Tell me about North Carolina

[casjen]

I am interested in moving south, but not too far south. I am tired of freezing cold winters. My DH isn't totally on board with moving but would consider it if the cost of living was less than the Northeast and the winters were milder. My sister and parents are in SC and I don't want to go that far south. We'd also like to be close (2 hours or less) to the coast and not more than 4 hours from SC.

I teach so I know jobs would be hard to come by right now. I am just exploring housing cpsts, cost of living etc before we even start thinking about looking for jobs.

Thanks!!

 

[Southerndisney]

Where does your family live in SC? The shape of NC extending so far east in comparison to SC puts Myrtle Beach closer to much of NC than the Outer Banks.

 

[thenewgirl]

I live in eastern NC and really love it. Ask away...what do you want to know?

We live near (well, in a suburb town of) Greenville, which is a still-small-but-growing city. Our city is best known for East Carolina University, its med school, our hospital, our "arts", Pirate football (and tailgating), and a fabulous location. We are about an hour and 15-20 minutes from the coast (but about 3.5 hrs from the Outer Banks), and about the same distance from downtown Raleigh. We are also about 4-6 hours from the mountains (depending on what part you visit). Both our coasts and our mountains are known world-wide for being outstanding vacation spots.

Not sure what you teach, but our county (Pitt) has 6 high schools and a good number of elementary/middle schools. Of course, it is not easy to get a job anywhere right now, but we do hire new people every year.

As for cost of living...you can get a "small" 3 bedroom, 2 bath house for 100-135K, and a larger one (over 2000 square feet) for right around 200K. We still have yards (with trees and everything!) too-unlike some places!

Again, if you have any other questions, ask away! I've lived in eastern NC my whole life, so I know a little about other cities and towns, too.

 

[DisneyNutMic]

I'm on the other end of the state (I'm a mountain girl myself) but I can say that I'm happy here. Decent place to live. I'm not sure how crime or anything is around that part of the state but there is VERY LITTLE around here. More in the larger cities of course and I don't think you could pay me to live in Charlotte.

 

[LisaInNc]

I live in Northeastern NC a town called Elizabeth City. I am an hour south of Virginia Beach Va, an hour from The Outer Banks so the ocean is very close. It's a small southern town on the river. It's got a Mayberry quality. We have the largest Coast Guard base in the country. There is a University, a Bible College and a comminuty college.

If you are a teacher....come on! We have a school system that is deplorable. The 2 HS and one of the 2 MS have NEVER met their AYP test standards. It's the worst thing about living here. My DD is in private school.

Houses are plentiful and really cheap right now.

I am transplant from RI, been here almost 20 years. When we picked this town it was one of the hundred best towns to live in the US. Not sure what the ranking is now but it's a nice small town.

Lisa

 

[stichy]

I'm in Charlotte. I grew up in Jersey and moved from Delaware. It totally sucks. It wasn't really a planned move. Bank of America bought the bank DH and I worked for and it was move to Charlotte for a job office he received or both become unemployed (they eliminated our entire division). There are so many transplants down here. I miss having more than 2 seasons. I didn't really come willingly so that may explain why I'm not a big fan of NC. The only decent part is we are way closer to Disney and go more frequently now.

 

[AlbertZeroK]

I have lived on Ocracoke Island, NC for a few years and did support work on the road all over NC. I like the Greenville area, it's nice. Elizabeth City is nice too, but the trip into VA from there is horrible, I think because VA won't expand the road to allow people to travel to NC for tourism. We love the Asheville NC area, but cost of living there can be expensive.

But NC is a great state, much like VA where I currently live. You can go from farming communities and beaches to mountains!

Cost of living can be an issue in some places, but not everywhere. Raleigh area is pretty expensive, especially the research triangle.

I live in rural VA which is much the same economically as rural NC areas. If you don't mine a house in the country, we closed 4 years ago on a 3 bedroom brick house with a full walk out basement for $126k including all closing costs.

A word of advice though, if internet is important to you, make sure they have good internet in the area. Much of Rural NC (and VA for that matter) have issues with getting internet. We use Verizon Wireless here (max 1.5M on a good day)

 

[Jitzy]

I live in Northeastern NC a town called Elizabeth City. I am an hour south of Virginia Beach Va, an hour from The Outer Banks so the ocean is very close. It's a small southern town on the river. It's got a Mayberry quality. We have the largest Coast Guard base in the country. There is a University, a Bible College and a comminuty college.

If you are a teacher....come on! We have a school system that is deplorable. The 2 HS and one of the 2 MS have NEVER met their AYP test standards. It's the worst thing about living here. My DD is in private school.

Houses are plentiful and really cheap right now.

I am transplant from RI, been here almost 20 years. When we picked this town it was one of the hundred best towns to live in the US. Not sure what the ranking is now but it's a nice small town.

Lisa

I grew up in Elizabeth City! It's such a small world!

 

[Jitzy]

I have lived on Ocracoke Island, NC for a few years and did support work on the road all over NC. I like the Greenville area, it's nice. Elizabeth City is nice too, but the trip into VA from there is horrible, I think because VA won't expand the road to allow people to travel to NC for tourism. We love the Asheville NC area, but cost of living there can be expensive.

But NC is a great state, much like VA where I currently live. You can go from farming communities and beaches to mountains!

Cost of living can be an issue in some places, but not everywhere. Raleigh area is pretty expensive, especially the research triangle.

I live in rural VA which is much the same economically as rural NC areas. If you don't mine a house in the country, we closed 4 years ago on a 3 bedroom brick house with a full walk out basement for $126k including all closing costs.

A word of advice though, if internet is important to you, make sure they have good internet in the area. Much of Rural NC (and VA for that matter) have issues with getting internet. We use Verizon Wireless here (max 1.5M on a good day)

It's all four lanes now!!! At least until you turn on what used to be the old 104. But 17(the old dismal swamp rd.) is all four lanes!

