North Carolina members, read this!

[redsubdivisions]

From 2/21 to 2/24, I am going to be visiting North Carolina to visit family and potentially look for a place to move to next year. I have been in Florida my whole life and I am ready to make a permanent change for myself and my immediate family. With that said, I am wondering if any of you guys on here can give me an insight on what are some good places to visit? I am going to be visiting Charlotte and Asheville for starters. I am also planning on switching from automotive into the IT field, so job prospects will be looked into when I move (estimated move date is March 2015, sooner if I can find something before then).

TL,DR - What are some good cities to look into for relocation?

[flyboyx]

ashville is expensive as fuck. pretty but you likely won't be able to afford a home there. i love charlotte. its a big city with all the amenities but still a bit of a small town feel. look at south carolina too. charleston is great. also savanah is great. northwest georgia in the mountains is pretty awesome too.

these are areas i look at. i dream of having a couple acres on a lake in the mountains over that way.

[Zacm829]

Charlotte is a good town for job opportunities as it is pretty big and you can still live in SC to avoid the higher cost of living in NC. Check out Fort Mill, SC too!

Good luck!

[redsubdivisions]

Charlotte is a good town for job opportunities as it is pretty big and you can still live in SC to avoid the higher cost of living in NC. Check out Fort Mill, SC too!

Good luck!

Definitely going to consider this. Thank you!

[sharky]

Kinda in the same boat but Im in CT and want out of here. I lived in Greensboro NC for a year, it was OK, Charlotte was nicer. Im looking into Raliegh triad area now.

[Pottsalot]

West Asheville is a lower cost of living. Can't beat the great food and beer selections. Must go to The Wedge Brewery in Asheville when you visit

[quikveedb2]

^ What he said. Asheville is awesome.

[Klug]

I just moved down to Greenville, SC from Philly back in October- its pretty much a gem of the south. There are about 200 European based companies that call Greenville their home because of tax breaks. BMW has a huge plant here that makes the x3, x5 and x6's and are also a huge employer. Cost of living is cheap and I feel I have more to do than I did living in Philly- more places to eat, shop and do outdoor activities.

I'm also in IT, working as a manager of managed services for a Greenville based co-Lo and the job search went really well- there are a lot of options down here.

I'd defiantly out Greenville as one of your options- but Asheville and Charlotte are pretty nice too. I am about 1h from Asheville and 1h 15min from Charlotte.

GL!

[sharky]

Never thought about Greenville, have any other opinions on it? I'm looking at houses in the 140-160 range in Raleigh and they seem to be
Plentiful. How's the area? Ghetto parts? Southern charm? Hipsterville?

[SpecM]

winston-salem is nice if I may say so. close to Greensboro and not too far from Charlotte. housing is very reasonable in winston.

[quikveedb2]

My parents are in W-S & I have to say the area is very nice, and growing. I spent my high school years there, and went to college in Boone after that. It's not too far from the mountains, but a bit of a haul to the coast. Lots of fishing, mountain biking, climbing, water-sports, etc. And it's the home base of Krispy Kreme, which is a bonus.

[e30rapidic]

Never thought about Greenville, have any other opinions on it? I'm looking at houses in the 140-160 range in Raleigh and they seem to be
Plentiful. How's the area? Ghetto parts? Southern charm? Hipsterville?

Where in Raleigh? I've lived here almost 31 years.

[matthugie]

Well, having lived in Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Wilmington I feel pretty comfortable weighing in.

Asheville - absolutely awesome place. Pros: Food, beer, atmosphere, scenery, music and art scenes, all top notch. Cons: the entire town is based on service. There is very little industry, so finding a job in IT will probably be tough. It's also a fairly expensive place to live.

Charlotte - where I presently am. Pros: Great job market, plenty of size, tons of stuff to do, great location central to the other areas in NC and upstate SC. There are also NFL, NBA, and minor league baseball teams if you're into live sports. Cons: it's huge, and there isn't really a good way to get anywhere. Traffic can be a pain, depending on where you are going to and from and at what time. Strangely, for a city of this size, the food is somewhat subpar. There are some good places, but very few that are outstanding. Real estate can also be expensive, depending on the area of town.

Raleigh - this area has changed a lot since I lived there about 8 years ago, and the woman and I have discussed a move up there. It's smaller than Charlotte, but still a good sized city. Pros: high concentration of tech firms, especially in RTP, which bodes well for your job search. The night life there has improved, as have the restaurants. It also has an NHL team if you're into hockey. Real estate isn't too bad, even in decent areas. Cons: like Charlotte, it sprawls and frequently there isn't a good way to get where you're going. Traffic can also be pretty bad, depending on the time and area.

Wilmington - don't live there. There is no job market whatsoever, and the traffic is god awful.

[jdt10768]

Greenville is cool for a smaller than CLT location, and IT jobs are to be had. Great cycling community, road and mtb, good live bands, downtown is excellent, and always something happening outdoors, every night. Fairly conservative, but you hang out with the people you like anyway. Bonus: bmw performance center, zentrum, lots of car people
Can get to asheville, clt, charleston, atl quickly for getaways

[Klug]

Never thought about Greenville, have any other opinions on it? I'm looking at houses in the 140-160 range in Raleigh and they seem to be
Plentiful. How's the area? Ghetto parts? Southern charm? Hipsterville?

I'm not quite sure how the housing market is for purchasing but my GF and I just started renting a brand spanking new 3bdr/2ba w/ 2 car garage in a gated community for $1300/month... a few other ones without a garage went for around $1000 for a 2bdr. A few houses we were looking into renting were all going for around $1400/month for a ~$2,500sq ft home.

So granted I have only been down here for two months, but from what I see and take notice this area is BOOMING or has been booming for the past 10 years. They really are building it up such as their mall and Cabelas. Main Street has its charm and is done up real well with about 10 blocks of all mom and pop owned restaurants and shops along with a huge waterfall that runs through the town.

Moving from center city Philly, we were looking to move downtown within walking distance to bars and such but realized that most of the area around the downtown is commerical/office real estate. So we landed on moving about 7 miles outside where most of your Shopping/Lowes/Grocery/Chain restaurants are located. All around us are very nice developments and housing areas. They all seem fairly new- most homes built post 2000.

No rough neighborhoods from what I found- we were originally looking into moving to Spartanburg (30mins North) but from what I heard is that it is mostly hicks and getto areas.

So far, I can't complain- I really like it down here so far. Everything you want is easily accessible and it doesn't quite feel like I'm living "in the south" Looking forward to taking trips to Atlanta (2h) Myrtle Beach (3.5h) for some long weekends and Bonnaroo in TN since we are pretty centrally located. And for living in Philly the past 5 years of my life I can say people down here are MUCH more friendlier, easier to talk to and make friends.

Also! Flying home is a breeze- direct flights to PHL, JKF, LGA, EWR for under $200 along with $4/day parking