to recover, despite the loss of so many textile and furniture mfg. jobs.

However, seems the poster (I-man) is in a difficult situation and needs higher paying jobs right now . . .his wife has had to settle for a woefully underpaid position (based on her qualifications) and sounds like I-man himself has not been fully employed either . . . so despite the optimistic upturn on job possibilities for the future . . . seems I-man may be better off to find work elsewhere and move.

And I mean to add to earlier post . . . so very sorry, I-man, that your experience in Hickory has been unsettling. There are many fine people there . . . and it is a beautiful county. Maybe you can find jobs/home in a neighboring county that will be a better situation for you.

[RacquelR]

We are also thinking about moving to Hickory, from Texas...we have bad credit though. Does any one know how strict apartments and landlords are on credit problems?