Stop Wasting Time and Get Out of NY (Charlotte: houses, neighborhood)

[lisaf]

I moved to Charlotte 2 years ago from the NY/NJ area.

My reasons for coming here were a desire for:

1) Cheaper housing
2) Cheaper property taxes
3) Saner environment for my family
4) Ability to get out of the NY rat race and actually feel like I could enjoy life
5) Decent schools for my kids
6) Friendlier people
7) Just an overall better quality of life
8) Oh, and much better weather! I hate shoveling snow!!!

My greatest fear was moving away from our family and friends. Period. No other concerns.

Here's where I am now:

1) Cheaper and BIGGER house on huge piece of property
2) My prop taxes were $10k in NY/NJ, they are $3k now. Could be less if I ultimately decide to move into Union County from South Charlotte.
3) Charlotte has plenty of interesting things to do to keep the kids and us interested and active. Lots of solid restaurants (and YES, the restaurants are cheaper than those in NJ/NY), every weekend there seems to be some kind of street fair, etc. going on to see.
4) I don't have to work 80 hour weeks here, and I don't have that killer schlep into Manhattan anymore. I am earning less (and don't let folks fool you about 10-15% less--it can be more!), but it is worth us earning a bit less, because we make up for it in other parts of cost of living and sanity! Today I bought gas for $2.09 (!!!!) per gallon on a trip to Gaffney, SC (about 45 mins from Charlotte) when I visited the fantastic outlet mall out there (otherwise gas is $2.45 by me here in South Charlotte today).
5) Schools in NJ/NY are some of the best in the country without a doubt. If you choose carefully in Charlotte, you can get solid schools as well!
6) People here are lovely! Super friendly. Doesn't matter if you walk into the local Starbucks, a retail shop, your neighborhood.....for the most part you will find genuine people here who are eager to chat. Kids also seem much more respectful than I'm used to in NJ/NY.
7) We absolutely love it here! It's just a much more realistic place to live in comparison to NJ or NY. It was the RIGHT move for my little family of 4 (5 if you count the dog! LOL)
8) The weather is glorious!! Long springs, spectacular falls, not too hot or too humid summers and the winter is perfect--there was NO snow last winter, and it only snowed about 1 inch the year before!! No more snow shovels for me!!!

We do miss our families, but heck it's only an hour and 20 minute plane ride to LaGuardia! We got a webcam so the kids can "see" grandma/grandpa as often as they like. If you can't get passed the whole missing the family thing, you'll be fine!

Honestly, for those of you petrified of moving down here, you will find that there are heaps of people from NY/NJ--so it will feel a lot like home for you. Trust me, you will have a saner life!

[TornadoAlley]

$2.89 here on the west coast. It has dropped a lot in the last few months. The winter blend must be coming.

[Mokonzi]

Originally Posted by New_Yorker

Every level of society complains about living expenses. Someone who earns minimum wage will complain about a house that costs $140,000. Someome who earns $50,000 will complain about a house that costs $300,000. And so on, and so on.

Many people don't have a problem living on Long Island, proven by the fact that when you move out, someone will be moving in. The problem isn't that it's too expensive to live here. It's that it's too expensive for certain people.

It's not how much you make that matters, it's how much you get to keep...

[dina]

Originally Posted by TIME TO GO

I am new to this forum and also from Long Island, NY contemplating moving -- it seems to me that no matter what the registration fees for cars or extra utility bills for larger homes are, the fact that your taxes and mortgage can be up to $2000 less a month speaks volumes.
Does anyone have any idea of typical utility costs for a 2500 sq ft home in NC?
Also there are other issues... everywhere you look on LI there is a new housing development squished in somewhere, no open space at all. It really is sad... and also it is causing a lot of waste and pollution.
What about environmental hazards -- toxic wastes, former manufacturing plants etc... -- anyone know about how "clean" NC really is? I would be interested in knowing.
So there are two separate questions here --- one the utility bill average for a 2500sq ft home and two -- any environmental hazards to look out for when buying. Thanks.

I could probably answer your question on the utility costs for a 2500sq ft home - we got one in Charlotte 6 months ago. It is lower than NY for sure! Our biggest bill is cable/internet of course - about $120/month. The rest is a joke compared to what my parents pay in NY: water $20-30/month, electricity $25-45/month (even in the summer months running AC 24/7, we never paid more than $75), garbage pickup $50/quarter. From what I hear, gas heating might be a little more expensive, but we have not had a chance to experience it yet. Hope this helps


GREGG, you started a great discussion!! I agree on all the points you made. We moved to NC a little over a year ago from LI, and there is not a single thing we regret about it!!!! We absolutely love it here!!!

[samdan]

Wow,I'm also originally from suffolk(farmingville).My wife and I left 2 years ago and now live in Arizona.We are now thinking of N.C.,I've begun my search in Mint Hill,Mathews,Indian Trail,but it's difficult not knowing where to start.We have a 2 year old so a family oriented place with good schools would be great.The best thing I ever did was to leave NY,however the heat here is brutal,you cannot go outdoors from june thru september.I'm talking routinely 115 degrees.We thought we could handle it but after 2 years weve realized that the change from NY to the desert was just to much.It's ironic that beforecoming to AZ we were discussing NC.This thread is so helpfull,any more input would be appreciated,can anyone post some pics of the are.Thank you.

