Who here knows about places to live in North Carolina?

[Ime]

How's Charlotte? I've heard good things about it down here in GA.

I've been contacted about a possible interview in Winston-Salem. How's that for a city? A coworker told me Winston-Salem was "Redneck City", but no one else said that. Is Winston-Salem a great place to live?

So hard to pick a place to move these days.

 

[TySnyder]

Originally posted by: Ime
How's Charlotte? I've heard good things about it down here in GA.

I've been contacted about a possible interview in Winston-Salem. How's that for a city? A coworker told me Winston-Salem was "Redneck City", but no one else said that. Is Winston-Salem a great place to live?

So hard to pick a place to move these days.

I wouldn't recommend Winston-Salem but maybe thats just me. I lived in NC for 17 years. Charlotte for about 11, Boone for about 5 and Wilmington for about 6 months.

I recommend Charlotte and imagine I will find myself back there in the next few years. There is tons to do and the city is always growing by leaps and bounds.

 

[Ime]

Originally posted by: TySnyder

Originally posted by: Ime
How's Charlotte? I've heard good things about it down here in GA.

I've been contacted about a possible interview in Winston-Salem. How's that for a city? A coworker told me Winston-Salem was "Redneck City", but no one else said that. Is Winston-Salem a great place to live?

So hard to pick a place to move these days.

I wouldn't recommend Winston-Salem but maybe thats just me. I lived in NC for 17 years. Charlotte for about 11, Boone for about 5 and Wilmington for about 6 months.

I recommend Charlotte and imagine I will find myself back there in the next few years. There is tons to do and the city is always growing by leaps and bounds.

What's wrong with Winston-Salem? Too small? The wife and certainly have had our fill of small-town life here in GA. Not quite looking for Atlanta-sized. Nashville-sized would be good. Used to live in Nashville.

 

[TySnyder]

I have never lived in Winston-Salem so I guess my opinion shouldn't be held as highly as someone who did/does live there, but I do think it is somewhat of a "Redneck City", it seems like the growth there may be a little stagnant. Charlotte is a big banking city so there is tons and tons of money coming into the city for growth, and the suburbs are not too crowded.

PS. I was born in New Hampshire and consider myself a yankee so maybe a "good 'ol boy" wouldn't mind living in Winston-Salem but I had the choice to do it before and I said NO WAY. Then again all of this is just my opinion.

 

[Ime]

Originally posted by: TySnyder
I have never lived in Winston-Salem so I guess my opinion shouldn't be held as highly as someone who did/does live there, but I do think it is somewhat of a "Redneck City", it seems like the growth there may be a little stagnant. Charlotte is a big banking city so there is tons and tons of money coming into the city for growth, and the suburbs are not too crowded.

PS. I was born in New Hampshire and consider myself a yankee so maybe a "good 'ol boy" wouldn't mind living in Winston-Salem but I had the choice to do it before and I said NO WAY. Then again all of this is just my opinion.

I grew up in Southeast Virginia and my wife is from another country. I think we've both had enough of rural country life here in GA. Wife definitely wants to live in a city and I can't blame her.

Thanks for the tip. I know other people on these forum live in NC, anyone else have any opinions on Winston-Salem? Not looking good so far.

 

[Accipiter22]

whre's a good place for a guy in his 20's to set up shop? (mid twenties say). I'm looking for decent clubs and bars and night life to keep me entertained on weekends, decent real-estate, rental prices....

 

[bmacd]

I stayed in Raleigh/Durham when I was down there for a week and despite the horrible rain, it was absolutely gorgeous when it was dry out.

-=bmacd=-

 

[TySnyder]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
whre's a good place for a guy in his 20's to set up shop? (mid twenties say). I'm looking for decent clubs and bars and night life to keep me entertained on weekends, decent real-estate, rental prices....

Wilmington, no doubt about it.

The girls there are hott, but if you touch my ex I will have to kill you.

 

[MiniDoom]

Asheville is nice. It doesn't get too hot in the summer. Also cool place for outdoors stuff.

 

[TySnyder]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
Asheville is nice. It doesn't get too hot in the summer. Also cool place for outdoors stuff.

Asheville is a pretty cool place, but they have a rather large gay community. I don't dig it.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Originally posted by: Ime

Originally posted by: TySnyder
I have never lived in Winston-Salem so I guess my opinion shouldn't be held as highly as someone who did/does live there, but I do think it is somewhat of a "Redneck City", it seems like the growth there may be a little stagnant. Charlotte is a big banking city so there is tons and tons of money coming into the city for growth, and the suburbs are not too crowded.

PS. I was born in New Hampshire and consider myself a yankee so maybe a "good 'ol boy" wouldn't mind living in Winston-Salem but I had the choice to do it before and I said NO WAY. Then again all of this is just my opinion.

I grew up in Southeast Virginia and my wife is from another country. I think we've both had enough of rural country life here in GA. Wife definitely wants to live in a city and I can't blame her.

Thanks for the tip. I know other people on these forum live in NC, anyone else have any opinions on Winston-Salem? Not looking good so far.

Winston Salem is pretty boring, but has most of the big city shopping and dining with some limited entertainment venues. Charlotte and Raleigh are your best bets, just don't expect too much.

Having grown up near Winston Salem (went to WS schools), lived in Charlotte for 8 years, and finally moved back to the area (High Point) 10 years ago, I want to move out of NC altogether.

EDIT>> If you like NASCAR, college basketball, and country music, you should be happy. Otherwise you'll be miserable (like me).

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: TySnyder

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
Asheville is nice. It doesn't get too hot in the summer. Also cool place for outdoors stuff.

Asheville is a pretty cool place, but they have a rather large gay community. I don't dig it.

