So currently looking to relocate my family to North Carolina so thought I would post up here.  Most likely I will getting a job in Charlotte or Raleigh as they seem to have the job openings that I would be looking at.

So with that said what areas should I look to stay away from?  The plan is for me to get a job and move up and secure a little apartment for us while we sell our house here in Florida and start looking for a new house.  In regards to those 2 cities what would be good places to buy a place?  In particular we would be looking for good school districts and we would love something more off the beaten path even if that means a little more of a commute.  For instance we would love to have 3 plus acres would be awesome.  We have even considered if need be to use the proceeds from the selling of our house to buy maybe just an empty plot and have a house built.

Would love to hear suggestions as I don't know the state very well.

Thanks!

cHarlotte and Raleigh are great places to avoid! Might as well toss Greensboro in that mix as well.
Just sayin'.    d:^)  Jake..

Well, the best suggestion I can think of is for you to rethink your choices of cities.  Not sure what part of FL you're coming from but those two choices are not what I'd consider a move up from FL. I was born and raised in FL and spent a good part of my adult life there and I'd rather move to NJ than to the cities you are looking at.

You may want to do a bit more research on jobs since there are several locations in NC other than the two you mentioned that have a pretty good job market, What line of work are you looking at?

As a side note, my wife retried from teaching in FL and she'd not even consider the school district in Charlotte. It's a war zone and has been for several years. Not great for education.

Long email sent with lots of NC info

My 1st email bounced back....I have no idea why....So I sent a 2nd shorter email.
I gave up trying to send a IM thru here.  They get rejected....I have no idea why.

Well I spent a couple of hours writing lots of good info but it was all for nothing.  All emails and Im that I have sent all bounced back.  I have no idea why.  I am a senior citizen and I despise this world I am now living in.  And as I get older it only gets worse !!!!!

I don't text, twit, lender, gps, facebook, snapchat, or blueteeth.  Hell I don't even own a cell phone!

They are that bad?  I work just outside Miami now but live out in Plantation which is west of Fort Lauderdale (about a 1 hr commute).  I don't plan on living in Charlotte or Raleigh but figured those are the places that I most likely would find a job and would be commuting in for work.  I work in finance and am currently a controller and so that is the work I am looking for.  I just finished up my resume and will be looking at jobs starting tonight.  Doesn't have to be in those cities, just figured those would be the easiest and most likely places to find a job.

Ah I'm sorry you wasted all that time lol.  Betting it would have been some good info to have

Actually good news! I got your emails.  Will take a look at them now

It's all relative really.  Charlotte just spent a week making the national news and not for the southern charm that much of the rest of the state has to offer. As to looking in two of the biggest cities for work in finance, you need to remember that you and thousands of others are thinking the same so while they may have many positions in your area of expertise, many are already filled and those that are not filled have many many applicants.

Just a side note, there are several major tech companies locating to NC such as Google, Apple, etc. and their heading for the less populated areas.

If you're looking for the nightlife and urban feeling then Charlotte may be just your cup of tea.  Commuting may be the answer and for Charlotte you may want to look at living in SC just across the boarder. Taxes and other incentives may make it the better choice. Just remember, what may be normally an hour could be several hours or more if traffic, civil disturbances, or weather decide to choose your route to happen on.

Asheville is the one to avoid IMHO.

Aaaahgreed. The granolas are thick in that location. d:^)  Jake..

Yh I don't care much about nightlife being married and with 2 young kids lol.  What's important to me are having some land, good schools etc

Finding 3 acres with a house within an hour or less of "commute" for either C or R will be a very difficult thing to do.  Whatever you do, do not base your "commute" on straight mileage, a realtor's advice, or what Google maps tells you it is. Because it's all a lie, traffic is a disaster around both.

Be warned there is a severe business backlash against NC  for violating human rights. With no end(reversal)  in sight. Then we will have to start trying to court businesses to operate in NC.  Which is a multi-year/decade process of image change. Some have drawn lines in the sand and the chips may fall with them taking other options .

The internet has made it sound like the law was all and only about a bathroom usage issue, but is actually about  restricting the ability to make anti-discrimination laws.  North Carolina's controversial House Bill 2 aka “bathroom bill,”  "...The law requires transgender people in public places to use bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificates, irregardless of their appearance. It also prevents local governments from banning discrimination against LGBT people in employment and public accommodations...."

HB2 has cost the state millions in lost business, So the jobs you're looking for that NC was attracting, are not coming.  That doesn't even count the federal funding cuts and the cost burden on the tax payers who do not support such stupidity but are having their taxes used to fight the law being struck down.  But the programs and people who most needs those funds and/or jobs feel the pain worse than the politicians.  Agencies are left scrambling to cover already poorly funded services.  Always money to fight bad laws, never money to better improve the state.....

NC has a long history of being a repeat offender for illegal laws violating human rights. It is also a "Right To Starve" State, you can be fired any time without reason. Not that it is hard to find mistakes, and/or reasons since  everyone is human after all.   Get a written contract if you can.


Read about Paypal and others bailing/pulling out  at
https://www.wired.com/2016/09/guess-much-anti-lgbtq-law-costing-north-carolina/

Some back history, the city of Charlotte used to have the Governor as  the Mayor. So some bad blood...Mixed with disapproving council pulling old favors with upper power in the political food chain.   McCory is politician and his goals are what he thinks will get him ahead politically for his party. Not what is is the best interest for any political party or group. He is cheaply bought and shows special treatment to his former employer and  generous campaign  donor,   Duke Energy.  See their Coal ASH contaminating drinking water and how much Patsy McCory has made sure they didn't suffer the burden of clean up fines and costs of doing such.... .  Same idiot that didn't veto the  police body & dash camera footage  for the common masses to see.    "...Under HB 972, audio and video captured by police body cameras or dashboard cameras are not public records, meaning the general public has no right to see or obtain copies of them. released..."   See the news lately about how that is working out for us? on that I digress...  

