I'm thinking of moving to North Carolina - Should I?

So, scratch Columbia...

I did forget about the bugs...no clue how, but they would be my only neg for SC. I thought they only bred them extra big in TX until summer hit. My dogs however, have turned their passion from june bug snack in Cali to cicada snacks here. I don't have the heart to tell them yet that there aren't cicada snacks around every summer.

BDunn, did you mean an hour and half flight from Greenville/Spartanburg to Charlotte? Cause that doesn't seem right. I'm just north of Spartanburg and it takes me just over an hour to drive to Charlotte airport.

I agree on Columbia altho I've never seen it. My DH works there and when he gets home he always says it felt at least 20 degrees hotter there.

I lived in Columbia for the majority of my adult life and I can attest that is is the hottest spot on earth. But, it is only 2 hours from the beach and two hours from the mountains, real estate is still pretty reasonable, the people are the friendliest and it is an easy place to live.

Ardesia,
Glad to hear all that cause if my DH really gets tired of his 90 mile, one way, trip to work, he may start pushing the issue to move down that way. I've already said you can move me when it's time to call the funeral home to pick up my body and not before...but I work remotely for my office in California so it's easy for me to live anywhere while he's locked into a job.

If I ever had to leave the coast I would go back there in a skinny minute. Every time we hear the hurricane word we really think seriously abou it.

Ardeisa,
I didn't mean to offend about Cola, but remember Hurricane Hugo in 1989? I left Hilton Head and evacuated to my mom's in Cola and we got it worse there than Hitlon Head.....course poor Charleston didn't fair so well. After that, we used to evacuate to Aiken. Don't leave St. Helena -- it's beautiful!

Devil Dogs, yes, I meant an 1 1/2 drive, as you know.

Poor 4paws is now so-o-o confused. Look what we've done to her! LOL.

LOL, I wasn't offended, it really is the hottest place in the world but there is a whole strip of hot places from Atlanta through Columbia and on up towards Raleigh. The heat just stops before you get to the hills. It is an easy place to live however. All the advantages (and smog) of a good sized city but still with a small town feel about it.

:-)))) and, LOL, how about them Gamecocks yesterday :-))))))))

BDunn - can't compare the taxes, our house is a rental. We planned to buy right away, but we've moved so many times I ain't got the energy for it! We've been in the rental 2 years, and just renewed for 2 years more - LOL!

I will join the chorus here on not being so fond of summer. June, July, and August are horrid - but to be fair I spent 30 of my 35 years in Ohio, so it's not fair for me to whine about it. I just blast my AC for three months and look forward to Autumn. On the flipside, November to April in Ohio was frigid, so I figure I've got much more outside time here than I did up North - lol. I love fall gardening - I think this year I'm going to push the envelope of reasonability with the amount of pansies and violas I'm putting in. FLOWERS IN WINTER - WOOOOO! I also have a Yuletide Camellia, which blooms big red blooms in DECEMBER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! WEIRD! LOL!! :-)

Oh, I do love Trader Joe's! May have to go there today, now that ya mention it.....

Wow, that Yuletide must be wonderful - 7b - hmmm....I should be able to have one here. Oh wait, I'm moving (yet I was outside planting yesterday...what else? I have the plants and a plan!)

Yep, I'm a little confused, but that's ok. I've got a goal (hooray - for months I couldn't see anything in the future-that's really depressing) and that's what matters. North Carolina has a great website for teachers, SC is more confusing. That link with the map of regions (I posted it above) is really useful.

I can't believe it's over $500 to fly there!

Ok - Gamecocks? Not chickens, I hope. I am so not up on sports.
I've never been a fall person because it means everything is dieing and winter is around the corner, but that could change. I adore spring and summer, I don't care how hot it is. Just give me a puddle of water to sit in (like the dogs) or a hammock under some trees.

DevilDogs, this is what I'd planned for here - not to move again, but it didn't work out. So once again, it's my goal for the next place.

I enjoy all the chatter, even if I don't know what you're talking about. I wish I could go through and highlight on threads, so I can find what I need to refer back to quickly.

4Paws--just a thought, I'm assuming you are somewhere up near or north of Arcata? If time is not an issue, but money is, you might look into flights out of Sacramento into Atlanta, then get a weekly rental rate on a car and drive up to Charlotte area, spend a few days, then across to Raleigh and back down. Might even hit some parts of SC --just make a circle, sort'ave...You probably need the car anyway, and you might find airfare and cars at more competitive rates in Atlanta, it being a larger market.

