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Well, after our visit we found there are plenty of great areas in and around Charlotte that we could imagine ourselves living in. Considering all the things we were looking at balancing in the home hunt, Mint Hill stood out for us.
In addition to some nice looking established neighborhoods (and not TOO many new construction cookie-cutter or gated communities), it seemed that generally there were decent sized homes on more land (as opposed to as much home as you can cram onto a lot in many other surrounding neighborhoods and areas), some space between lots, and decent price points. We don't want to be in the country, but don't want to be in the city, and Mint Hill seemed to fit that bill. It looked to us to have experienced a lot of growth as Charlotte has expanded and we could picture it 20 years ago as a much more rural community. But the neighborhoods we saw did not seem unchecked/uncontrolled in growth that cowed to big developers as seen in many other outskirts. Someone there told me homes could not be built on less than 0.3 acres, and I'm not sure if this is true, but nothing looked cramped. The area seemed a good balance among outdoor activity, being close to grocery, shopping, theaters, dining, etc., and still relatively close to Charlotte.
We spent a majority of the time driving around the area to get a feel for different neighborhoods and cities, but also for commute times.
Near-Charlotte: Myers Park, Dilworth, South Park (and all along Park, Randolph, and Providence road areas) are obviously very close with some great neighborhoods sprinkled in, but I'm not sure we would be entirely happy in anything we saw due mostly to home-to-yard ratios, no desire for children of our own or being surrounded by others children in a close-set neighborhood, and larger-than-needed home sizes when considering the much higher cost of getting into a neighborhood there (especially with a decent lot) compared to someplace farther out.
Despite not loving the Lake Norman area, we made the trip north of the city more than a couple times on 77, and realistically it was at least 40 minutes during rush hours or longer, with Huntersville being a bit closer, but I can't imagine it being less than 30 minutes. The developments right along the lake did not appeal to us at all, though parts of Davidson (and similar areas) were nice.
Belmont was an easy drive each time I made it. Never much traffic along 85 even during peak travel times. We saw some areas that were nice, and downtown seemed good, but nothing jumped out at us- maybe we missed some key neighborhoods though. The benefit of location and good traffic for us was that it provides easy access to things like the Catawba, the Airport, The Whitewater Center, and Charlotte.
Tega Cay was a bit more of a hike than I expected, but a lot of time is spent actually getting to the neighborhoods around Lake Wylie than it is on 77. We really disliked all the developments along Shorline parkway, and that seemed to be primarily the direction the entire area was moving. There are some older neighborhoods on the other side of Tega Cay drive that we thought were ok, but they are pretty cramped, with little sunlight in the yards during midday due to proximity of trees and neighbors. Lake property is also expensive. It seemed overcrowded in the area we would want to live (near the lake) and sparse in the areas we would not- similar in many ways to near Lake Norman, and seemed to suffer from the same problems considering what we are looking for.
We probably made the commute to/from Mint Hill 5 times, during rush hours and non-rush, and it seemed that we could expect 15-20 minutes. We liked that there were a few different routes of access like Lawyers, Idlewild, 74, and 24/27 if there was a backup (as opposed to up north where it seemed that if 77 were backed up you were stuck).
We saw many other areas- some nice, some not, and some (such as out by the Latta Plantation Park) where commute times often seemed unreliable and access to the city poor.
We also realized that we were there during the build up to race week(s) and that traffic may have seemed worse or better in areas than normal.
If you liked Mint Hill, take a drive through Ashe Plantation. This is a very pretty subdivision. There are other really nice subdivisions over in that vicinity (off Lawyer's Road), like Willowbrook and Stevens Mill, and they are worth checking out. Emerald Lake (a golf course community) is over there, too - nice, but we weren't willing to pay a premium to live in a golf community when we don't golf.
I'm biased b/c we purchased in this subdivision, but if you want non-cookie-cutter, big lots, lovely, smaller neighborhood (82 houses total) w/ ample room between houses, take a look at Price Mill in Wesley Chapel. My husband and I don't have kids, but it's in a good school district if that ever changed. They have a pool, clubhouse, and walking trails. We close in August. You can find info on all these subdivs on the Allen Tate site (I love that feature). Good luck to you!
Nina, Thank you so much for the advice! We are starting to seriously look at homes and neighborhoods in the area now, and having a list of some more subdivisions that meet our criteria to investigate is wonderful.
Your Emerald Lake concern was similar to ours with another subdivision- Farmwood- a nice neighborhood, but many of the homes are on a golf course, neither of us golf, and you do often pay a premium for golf communities (though I don't know if that is one as only one street backs up to the course.)
We have been on the Allen Tate (and other) realty sites, but did not have specific names to enter for subs/neighborhoods yet as our initial trip was so general, and we are just now getting more specific in our search. Thanks again for the help!
Nina, Thank you so much for the advice! We are starting to seriously look at homes and neighborhoods in the area now, and having a list of some more subdivisions that meet our criteria to investigate is wonderful.
Your Emerald Lake concern was similar to ours with another subdivision- Farmwood- a nice neighborhood, but many of the homes are on a golf course, neither of us golf, and you do often pay a premium for golf communities (though I don't know if that is one as only one street backs up to the course.)
We have been on the Allen Tate (and other) realty sites, but did not have specific names to enter for subs/neighborhoods yet as our initial trip was so general, and we are just now getting more specific in our search. Thanks again for the help!
Sure - good luck and have fun looking.
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Commute and other areas
