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I'm a CA resident and have been all my life, looking to relocate to either one of these 3 beautiful areas....................but not sure where we will fit?? I have 2 active boys that play sports, like to bike outside, play outside, paintball, snowboard, basically we do everything CA has to offer but pay the price because it is WAY WAY too crowded here and the cost of living is now pushing us out to the East Coast. I also have my in-laws family that lives in a small town called Seneca that we visit at least every 2-3 years or so. I'm looking for input on these 3 places, specifically these cities I want to know first off the safety for my children, school districts how are they? I have my 13 yr old that will be coming from a private school going to public and my 4 yr old that will be coming out of daycare going into kindergarten next yr! Neighborhoods & crime factors are important, housing prices we are looking at the $200 - 250K range, which we can expect a MUCH larger home for our money vs CA!! Also we are looking for what will offer us the most activities with us being out here in CA there is so much (sometimes too much) to do we are constantly out and about!! I mean we can snowboard and end up at the beach in the same day.........not that we have done that but it is doable LOL!! Any advise would be great I have read some great threads but looking for some more insight on these particular cities if possible!!
Do you mean Suwanee, GA? A coworker lives there and loves it. Her daughters are always busy with some activity. They go to public school so I'm guessing they are pretty good. In Suwanee you are not far from Atlanta and that opens up a world of activity but I don't know much else about it.
Weather in the 3 areas is about the same so activity levels should be high.
Well one thing that comes to mind is the extreme drought we are experiencing here in Upstate SC. Atlanta is having trouble too and I believe they are still under water restrictions. The predictions are that this drought will continue for the next year. If green grass is important you might be better off looking to Charlotte/Cary.
I work from home so that's not an issue for me, my husband will be the one starting off new...................he's a Foreman in the Fire Alarm Installation field. But he is looking for a change (long-term career) he doesn't like to job jump (if ya know what I mean)
thanks for the info!
My sister lives in Cary - I'm not sure how successful you would be finding housing that suits your price needs right in Cary, as real estate (despite what is going on nationwide right now in the housing market) has appreciated greatly in that area due to the influx of newcomers (primarily from the NE). I was overall very impressed with Cary - they have much stricter zoning than here in Atlanta and therefore a nicer "look" to the place when just driving around. The public schools are good, and the area is growing VERY rapidly, which may be good or bad depending on your point of view.
I am moving from the Suwanee area and I really love it here but because of the air quality are looking to move away toward the coast. I have some asthmatics in my family and this is not the place to live if you do. Otherwise, I really can't say enough good things about Suwanee...great schools,parks galore,nice people,sense of community,close to Atlanta,affordable homes. I will miss it! Good Luck!
Well one thing that comes to mind is the extreme drought we are experiencing here in Upstate SC. Atlanta is having trouble too and I believe they are still under water restrictions. The predictions are that this drought will continue for the next year. If green grass is important you might be better off looking to Charlotte/Cary.
What about work?
I live 2 miles from NC/SC border outside of Charlotte. I haven't seen green grass since May. We are under strict water guidelines here. You have not been able to wash your car at home for almost 2 years now.
Jobs in Charlotte are scarce, and will be more so as soon as Wachovia starts their 1,000's of layoffs...(this month) the entire mortgage part. Between 3-5 thousand jobs nationwide, but the majority will be Charlotte....that's lots of office workers going to be looking for jobs, as well with all the other lay offs occuring in the Charlotte metro region.
I don't know what SC is doing for Greenville/Spartanburg area, but they've seriously neglected bringing jobs in for Fort Mill/ Rock Hill...I guess they figure we can continue to drive to Charlotte and give NC all our employment taxes.
Dang shame. I'd love to work in the state I live in.
