I really need input from NC fans - please!

[Juls]

Well, I just wanted to add my .02. My family and I moved to Mooresville, NC in 2000 from VA. We love it here, Mooresville is about 30 miles north of Charlotte so we can get the big city art and culture (and dont forget shopping) when we want it.
My DD loves the schools here, which are very good. They are only one of a few cities in NC that have their own school system instead of being lumped in with the county.
I have to admit though this place is really growing. But the schools are growing with it, we just built a new school last year, which my DD now attends, and they have begun plans to build another. Our schools are not overcrowded, but I would say some are at their limit.
We have gotten a lot of retail business here recently, but our newspaper is still only published twice a week. We are very close to Lake Norman which has a lot of outdoor recreational potential.
Anyway, just wanted to mention that you might want to check us out.

http://www.ci.mooresville.nc.us/

Good luck with your search, and welcome to NC!

 

[kelma]

We've lived in a few different areas of NC and here's what I can tell you. NC seems to have very distinct areas of Conservativism and Liberalism (although much fewer of these). Some areas are a real mix, like Raleigh, where we live, but others can be very difficult if you lean strongly in either direction.

I can tell you that we LOVE Raleigh. I've never lived in Charlotte, but we have visited friends there quite a bit and I, personally, have no desire to live there. The traffic is absolutely crazy. But, our friends love it.

There are a couple of areas of NC I cannot recommend. Please PM me and I'll share privately how I feel about them. I don't want to start an argument or hurt feelings .

Good luck and welcome ya'll!

Oh, just needed to add that the only thing I really dislike about Raleigh is the fact that the elementary schools start at 9:15 and don't get out until 3:45. There are some charter and magnet schools that have earlier schedules, but I was absolutely shocked at how late the little kids went to school.

 

[Jomrog]

We live in Mooresville but on the side of town where the schools are run by the county. It's a great town but is growing too quickly and they are playing catch up right now. The county schools are getting overcrowded and they schools have lobbied for more funding to build new schools and repair the run-down schools in the northern part of the county. The great news about Mooresville schools is they are top notch whether you go to the city schools or the county schools. There has been some rumblings in the county about year round school if the they can't get the funding they need to build. Tarheel was right on target with his information about the politics from what I have seen.

Mooresville is 30 minutes north of Charlotte and has a lot of "Yankee" transplants such as myself. Compared to overcrowded NJ, we love it here. We have everything we need and don't have to travel into Charlotte for much. It's nice to know that we have a professional football & basketball team to watch so close, too.

I love Mooresville and plan to stay. Good luck with your house hunting.

 

[jjohnson]

We've lived in a few different areas of NC and here's what I can tell you. NC seems to have very distinct areas of Conservativism and Liberalism (although much fewer of these). Some areas are a real mix, like Raleigh, where we live, but others can be very difficult if you lean strongly in either direction.

I can tell you that we LOVE Raleigh. I've never lived in Charlotte, but we have visited friends there quite a bit and I, personally, have no desire to live there. The traffic is absolutely crazy. But, our friends love it.

There are a couple of areas of NC I cannot recommend. Please PM me and I'll share privately how I feel about them. I don't want to start an argument or hurt feelings .

Good luck and welcome ya'll!

Oh, just needed to add that the only thing I really dislike about Raleigh is the fact that the elementary schools start at 9:15 and don't get out until 3:45. There are some charter and magnet schools that have earlier schedules, but I was absolutely shocked at how late the little kids went to school.

I was surprised at the elementary school schedule too. The bus for my kids comes at 7:50 & there home at 2:35.

I'm sending a PM to hear about the other areas.

 

[jjohnson]

A few have mentioned overcrowding in Wake County schools & I was wondering what the average class size is. Our elementary school has had a similar problem so were used to class sizes of 23-26 students.

 

[jjohnson]

Well, I just wanted to add my .02. My family and I moved to Mooresville, NC in 2000 from VA. We love it here, Mooresville is about 30 miles north of Charlotte so we can get the big city art and culture (and dont forget shopping) when we want it.
My DD loves the schools here, which are very good. They are only one of a few cities in NC that have their own school system instead of being lumped in with the county.
I have to admit though this place is really growing. But the schools are growing with it, we just built a new school last year, which my DD now attends, and they have begun plans to build another. Our schools are not overcrowded, but I would say some are at their limit.
We have gotten a lot of retail business here recently, but our newspaper is still only published twice a week. We are very close to Lake Norman which has a lot of outdoor recreational potential.
Anyway, just wanted to mention that you might want to check us out.

http://www.ci.mooresville.nc.us/

Good luck with your search, and welcome to NC!

Thanks for the link. I'll take a look.

