Any thoughts? She wants the cheaper housing... but I don't want my salary to suffer though, and I hate hot weather... Is there a local autox club in the area?

Also, what are some nice areas/neighborhoods in Charlotte?

Sorry for the n00b post, but I know next to nothing about the area...

try looking into the Concord,NC area they are building a lot of new nice housing in that area.

I think that most of the board members that live in charlotte will say for you to move right outside of charlotte, preferably south carolina like in Rock Hill or Fort Mill. Charlotte has ridiculous taxes - I work in charlotte, but live about 40 miles from charlotte in a small town.

I'm always hearing about how bad the property taxes and such are in Charlotte. Rock Hill is a decent-sized city and Fort Mill is smaller. But both are about 5 mins from the Charlotte city limits which connects itself via I-77. Hope that helps a little, b/c I'm pretty sure somebody else will chime their thoughts in...

Sweet, thanks for the responses so far. She also mentioned something about Huntersville this evening. Anyone have any info on there?

Huntersville is north of Charlotte on I-77. From what I have seen and heard of it, Huntersville seems to be a fairly nice area. I haven't lived in Charlotte long so I'm not too sure. Come on down, it's not to bad here. VIR is only 2 hours north and Road Atlanta is 3 hours south. Not too bad if you like racing. :buttrock

From the above, Rock Hill and Fort Mill are just across the line in South Carolina.

Sweet, thanks for the responses so far. She also mentioned something about Huntersville this evening. Anyone have any info on there?


Huntersville is nice too, it is borderline Concord, the place I mentioned earlier. I worked up there this summer, Really nice area and there is a REALLY good Italian place there, haha

-Huntersville is a nice place.

Cool cool. Any autocrossing in the area?

Where will you be working?

I suggest looking in Huntersville too. It is a nice area, but not right inside the city. We host an autocross here, lately once or twice a month, but we are about an hour an a half from Charlotte. There is another group in Winston-Salem but I am not sure how often they have them.

Where will you be working?
haven't gotten that far yet. :D But I'd assume downtown, I'm in the tech field.

I live up in Highland Creek which is near Huntersville and Concord. It is actually just a few miles from Concord mills and about halfway between I77 and I85. My ride to work in uptown is about 40 minutes and its 11miles (traffic sucks) but at least i can choose which interstate to come into town on. I have been in this area for about 8 years and it (like most of the outter communites of charlotte) is exploding. Where you live in charlotte really depends on how you want to live. Myers park/southpark/balantyne (sp?) is usually $$$ people. Uptown is very young and there are tons of new condos being built but they are skyrocketing in price. (250k to about 4 mil in town right now). North east charlotte (huntersville, concord) is very mixed and it simply depends on the neighborhood you want to live in. Hope that helps some. I am also interested in autocross events in or around charlotte.

:)

VIR, Road Atlanta and Carolina Motorsports Park (Kershaw, SC) all close.

I don't know where Reston VA is, but it's interesting you're moving to Charlotte to get cheaper housing. In order to get cheaper housing, you'll have to live well outside of charlotte, and your commute to downtown will SUCK!! I've never lived in Charlotte, but I did live in NC for a very long time (a number of different places) and had a number of friends who lived in Charlotte. If you live outside of Charlotte I'd live on the NC side not the SC side, but that's just my opionion.

You'll have a lot of opportunities to autocross, check out the traid SCC at auto-x.com and the tarheel SCC at thscc.com. Both groups run a solid season including rallycross. Also, the South Carolina region of the SCCA runs a few events that aren't too far from Charlotte.

As mentioned above, road courses within striking distance include VIR, CMP, Road Atlanta, and also Roebling road isn't too far away.

I moved to charlotte from the DC area in March.

No offense to anyone that's responded so far, but no one down here has a concept of what the housing market is like in the dc area.

I lived in an apartment in the south charlotte area (right near the couth carolina border) for 6 months when I first moved here. The area is very nice, but full of baby-boomer family types. I have since bought a house that is less than 2 miles from the center of downtown. The traffic getting to the city from the south charlotte area during rush hour was AWFUL..

Back to your original question -- I moved here and found a job that actually paid more than my job in the DC area, and bought a house that was half the price of my house in DC. It is bigger, newer, and much nicer. Tax rate is right on par with what my taxes in montgomery county maryland were, but with the house price being so much less, the taxes are a good bit lower.

