Millenial Family Trying to Decide Between VA & NC for a Move (Charlotte: real estate, co-op)
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Our household income is approximately 160k and we are hoping to buy a home for 600k or less. Ideally less, but we want to be able to have a fenced in yard & garden. Ideally, we wouldn't live in the city/town, but in a more rural spot that is a 15-20 minute drive to the amenities of a city.
How big of a house are you looking for at $600k? Also do you want turn key move in ready or are you OK with remodeling? Unfortunately many of the areas that aren't cookie cutter are also among the most expensive. People pay a premium for walkability, cute shops / restaurants, et... and NC has been getting more and more expensive.
I was going to suggest Davidson, NC (near a lake, liberal arts college, farmers markets, cute downtown, et..) but in a big metro, but there are not many homes available for $600k.
Could you elaborate on the laws we'd have to tolerate? I understand that NC has abortion restrictions but I was under the impression that it was a purple state. Would love more info.
We have Charlottesville on our list! We've heard that it can be run down and underwhelming, but we've also heard that it can be beautiful, so we will have to visit and make that assessment ourselves.
Why should we put Roanoke on our list?
Roanoke ticks a lot of your boxes...the blue ridge parkway runs almost through it. Nice scenery, lots of hiking options. Smith Mountain Lake is nearby. its fairly progressive, has an arts scene, a nice downtown, great farmers market, etc.
NC is purple in the sense that there are blue cities, but the state government is firmly in republican hands, and they're pushing the usual "conservative" stuff...restricting abortion rights, underfunding schools, restricting cities ability to self govern, voting suppression, etc. As an NC native, its hard to watch. They destroying what was once the best run and most moderate southern state.
"Transgender rights, election law, abortion, the role of critical race theory in schools are all issues the General Assembly has on its plate. If that's not enough for you, there's even a bill attempting to get rid of participation trophies in youth sports. We don't know which bills will die a quiet death and which will make it out of the General Assembly. But, thanks to Tricia Cotham's party switch, we know that the Republicans don't need a single Democratic vote to enact the policies they want."
Even if those issues do not affect you personally, they negatively affect the quality of life of everyone else. If the legislature wins its court case, it will be able to redistrict Democratic areas without control by the state superior court. Then they will be able to keep the blue districts fragmented so they will never lose control.
Until recently we had a Republican-controlled legislature which could be controlled by the Governor's veto. But with the party switch by Rep. Cotham, the Republicans have a veto-proof majority in both houses. We are a "purple state" no longer.
But back to the practical matter of the OP's budget, there are plenty of SFH's available in towns like Apex, Garner, Wendell, Wake Forest. Apex and Wake Forest have small town centers that have the locally-owned businesses with character that the OP wants.
I just don't see places like Apex, Garner and Wendell appealing to the OP. Maybe Wake Forest. The OP also needs to check out Asheville. Its the most obvious answer for NC IF the OP can accept a colder, cloudier winter than is the ideal.
How big of a house are you looking for at $600k? Also do you want turn key move in ready or are you OK with remodeling? Unfortunately many of the areas that aren't cookie cutter are also among the most expensive. People pay a premium for walkability, cute shops / restaurants, et... and NC has been getting more and more expensive.
I was going to suggest Davidson, NC (near a lake, liberal arts college, farmers markets, cute downtown, et..) but in a big metro, but there are not many homes available for $600k.
We would like a 3bdrm/1.5 or 2 bath. We care a lot about the property / yard and want privacy from neighbors and room for the dogs / kids and a big garden. Ideally we wouldn't want to go smaller than 1/2 an acre. Because of this, I don't think we'd want to be IN town. We'd lose walkability, but we are homebodies for the most part and we don't mind driving 15 minutes into town and even 30 minutes for bigger amenities.
Davidson seems nice. And only 25 minutes from Charlotte. I know nothing about Charlotte except that it's a city, haha.
I just don't see places like Apex, Garner and Wendell appealing to the OP. Maybe Wake Forest. The OP also needs to check out Asheville. Its the most obvious answer for NC IF the OP can accept a colder, cloudier winter than is the ideal.
We might be open to Asheville, but part of our desire to go south and get out of New England is to escape the cold and cloudy winters, so it's difficult to justify relocating for a lot of the same. Obviously, New England and Asheville are probably different in many ways, but a lot of our desire is to get some sun in our lives from Nov-March.
We would like a 3bdrm/1.5 or 2 bath. We care a lot about the property / yard and want privacy from neighbors and room for the dogs / kids and a big garden. Ideally we wouldn't want to go smaller than 1/2 an acre. Because of this, I don't think we'd want to be IN town. We'd lose walkability, but we are homebodies for the most part and we don't mind driving 15 minutes into town and even 30 minutes for bigger amenities.
................
At first, when you said you wanted neighbors who stop and chat when walking the dog, it sounded like you wanted a typical suburb with a Home Owners Association. It currently sounds like privacy and space are more important.
Is it safe to say that you really do not care about you neighbors politics?
... part of our desire to go south and get out of New England is to escape the cold and cloudy winters
Not south enough to really achieve that ...
let alone the cost paid by having hot & steamy over the long summer,
and rather little 'open window' catch the breeze time between.
Do you have window screens in your home now? When you go visiting in the south look for them. LINK
Do you (or family etc) have a summer place up at one of the mountains?
Can you arrange an over the summer stay of some sort? Guaranteed every year?
Reverse snow-birding (NC 7mo & NH 5mo) is almost practical if the finances can be made to work.
Add in a Florida trip for January too.
Last edited by MrRational; 04-18-2023 at 07:28 AM..
If lots of sunshine in the winter is a priority, the Piedmont suffers from the "Carolina wedge" in winter that can bring days of cloudy weather. As a result, the "days of sunshine" in the Piedmont is only marginally better than New England (about 15 more days) and you may want to look further south. The temperatures here usually aren't freezing during the day in the winter, but it can be very grey due to the wedge. It is not unusual to have a January or February with 7 straight days of no clear skies. Here's an article describing the cold air damming that happens where the clouds get wedged between the mountains and Piedmont: https://www.wcnc.com/article/weather...a-19bce50346c0
Days of sunshine:
Portland, Maine: 200
Boston: 201
Charlotte: 214
Raleigh: 217
Further south:
Charleston, SC: 230
Tampa: 246
Fort Myers, FL: 266
Since you mentioned not wanting to move for more of the same... just wanted to set expectations you'll get marginally more sun in the Piedmont (but warmer temps).
At first, when you said you wanted neighbors who stop and chat when walking the dog, it sounded like you wanted a typical suburb with a Home Owners Association. It currently sounds like privacy and space are more important.
Is it safe to say that you really do not care about you neighbors politics?
We definitely don't want an HOA. We are open to being in the suburbs with a big yard, but we would prefer to have a bit more space -- maybe 15-20 minute drive to town.
We don't really care about our neighbor's politics, but I wouldn't want to live somewhere where every lawn had a Trump sign on it. To me, there's a difference between being conservative and being pro-Trump.
In terms of people being friendly and stopping and chatting when walking the dog, that can refer to a neighborhood but also to parks, ice-cream shops where there's outdoor seating, etc. Just general friendliness. In the Northeast, people are nice, but there's a big culture of walking past people like they're invisible that I don't love.
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And only 25 minutes from Charlotte. I know nothing about Charlotte except that it's a city, haha.
