researching greensboro (Charlotte, Raleigh, Mebane: house, neighborhoods, theatre)

[sick of the winter]

should be moving from Maui sometime in the next couple years and have an unlimited list of cities to consider. Lucky for me I prefer the East coast and Greensboro is on our list.

I am pretty certain the schools are fairly decent. So we're not too concerned with that. We're a suberb type family and have heard that the schools are pretty good. Especially compared to places in FL. Any comments?

How are the property taxes? Say we bought something in the 350K-400K range. From what I've seen we'd pay around $3,000/year. Is that fairly accurate?

I've flown to Greensboro a whole bunch of times, but have never seen a true downtown area. Not a big deal for me, but is there a central downtown, business district?

Weather. Better than western NY, not as good as Maui. How are the summers/winters? Does Greensboro have distinctive changes in seasons? It just doesn't feel right being almost November in Maui and it's 82 degrees. I like a little fall cool-off, but we definitely are done with the snow. I've never seen snow in Greensboro, other than a dusting. Pretty accurate? It seems like the whole area stays very green!

We are a smaller town family, not necessarily rural. But still enjoy museums, sports, restaurants etc... I'm sure greensboro has all the options. Grensboro seems to be a perfect sized city for our needs. Plus it's close to other cities/places we'd visit.

Any other comments/suggestions

Thanks!

[yourhometriad]

Originally Posted by sick of the winter

should be moving from Maui sometime in the next couple years and have an unlimited list of cities to consider. Lucky for me I prefer the East coast and Greensboro is on our list.

I am pretty certain the schools are fairly decent. So we're not too concerned with that. We're a suberb type family and have heard that the schools are pretty good. Especially compared to places in FL. Any comments?

How are the property taxes? Say we bought something in the 350K-400K range. From what I've seen we'd pay around $3,000/year. Is that fairly accurate?

I've flown to Greensboro a whole bunch of times, but have never seen a true downtown area. Not a big deal for me, but is there a central downtown, business district?

Weather. Better than western NY, not as good as Maui. How are the summers/winters? Does Greensboro have distinctive changes in seasons? It just doesn't feel right being almost November in Maui and it's 82 degrees. I like a little fall cool-off, but we definitely are done with the snow. I've never seen snow in Greensboro, other than a dusting. Pretty accurate? It seems like the whole area stays very green!

We are a smaller town family, not necessarily rural. But still enjoy museums, sports, restaurants etc... I'm sure greensboro has all the options. Grensboro seems to be a perfect sized city for our needs. Plus it's close to other cities/places we'd visit.

Any other comments/suggestions

Thanks!

How can you be sick of the winter when you're coming from Maui? Oh I'm so jealous!

Check the school report cards out for the better schools- just search for Guilford County- NC School Report Cards

Then you can narrow down your search to neighborhoods that are in the right school zone. Saves a lot of time.

That's fairly accurate- the tax rate is based on tax value which may not match the price you pay for the house. Currently I think the rate is 1.38. You can call the tax department in Guilford County and they can tell you the taxes on a house or a realtor can pull the info for you.

Yep, our downtown has come Booming back from 10 years ago when the sidewalks rolled up at 5.30. You've only seen the western side where the Airport is. Elm street is doing very well with its revitalization.

Ok the weather here can be tricky. Yes we have 4 seasons- all 4 of them! but we get mostly cold during the winter. Ice storms come because of the mountains breaking up huge storms (sort of like being on the leeward side of Oahu) but we do get the occasional Snow. But no worries- you probably won't be driving in it cause everything closes! Spring and fall are awesome- Summer will have some serious heat but it's the humidity that makes you feel like you're walking thru warm jello.

My only other comment is Come on over! You'll love it here- if we ain't got it, we're only 1.5 hours from Charlotte, 1.5 hours from Raleigh, 3 hours to the beach and 2 hours to the mountains. And nestled perfectly equidistant to DC and Atlanta and New York is only a 10 hour drive. Come on over!

[Dusty Rhodes]

a real snow does occur here (6"+) but not necessarily every winter we do have an extended spring and fall and most of the time Summer is bearable (tis why AC was invented) Greensboro does have good schools from kindergarden to PhD's, both college and professional live theatre (high school too) and the coliseum will bring in all sorts of professional talent in a wide variety of genres'. Parks, Community Centers, recreational venues abound. The town is large enough to offer wide variety of goods and services but small enough that people will still speak on the sidewalks. The best Mexican restaurant is in Mebane.