Charlotte  passed a LGBT law against discrimination for employment, accommodations and made it legal(removed grey area) , if you were in the (required) process of living as the  opposite sex.

There is long process involved, including  psychiatric screening and lot of making sure this is right for you. the person  has to live as that sex for several years to make sure it is not a passing phase, and not a Body Dysmorphic Disorder issue, etc. or in  other words you can't say I want to change my sex now, when can I come in and have the operation doc?  

That  is  before any gender surgical reassignment operation will happen. Not everyone does the full surgery  because of costs, risks,etc. Hormones are started way before surgery as they transiting,  so they will start appearing to the stereotypical feminine or manly body image.     Not sure at what point in the process that meets the criteria for a court to change their sex  officially but the whole ordeal takes several years minimum.    Basically Charlotte updated the laws to match the times.  The state said we don't care that we just lost a lot with illegal anti-LGBT marriage laws, we're going to target that group again with discrimination....

People also only think about men becoming women, forgetting that  women transferring to men are now also required by law to go into the women's bathroom.  Even if they have a beard. Guess what happens next? Harassment and threat for that person's safety.    So they go to the jail and are strip search(remember we allow strip searching by same sex officers, how do you know and what if they refuse to drop their pants out in public?    How many times do you have to show your papers....    When that lawsuit appeals leaves the back wood inbred NC courts that support this type of law, it will become very expensive, for the citizens yet again..  Putting a big stain on our Police departments and Sheriff's office which have come a very long way in making amends to the community.  

NC doesn't like worker's rights, people of color having equal rights, child not being able to work in the mills.....  NC has fought the change the whole way, to things we look back at with shame and wonder  " How could they think....."

Just make sure or ask if the company is staying in NC or looking at relocating and where future expansions are going to be. That way you might not have to move again to advance upward.

There are lot of great things about living here but there also bad things. Moving for a job, based on businesses coming here might be a gamble.  Especially if you plan is to get hired than switch to another company for upwards move.

Hope you're moving from a high priced market into a lower one and get to move up in house size and land acreage for less. No matter where you land.

Things aren't near as bad as some people make it out to be here in NC.  Raleigh has some nice rural areas with a beautiful  landscape within reasonable driving times.  Stay away from Charlotte.  Very few people are making issues with the controversial bills, mostly a lot of bull.  Lot of opportunity in NC right now, just do your research.  HOPE THIS HELPS

Well I live in south Florida so yh my money will buy me much more house and land than here according to all my house searching. Really the plan is to find a good job at which point I will move up and find an apartment to rent and list my current house while my wife stays back with the kids. Then once our house sells my wife would quit her job and we move complete the move.

So this is all dependent on me finding a comparable job. That is why I'm trying to ask about areas that would be good to look at. It's funny cus I get so many differing opinions of Charlotte etc. But of course that is to be expected and is good to get different takes. I plan on applying for some jobs starting tonight on theladders.Com and also looking at getting some headhunters looking for me. Obviously my dream would be to find a comparable job to what I have now outside the city in a more rural area and be able to have a nice house on a large piece of land.

My biggest problem is I am not very familiar with north carolina so it's tough to know about areas to look for jobs etc. But everything I have heard about the state (and even charlotte) from friends and family that have lived there have only great things to say about it.

If you're looking for some acres and possibly a bit longer drive take a look in Denver, NC, Sherrils Ford, Mooresville, Kannapolis/Concord, Mount Ulla areas as they all have areas that have the land you're looking for.  I live up in Mooresville and live across from the lake, have an acre lot and are really close to Lake Norman High and that is a blue ribbon school, along with their middle school.  I like the area, but as others have stated, traffic BLOWS right now with the widening of I-77.  I'm not sure if even after it is done if it'll be much better, but only time will tell.  The nice thing about Sherrils Ford and Denver is you have a back way behind the lake in highway 16 that runs south to 485, a major beltway around the city and is a nice alternative to the always congested and idiot barren I-77 that slows down 20mph just to get glimpses of the lake.... but that rant is for another day.

What is the typical commute time from there to chalotte if I were to get a job there? Google map says 34 minutes via nc-16, 37 via i85 and nc16 or 41 via i77 and nc73. Supposedly google is adding some time as a result of traffic but I figure I couldn't rely on that.

As it stands now my commute currently is about 26 miles and takes around an hr. So I don't mind it, nor really would I mind an hr and a half commute if it gets me the house and land and schools I want lol.

Depends on traffic and if you just sit in it, or get off the interstate and take back roads.  16 is awesome, but I work off i-85 and WT Harris blvd for my job during the week and depends on the day, but it can be 30 minutes down i-77, or it usually is closer to about 45-50 with fairly heavy traffic.  Now if it is raining and these idiots wreck, it can take over an hour sometimes.

I live in Mooresville too, and grew up in Denver.

I prefer living in Mooresville than Denver, especially since you have kids. The Iredell schools are a bit better than Lincoln, and there's more stuff around (restaurants, parks, activities, etc), but still feels like a smaller town. You shoudn't have a problem finding a house with some acreage near Mooresville.


Commutes to Charlotte will not be fun right now, probably about an hour to uptown, but once the I77 expansion is finished it should improve some.


Commuting from Denver will be a little better, but there are still spots on 16 that get backed up. I just wouldn't live there again after being in Mooresville.