Hi Laura
Had to get my two cents in.
I paid $2.67 for gas this week. We heat with propane (underground tank) filled it once and then only top it off a few times a year (we use it to heat hot water and to cook also.)

You have been given some great advice and information about many different locales, so I want to throw in the area around Hillsborough NC in the pot. Hillsborough is about 15 min from Chapel Hill...20-25 from Durham.. and about 35-40 from Raleigh. You can still find land with a house reasonably priced - in Hillsborough but it is getting more expensive. Coming from Calif ..you will not get sticker shock however. Near Hillsborough if you want rural is Mebane - or Efland about 10 min further west (towards the mountains) --very well priced.. As far as beauty..: truly our entire state is beautiful so there is no point in discussing that. We have a TON of landscape artists as proof. As a matter of fact we have a huge arts community in the Triangle and nearby Triad. The season is heating up for the arts/crafts festivals and we'll see everything from folks raising the sheep ..harvesting the wool ...dyeing it ...felting it/knitting it and creating the final product... ...to recycling large metal and found objects into art... glass artists.. photography.....woodworking....jewelry making...honey harvesting..soap making..etc. etc. The weather...currently, we are having a drought and the last big one was 2002. Those of us on wells are getting a tad edgy. We do get ice storms every now and again - but not horrific. Sometimes it does mean no electric for some for more than a day if the damage was widespread. We have a generator - purchased in 2003 and have not had to use it yet. Humidity: It can get humid in the summer and I do get a shock in the winter when I slide across the car seat... (shock strength not in proportion to tush size ..thank goodness... over the last twenty years..I would have progressed to electrocution!) . Lots of cultural activities - free concerts..dance festivals..book readings...arts festivals.. living near several large universities helps. We have a ton of local farmer's markets with fresh cheeses, honey, flowers, plants, veggies, home canned goods - fresh pies and pound cakes..and friendly vendors.. Need for teachers: always. My friend who is a dietician signed up with NC TEACH - went to class for less than a year and got a teaching certificate. Had to work to pay back the free education for a certain minimum about of time - so that tells you we need teachers. She was in Raleigh so I am not just taking having to work in the rural areas. We need good teachers.
Where to look in NC: Anywhere!!! Each area has the good and the bad but overall --I think it is mostly good. We are a diverse group and speaking about the Triangle/Triad we do celebrate diversity. We relocated here from Fort Lauderdale. I grew up in Saugerties, NY and then Forest Hills Queens - and I really feel at home in NC - and I have no family here other than hubby and one child. (I come from a large Italian family (13 siblings and a bazillion cousins,etc.) and so what I am saying is that you will meet wonderful people and lonlieness / isolation should not be an issue. If you want company...you will have it. If you don't ..folks will respect your privacy. You may want to look also near the Greensboro area because the small neighboring communities close to Greensboro (~ 30 min) are fairly rural and still affordable. Greensboro is growing quickly tho and is becoming known for the arts - some of the restaurants are fantastic - upscale etc. There are little towns like Saxaphaw sitting next to a swift moving river (? spelling ..sorry) --an old mill town reinventing itself and although still quaint and 'small town' is turning the old mills into condos and the mill houses into lovely bungalows. If you Google Orange county NC and check out Hillsborough and then from there go west in your search you will come across some nice small towns. Roads going west from the Triangle (the Triad after the Triangle) may be be less crowded then heading east toward Raleigh. The towns likely will be less developed commercially, and as a consequence, land more affordable. Towns like Apex, Fuquay Varina, Holly Springs,Pittsboro are all growing and getting kind of expensive (ditto Hillsborough). **After reading what I have already typed over: this is a big jumble of statements / information and not very cohesive....sorry... but the idea you should take from it and the other posts is that NC is really a great place to live..really... we need good teachers... we value teachers... North Carolinians, in my experience, make great neighbors. The economy experiences bumps sometimes but overall is doing well (It must be..there is an Edward Jones Investment office every 1/2 mile) and although textiles have taken a hit along with other manufacturing... those jobs/businesses are being replaced with other large employers moving to town..training the local folks ...offering good employment .. so teaching jobs will be more necessary as folks move in and the demand for educators grows. Health care access is great too...and the pups will be in good hands as we have many wonderful vets! What we DON'T have is good italian bread! No stand alone (or few I should say) butchers..bakers... (but we have a great many 'candle' makers) (thanks to quite a few thriving beekeeping businesses..) Lest you think that this is too good to be true...if you have allergies... NC is not known as the best state to avoid allergens/pollens/molds..etc. And, we don't have the highest pay... nor the cheapest taxes...and unfortunately our air isn't as clean as we would like for it to be, nor are the schools at or near the top in the nation (which is why we need you!)

