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As an ex Pasadena'n I have a question you might be able to answer. What are some of the areas that you consider comparable to the affluent areas of Pasadena or Altadena and in fairly close (20 or 30 minutes) to a major city such as Charlotte?
I would say Ballantyne or South Park areas remind me a little of Pasadena.....although everything is new and not like Old Town....oh shoot....now you have me missing Old Town.
I think the main difference is that Charlotte is just not a "night town." I remember when we first realized that. My son broke his collar bone at 7pm and by the time we had finished at the hospital it was almost 11pm. NOTHING was open to eat other than a drive through.
I miss being able to head out at 11pm for Old Town Bakery, etc....but most of the folks we are hanging out with don't do much late night stuff. I mean, we had slowed down a bit with small kids too, but it is nice to know it is available.
Do you have kids? The good thing about both of the places I mentioned is that they have good schools.
Dawn
PS: We live in Marvin, only about 10 min. from Ballantyne
Quote:
Originally Posted by NCBOUND123
Dawn,
As an ex Pasadena'n I have a question you might be able to answer. What are some of the areas that you consider comparable to the affluent areas of Pasadena or Altadena and in fairly close (20 or 30 minutes) to a major city such as Charlotte?
My children have finished thru grad school and are living on their own, however they are both interested in relocating if they determine they like NC. We'll see after we all visit this summer. My daughter is an attorney, recently divorced with a 4 year old so public or private schools are something we'll need to consider. My husband and I are slightly under 50 and not quite ready to retire and have determined what sort of business we'll get into once we arrive. From what you've said about Charlotte lacking a nite life that might be an area we'll investigate venturing into. I'm an exec in the entertainment field and have no interest in repeating this performance so I think I'd like to reinvent myself and do something completely different.
It's really more than just preference... last year's AVERAGE in Charlotte was 5%. Some areas, much more, and some much less. I track these numbers. See my 1st removed My team and I did the research this week and I posted to the blog this morning. PM me for more details... the headline was Prices up 7% in 1st Quarter 2007 over 1st Quarter 2006--3rd fastest appreciating real estate in the country.
That said... most of us live in our houses and invest our money in lots of places. There is more than one fast appreciating area... so what do you want is vitally important-- and all the historical data tells you what has happened, but not always what will happen...
Your situation, as described, sounds similar to ours. We will be visiting this summer, from Pasadena, Ca, and are looking for homes in the same range, 300 to 800k, because we're not sure at this point how much we 'must' spend on a primary residence to avoid capital gains. I visit the Charlotte and Raleigh Durham real estate sites almost daily and I am astonished at the variety of homes in these ranges. So many photogenic properties. When in Charlotte, I'd like to visit the cities of Davidson, Moorseville, Charlotte, Waxhaw, Concord and so many others. I'm trying to find a really good area map so I can plan my trip (any suggestions would be appreciated). I figure I'll stay somewhere towards the middle of Charlotte and branch out from there each day.
Stay in Southpark, its convenient, has multiple hotels, and just a great place to explore Charlotte from... pm for specifics
Location: Sunny Phoenix Arizona...wishing for a beach.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by businessperson
It's just a matter of preference. If you want waterfront then Lake Norman or Lake Wylie is a better choice. There's a lot more to Ballantyne than stores and restaurants. It's a very convenient trip Uptown (30 ") and the drive up Park Road or Providence Road is beautiful. Have you ever driven through Myers Park? If you like beautiful old historic areas you'd love it.
I've been exploring around the Lake Wylie area since I work around there now and and I see a tiny lake with one restaurant, what else should I be looking for?. I'm all about resort living and I think anything near Lake Norman is going to pay off in spades.
I've been to Ballantyne too, I guess if you aren't interested in the lake that's a happening spot for some but not for me.
This question can be answered in many ways. If you want to get a great return on your money and can deal with the transition look over towards Rozzels Ferry Road and W.Trade. You can still get homes there for around $50K that need work but investors are snatching them up fixing them up and selling up to right now anyways $350K. This area is the next no-da. Washinton heights,Biddleville and smallwood. All the places to be if you have the courage.
Will buy in Biddleville-Biddleville, no Smallwood, for 50k. please keep it coming.
(washington heights? interesting. what's there to buy?)
Hi,
I wanted to give you an update on our situation. We have an accepted offer on a home in the Belingrath subdivision; price was mid 600's. 4 bed 2.5 bath ~3600 sq foot all brick with a 3 car garage. If my job offer works out, I will have a 5 minute drive to work where my salary will be the same, cost-adjusted wise, as back home in LA. I work in the Information Technology sector.
A word of caution: Beware of homes built here in Charlotte from 1978 thru 1995. Most seem to have polybutylene (PB) plumbing pipe in them, and I feel that is a real problem. Take a look at the pbpipe.com website for the one billion dollar lawsuit settlement information regarding this plumbing nightmare. My advice is to stay away from any home with PB pipe in it. Take a peak at the plumbing underneath the house if you can, and have the inspector verify it too. Don't believe the seller's disclosure statement.
As for other neighborhoods, we liked them, but felt our best appreciation would come around the South Park area. We felt that the best malls, shopping stores, theatres, local entertainment, grocery stores and restaurants, YMCA,... were all within an easy single digit minutes commute of the neighborhood. Plus the employer was going to be a 5 minute drive, and the airport was only 15 minutes drive. We felt we were getting much more house, a newer nicer more open floorplan house for the money than we would have in MP, Eastover, Foxcroft,... Plus we get a garage too.
We really liked the close-in lake neighborhoods of Mt Island, Overlook, and Lake Wylie, but did not want the longer commute to where I would work and be most comfortable with the shops/restaraunts/... There just was not a lot of choices out in those other places yet, unless you can get by with the local Super Walmarts for most of your needs.
Normie summed it up right: Way too much traffic congestion and poor roads. Just like back home in Los Angeles. Traffic problems seemed to be 24x7 in these areas; whenever we visited (weekend, weekday midday, rush hour,...) traffic was backed up and waiting.
We looked at briefly Union county, Waxhaw, Concord, Rock Hill,... areas, but felt our best appreciation was likely to come in the South Park area. Good commute times at all hours to Uptown, good neighborhood amenities, newer more modern homes in our price range than MP/Eastover/...,
We felt (hope) that the home we are buying will likely go up in value due to all of the new construction going on in the areas like Matthews, Waxhaw,... and people will spend more money so they don't have to deal with the longer commutes to these farther out areas that will only grow even worse with time.
These are our thoughts and feelings that we developed from 6 trips to Charlotte in the last year. Yours will likely be different. Good luck, and enjoy the search.
Hello -
I was just reading your post about the Belingrath neighborhood. I see that it was from back in 2007. Do you still live there? We moved to Charlotte in 2008 from CA and have been renting in Dilworth. We are thinking of buying and I have been looking around some of the neighborhoods south of town. I really like Belingrath. Does it have any community amenities like a pool or park? If you still live there, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on the area. Thanks!
This is a really interesting thread to read backwards. Wow. So much has changed in such a short time. I especially like the post from the person who says there's nothing open late at night and then reveals they live in Marvin. LOL! I'd love to know how things turned out for the OP.
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