Might move to NC, need to be at least 45 mins. from Concord...please help! (Charlotte: low crime, houses)

[virtuous31wife]

Hello! I am new to this site so please bear with me...My husband and I are thinking of moving to North Carolina (we live in Georgia as of now...the only place we have ever lived in!) We want to move up there so we can begin going to Fire Church which is in Concord. We have 4 kids, we are in our twenties, and i would really love to be in a city that has good schools for my kids. We don't have to live in Concord but live no further then 45 mins. from it. What city around that area is a good place to live? I don't want to live in a big city as I love the country, but wouldn't mind living near a big city. I was looking at Cherryville...is that a good country city? Oh and I love the mountains, so any city that is near Concord that has mountians would be awesome! Thank you all for ANY information! It is much needed since i know nothing about NC!! P.S Also would like to live in a county that has low house taxes!! Thanks, God bless

[NCgirl]

Concord is in the piedmont region so you wouldn't be in the mountains. Hoewver they are a very short drive away. It is part of the Charlotte metro area. Cherryville is a more rural city but it isn't very close to Concord. It is in western Gaston county. Google says it takes 1 hour 14 mins. to get to Concord.

It sounds like you would like living in Concord or a smaller, neighboring town like Kannapolis or Harrisburg. All of these cities are in Cabarrus county.

City-data pages

Concord
Kannapolis
Harrisburg




1-9 is Mecklenburg county

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by virtuous31wife

Hello! I am new to this site so please bear with me...My husband and I are thinking of moving to North Carolina (we live in Georgia as of now...the only place we have ever lived in!) We want to move up there so we can begin going to Fire Church which is in Concord. We have 4 kids, we are in our twenties, and i would really love to be in a city that has good schools for my kids. We don't have to live in Concord but live no further then 45 mins. from it. What city around that area is a good place to live? I don't want to live in a big city as I love the country, but wouldn't mind living near a big city. I was looking at Cherryville...is that a good country city? Oh and I love the mountains, so any city that is near Concord that has mountians would be awesome! Thank you all for ANY information! It is much needed since i know nothing about NC!! P.S Also would like to live in a county that has low house taxes!! Thanks, God bless

Perhaps you better plan a visit to lay eyes on NC before you just decide to come? Do you even have jobs? Do you have ANY idea how tight our job market is and how high our umemployment rate is??? And you want to do all this just to be near a particular church?? I'm sorry, but your plan doesn't sound very prudent.

Just to help you out, you will not be able to be near the mountains and within 45 minutes of Concord. Also, why not just plan to live in Concord if you do come? You'd sure have a better chance of jobs there than in Cherryville. Please do a lot more research before you do any packing.

[virtuous31wife]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

Perhaps you better plan a visit to lay eyes on NC before you just decide to come? Do you even have jobs? Do you have ANY idea how tight our job market is and how high our umemployment rate is??? And you want to do all this just to be near a particular church?? I'm sorry, but your plan doesn't sound very prudent.

Just to help you out, you will not be able to be near the mountains and within 45 minutes of Concord. Also, why not just plan to live in Concord if you do come? You'd sure have a better chance of jobs there than in Cherryville. Please do a lot more research before you do any packing.

Actually, we did go up to Concord, Charlotte, and Pinesville over the weekend! Secondly, you act as if we are just gonna get up, move, and do no kind of research or planning!! This is why I asked the question to begin with so I can get some info! Thirdly i ain't planning on moving until a year or two and in that time frame i will be doing my research on what city is the best...i ain't just going to move somewhere that i have no idea how the city is or even move without having jobs set up! I ain't that stupid as you presume! Fourthly, jobs in Georgia are even worse off then they are in the Charlotte area (seen the news on that already...they said Charlotte is doing very well econmically) I just can't believe you would respond to my question so rude sounding and make me out to be an idot! If we did move to be near a church it is our business, 2, if we did move up there God would be the one leading us (we aren't sure yet what His will is for our life at this moment ...to move or not) And 3 if we did move up there in a year or two, God would work everything out for us...

