Thinking of moving to the Lincoln County/Charlotte, NC area. Any members near there?

FURYGT

FURYGT

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Looking for some pros and cons. Will need to buy a house with lots of garage space and find a job somewhere in the insurance industry. Sick of cold winters, snow, ice, high taxes and only being able to drive my C Body's 6 months of the year when it isn't raining all the time.
 
I'm in Asheville. 2 hours away. My mother in law owns an insurance agency and is looking for an agent.

I grew up in Charlotte. I left in 1989 and won't be back. Biggest city in the state. Housing isn't bad, price wise. Lincoln county is more small town and is a nice area, IMO.

Asheville area has tons of people from all over. A lot of them moved from NY (too cold) to Florida (too hot) and decided NC would be mild enough.

Charlotte has the same problems any big city has.
 
Where is your mother's agency located? I am a producer/agent for personal and commercial lines at an independent insurance agency right now that represents more than 20 companies.

I'm not a city person but my wife needs to be a reasonable distance from a place that has a specialized medical clinic, which Charlotte does plus I drag race and am a NASCAR fan so being an hour or so from Charlotte has some positives for me.
 
While I don’t live in Charlotte but can say from my experiences is it’s a pleasant city. Even more so if you live in one of the surrounding towns like say - Concord, with lots of access to the city everyday but none of the problems of living inside a city. You’d be nicely located, with Atlanta, Chattanooga and Columbia not too far. Still gets cold but nothing like CT. You can actually drive your cars 10+ months out of the year if you’d like. Oh and good stances on gun ownership if you’re into that kinda thing.
 
FURYGT said:
Where is your mother's agency located? I am a producer/agent for personal and commercial lines at an independent insurance agency right now that represents more than 20 companies.

I'm not a city person but my wife needs to be a reasonable distance from a place that has a specialized medical clinic, which Charlotte does plus I drag race and am a NASCAR fan so being an hour or so from Charlotte has some positives for me.
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A producer is what she is looking for. Mostly they write Erie. Agency is in Asheville but you have commuter areas outside the city Buncombe County and Henderson County.

Medical care is pretty good. I have to see a rheumatogist. Mission Health is the big one here.
 
I live a few hours East, and have several friends in the Concord and Lake Norman area. I've been to Charlotte a few times, and as mentioned by @Joseph James it has its share of big city issues. (There are places you don't wanna go after dark.) If there are any places you're specifically interested in, drop me a line, especially if you're on Facebook, I can connect you to some locals.
 
BLUPORT said:
I live a few hours East, and have several friends in the Concord and Lake Norman area. I've been to Charlotte a few times, and as mentioned by @Joseph James it has its share of big city issues. (There are places you don't wanna go after dark.) If there are any places you're specifically interested in, drop me a line, especially if you're on Facebook, I can connect you to some locals.
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It used to be you stayed out of North Charlotte. West was lower end. East and South were nice areas. Now, with light rail, thugs can spread out citywide and cause mayhem.

Personally, I visit cities but don't want to live in one. The Lincoln county idea is good. I would avoid Gaston county past Belmont. Gastonia has always been a rough place.
 
FURYGT said:
Looking for some pros and cons. Will need to buy a house with lots of garage space and find a job somewhere in the insurance industry. Sick of cold winters, snow, ice, high taxes and only being able to drive my C Body's 6 months of the year when it isn't raining all the time.
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Bill: I've been looking at the area around Aiken, SC for a while. Aiken is close to Augusta, GA and not too far from Columbia, SC. Its basically a college town, but there is a lot of yankee money there. Homes are an absolute bargain, and the taxes aren't anything like Connecticut. Here is an example:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sa...28,-81.117554,33.162271,-82.212067_rect/9_zm/
 
Last time I went to Charlotte, it was the wife and I making a weekend out of a Journey concert that was in SC, and we took the long way. We got to Charlotte, and were inundated by crack/meth/smackheads approaching my car while checking in, pumping gas, sitting at stoplights, etc. I switched from concealed carrying to open carrying, and that seemed to deter it a bit.... but I won't be visiting the area again anytime soon.
 
FURYGT said:
Looking for some pros and cons. Will need to buy a house with lots of garage space and find a job somewhere in the insurance industry. Sick of cold winters, snow, ice, high taxes and only being able to drive my C Body's 6 months of the year when it isn't raining all the time.
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I left Michigan in 95 and moved to Denver NC, in Lincoln County. I loved it there, A car guys mecca. There's nothing you can't get done within a short distance there. I stayed for 6 years.
BUT..... You are not going to get away from cold weather, ice storms, snow and high taxes there. Although it's likely better than Conn. Winter can, and will, hit hard.
 
Everyone has to live where they like. That's for whoever hit the dislike button.

CT taxes have made several entries on the zerohedge website.

I favor the mountains. Asheville is a quirky city. It's been called the San Francisco of the East before SF had people shooting up and crapping in the streets. IOW it's a pretty left leaning place. Most people have a live and let live attitude. The exception was when our small speedway was shut down.

I live in the county. People kind of do what they want. I have only seen one police car in my area in ten years. We have no crime. Houses do cost more than in Charlotte.

Rutherford county is dirt cheap but it has high unemployment.

The city data website is a good place to get other opinions.
 
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I'm located about an hours drive from the Charlotte area and if I was you I'd look to stay close to the Lake Normal area if you can. As you start venturing West from the lake the small rural towns/cities seem to start getting worse, like Cherryville, which is a dump. Huntersville seem like a pretty nice area, which is on the South side of the lake. @FURYGT Is there a reason that you picked Lincoln County?
 