 

[jjohnson]

Well, I just wanted to add my .02. My family and I moved to Mooresville, NC in 2000 from VA. We love it here, Mooresville is about 30 miles north of Charlotte so we can get the big city art and culture (and dont forget shopping) when we want it.
My DD loves the schools here, which are very good. They are only one of a few cities in NC that have their own school system instead of being lumped in with the county.
I have to admit though this place is really growing. But the schools are growing with it, we just built a new school last year, which my DD now attends, and they have begun plans to build another. Our schools are not overcrowded, but I would say some are at their limit.
We have gotten a lot of retail business here recently, but our newspaper is still only published twice a week. We are very close to Lake Norman which has a lot of outdoor recreational potential.
Anyway, just wanted to mention that you might want to check us out.

http://www.ci.mooresville.nc.us/

Good luck with your search, and welcome to NC!

I just took a look thanks.

I am SO bad at math but I think these figures are right:

real estate taxes:
mooresville: $.48 per $100
my home: $190.89 per $10,000

So to compare...A $300,000 home would cost $1440 is NC but in NY it would be $5,726 right?

 

[luvthatdisney]

If taxes are that high in NY - I think I stay in NC!! I wasnt planning on going anywhere anyway! Unless Mickey will let me move into the castle!

I know there are alot of northern transplants around my area. I did work for a transplanted mid-western company (until I was laid off last month!). They had alot of people move here to start up the branch I worked in and most of them never left!

I wonder if southern people relocate to the north on the same rate? Never really thought about it, but I cannot recall anyone I know ever state they were moving up north. I am sure it happens though!

 

[jjohnson]

We have a small older home our total tax isn't too bad. But when we started looking at homes in our area, I was shocked that most are paying between $12,000-$14,000 per year.

The good news is we had a realtor come & give us a selling price & she quoted $200,000 more than what we paid 4 years ago. So with that news we plan on having little or no mortgage when we move to NC.

 

[NCRedding]

Your math is correct on the NY house, but for Mooresville--if you had a $300,000 home located in Iredell COunty (the county Mooresville is in), then you would pay approximately $1290 per year (Iredell Co. tax is .43 per $100); however, if the house is located in the city of limits of Mooresville, you would also pay additional tax for city services in the amount of .48 per $100; so you would actually pay total property tax of $2730 per year on a 300,000 house.

 

[stm61]

How much of a vehicle tax are we talking in SC?

Tinaluis,

I wish I could answer that! I've been trying to find the info online but no luck so far. I asked a relative in Cowpens, she thought I might pay $500 for a 2004 Expedition. I'm not sure about that, I think it might be higher. Last time I lived in SC I drove an '84 Plymouth Voyager so my tax on that was really cheap.

Can anyone else help?

 

[bags6490]

North Carolina is terrible. You will hate it. O.K., the secret is already out so I can stop lying now. It is an awesome place to live and raise a family! We live in Clayton (about 20-25 minutes east of Raleigh). I worked in Cary for 10 years before staying at home with my 3 kiddos. You will definitely feel at home coming from NY. Soooo many people from up north in the Cary/Apex/Holly Springs area! We like living on the east side of Raleigh because we are that much closer to the beach! Schools are good. We love our town because it still has the small town, southern feel that we crave (hubby and I are both from the south) and feel NC is slowly losing. The weather is o.k. most of the time. The ice storms are no fun and impossible to drive in no matter how good a driver you were up north. We don't really like the winters (too cold for us), but you will find them mild compared to NY winters (I lived outside of Buffalo for a year and a half, so I have no doubt about this.) Good luck in what ever you decide. The added bonus is that you are that much closer to Disney World!!!

 

[looo33]

Some Cons I have found living in NC. I grew up here moved to IL and came back.

-some will disagree but racism is more open here than other places I have been
-it is the Bible belt so there are more conservative churches here along with more judgemental people
-if you are a "yankee", there are still SOME people that will judge you on that alone

We have been contemplating a move south. A major concern I have is about the racism that seems to still be accepted. I have 7 children and half of them are bi-racial....I know that we all will have the issues of being "Yankees" but I am wondering about the black/white issues. Can someone please talk to me about those. You can PM me if you want....I know this is a touchy subject (which I feel shouldn't even need to be a consideration but sadly, it is)

 

[luckofthedraw]

You've gotten lots of good advise here. Charlotte and Raleigh are both great cities. The Chapel Hill area will have the better schools, hospitals, and collegiate sports. The Charlotte area will have the better culture, "big city feel", and professional sports. Both have good airports, but Charlotte has more flights and is more centrally located to beaches and the mountains.

If I were to move back to either of these areas, I'd strongly consider moving into North Charlotte (Davidson, Huntersville, Mooresville) or Chapel Hill, Holly Springs, or Apex.