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

We live in a suburb of Raleigh. The NC beaches are about 2 hrs away and Myrtle Beach in SC in about 3 to 3 1/2 hours away. This particular area has a mix of "locals" and people from all over the country as well...so... there is a good "mix" of people and cultures.

We are from SC ( about an hour south of Charlotte NC) and it is just 4 hrs from my howmetown to our new "home" in Raleigh. But...people are different...the standard of living seems higher, people seem to have more access to higher education and the primary and secondary schools are much better.

The job market is ok....it is tough everywhere these days but some places are hiring. As far as housing, you can get about 2800 sq feet for about $300k in a golf course community in the Raleigh suburbs. Commute into Raleigh for work is about 30-40 mins.

We get a little cold winter weather. When it snows all the locals / southerners rush to the store in a mad panic to get milk and bread! It is so funny! And, just to be clear, I am indeed one of those nuts making the mad "milk and bread dash"...

Hope this helps---

 

[sjms71]

I live in Wake County NC also. DH's job transfered us here in 2001 and we are from Jersey. The Raleigh area is very popular area to move. It seems there are people from all over the US here. We like it here but are not in love with it. If you have children the school districting dilema is a HUGE issue here. In our particular area there is traditional schedule and year round. As for teaching jobs here in this part of the state well, good luck. Not saying you won't find one but Wake County has made severe cut backs in education for three years in a row now. The first two years they cut teachers and administration this year. A little backwards if you ask me. . As pp said we can have winters here, we are the only ones in our neighborhood that shovel our walkway and driveway. Anyway, hope that gives you a little more info on our part of NC. I can pm you some links if interested (wake county schools stuff like that) .

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

We are actually in a Johnston County suburb of Raleigh. It is a little town called Clayton. There is not much here as far as shopping and dining. But we are 25 - 35 mins to Raleigh where there is all kinds of stuff. And they do have good schools and housing... not many jobs--most people commute into Raleigh.

 

[sjms71]

We are actually in a Johnston County suburb of Raleigh. It is a little town called Clayton. There is not much here as far as shopping and dining. But we are 25 - 35 mins to Raleigh where there is all kinds of stuff. And they do have good schools and housing... not many jobs--most people commute into Raleigh.

I'm not too far from you. I'm in Holly Springs.

 

[DawnM]

We live near Charlotte and DH works in downtown Charlotte.

It has been a bit of an adjustment for me. We moved from Los Angeles though so it is quite a bit different.

My DH and kids love it here though. We have ROOM compared to LA, that is for sure. In LA we had a tiny house and a tiny yard. We now have a very large house and 2.5 acres in a very nice area.

It really is a great place to raise a family. I am having to learn that even though there is no Disneyland or nearby beach or larger museums, there are things to do here and I am learning to appreciate them even though they are on a much smaller scale.

When we were talking about moving to NC, our first choice was Raleigh. I have several friends there so being closer to them was what I wanted. DH interviewed in Raleigh and they called to hire him for the Charlotte office.....go figure! So, we took it.

I also am a teacher and worked for only half a year here. Long story, son's surgery, etc....

Dawn

 

[itutorfortravel]

I live in Charlotte, NC. We moved here from Charleston, SC (actually Mt. Pleasant if you are familiar with the area). I grew up in Charleston, so I have really enjoyed living somewhere else, tho there are many things I miss about the lowcountry. The cost of living is definitely lower here than in Charleston, too. I like it that it gets cool in the winter and most years it snows, even if it is just a few flurries that look pretty!

 

[MSSANDRA]

We are about 45 minutes, north of Charlotte outside of a very small town. We love our life here in NC. We love the quite of the country while being less than an hour from Charlotte where there is most things you would want from a large town. There are great hospitals near by. (only 2 hours from Duke). We are about 4 hours to the beach and 2 to the mountains. We do have a change of season, though spring and fall can sometimes be short. Winters are often mild though we got a lot more snow this year! Summers are HOT. We are about 8-9 hours from WDW. An easy drive for us though many of our friends do fly. DH's company relocated about a year ago and we turned down the chance to go because we did not want to leave NC.

 

[Madison'smommy]

I'm not too far from you. I'm in Holly Springs.

omg! I am in Fuquay!

 

[uncspin]

I grew up in eastern North Carolina (Carteret County; Atlantic Beach/Emerald Isle/Cape Lookout), but left in 1998 to go to college in Raleigh. My husband and I live in Raleigh now. We live in a condo in the North Hills/midtown area. We love Raleigh, but also love getting out of the city and heading to my parents home to visit at the coast.

We do not have children, so I cannot really address the schools - except to say that I am quite disappointed with what the school board is doing right now. You may want to read up on the situation. My husband live in a strange part of town that is affected by the decisions they make on both sides of the coin. Our home has 3-4 elementary schools within a 5 minute drive (Brooks, Douglas, Green Year Round, and Root). If we had a child right now, they would not be districted to any of those schools. It is complicated...

Anyway... we love Raleigh. We can get to Carteret County in about 3 hours, Wilmington in about 2 hours and change and Charlotte in about 3 hours or so. Hope you are able to get some good info!

 

[sjms71]

omg! I am in Fuquay!

Hey neighbor that is too funny. I am on the Fuquay side of Holly Springs if that make sense. I am Holly Springs and my next door neighbor to the right of me is Fuquay mailing address.

 

[Madison'smommy]

Hey neighbor that is too funny. I am on the Fuquay side of Holly Springs if that make sense. I am Holly Springs and my next door neighbor to the right of me is Fuquay mailing address.

That is crazy... I am on the Holly Springs side of FV. I am right off of 55 about a half mile from the HS line.