Ripinator said:
Bill: I've been looking at the area around Aiken, SC for a while. Aiken is close to Augusta, GA and not too far from Columbia, SC. Its basically a college town, but there is a lot of yankee money there. Homes are an absolute bargain, and the taxes aren't anything like Connecticut. Here is an example:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sa...28,-81.117554,33.162271,-82.212067_rect/9_zm/
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That is a great house. It would not work for me but damn, a great house at a great price.
 
I really appreciate all of the input. For a variety of reasons my wife and I want out of Connecticut even though we both have lived our entire lives here and I have family here and we have 4 grandchildren here.

We will be visiting my mom soon. She lives in The Villages, Florida. She's been there 18+ years and loves it but I need to see how she is really doing. We lost my dad this past October and mom will be 82 soon. We don't want to move to Florida but may have to. We would not live in The Villages itself if we had to move to Florida.

As for the Lincoln County, NC area, we have friends there and there is some type of car event happening almost every day of the year. My friend works at a restoration shop, which is a plus. I do some drag racing and there are a couple of small tracks plus Charlotte close to that area. I am also a NASCAR fan. More importantly, it's just a bit south of being halfway between our grand-kids and my mom, warmer than CT but not as hot as Florida and it's also a within a days drive of Carlisle, PA. Going to be checking out the Lincoln County area on our way to Florida. My friend tells me they only got snow once this Winter and it was only 1.5" and went away quickly.

One consideration is that I will need to find a job wherever we land and my wife needs to be near a place that offers the specialized medical care that she needs. I know that SC has some tax advantages. I'm not a beach person and don't want to deal with hurricanes so I have no interest in being on the coast. Wouldn't mind being near a nice lake.

Stopped for lunch in Asheville last year and found the traffic to be horrible on a Saturday but we weren't there long enough to make any type of determination on the area. Just starting to figure out where to be. There is a house for sale in Lincoln County that might be right for us. The hole prospect of relocating is both scary and exciting at the same time.
 
FURYGT said:
My friend tells me they only got snow once this Winter and it was only 1.5" and went away quickly.
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Yeah I only got snow once this year, from that same system. It was over a foot deep here. But that's part of the beauty of the area to me. We get a little of all of the seasons. From 10 degrees and a foot of snow, to 100 degrees with 100% humidity, and all of the great days in between.

Lake Norman is where a lot of the NASCAR guys go/stay (high dollar area). But a 15-30 minute drive can put you in some rural areas around here. I'm pretty failure with the cities North of Charlotte, and East of the lake, and I'm sure I have an opinion if your looking for one.
 
BigblueC said:
Yeah I only got snow once this year, from that same system. It was over a foot deep here. But that's part of the beauty of the area to me. We get a little of all of the seasons. From 10 degrees and a foot of snow, to 100 degrees with 100% humidity, and all of the great days in between.

Lake Norman is where a lot of the NASCAR guys go/stay (high dollar area). But a 15-30 minute drive can put you in some rural areas around here. I'm pretty failure with the cities North of Charlotte, and East of the lake, and I'm sure I have an opinion if your looking for one.
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Opinions are welcomed.
 
FURYGT said:
Opinions are welcomed.
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We do get snow. I get more than the Piedmont area. Biggest I recall is 18" back around 2010 or so. I think one 8" snow this year. Our DOT does a good job keeping things plowed and salted.

Traffic can be bad in Asheville. I guess I am used to it. Too much NIMBY 20 years ago when DOT wanted to improve the roads.

FuryGT, I am an electrician at a big retirement community. I see a lot of people 80+ who are in fantastic shape. They are also nicer to deal with .

To anyone who comes through the area-avoid I-26! It's become a basket case. I40 is fine, 240 is fine.

Gatlinburg area is close to anywhere in NC you are looking at. They have quite a few car shows there. We go a lot for Dollywood and refer to it as the redneck Riviera but it is a nice place to go.

If you have friends in Lincoln county, it sounds like a good idea. Home prices should be better than where I am.
 
FURYGT said:
I really appreciate all of the input. For a variety of reasons my wife and I want out of Connecticut even though we both have lived our entire lives here and I have family here and we have 4 grandchildren here.

We will be visiting my mom soon. She lives in The Villages, Florida. She's been there 18+ years and loves it but I need to see how she is really doing. We lost my dad this past October and mom will be 82 soon. We don't want to move to Florida but may have to. We would not live in The Villages itself if we had to move to Florida.

As for the Lincoln County, NC area, we have friends there and there is some type of car event happening almost every day of the year. My friend works at a restoration shop, which is a plus. I do some drag racing and there are a couple of small tracks plus Charlotte close to that area. I am also a NASCAR fan. More importantly, it's just a bit south of being halfway between our grand-kids and my mom, warmer than CT but not as hot as Florida and it's also a within a days drive of Carlisle, PA. Going to be checking out the Lincoln County area on our way to Florida. My friend tells me they only got snow once this Winter and it was only 1.5" and went away quickly.

One consideration is that I will need to find a job wherever we land and my wife needs to be near a place that offers the specialized medical care that she needs. I know that SC has some tax advantages. I'm not a beach person and don't want to deal with hurricanes so I have no interest in being on the coast. Wouldn't mind being near a nice lake.

Stopped for lunch in Asheville last year and found the traffic to be horrible on a Saturday but we weren't there long enough to make any type of determination on the area. Just starting to figure out where to be. There is a house for sale in Lincoln County that might be right for us. The hole prospect of relocating is both scary and exciting at the same time.
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If you ensure it's the right place, relocation can be good, as you know I moved from Adelaide, South Australia, to Christchurch, New Zealand. I'm delighted with the move, you at least stay in the same country- I wish you all the best for the future.
 
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