If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Back to your original question -- I moved here and found a job that actually paid more than my job in the DC area, and bought a house that was half the price of my house in DC. It is bigger, newer, and much nicer.
Bingo! That was just what I was looking for. And this is what the wife keeps pitching to me; similar salary but with housing about half of what it is here.

Just to give a reference point about housing in the DC area, a 1-BR condo in Arlington starts around $400k. I've been browsing homes in the charlotte area, and for $400k I can get a damn mansion.

Thanks for everyone's input. jterp, I might hit you up for some more info. :D

I just had a few friends move to Charlotte about a year ago. They love it. Lots of younger people to apparently.

Yeah, its a nice place and yes housing here is cheap as hell. I have lots of family in SoFla and friends in New York and Baltimore. For what they pay in RENT you could easily OWN a very nice 3000sq ft house here. Oh, as for the mentioned autocrosses... VIR, Summit Point Road Atl., Roebling are not really auto-x... :D
I know tarheel does some events near here. I had a chance to ride around the rockingham track a few weeks ago. That was fun if you want to see what driving in banking feels like.
Well, if you do move here... welcome:wave

My family and I lived in Matthews, NC which is south and east of Charlotte. Great suburban living, lots of trees, more like a decent Fairfax would be but half the cost. Don't let folks scare you about the traffic there, it is tame compared to DC.

Hit up bimmerforums member and IT guy BwanaJoe for more on IT jobs in Charlotte. I believe his email is still e36m3@earthlink.net last I checked. I bought a rear spoiler from his uber-clean m3...and he can give you the hookup on the best BMW mechanic in the area...

Personally, I refuse to live in the burbs of Charlotte. Charlotte is still a small "big" town, so it's a great time to be living 4-5 miles from downtown. You won't have nearly as much traffic to deal with as you will living in the burbs and there's a lot more to do. I prefer older homes and neighborhoods with character and charm (like where jterp lives) to a newly built mansion in the burbs, but that's me.

and there are auto-x's around --

I ran one a couple weeks ago with the CCR SCCA at the Knight's stadium in fort mill, sc (15 min. from charlotte).
There's another one this weekend I think.. I haven't hit the track down here yet, but will this spring.

I know a great real estate agent if you get serious about making the move.

This is good info everyone. Im moving to Moresville NC next Nov. from Vermont to go to UTI. Im giving up my landscape business to persue a career in the auto industry. I live 2 hours from Limerock and was worried that there wouldnt be a race track close by.
Houses where I am are rediculous. I live in a ski town and crappy little old ski cabins are going for big $$. Cant wait to get out of the snow too. No more putting the bimmers away for the winter. Are there any nice drivers roads around there?

Nice '02 vt. You might want to check out the02group events when you get here.

Are there any nice drivers roads around there?


Ever heard of the blue ridge parkway? The tail of the dragon?




What kind of career in the auto industry will you be starting?

Nice '02 vt. You might want to check out the02group events when you get here.
Thanks! I definately will. There is only 1 2002 near me and '02 fest east didnt bring out as many as I thought it would. What events do you guys have?

Ever heard of the blue ridge parkway? The tail of the dragon?




What kind of career in the auto industry will you be starting?

Does the BRP go into the Smokey Mtns? Been there when I was young.
Never heard the tail of the dragon. Sounds fun.

Im going after the BMW step program. Work for the dealer for awhile, anything with BMW, Audi, VW, Porsche, bodywork, performance, maintenance. Maybe a specialty shop down the road. Restorations, race prep.
I need to fund some racing too.

Hows the weather down there on a yearly basis?

Thanks! I definately will. There is only 1 2002 near me and '02 fest east didnt bring out as many as I thought it would. What events do you guys have?





I am surprised at the number of them here, I knew of 5 before I even found out about the group! the02group has all events for this year listed on their website. just add dot com

Never heard the tail of the dragon. Sounds fun.


http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

Hows the weather down there on a yearly basis?


we have 2 seasons, 80's in the summer and it generally stays in the 40's in the winter.

couple weeks in the fall/spring gives you 60 degree temps.

the only downsides -

in the winter we really don't get snow (usually just dustings, occasionally up to 6 inches) but we get ice. it will be in the 40's during the day, rain. and get below freezing at night to freeze all the water on the roads. really a drag, id rather drive on snow than ice any day.

the summers can get pretty humid.


as far as motorsports, the obvious tracks that are close. as well as -

http://www.thscc.com/

http://www.ccrsolo2.org/

http://auto-x.com/

as well as the North Carolina Autocross Championship

http://auto-x.com/ncac.htm

Hope this helps,

- Andrew

Hope this helps,

- Andrew
Yep, definitely helps, thanks! Now I just need to start searching jobs down there... the only missing piece to the puzzle now...