I'm a CA resident and have been all my life, looking to relocate to either one of these 3 beautiful areas....................but not sure where we will fit?? I have 2 active boys that play sports, like to bike outside, play outside, paintball, snowboard, basically we do everything CA has to offer but pay the price because it is WAY WAY too crowded here and the cost of living is now pushing us out to the East Coast. I also have my in-laws family that lives in a small town called Seneca that we visit at least every 2-3 years or so. I'm looking for input on these 3 places, specifically these cities I want to know first off the safety for my children, school districts how are they? I have my 13 yr old that will be coming from a private school going to public and my 4 yr old that will be coming out of daycare going into kindergarten next yr! Neighborhoods & crime factors are important, housing prices we are looking at the $200 - 250K range, which we can expect a MUCH larger home for our money vs CA!! Also we are looking for what will offer us the most activities with us being out here in CA there is so much (sometimes too much) to do we are constantly out and about!! I mean we can snowboard and end up at the beach in the same day.........not that we have done that but it is doable LOL!! Any advise would be great I have read some great threads but looking for some more insight on these particular cities if possible!!
Thanks for the feedback!!
Check crime stats on Charlotte. Off the top of my head I recall home burglery up 18% this year. If I was considering crime as a factor Charlotte would not be my choice. However metro areas around Charlotte may not be as bad.
I thought I would chime in here to help you along We moved to the Raleigh area almost 2 years ago. We also looked around Charlotte. I really loved Charlottes downtown compared to Raleigh but the other places we looked out surrounding Charlotte did not impress us all that much. If you want some new areas that are planned communities with a lot of concrete then you will easily find it south of Charlotte. In your price range I think it will be difficult for you to find a home in Cary. Not that they don't exhist but usually with a more run down older area and schools that are not ont he top of their mark. But you would be able to buy more in some of the other surrounding towns like Holly Springs, Fuquay Varina, Apex, Knightsdale etc. I have no first hand experience with SC so I won't chime in there. You can pretty much expect to give up on the Snowboarding. We tried it the first winter we were here and the snow is awful here in the east compared to the west. Expect to be flying out west for the snow adventures. The beaches are wonderful. Warm water. No waves so not someplace you can surf although I have been told there are certain places (outer banks) that have good surfing. As far as all the other outdoor and sports activities there are plenty of them. Your kids will do fine in that dept. Wake county schools are considered one of the best districts in NC. School has been an adjustment for my kids. We came from a very strong school district in CA and things are definitely different here. Overall we are very happy with our choice to move. We miss our family in CA but we all have adjusted well. Our 12 now 14 year old had the hardest time but that is a hard time to move for a child. So I would expect some challenges with your 13 year old but your younger child should have no issues. Good luck to you!
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Suwanee's great
We moved to the Raleigh area almost 2 years ago. We also looked around Charlotte. I really loved Charlottes downtown compared to Raleigh but the other places we looked out surrounding Charlotte did not impress us all that much. If you want some new areas that are planned communities with a lot of concrete then you will easily find it south of Charlotte. In your price range I think it will be difficult for you to find a home in Cary. Not that they don't exhist but usually with a more run down older area and schools that are not ont he top of their mark. But you would be able to buy more in some of the other surrounding towns like Holly Springs, Fuquay Varina, Apex, Knightsdale etc. I have no first hand experience with SC so I won't chime in there. You can pretty much expect to give up on the Snowboarding. We tried it the first winter we were here and the snow is awful here in the east compared to the west. Expect to be flying out west for the snow adventures. The beaches are wonderful. Warm water. No waves so not someplace you can surf although I have been told there are certain places (outer banks) that have good surfing. As far as all the other outdoor and sports activities there are plenty of them. Your kids will do fine in that dept. Wake county schools are considered one of the best districts in NC. School has been an adjustment for my kids. We came from a very strong school district in CA and things are definitely different here. Overall we are very happy with our choice to move. We miss our family in CA but we all have adjusted well. Our 12 now 14 year old had the hardest time but that is a hard time to move for a child. So I would expect some challenges with your 13 year old but your younger child should have no issues. Good luck to you!