Compared to DC or any other big city, Asheville?s gay population is relatively small. There are allot of hippies though.

 

[Apathetic]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
whre's a good place for a guy in his 20's to set up shop? (mid twenties say). I'm looking for decent clubs and bars and night life to keep me entertained on weekends, decent real-estate, rental prices....

I'd recommend Charlotte then. Lots of bars and clubs. Very easy to walk around the downtown area while doing a bar crawl.

Dave

 

[Muadib]

Charlotte voted 5 best place to live in NC.

 

[Apathetic]

Other than Raleigh, I'd definately recommend Charlotte. I'm originally from Pennsylvania and I moved down here to Raleigh about 8 years ago. So far, I love North Carolina. I have some friends in Charlotte that I visit frequently. It has a skyline (unlike Raleigh) so if you're looking for a "city" you'll want to check it out.

Oh, if you move down to North Carolina there are a few of things you need to be prepared for
1) NASCAR
2) NASCAR
3) March Madness
4) Did I mention NASCAR?
5) March Madness

And if you move to Charlotte,
6) NASCAR
7) NASCAR
8) NASCAR

EVERYONE down here (even a lot of the women) is a huge college basketball fan. You're either a Duke fan, UNC (University of North Carolina) fan, or a NC State fan. During March, everyone who is not a fan of your team is THE ENEMY. And if you happen to get UNC and NC State confused with each other in March ....welll... let's just say you'll be having a closed casket funeral. Rather than choosing side, I highly recommend you claim "ingnorant damn yankee" status for the first few years.

Oh, one other thing you need to know about the south in general. (This was explained to me when I first moved down here by a friend of mine who's a native.) In the south, there are two types of people who move down here from the north. Yankees and Damn Yankees. Damn Yankees are the ones who stay.

Dave

 

[jmagnum]

Originally posted by: Apathetic
Other than Raleigh, I'd definately recommend Charlotte. I'm originally from Pennsylvania and I moved down here to Raleigh about 8 years ago. So far, I love North Carolina. I have some friends in Charlotte that I visit frequently. It has a skyline (unlike Raleigh) so if you're looking for a "city" you'll want to check it out.

Oh, if you move down to North Carolina there are a few of things you need to be prepared for
1) NASCAR
2) NASCAR
3) March Madness
4) Did I mention NASCAR?
5) March Madness

And if you move to Charlotte,
6) NASCAR
7) NASCAR
8) NASCAR

EVERYONE down here (even a lot of the women) is a huge college basketball fan. You're either a Duke fan, UNC (University of North Carolina) fan, or a NC State fan. During March, everyone who is not a fan of your team is THE ENEMY. And if you happen to get UNC and NC State confused with each other in March ....welll... let's just say you'll be having a closed casket funeral. Rather than choosing side, I highly recommend you claim "ingnorant damn yankee" status for the first few years.

Oh, one other thing you need to know about the south in general. (This was explained to me when I first moved down here by a friend of mine who's a native.) In the south, there are two types of people who move down here from the north. Yankees and Damn Yankees. Damn Yankees are the ones who stay.

Dave

haha...I live in Raleigh and you are so right on! The month of march sucks here.

 

[tarheelmm]

I am in the process of moving down to NC from NoVA. Its been cool so far. I am looking at a house in Union County which is just south of Charlotte. Most people that I talked too said to stay out of Mecklenberg County because of the schools. The schools in Union closely match what my kids had in VA. Charlotte has both the big city feel but still has the country as well.
Just my 2 cents

 

[mikej007]

I was down in NC 2 weeks ago. Cary and Raleigh seemed really nice, the weather was great for the three days I was down there, about 75-85 and sunny. The only thing I wasn't too crazy about was the roads, there was tons of traffic and to get ANYWHERE you had to go onto highways and get off at Exit such-and-such.... kind of irritating, but housing was pretty cheap and the weather was nice (especially compared to NY- on both counts). I hear it gets oppressively hot in the summer though.

 

[imported_Pablo]

Greenville SC FTW! Mid-sized town, decent house prices, a lot of diversity (lot of foreign companies moving in) and plenty of jobs.

Oh, you said NC...

 

[NuclearNed]

Here's another vote for Asheville. Its a really nice town in the middle of the mountains. As someone said, it is a great place to live if you are into outdoor activities. There is plenty of hiking on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a short drive away.

Why does it really matter if they have a large gay community? The last time I checked, gay people don't abduct straights and force them to convert.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Asheville is a very nice town. Its a bit small for me, not very dense. There's a fair amt to it, but spread out so you have a lot of two lane road drives or hopping on the interstate to get places. That said it doesn't get as humid in the summer, gets snow fairly regularly in the winter, and overall is a very nice place. Downtown is a cool place to walk around, fair amt of bars & music venues, and you're right near South Carolina.

I've lived in Wilmington & Greenville. GVille is pretty damn small, half the town population leaves when ECU lets out. People can't drive for a sh!t there, worse than Raleigh, and you're about 15 minutes from anywhere in the town at worst. I don't like it at all, but I doubt you'll even consider it as the job market isn't exactly diverse...

Wilmington is a great town IMO. Fairly spread out, but not too much. Traffic can be a bit of a bitch at times, but there is always a side street or shortcut to take. You're 15 min from the beach just about anywhere in Wilm, at worst. From what I hear its growing a lot. Summer's get hot as well, like Raleigh, but you can always go hit the beach. Downside is summer has lots of tourists, and get used to seeing rich people everywhere. They never bothered me, but it could've gotten worse since I left. I hear working at a restaurant in Wrightsville Beach brings lots of bikini clad chicks your way