And I'm in the I.T. Security field if anyone knows some techies... :devillook

we have 2 seasons, 80's in the summer and it generally stays in the 40's in the winter.

couple weeks in the fall/spring gives you 60 degree temps.

the only downsides -

in the winter we really don't get snow (usually just dustings, occasionally up to 6 inches) but we get ice. it will be in the 40's during the day, rain. and get below freezing at night to freeze all the water on the roads. really a drag, id rather drive on snow than ice any day.

the summers can get pretty humid.


Sounds good to me.
We seem to have lost our fall season up here. The last three years goes from humid 80-90 degree summer right to winter. -20 degree blowing snow sideways, 8' drifts from a 8" storm, frozen pipes, frozen gas lines in the truck kind of winter. It will snow 2' and then rain on top of it lately.
Our winters are from Oct.15-April 30 Its great if you like to freeze your ass off, or ski/snowboard/snowmobile more than half the year but I dont.
Cant wait.

I live in Huntersville (exit 25 on 77) in the Birkdale area and it is not a 40 minute commute into Uptown (what downtown is called here) know that 77 has been , it's more like 20 - 30.

I have auto-xed with CCR here and with the Winston-Salem crew. I've tracked at CMP & VIR and have logged many trips to the dragon.

Housing is still cheaper than DC and other areas in the NE, weather is much better as wedon't get much snow and when it comes it doesn't stay around long. Also people are friendlier in general here.

Huntersville is one of the newer areas of Charlotte and has rearly grown over the past six years. I live in a neighborhood that is similar in concept to some in the DC area and I love it. http://www.birkdalevillage.net/

I am VP of a local professional society and would be happy to bring you as a guest.

Contact me with any other questions.

Regards.

charlotte is the best im over round providence and rea(bestt part of town)
fort mill is nice cept for the over abundance of rednecks and lifted pickups....
but i dont know about autox clubs i just got my first bmw

Yep, definitely helps, thanks! Now I just need to start searching jobs down there... the only missing piece to the puzzle now...

And I'm in the I.T. Security field if anyone knows some techies... :devillook

Want to work for the bank? I maintain the critical IT infrastructure for Wachovia in town. There are tons of bank jobs around here.
btw... aside from the thundershower today, it has been beautiful here for the past week or so. Sunny and warm enough to be in short sleeves during the day. :cool only a few more months until the ice. :rolleyes

.
btw... aside from the thundershower today, it has been beautiful here for the past week or so. Sunny and warm enough to be in short sleeves during the day. :cool only a few more months until the ice. :rolleyes
I know, Ive been watching the weather channel and they keep saying highs of 63 in N Carolina. Im sooo envious. Cant wait till next year. :cool

I have a house for sale outside Charlotte, but it is in Shelby, which is about 45 minutes to downtown.

It is a small brick ranch. 1340 square feet. It is listed for $108,000.

I really need to sell it as I am now living in Indiana.

CCR SCCA for autocrossing. The Knight's Stadium events are on pretty small lots, but the weekend at Kershaw (Carolina Motorsports Park) is one of the most fun autocross weekends you'll have. Plus the BMWCCA chapter down there usually has an event at the Michelin Proving Grounds.

I miss the Carolinas. A lot.

I have a house for sale outside Charlotte, but it is in Shelby, which is about 45 minutes to downtown.

It is a small brick ranch. 1340 square feet. It is listed for $108,000.

I really need to sell it as I am now living in Indiana.

CCR SCCA for autocrossing. The Knight's Stadium events are on pretty small lots, but the weekend at Kershaw (Carolina Motorsports Park) is one of the most fun autocross weekends you'll have. Plus the BMWCCA chapter down there usually has an event at the Michelin Proving Grounds.

I miss the Carolinas. A lot.
PM sent

Nothing wrong with fort mill. Rednecks and lifted trucks belong in the south its the black SUVs with the NY plates that dont belong.

I actually considered Charlotte as a possible place to move to. I've been looking for IT positions from DC down to Atlanta, so I'm pretty open. I did apply for a specific position online with Wachovia, but god knows if anyone ever looks at what's submitted. If anyone has any possible leads, I'm pretty open as to what i want to do next... resume (http://www.blewsclues.com/resume.html) :)