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Hi friends
My husband and I are relocating our family to this area. He will be working out of Matthews, NC. We're trying to decide where to land. Schools and safety are a big priority (kids turning 7 & 4 this summer.)
We were interested in hearing about Matthews, Indian Trail, and Fort Mill, SC from the people who know the areas best. We're also open to suggestions. We are from Cleveland, OH.
My husband will have time to check out cities personally before settling.
Matthews, South Charlotte, Weddington, and Indian Trail are all nice areas with good schools and would be a great commute to Matthews. Fort Mill is a really nice area as well, I just don't know if it is worth the ~25 mile commute and frustration of traffic when there are so many nice areas close to Matthews.
Thank you for your input! We have friends in Fort Mill which is part of the reason for our consideration. The commute is a downside. I recently heard that traffic is becoming a bigger nuisance as the city grows.
Is there anything you can tell me about the communities closer to Matthews? I've read that Matthews is a town as opposed to a city. Are there major differences with that?
Thank you for your input! We have friends in Fort Mill which is part of the reason for our consideration. The commute is a downside. I recently heard that traffic is becoming a bigger nuisance as the city grows.
Is there anything you can tell me about the communities closer to Matthews? I've read that Matthews is a town as opposed to a city. Are there major differences with that?
There is technically no difference between being a "Town", "Village", or "City" under North Carolina municipality laws. It is just the naming preference of the municipality by residents when they file for incorporation. Hence Matthews chose "Town", but has a population of over 27,000 people, whereas the "city" of Lowell, NC has 3,526 people. If you look at an aerial map of the metro, you will see all of these areas are part of the general "sprawl" and other than borders drawn on a map, you wouldn't really know you were in "Matthews" versus "Charlotte" versus "Indian Trail" without signs indicating one side of the street is one area and the other side is a different area. For example, in this view, houses on one side of the road are in the city of Charlotte and houses on the other side are in the town of Matthews: https://goo.gl/maps/2wXtSNiu7ffiGWg18
All of the options you are looking at our suburban communities in a metropolitan area that will experience congestion and general metro area life. They aren't one-stop light small towns. If you are looking for small town living rather than suburban living, I'd recommend the outer edges of Union County (toward downtown Waxhaw) or out towards Cabarrus County's small towns.
You might want to look at county/city taxes, etc. also. Charlotte including Matthews is Mecklenburg County. Indian Trail and on toward Monroe is Union County. Not sure about the other metro areas but I know someone who lives in Indian Trail and works in Matthews--10 minute commute but their taxes are much lower. Just something to consider.
Hey there! I'm from the Cleveland suburbs. For schools, check out Wedington, Marvin, and Waxhaw. That will be the closest to Solon/Hudson schools back home. We tried to deal with CMS, but are paying for private school, until we can sell and move.
Fort Mill would be great if you worked closer, but that commute would be terrible, and only getting worse.
Hi friends
My husband and I are relocating our family to this area. He will be working out of Matthews, NC. We're trying to decide where to land. Schools and safety are a big priority (kids turning 7 & 4 this summer.)
We were interested in hearing about Matthews, Indian Trail, and Fort Mill, SC from the people who know the areas best. We're also open to suggestions. We are from Cleveland, OH.
My husband will have time to check out cities personally before settling.
Thank you in advance!
Budget will dictate what areas you can comfortably live in as well...if you have a healthy budget and want good schools, I'd personally recommend south Charlotte around the Providence/485 area, Weddington, Waxhaw, Marvin...all of those areas have the best schools in the Charlotte area. Matthews schools are decent, Fort Mill schools are pretty good.
Matthews has a nice, small downtown area with a farmers market, some good local restaurants, a couple of bars (not wild ones, just cool local bars)...plenty of shopping options within 5 miles, it is one of my favorite suburbs of Charlotte. But if you had the budget, I'd recommend checking out Marvin, Waxhaw, and Weddington areas as well. Not that far to Matthews, all extremely nice areas.
As you said, you have friends in Fort Mill...but I wouldn't want that drive, personally.
And yes, traffic in Charlotte is getting worse and worse...most of my clients from other large cities say it is not as bad as where they came from, but it is noticeably worse here than it was 10 years ago.
You don't want to live in Fort Mill and work in Matthews. Makes no logical sense. Traffic will only get worse.
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