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Ok so what hurricane effects (if any) does Charlotte get? We'll be moving as soon as we can sell our house in Chicago. We told our son that a good point to relocating is no more tornados... wouldn't want to have him worry about hurricanes.
My sister said no basements because unilke here you don't need to hide in the basement from June till October from the torandos. I was also told that the hard red clay dirt isn't easy to dig so unless the house is on an incline they don't dig "down" for a basement usually.
oh, and also, can anyone tell me why none of the houses we've seen have basements??? lol
Yes. It is due to the conditions of the soil. Many people moving south are confused by that. In NC we primarily have red clay for soil. Red clay makes for basements that leak. My husband was from up North and when he moved here he thought we just 'hadn't learned' the value of a basement so he ignored all warnings about the 'dangers' of a basement leaking. It didn't take him long though before he learned it would have been much better had he taken into consideration what he had heard.
last night I also started looking in the charlotte area. I hear mercklenburg (sp.??) has great schools as well. I'm kind of concerned that since Charlotte is so big, we'll be back in an area similar to the one we're in now... and we're really looking forward to a "slower" life.
Hum... Where to start. I don't want to sound negative here, but if someone told you that Mecklenburg County has great schools, I would be suspicious of them. Mecklenburg has great 'private' schools but the public school system has been in a state of turmoil since the early '70s due to all the busing issues. Why don't you Google to find info on the landmark court decision for Charlotte/Mecklenburg Schools. While it is a little better, they are constantly under 'the eye' and recently I heard that the courts may come in again. I speak as a mother who had to deal with that, it wasn't easy.
Ok so what hurricane effects (if any) does Charlotte get? We'll be moving as soon as we can sell our house in Chicago. We told our son that a good point to relocating is no more tornados... wouldn't want to have him worry about hurricanes.
My sister said no basements because unilke here you don't need to hide in the basement from June till October from the torandos. I was also told that the hard red clay dirt isn't easy to dig so unless the house is on an incline they don't dig "down" for a basement usually.
Actually, red clay is easier to excavate since it clumps together and doesn't cave in like sandy soil. There's no compelling reason to have basements since ranch-type homes are more prevalent in the south than the north because land is generally cheaper, i.e. bigger lots. It would be just a lot of extra money spent on excavation and waterproofing when you could just have a bigger home above ground for less money.
North Carolina does have tornado activity depending on the season and region.
Hurricane damage in the Piedmont and Western regions of NC is generally from the rain and fallen trees. In addition, the coastline residents have the higher winds and tidal surge to deal with. However, with the changing weather patterns and a difference in each hurricane, who knows?
Actually, red clay is easier to excavate since it clumps together and doesn't cave in like sandy soil. There's no compelling reason to have basements since ranch-type homes are more prevalent in the south than the north because land is generally cheaper, i.e. bigger lots. It would be just a lot of extra money spent on excavation and waterproofing when you could just have a bigger home above ground for less money.
North Carolina does have tornado activity depending on the season and region.
Hurricane damage in the Piedmont and Western regions of NC is generally from the rain and fallen trees. In addition, the coastline residents have the higher winds and tidal surge to deal with. However, with the changing weather patterns and a difference in each hurricane, who knows?
So 13-17 torandos between 1950 & 1996?! I'll take it! We can get that in a tornado season!
Hi gottagetaway...You have made a very wise choice on NC for you and your family. We moved down here from CT almost 2 years ago. We absolutely love it and could never imagine going back. We relocated to the Union County area. Just SE of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County. It only takes me about 35 minutes to get to uptown areas. We can enjoy the city, but we do not get stuck with the higher taxes of living in the city.
The schools here are wonderful. What a difference from being up North. My son would have never made it out of Kindergarten had we stayed up there. The teachers took the time to give my child all of the help he needed to succeed. It was nice to see teachers that really do care about what they do! When considering our move I used greatschools.net to get an idea of the schools before coming down to actually check them out in person. It will give you an idea of each schools performance.
I also checked out http://move.realtor.com/Move/Tools/C...or&poe=realtor to check out crime rates for areas we were interested in. This site will let you compare crime rates to where you currently are. This gave us a good feel for the type of town we were moving our children to. I hope some of this helps you in your search. I think you and your family will be happy down here wherever you choose to live.
Some people are talking about hurricane damage. What realistically was the damage? Are we talking a few downed trees or a catastrophy, swimming down the streets. I've been looking at Beaufort, anyone have any info??
Some people are talking about hurricane damage. What realistically was the damage? Are we talking a few downed trees or a catastrophy, swimming down the streets. I've been looking at Beaufort, anyone have any info??
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Whats the real deal??