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by virtuous31wife

Actually, we did go up to Concord, Charlotte, and Pinesville over the weekend! Secondly, you act as if we are just gonna get up, move, and do no kind of research or planning!! This is why I asked the question to begin with so I can get some info! Thirdly i ain't planning on moving until a year or two and in that time frame i will be doing my research on what city is the best...i ain't just going to move somewhere that i have no idea how the city is or even move without having jobs set up! I ain't that stupid as you presume! Fourthly, jobs in Georgia are even worse off then they are in the Charlotte area (seen the news on that already...they said Charlotte is doing very well econmically) I just can't believe you would respond to my question so rude sounding and make me out to be an idot! If we did move to be near a church it is our business, 2, if we did move up there God would be the one leading us (we aren't sure yet what His will is for our life at this moment ...to move or not) And 3 if we did move up there in a year or two, God would work everything out for us...

Oh, dear. Virtu - you don't know Loves, but I do and believe me - she was not meaning to be rude at all. She is just very concerned that you all come up, look around and find the right spot.

And about jobs - we are all very concerned b/c evidently the media has made it sound like our economy is good here. We had 32,000 laid off last year and we are expecting that or more this year (I am sure you have heard about Wachovia and Bank of America) We have also had a lot of companies shut down and lay off workers in the blue collar sector, as well.

We are expecting our unemployment to show 9% this month and possibly as high as 10% in the first quarter (hope this is wrong!!!!)

If you are not planning to come right away, then that will give you time to line up work, check out the area, etc. But the way your first post sounded, I thought you were getting ready to pack up and move here shortly, so I was actually about ready to say - OH, please, please, do not disrupt your lives and your children from school right now til our economy is better!!!

We are here to HELP you, not hinder you from your mission. But we are also going to tell you like it is cause we don't want to see you in a bad situation after you get here. Now that we know you are not coming "next week" . . . we can start directing you towards reaching your goal.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by virtuous31wife

I just can't believe you would respond to my question so rude sounding and make me out to be an idot!

Red dot for you if they were still applicable. Since they aren't, a red mad face will have to suffice for responding to Lovesmountains like that

If you look at the top right of each posting box, you'll see number of posts and reputation, also the join date. You can more or less gauge the helpfulness of a poster by those figures. You just blasted someone who is known for being very helpful.

Like LM, a few of us have been on this board for several years. I well remember when people were coming to this board boasting of selling their houses in California or New Jersey or Arizona for a ridiculous price - enough to come here and pay cash for a house. The job market was also a lot healthier than through whatever optimistic lens you view it now. If you scan the boards now, things are much, much different. That's why you are seeing the more cautionary posts like the one LM gave you. It's not to make anyone out to be an "idot". We've seen the despairing threads over the last year where people talk about being here for six months and haven't found a job, or are trying to sell their house and having a hard time. If you are going to respond to the kind of advice LM tried to give you in such a caustic way, you might as well not even ask.

God would work everything out for us...

You need to practice what you preach. You owe Lovesmountains an apology

[kbcorn]

I currently live in Elkin NC but was born and raised in Rowan County. When you start looking at residences, give the Salisbury area a try... it's within 30 minutes of Kannapolis/Concord and there is quite a bit of new development as well as many rural, small-town surrounding areas (Granite Quarry, Rockwell).

[Raivere]

Well concord, out of charlotte, is part urban, part rural. Has better schools than the kannapolis area (outside of concord) and a low crime rate. If I ever wished to live somewhere (for my own reasons) I would choose concord.

[Marylin Smith]

You do not want to live in Charlotte or Pineville or Gaston county. The crime rates are horrible in those towns. Cabarrus County is the best place in NC to live. Concord is wonderful. I have lived many places because of military life and this is the best place. There is a wonderful little town called Mt. Pleasant, just below Concord. The schools are great and you would love it. The church is wonderful, I don't attend there but some friends do. If I remember correctly there are REALTORS who attend that church (twin brothers). you should try to find them. The Association of realtors is 704-786-5512, call and ask them. But....don't go outside of Cabarrus County seriously. Good luck and God Bless!

[anifani821]

Okay, Marylin . . . that was just waaaaaay too much of a generality about Charlotte, Pineville and Gaston county being crime-ridden. Dear me. I live in S. Charlotte, not too far from Pineville, and we have had no problem w/ crime in my neighborhood at all. It is very upscale here and a clean, safe place to live. Really - your comment was more than a little over the top.

However, I do agree that Concord is a nice area.