Is there too much growth in the Charlotte Region? (Concord: apartment, car insurance)
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Here in Union County...it took me 35 minutes to drop my daughter off at school this morning and we are only 2 miles to the school. Not sure how we can support any more neighborhoods in the area!
why not let her take the bus? - traffic problem solved...
why not let her take the bus? - traffic problem solved...
All 3 of my kids do ride the bus. However, our bus has not showed up 15 different times this year. Apparently, if the bus driver is sick no one replaces her! This was one of the 15 times...drove 3 kids from my hood to school!
Last edited by Robinlp; 03-27-2014 at 07:57 AM..
Reason: Added.
Some people think that a shortage of apartments uptown reflects a shortage elsewhere in the city. Those who don't believe that Charlotte's apartment market is overbuilt have either never lived anywhere else, or they're too young to have noticed the deterioration that takes place over time. An upscale apartment development remains upscale as long as the surrounding area remains upscale. The massive complexes that exist in the suburbs that aren't nestled within upscale real estate are at the greatest risk of becoming drug dens.
I've been here since January and so far I've had 4 job offers. Not a huge salaries but 40K to a little over 43K and great benefits. The first offer I received was in Feb for 42K. I wasn't set on the area or the duties so I passed. The next offer was for 40K. I turned it down because of bad reviews on glassdoor.com. It just didn't feel right. Yesterday, I received 2 offers at once, I turned one down because I already accepted an offer 10 minutes before. They came back at me with 2 dollars more an hour then the first one. I'm happy I waited because I found a higher paying job closer to home. In Phoenix I was making 38K doing the something. My husband makes more money here too.
All in all, I would say both places are about the same for opportunities. I'm sure if I was looking for a higher wage in Phoenix I could have landed something.
I will say one thing...My NC plates cost 239.00..What the heck??? I paid 60.00 to renew in Phoenix. Highway robbery! I do agree that Charlotte is not cheap unless you come from Cali or the Northeast.
As an outsider looking in and debating about a relocation to south Charlotte - I have to say we've pretty much concluded that there won't be much of a financial benefit for us and we live in NJ. Aside from saving some money on property taxes - we think we would have to purchase a home for a higher cost in NC then what we can sell our house for in NJ if we want to buy a comparable home in so Charlotte that is in a good school district. We have about 3000 sqft on slightly over an acre. With taxes on the rise to support the schools and
infrastructure we think our NC taxes will raise higher much faster then our pretty stable NJ property taxes.......
It was pretty shocking to learn this when Charlotte has such a strong rep for being so much more affordable.
Tell that to the investors building them. I'm sure they've done their homework more than you have on the matter.
You sure about that?
Economics can be a lot of smoke and mirrors.
Investors just need to negotiate and persuade banks to lend the money.
If the economy tanks, it is the banks left holding the debt.
The investors will take a hit, but the banks and over-all economy will take the brunt of the downside.
Greed has a way of clouding the judgment of business men and city planners.
I believe city planners have done a great job over the last 30 years in most respects.
The city of Charlotte, and the US economy, is at a cross roads.
It is important, now more than ever, to be smart about growth.
Look at the economic picture of most cities that are billions in debt.
That is a dangerous place to be at a cross roads of uncertainty.
Cities rise and cities fall.
I do not want to be the city that falls, and it can happen to Charlotte.
As an outsider looking in and debating about a relocation to south Charlotte - I have to say we've pretty much concluded that there won't be much of a financial benefit for us and we live in NJ. Aside from saving some money on property taxes - we think we would have to purchase a home for a higher cost in NC then what we can sell our house for in NJ if we want to buy a comparable home in so Charlotte that is in a good school district. We have about 3000 sqft on slightly over an acre. With taxes on the rise to support the schools and
infrastructure we think our NC taxes will raise higher much faster then our pretty stable NJ property taxes.......
It was pretty shocking to learn this when Charlotte has such a strong rep for being so much more affordable.
In what town in NJ can you get 3000 square feet on over an acre in an excellent school district with taxes not that much higher than Charlotte for $350K? What are your commute times?
In what town in NJ can you get 3000 square feet on over an acre in an excellent school district with taxes not that much higher than Charlotte for $350K? What are your commute times?
We live in central NJ in a 6/7 rated school district (its in Somerset County); we have a 4br/2.5 bath ranch home with a partially finished walk-out basement and 2 car semi-detached garage (its connected by a portico). It is a 1960's home but has an updated large gourmet kitchen with a fireplace. We also have a 2nd fireplace in our living room. We have a circular driveway and over an acre of land. We pay between $8-9,000 per year in property taxes and anticipate we can sell our home hopefully for a little more then $400K. The main level of our home is 2300 sqft the rest of the square footage would be the finished part of our basement. Most areas of our home have been updated (a/c, roof, driveway, etc etc) but it can always use more.........
We have easy access to Rte 287 and the NJT - commute time for my husband is 40-45min to north Jersey.
If we move to NC we would really want to live in an area with 8-10 school ratings. Those areas seem to have houses at $400,000 but the taxes in some of places are already $4-5000 and going up. The houses we could buy for that price aren't really comparable to ours. We really don't need an acre but we aren't used to being so close to our neighbors and my kids are baseball players and spoiled by having such a large yard.
I'm not sure if the idea of NC being so affordable is overblown or maybe its the idea of NJ being so expensive is exaggerated. Maybe both..........
I have to agree with you. I have spoken with people from N.J. that told me of their nightmarish property taxes. From what I have gathered, taxes on a house are twice as much in N.J.
In NJ, its not unusual for people to pay $8-12,000/yr in property taxes in a decent school district; when you compare that to the $3,000 some people pay in Union County - it is a big difference. But those taxes are going up and they are going to have to go up if the residential growth continues without the tax ratables to support the schools and infrastructure. You need some BIG companies to move to Union County and places like Marvin to help balance things out. You need lower density housing, active adult communities to help balance things out, too. Some subdivisions we looked at in a county next to Union (begins with an M) already had taxes in the $4-5K range.
What you are experiencing in Union County we experienced here in Somerset County in the mid-1990's to about 2005. Communities scrambled to change their Master Plans to restrict development in some areas. The towns and counties established Open Space funds and taxes to help preserve open space, encourage farmland preservation, purchase development rights, build more parks, etc etc. And a big effort was made to rezone some residential areas to commercial areas (for offices, medical buildings, etc etc) in order to encourage economic growth. I'm absolutely not an expert in ANY of this - I just worked for one town while this was going on, lived in another and sit on a govt board there too.
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