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My fiance and I are in the earliest stages of planning a move to North Carolina. We currently live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and are in a desperate need of a change. Our lease is up in June of 2021 and we are hoping to move then.
I have not been to NC in many years, but I have always loved it and wanted to live there. After many months of searching online, reading hundreds of forums, and watching youtube videos, I am leaning very heavily towards the Lake Norman area. It looks beautiful and very close to what we are looking for. We are just looking for a nice place to meet new people and eventually start a family.
Just for a little background information, we are in our mid-20's and enjoy being active and trying new things. We love going out for dinner and drinks, and we also enjoy boating, swimming, hiking, basically anything that is outdoors. We love the idea of being somewhere in the middle of the ocean and the mountains.. that's like a dream come true for us! We really are just looking for somewhere that is homey, not too far from the city but also not too rural, and a place where we won't be bored! Lol. We would be renting for the first year or two before we buy. I can't say for sure what our budget will be at that time but it's safe to say it would be about $1,500 for rent and roughly around $300,000-$350,000 once we are buying.
I guess I am just looking for any information or suggestions about that area. For example what are some of the better cities/towns in that area as far as affordability, things to do, safety, etc? I am just a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out what area we like the best without actually being there :/
So far, I've been looking into Huntersville, Matthews, Davidson, and Morresville.. do any of these towns sound like they fit what we are looking for? We are hoping to take a trip there within the next few months to drive around and see which towns we like the best and would be able to call home.
I apologize that this is somewhat lengthy and I truly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read or respond!!
The most important part of the equation is employment. You need to do research about job availability in the Charlotte area in your respective fields, salaries, job locations, etc. The Lake Norman area isn't centrally located, so you may wind up with a very long, tedious commute. My advice, if you want to move to the Charlotte area, is to visit the area, research jobs, accept jobs, move close to your job locations, and then rent for a year while you determine exactly where you want to live longer term. Good luck.
As the previous poster said, you will want to check out commute times.
But overall I think the Lake Norman area would be a good fit for what you describe. I’d lean towards Huntersville/Cornelius as they tend to have some younger folks and are closer to uptown than Davidson or Mooresville. Davidson can be pricey and Mooresville can be a rough ride to Charlotte at times. Matthews isn’t near Lake Norman.
The Belmont area is probably worth checking out as well.
It really depends on your day-to-day work situation. The Lake Norman area trends a little bit older than certain parts of Charlotte, but there are 20-somethings in the Huntersville/Cornelius/Davidson areas. Mooresville is a bit farther north and will take longer to get to Uptown. I know Southend in Charlotte is well-liked by young couples, but the lifestyle revolves around bars and going out, not nature. If you like boating and the commute to your job works, perhaps renting a place in Huntersville would give you an idea of the lake area and wouldn't be too far from the city for you. Hope this helps!
My fiance and I are in the earliest stages of planning a move to North Carolina. We currently live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and are in a desperate need of a change. Our lease is up in June of 2021 and we are hoping to move then.
I have not been to NC in many years, but I have always loved it and wanted to live there. After many months of searching online, reading hundreds of forums, and watching youtube videos, I am leaning very heavily towards the Lake Norman area. It looks beautiful and very close to what we are looking for. We are just looking for a nice place to meet new people and eventually start a family.
Just for a little background information, we are in our mid-20's and enjoy being active and trying new things. We love going out for dinner and drinks, and we also enjoy boating, swimming, hiking, basically anything that is outdoors. We love the idea of being somewhere in the middle of the ocean and the mountains.. that's like a dream come true for us! We really are just looking for somewhere that is homey, not too far from the city but also not too rural, and a place where we won't be bored! Lol. We would be renting for the first year or two before we buy. I can't say for sure what our budget will be at that time but it's safe to say it would be about $1,500 for rent and roughly around $300,000-$350,000 once we are buying.
I guess I am just looking for any information or suggestions about that area. For example what are some of the better cities/towns in that area as far as affordability, things to do, safety, etc? I am just a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out what area we like the best without actually being there :/
So far, I've been looking into Huntersville, Matthews, Davidson, and Morresville.. do any of these towns sound like they fit what we are looking for? We are hoping to take a trip there within the next few months to drive around and see which towns we like the best and would be able to call home.
I apologize that this is somewhat lengthy and I truly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read or respond!!
Huntersville, Davidson, and Mooresville - Pretty suburban places and to me, very boring. Lake Norman is there which fits your interest in boating, swimming and hiking. However, dinner and drinks with other twentysomethings probably won't be on par with other areas. You will find more retirees and families here. Some sprawl and related - strange traffic jams due to only having 2 lane roads but now more people in the area. You may be in for some tough scenes on the freeway to and from Charlotte, either if you wind up working downtown, or want to have a social life in NODA, Plaza Midwood or Uptown areas.
Matthews - Feel confident you will hate it here, sort of the middle of nowhere. No lake. No decent food. Chain restaurants, big box retailers. Closer to Charlotte though.
Where should you go? You seem super interested in a "cute" town for whatever reason. I get it. This might be because you're near Chicago. I would suggest finding work and locating your new rental home pretty close by, especially if that allows you to live in NODA, Midwood, Dilworth, South Park. There's plenty of fun places to go and new people to meet, without much of the chaos of city living. There might be a point in time you choose to go out towards the suburbs. However, you might start to feel right at home and comfortable since Charlotte is a pretty peaceful city overall.
Huntersville, Davidson, and Mooresville - Pretty suburban places and to me, very boring. Lake Norman is there which fits your interest in boating, swimming and hiking. However, dinner and drinks with other twentysomethings probably won't be on par with other areas. You will find more retirees and families here. Some sprawl and related - strange traffic jams due to only having 2 lane roads but now more people in the area. You may be in for some tough scenes on the freeway to and from Charlotte, either if you wind up working downtown, or want to have a social life in NODA, Plaza Midwood or Uptown areas.
They didn't say they want to party, just get dinner & drinks. Plenty of (even non-chain) places to do that in the Lake Norman area including several breweries, assuming most of them survive COVID. I guess they do tend to be more of the sports bar type. But getting dinner & drinks closer to uptown is a also lot easier to to do from the southern parts of Lake Norman than commuting.
Belmont. It's near the lakes ( Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wylie) and Crowder's Mountain. which has the best hiking in Metrolina. It's a small town but in the heart of the metro.
Back when I lived in Charlotte we were up near Lake Norman. Had a great job, covered parking right in the middle of "uptown" Charlotte. Commute was doable. Our company was purchased and we were moved to South Charlotte . I made it about two weeks. Had to bail; was not mentally suited for that hellish commute. And that was close to ten years ago, probably the "good ol’ days" by today’s traffic standard!
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