Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Charlotte will be very different than smaller areas of NC, but I would do as NH2NCMom suggested and spend more time there. Renting out your condo might be the best bet. Rents are up right now while home sales are down and it gives you the option of returning to NH if NC is not all that it seems.
I am an NC native from Greensboro (although I have been gone a long time). Although the larger areas will be a bit more progressive, the South does not quite have the live and let live attitude that NH claims to have. There are strong traditions and religion is very important - but you probably will not run into this as much as NH2NCMom has, being a young single male.
NC is a beautiful state and there are many things I miss. Best of luck to you.
Charlotte will be very different than smaller areas of NC, but I would do as NH2NCMom suggested and spend more time there. Renting out your condo might be the best bet. Rents are up right now while home sales are down and it gives you the option of returning to NH if NC is not all that it seems.
I am an NC native from Greensboro (although I have been gone a long time). Although the larger areas will be a bit more progressive, the South does not quite have the live and let live attitude that NH claims to have. There are strong traditions and religion is very important - but you probably will not run into this as much as NH2NCMom has, being a young single male.
NC is a beautiful state and there are many things I miss. Best of luck to you.
I don't live but one mile from Raleigh, so I do not live really in a smaller area of NC. Yes the "other side" of the state is different than the East side, but he is a NH native and I see things he may not. When I moved here I WANTED to move here to get out of NH. I had visited here several times - but never LIVED here - paying bills, trying to make a living on much less an hour but having taxes on everything, the bugs, the religion, and much more that I won't get into.
All I wanted him to realize is that getting himself into a "can't go back" situation is not the best way to think. Leave a way to go back, and also many people have that "tourist" way of looking at places to move to. Thousands of places look beautiful until you live there. A month is a MINIMUM to try a place, but actually a year is a much better indicator of whether you will really want to settle there.
Oh NH2NCMom, I did not mean to make it sound as if I was disagreeing with you. The South is very different culturally that other parts of the country. Plus there's a humidity that most other areas never experience. Even being from NC, I don't think I could ever live there again. I'll have to stick with long visits with my family.
I totally agree with you that it would be best to leave himself with a way back if he finds it is not a good fit for him. I don't think he would find Charlotte much different than Raleigh but I do think there is a lot more pressure on women to conform to certain standards than men so he may have a different experience than say what you and I have had.
All I wanted him to realize is that getting himself into a "can't go back" situation is not the best way to think. Leave a way to go back, and also many people have that "tourist" way of looking at places to move to. Thousands of places look beautiful until you live there. A month is a MINIMUM to try a place, but actually a year is a much better indicator of whether you will really want to settle there.
This same is true of people who are moving to the northeast. I am usually urging people who are relocating to NH from other areas to rent if at all possible, to be sure that this is the place for them. Sometimes they don't have that option because relocation companies have strict rules that they MUST purchase in the new area within a certain timeframe to pay for all of the covered items involved (the movers, selling the previous home, etc) Sometimes it turns out well, and a year or two later, I'm helping them to buy a house. Other times, they are moving back home, or to a different part of the country well before hitting the 1-year mark, and thanking me for having helped talk them out of buying...
I figured I'd reply here instead of my new thread as there have been more replies in this one. Here's the update (I'm being pretty open here, as to hopefully give you a sense for part of the reason why I want to move):
3 months after posting this my father passed away, so any plans that I had of moving were put on hold until recently when a friend of mine said she was also considering moving to the Charlotte area, so the two of us booked a week-long trip to NC to visit the Charlotte/Raleigh area in more detail in April. As I mentioned in my OP, I was here for 2 days on a road trip and loved the south, once I hit Virginia the people just seemed so much friendlier, everyone I met at the store, mall, fast food restaurant, etc. were incredibly friendly.
I'm now 24, still single, and still own my condo in Goffstown. A big part of the reason I want to move is that I feel like there is nothing for me around here, I haven't had much luck in the dating scene, the friends I have are always busy and we have started to drift apart, and with my fathers passing it makes it that much worse. I feel like I'm standing still getting older while everyone else is moving on. I want to hit the reset button on life, start over, meet new people, get a new job, etc.
I completely understand that this could be the biggest mistake of my life so far, or it could be the best thing that ever happened to me, I feel that I'm in a pretty good place right now to make this kind of decision before I eventually have a family. The past couple years I've started to hate winter more and more, I was in heaven yesterday with the 50 degree weather! I wouldn't mind not seeing snow on the ground most of the winter.
There has been lots of great info in this thread so far, and I greatly appreciate everyone replying! Especially those who have experience being in both NH and NC. The housing market is still pretty bad, so selling in this economy isn't really ideal. The only thing that has really changed is that due to my grandmothers passing I have a small amount of money coming to me that I could use to live off of for a short while or help cover the costs associated with moving.
I made this move with my GF (now wife) back in 1997. We lasted less than a year:
We took a week long roadtrip around the state in the summer to scope things out and even scored some job interviews. We liked Charlotte the best but my wife was offered a job in Graham. She found an apartment in Burlington. First mistake was not relocating to an area where everyone else relocates to. We were surrounded by locals and had nothing in common with them. Totally different lifestyle. They were extremely nice (as you discovered) but life gets lonely when the people you live around and work around have nothing in common.