[IMPERIALBROWNS]

I'm so glad to read your opinion about moving to North Carolina. Your previous concerns are pretty much our concerns now. We are waiting for our house to sell. We live in Orange County, New York and hope by spring the housing market will pick up. We are taking a trip down the week after Christmas and will be visiting Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte and Hickory areas. We're interested in lake property in the Hickory area and understand it is an hour commute to Charlotte. Schools there are excellent. I'm a little concerned about the commute.

I am in the dental field and employment is very important. We're hoping we can put all this behind us by the summer.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Swimmom32]

Originally Posted by DontLookBack

Dear All,

It has been over 2 years since my wife and I have been speaking about moving to NC and we finally bought a house. The only thing I regret as of now is waiting so long. I currently live in Suffolk County, NY and the cost of living here is unmanagable. I have a 10 month old daughter and I know that this life style is not the way I want to bring my daughter up in. Society has made it impossible for new families like mine to survive in NY. We made our move, we went down there for 3 days and bought our dream home. They will start building and I will move in March of 07.

Maybe I can help others by telling you what I saw by going down there. My original concerns were the following:* Leaving Family and Friends(being alone)- while I was down there I was driving down the road in the new developement where I will be moving in 6-7months. My agent saw a guy whom he sold a house to 8 months ago, when I told him where I was from I couldn't believe his response. It turns out he used to live about 1 mile away from my town on Long Island, he started pointing to each neighbor and told me where each of them were from and out of 20 homes already built on his road 9 of them were from Suffolk County, NY. Everyone is in the same situation and you make friends so fast. Everyone is leaving there family and friends for a better life.

* Where will I find a job? - My 2 friends down there contacted a recruiter and immediately they both had 5-6 interviews a day. Within one week they both had 3 offers.

* Nice Houses but nothing to do there? - I couldn't believe how wrong I was, there are so many stores, malls, entertainment. Everything is so clean and new, all the stores are in brick buildings.

* Will I really save money, is everything cheaper? Everything in NY costs so much more then in NC, currently I pay $850 month for property taxes, the new house I bought in NC, the taxes are $1,500 for the whole year. Gas down there is $2.90 gallon compared to $3.40. You also are going to save money on your car insurance, electric bill, sales tax, cable TV and many others.

If you have been thinking about going down there, please ask me questions and please at least go look down there. You will not want to come back.

Thanks
Gregg

Gregg,

I would love to talk more with you, We are going through that right now..We currently live in NJ been here 7 yrs orignally from Brooklyn NY and I am also a realtor here in NJ and my god the amount of NY and NJ people that are moving there or have decided to move....We are leaving our family and friends and have 2 children, my husband is in Information Technology and have no idea what salaries are in Charlotte area..we are looking in Union County Id love to make the trip in a few months, but am a bit nervous..I was hoping to find out which developments and which areas the NY and NJ people are moving into..Id love to meet people from where im from and or currently live....you can always PM....and I tell ya we have a beautiful house now however 10k a year in property taxes and they are going up again in later 2007 when they reassess us again, just cant live like this anymore

Thank You
Staci

[Swimmom32]

Hello

I would love to PM with you, my husband and I are originally from NY and now NJ and been here 7 yrs paying 10k a year in property taxes and well theyare climbing again once we are reassessed again later 07....basically its no way of living anymore, with that being petrified to leave my friends and family this is a very tough decision...Also hopefully my dh can get a job he is in information technology and who knows what the salaries will be in the charlotte area....unfortuantley I wont fly so we will have to drive to NC but id love to get there to see if I will even like it....anyway, I hate to ask however where in the charlotte area do u live and what are your property taxes????

Thank You in advance
Staci NJ

[Swimmom32]

Originally Posted by NJmomof2

Hello

I would love to PM with you, my husband and I are originally from NY and now NJ and been here 7 yrs paying 10k a year in property taxes and well theyare climbing again once we are reassessed again later 07....basically its no way of living anymore, with that being petrified to leave my friends and family this is a very tough decision...Also hopefully my dh can get a job he is in information technology and who knows what the salaries will be in the charlotte area....unfortuantley I wont fly so we will have to drive to NC but id love to get there to see if I will even like it....anyway, I hate to ask however where in the charlotte area do u live and what are your property taxes????

Thank You in advance
Staci NJ

and I forgot the most important thing, we have 2 children my son is in 6th grade and will be 12 in april and my daughter is in 2nd grade and will be 8 in march....so schools are very important considering we are in an excellent district.....

[Ms.Charlotte]

Originally Posted by NJmomof2

..I was hoping to find out which developments and which areas the NY and NJ people are moving into..Id love to meet people from where im from and or currently live....you can always PM....and I tell ya we have a beautiful house now however 10k a year in property taxes and they are going up again in later 2007 when they reassess us again, just cant live like this anymore

Thank You
Staci

You are moving to the South to be around people from the Northeast? I don't get it. I'm from NJ and I really don't get it. Why are you moving? To pay less taxes?