One area that you may not have considered is Wilmington and New Bern. If you love the beach, you may want to consider this area too. I'll go ahead and apologize in advance for throwing even more confusion into the mix ;D.

As for rascism in the south, I personally think that's a myth that has been perpetuated since the Civil War. Yes, you will encounter rascist people, but you will encounter rascist people almost anywhere. Just like in other areas of the US, rascism will be more tolerated in rural areas than in metropolitan areas. So if you are worried about this situation, stick to the larger cities, and you should be fine. I live in a town which is smaller than Charlotte and Raleigh, and it is not out of the norm to see bi-racial couples here.

Good luck on your decisions.

 

[MrsPete]

I've lived in NC all my life, and it's a great place. Random comments:

The weather is great here. Winter weather rarely dips below 40ish, and the summers are mostly in the low 90s. We have a month or more "in between" in which you need neither heat nor air conditioning.

We don't really get snow often -- every 3rd or 4th year. Ice is more common. We get sleet /freezing rain right around the 31-33 point, and it's nasty stuff. When we do get snow, it turns to ice because the ground isn't thoroughly frozen like it is up north. When we get this stuff, we all rush to the grocery stores, schools are closed the next day, and we all stay home. Because this happens about once every other year, we don't pay taxes to support slag trucks, etc. like they do in colder places.

The cost of living is relatively low (as are wages). You can buy a nice 3-4 bedroom, all-brick house in a nice neighborhood with a community pool and tennis courts for 200-300K, depending upon your area.

You can get to the beach or the mountains in just a few hours.

We're known as the good roads state.

Schools in Charlotte are horrible; they've been plagued with bad administration (and numerous other problems) for decades now, and it shows, but there are excellent communities and schools in the outlying counties. The schools in the Raleigh area (also known as Research Triangle) are top-notch; they're consistantly ranked tops in the state lists.

This is the buckle of the Bible Belt, mostly Baptist and Methodist churches. I personally know very, very few Jewish people, and Catholics are fairly rare here.

Water problems? I know nothing about that, so it must be limited to that area of the state.

 

[luvthatdisney]

Looo~

I am not myself in a bi-racial relationship, but my best friend is. We live in a very small town in NC (about 5,000 people). My bf is white and her DH is black, they have 3 mixed kids (she does refer to them as being mixed - so I guess I do as well)!!. They are beautiful by the way!

On our street alone there are 3 mixed couples with kids! We have been all over this area together and I have never seen any negative comments directed to them or the kids.

The only time I felt uncomfortable (I am talking me!) was at a local restaurant - it is a very county restaurant - and no one said anything - they just kind of looked at us funny. It was my family (me, DH and 2 kids) and their family of 5. We just now know not to eat there again! But I guess you could get that anywhere!

The bi-racial relationships are becomming more and more accepted all over the country and especially here in the south I think. I know of many couples in my town that are in a bi-racial marriage or have bi-racial kids (no longer in the relationship). I also think alot of how you are accepted is your attitude towards the issue and how you act. My bf and her DH act like nothing is out of the ordinary so that is how they are treated!

I hope that helps.

 

[looo33]

I also think alot of how you are accepted is your attitude towards the issue and how you act. My bf and her DH act like nothing is out of the ordinary so that is how they are treated!

I hope that helps.[/QUOTE]


I agree and that is how we are here Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[simpilotswife]

Everyone is giving you the pros, let me give you the cons:

Other than the cost of your house and taxes, everything else in NC is going to cost you about the same. My mom moved to NC in 2000 and I was very surprised to see that their food and utilties were the same or higher. Gasoline is also very close to what we pay here in NY. Just make sure you research the heck out of the school district because most of the schools in NC are not on par with the education that they will receive in NY state. Also if you have a child who needs special ed I urge you very strongly to just stay put.

I've been to NC often and there is no way that I would ever move there.

 

[dismom3]

Interesting..........

 

[reeddi]

I have to chime in here as I made the comment about racism still around in NC. It is true that if you stick to the more populated areas it is not as noticable. But the more rural areas are still affected. As I wrote in a PM to someone who asked, as more people move into NC it is getting better. I guess my DH and I see it from the other side, we are both white and a lot of people think we have the same racial attitudes. We are sure to tell people when they make an off-color (no pun intended) remark that we don't think that way. We get funny looks. But I guess because we are white we hear the comments SOME people make behind other's backs. But like I stated earlier, it is getting better and if that is a concern - pick a bigger city down here.
Also make sure to do the research on the schools for your needs. It is true that some schools have better programs than others.
Good luck to everyone who is considering moving to where ever you are moving.