I can't stand Orlando and the darn mouse! (Charlotte, Raleigh: apartment, crime rates)
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I am a travel nurse working in orlando (hate it), my wife and I have been considering a relocation to NC in the next few weeks. We were, at first, looking into the Raleigh area but I just recieved a job offer at a hospital in Pineville.
I have been there a couple of times but it was like 15 years ago and I don't remember much about the area.
Anyway I can get a little feedback on this burb?? How is the crime?? That is huge for us...Orlando is pretty much a ghetto everywhere!
Also, we are a young couple...her in her 20's and me in my early 30's. Is there area decent for that age group????
My wife and I just moved from Orlando to Charlotte last summer. Got fed up with it too...even left all of our family to get away from it.
We rented near Pineville and just recently bought in NE Charlotte (University City area). Pineville has lots to offer but at the price of a little higher traffic than other areas of Charlotte...BUT, nothing worse (and in my opinion, a little easier) than Orlando. You've got options on where to live as well if you're centered around Pineville. Matthews, Mint Hill, Waxhaw, Steele Creek, South Charlotte/South Park, etc. In fact, if you work in Pineville, you could pretty much live anywhere outside of it and always be heading against traffic during the rush hours. I would recommend that.
Charlotte has so many better aspects compared to Orlando that I could never list them all. the major draw for us to move away from Orlando to Charlotte was the proximity to mountains, an actual season change, better planned city, a majority of english speakers, and a very strong and diverse economy.
How is the crime compared to Orlando....also, seeing as you just bought a house...how does the market compare? I know in Raleigh I was amazed at what you got for 300K
My wife and I just moved from Orlando to Charlotte last summer. Got fed up with it too...even left all of our family to get away from it.
We rented near Pineville and just recently bought in NE Charlotte (University City area). Pineville has lots to offer but at the price of a little higher traffic than other areas of Charlotte...BUT, nothing worse (and in my opinion, a little easier) than Orlando. You've got options on where to live as well if you're centered around Pineville. Matthews, Mint Hill, Waxhaw, Steele Creek, South Charlotte/South Park, etc. In fact, if you work in Pineville, you could pretty much live anywhere outside of it and always be heading against traffic during the rush hours. I would recommend that.
Charlotte has so many better aspects compared to Orlando that I could never list them all. the major draw for us to move away from Orlando to Charlotte was the proximity to mountains, an actual season change, better planned city, a majority of english speakers, and a very strong and diverse economy.
Working in Pineville, my advice would be to live close to the hospital. There is an aweful lot of traffic going in and out of there so that can really get old if you had to sit in it all the time. I would look into living in the South Charlotte area or Matthews. As far as ghetto areas go, there are some known areas but also there are crime problems in some of the suburbs so you have to watch out for that too.
better planned city, a majority of english speakers, and a very strong and diverse economy.
How bad was orlando's city planning? One of the biggest complaints about charlotte is its poor city planning.... from uncontrolled dvelopment to a broken judicial system (sure some of the blame of the later goes to the state itself). I just have never heard anyone say that city planning in charlotte was a positive.
As for the economy, it is actually pretty tough to find jobs here. Sure a lot of that is a statement about the nationwide economy too but charlotte being such a high growth city means lots of competition for job openings. Add in that two of the areas largest employers are banks and look at how that industry is doing... well you get what I'm saying.
I will say though, that you are in pretty good shape job wise wherever you go in the medical field (with the exception of some underfunded hospitals but I don't think that is the case at all here in charlotte).
How is the crime compared to Orlando....also, seeing as you just bought a house...how does the market compare? I know in Raleigh I was amazed at what you got for 300K
Compared to Orlando, the crime is not as violent and in my opinion, lower on an overall level. You can compare crime rates and stats to no end...but I see a huge difference here.
As far as houses go...
We bought a 2300 s.f. 10 year old house on a 1/2 acre lot in the 28269 zip for $180k. I don't consider what we found to be the norm, but it's not far off. The biggest draw for us to Charlotte from Orlando was the affordable housing...and further more, the range of housing available to all budgets. When my wife and I set out in late 2006 and early 2007 to buy our first home and settle in Orlando but were met with absolutely nothing in our budget and/or area, we started to reconsider staying in FL. For your $300k budget, you'll be VERY pleased with what you'll get compared to what you won't get in Orlando! We didn't use a realtor, but we did browse the local realtor websites to get leads on homes. Try Allen Tate Family of Companies and CarolinaHome.com to get an idea of what you're looking at in this area.
For whatever reason, there's a lot of neutral to slightly negative opinions on this forum about relocating to Charlotte...don't let it discourage you! For the life of me, I don't know why it's so swayed. All I can think of is it's the same paradox that hits apartment rating websites...those with non-positive experiences go to no end to get their experience heard, while those with positive experiences are generally more involved with just going about their business and enjoying themselves. Not trying to dig at anyone on here, just making a guess at why such a great place to live gets nit-picked apart all the time. Come visit and see for yourself. Log on to the local news websites every once in a while to see what they're reporting and what's going on here.
How bad was orlando's city planning? One of the biggest complaints about charlotte is its poor city planning...
Orlando is HORRIBLE. When I say planning, it is all-encompassing: transit, roads, utilities, etc. The CATS plan was one of the things that stood out when I was looking at Charlotte. Orlando has had rail shot down 3 or 4 times in the past 10 years. The fact that the rail was not shot down in the repeal vote last fall speaks volumes about the majority of people in the region wanting to move their city forward.
Charlotte does have growing pains, but it's light years ahead of Orlando.
Orlando is HORRIBLE. When I say planning, it is all-encompassing: transit, roads, utilities, etc. The CATS plan was one of the things that stood out when I was looking at Charlotte. Orlando has had rail shot down 3 or 4 times in the past 10 years. The fact that the rail was not shot down in the repeal vote last fall speaks volumes about the majority of people in the region wanting to move their city forward.
Charlotte does have growing pains, but it's light years ahead of Orlando.
Gotta go with steve on this one. I have lived in multiple big cities...San Diego, Chicago, DC, LA, etc....
I have NEVER had to deal with the crazyness of what is Orlando. The people making decisions in Orlando have done a pure crap job! It is bad bad bad bad bad!
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