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My husband may take a job in Shelby. Where to live? He is willing to commute 20-30 min. We have two children, 10 & 5. We have always had them in private school, but an "A" public school is not out of the question. We would like a kid-friendly n'hood. Price range of $300k, give or take. Suggestions?
My husband may take a job in Shelby. Where to live? He is willing to commute 20-30 min. We have two children, 10 & 5. We have always had them in private school, but an "A" public school is not out of the question. We would like a kid-friendly n'hood. Price range of $300k, give or take. Suggestions?
Well, Shelby is not exactly the paradise of NC I'm afraid. And schools can be a real hit or miss. You should check them out on greatschools.net.
If I were you, I'd consider living out a bit from Shelby, like in Kings Mountain or Boiling Springs - both really nice little communities.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by granolaqueen
My husband may take a job in Shelby. Where to live? He is willing to commute 20-30 min. We have two children, 10 & 5. We have always had them in private school, but an "A" public school is not out of the question. We would like a kid-friendly n'hood. Price range of $300k, give or take. Suggestions?
I see people ask for kid-friendly neighborhoods. This is a subjective term, so if you could please explain what you mean by that term, I'll be glad to answer that part of your question. I don't want to answer by my standards & have my answer not fit your standards.
Kings Mountain is a small town City of Kings Mountain, North Carolina which is surrounded by an unincorporated area of the same name. Kings Mountain sits between Shelby & Gastonia. In fact, some of Kings Mountain is in Gaston County. However, to take advantage of the Kings Mountain schools you must live on the Cleveland County side of town, as NC school systems are by county.
Shelby is the largest town in Cleveland County, Kings Mountain is the 2nd largest. They are the only two communities that have their own high schools, the other high schools in the county are regional. Boiling Springs Town of Boiling Springs -- Welcome to Boiling Springs is a very nice small town in the SW corner of the county. It is a college town. Gardner-Webb is the name of the college.
There are other towns in the county but they are very small. North & west of Shelby is very rural.
There is not a lot of retail in Kings Mountain or Boiling Springs. Most people in Kings Mountain go to Gastonia or Charlotte for a lot of retail. I actually live closer to Gastonia than I do to Shelby.
I would suggest that you look at the great schools website that I posted & look at realtor.com for houses. Here's the website for the mall in Gastonia. Westfield - Eastridge Shopping Mall I used to live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, & I do not have a problem finding what I need around here. There is additional shopping in Gaffney, SC (an outlet mall). People in Kings Mountain commute to jobs in Charlotte, Hickory, and even Spartanburg, SC, as well as Shelby & Gastonia.
Shelby...that is a hard one! I worked home health care for a few years and Shelby and its surrounds were in my territory. There are places that are absolutely gorgeous and neat but it seems like there are a lot more areas that are hard hit. I think it would depend on where I was moving from and what you are used too. How far is hubby willing to commute? How far are you willing to drive to do your shopping? It seemed like there was a lot of separation between the haves and the have nots in Shelby. I rarely saw middle class patients there--it was either dirt poor or well to do!
I like the downtown area, lucked up on some good deals at the Belk dept store in the "small" and each fall we enjoy going to the Corn Maze near Boiling Springs. They also have a nice science center for the little ones in Rutherfordton. Lake Lure isn't too far away. They have a Walmart. If you prefer Target I think you will have to drive to Gastonia for your nearest store.
Good luck! I would probably lean towards Kings Mtn
"small" lol, well, that's one way to put it. I would not buy a home within the city limits of Shelby or Kings Mountain. There can be one street that's really nice, that backs up to a street that's, well, not so great. With your price range for a home, you can have your pick of homes in the area. You could probably even afford a home on the lake. Plus, the home values have dropped considerably, you have plenty of wiggle room to bargain with a seller.
Since you are in a position to live in any area around Shelby, I highly recommend Boiling Springs, and the Boiling Springs school system. Nice, country area, but several nice, newer developments, and not a bad trip into town. For the best shopping, though, you will need to head to Gastonia, as already suggested.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by montanamom
"small" lol, well, that's one way to put it. I would not buy a home within the city limits of Shelby or Kings Mountain. There can be one street that's really nice, that backs up to a street that's, well, not so great. With your price range for a home, you can have your pick of homes in the area. You could probably even afford a home on the lake. Plus, the home values have dropped considerably, you have plenty of wiggle room to bargain with a seller.
Since you are in a position to live in any area around Shelby, I highly recommend Boiling Springs, and the Boiling Springs school system. Nice, country area, but several nice, newer developments, and not a bad trip into town. For the best shopping, though, you will need to head to Gastonia, as already suggested.
I find your comments interesting concerning Kings Mountain & I know right where you're talking about. Those areas are way below her price range, so the comment was not necessary. My neighborhood is below her price range & your comment does not apply here.
Going from Boiling Springs to Gastonia is a haul. One of our posters used to live in Boiling Springs & according to a comment that he passed, they go to Spartanburg, not Gastonia for most shopping.
Well, I'll throw in my 2 cents worth. I have worked in Cleveland County for the past 8 years (mostly outside of Shelby, but now in Kings Mountain). I lived in Boiling Springs for most of that time (now live in Huntersville).
Based on the OPs comments about schools - the requirement for a private school, or an "A" public school may be tough. I'm not aware of many private schools in Cleveland County, but there are some well-regarded private schools in Gastonia. The public schools (especially the high schools) in Cleveland County are more like in the B to C range - pretty much mid-range or slightly above average when compared to statewide. Some of the elementary schools are pretty good (I'd give some of them a B+ or maybe even an A-), especially some of the Kings Mountain schools and those in Boiling Springs. The quality starts dropping off when you get to middle and high school. You won't find anything like the highly rated suburban high schools in South Charlotte or in some of the counties that adjoin Charlotte in Cleveland County.
There is a very highly regarded charter school out in Rutherford County (Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy). My son attended there for two years and we were very pleased. It is not very far at all from Boiling Springs (maybe 15 minute drive), but in the opposite direction of where you would most normally be heading.
So, my recommendations would come down to this. Boiling Springs is a great family town - the university is there, and while there are some very nice things that it offers, you don't really get the "college town" vibe there. Very safe and quiet, picturesque, very good elementary schools, fair to middling middle and high schools. Close enough to TJCA to make that feasible. If you are interested in "big city" stuff, it's a bit far out, but you do have good access to the mountains (Asheville only an hour away).
The other option I would recommend is looking at Kings Mountain, and the private schools in Gastonia, which would only be about 10-15 minutes away. Advantage is much closer access to "big city" stuff in Charlotte and Gastonia and not too far from the job in Shelby. As is the case with Boiling Springs, you can find good elementary schools.
In both areas you should find a very nice house for $300K with a very large lot. You may even be able to find a house on Moss Lake these days for around $300K.
Good luck and feel free to ask if you have more questions.
I work in Shelby and live in Cramerton area. A lot of my colleagues live here as well. Commute to Shelby is 35m. Great public schools in Cramerton/Belmont, as well as private in gatonia. Good luck!
born and raised in shelby....
don't move there! there's nothing there.
move to gastonia. you'll be 30 minutes from shelby and 30 minutes from charlotte.
go to www.carolinahome.com
look at top right of page where it says "city". scroll to gastonia.
you can put a price range on the home you're looking for and you can also select the age of the home you're looking to buy.
good luck (and don't move to shelby)
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