Winter was still dreary. Like a mild winter in NH, everything is grey, people stay indoors, weather gets raw despite lack of snow. Minor snow falls cause big panic.
My wife's company ended up hiring me (I think out of pity) but it was a horrible place. We job searched unsuccessfully the entire time there. Then they canned us both on the same day a couple months before our wedding in MA. We were homesick (especially me) and we decided to cut our loses and move back. We lived in her mother's basement until we got on our feet after our wedding.
I suggest keeping your condo in case you end up regretting moving. I know a few people that moved south and SE that want to come back or have already moved back.
I suggest moving as close to Charlotte or Cary/Durham/Raleigh as you can. Lots of northerners there and felt, to me, more like home. Our results may have been different if I had accepted on offer in Rock Hill SC, just south of Charlotte. I refused the offer because I dreaded moving again so soon after getting there.
I figured I'd reply here instead of my new thread as there have been more replies in this one. Here's the update (I'm being pretty open here, as to hopefully give you a sense for part of the reason why I want to move):
3 months after posting this my father passed away, so any plans that I had of moving were put on hold until recently when a friend of mine said she was also considering moving to the Charlotte area, so the two of us booked a week-long trip to NC to visit the Charlotte/Raleigh area in more detail in April. As I mentioned in my OP, I was here for 2 days on a road trip and loved the south, once I hit Virginia the people just seemed so much friendlier, everyone I met at the store, mall, fast food restaurant, etc. were incredibly friendly.
I'm now 24, still single, and still own my condo in Goffstown. A big part of the reason I want to move is that I feel like there is nothing for me around here, I haven't had much luck in the dating scene, the friends I have are always busy and we have started to drift apart, and with my fathers passing it makes it that much worse. I feel like I'm standing still getting older while everyone else is moving on. I want to hit the reset button on life, start over, meet new people, get a new job, etc.
I completely understand that this could be the biggest mistake of my life so far, or it could be the best thing that ever happened to me, I feel that I'm in a pretty good place right now to make this kind of decision before I eventually have a family. The past couple years I've started to hate winter more and more, I was in heaven yesterday with the 50 degree weather! I wouldn't mind not seeing snow on the ground most of the winter.
There has been lots of great info in this thread so far, and I greatly appreciate everyone replying! Especially those who have experience being in both NH and NC. The housing market is still pretty bad, so selling in this economy isn't really ideal. The only thing that has really changed is that due to my grandmothers passing I have a small amount of money coming to me that I could use to live off of for a short while or help cover the costs associated with moving.
I welcome new comments and suggestions!
Have you asked for any advice in the Charlotte forum?
I made this move with my GF (now wife) back in 1997. We lasted less than a year:
We took a week long roadtrip around the state in the summer to scope things out and even scored some job interviews. We liked Charlotte the best but my wife was offered a job in Graham. She found an apartment in Burlington. First mistake was not relocating to an area where everyone else relocates to. We were surrounded by locals and had nothing in common with them. Totally different lifestyle. They were extremely nice (as you discovered) but life gets lonely when the people you live around and work around have nothing in common.
Winter was still dreary. Like a mild winter in NH, everything is grey, people stay indoors, weather gets raw despite lack of snow. Minor snow falls cause big panic.
My wife's company ended up hiring me (I think out of pity) but it was a horrible place. We job searched unsuccessfully the entire time there. Then they canned us both on the same day a couple months before our wedding in MA. We were homesick (especially me) and we decided to cut our loses and move back. We lived in her mother's basement until we got on our feet after our wedding.
I suggest keeping your condo in case you end up regretting moving. I know a few people that moved south and SE that want to come back or have already moved back.
I suggest moving as close to Charlotte or Cary/Durham/Raleigh as you can. Lots of northerners there and felt, to me, more like home. Our results may have been different if I had accepted on offer in Rock Hill SC, just south of Charlotte. I refused the offer because I dreaded moving again so soon after getting there.
Thank you very much for your opinion! It's posts like this that help me out the most, when people have been in similar situations. Weather wise I guess it's relative, winter is winter no matter where you are, and people tend to stay indoors during the winter. I would love to be somewhere where I don't have to de-ice my car every morning though, lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaseyB
Have you asked for any advice in the Charlotte forum?
Not yet, but I will be shortly, thanks for the reminder. It would be good to get advice from both sides, as I have a feeling most of the people here are biased towards NH, while in the NC section I may get people who moved from NH and love it.
You're young, Geoff and you only live once, huh? If you feel NC is calling you and you are not finding yourself happy here, then what do you really have to lose? Keeping your condo is a safety net and may be a good investment in the long run. Since you stated you are finding that there is not much to do in NH, I highly recommend sticking to the more populated areas mentioned in NC. Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Winston Salem should have plenty of stuff for a twenty some year old to do. You should check out Asheville as well - very cool town up in the mountains.
Anyways, I guess my point is you can regret not stepping out into the unknown and taking a chance or roll the dice and see what happens. Even if you find out you absolutely hate it there, I am sure you will find out a lot about yourself and have some interesting stories for it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