WOW! Missingrosie, you sure are convincing...lol
Laughed out loud and the seat static scene!

NY and FL have good Italian bread, but other places haven't a clue. Like finding real sourdough in upstate NY, or real green chili out of the four corners region (the sw one). :-)

I'm convinced. Now I have to get there. I am near Arcata, yotedog. Sacramento has cheaper flights, but I'll have to weigh the cost of gas ($100) and probably a motel on the return as I won't be up for the five hour ride through the mountains in the winter after a minimum 6 hour flight. Most of the time it works out the same, with less wear and tear on me to fly out of Arcata. Atlanta is a good thought, and I can visit at least one DGer down there. :-)

Thanks!

I just got this in from a min pin list so you may want to cross Funquay-Varina off your possibility list depending on if this passes.

The town of Fuquay-Varina (NC) is proposing pretty severe "kennel"
legislation - Four or more dogs (or cats) will constitute a "kennel"
under the ordinance. And operating a kennel - even for a hobby breeder
- will be very expensive indeed. The purpose of the legislation appears
to be to stop almost all dog and cat breeding in the town.

However you manage to get to the Triangle - if that is on your plan of action (you may want to check out flying into Greensboro)...then be sure you round up one of those hotels where they will give you a weekly rate. With Research Triangle Park being so close..lots of folks fly in from all over the country (world really) and stay for a week or more so there are hotels that will give a decent weekly rate. Did I say that Chapel Hill/Carrboro is or has opened a dog park? And that the pooches are welcome at the farmers markets? Our own Rosie (hence Missingrosie) was very very welcome (with some common sense ...which she had if not me) applied.

My new neighbors have moved in (their house was listing for 899,000.00 dollars) and have erected a fence on the property line. They have at least 4 dogs .(I think 5 actually) different breeds. (mostly appear mixed) so I think maybe rescue family... One is a real howler ... coon dog... pretttttty too....... Anyway, not sure that it means much except that maybe the rural buffer in Hillsborough has no kennel legislation (?) By the way..that is something that didn't get mentioned about NC. If you live in a PUD (planned subdivision...one or a few builders..) chances are the homes will be similar in value...style...etc. (Probably Calif. is the same??) but here in NC ..if you don't live in a subdivision then you will find a huge variety of styles, price ranges..etc.,, side by property side. Which is how I got neighbors with a house close to a million dollars and my house value is a fraction of that. The nurse up the road has two llama. A few roads over from that property is a fenced pasture with a family of pigmy goats. Try going to Realtor.com and that will give you a site that will let you put in the price and the description (land or not...baths/beds, etc.) Check out Mebane and Efland.

The Charlotte airport is a hub for US Air. Atlanta is the hub for Delta. You can usually get less expensive flights to a hub.

I'll keep that in mind ardesia, about the hubs.
I have been looking on realtor.com, which is what got me so excited. CA is absurdly expensive.
That business about making anyone who has more than four dogs a kennel-not good. That's why I want rural. My six are staying with me. No less.

Now to tackle all the paperwork around teaching. :-)

All of NC is short on teachers. I am moving in DEC. to Pamlico County its real quite and calm. The Triangle area is booming and lots of traffic and noise. Pamlico has few rules and regs right now.
We are just around the corner from Oriental which is the sail boat capitol of the US. Lots of people from the North here also. Land and taxes are cheap compared to the rest of NC.

Lavina

I hear Oriental is a real nice place to live and visit.

Unusual name for a town.

Well, there is always Climax NC ;)

and Lizard Lick! I think that takes the cake-well, maybe not....

There's a Climax, CO...but Lizard Lick?
I like it. Alliteration floats my boat. I'll have to look that one up.

tigerlily, I love Lizard Lick.
My son had a home there and they were offered 3 tiems what they paid for it so they took the offer and moved to Franklin County just up 401.I miss that house it was the purple house on the hill on Hwy 97.

Shoot I miss Lizard Lick. Most NC people don't know they have a candy company there. They make Lemon Drops.

Lavina

While I love NC and think nothing of making shopping runs to Raleigh, Durham and greensboro, I still love it here in Virginia. I'm in lower halifax County and I know they need teachers here, there are a lot of people who run rescues and land/taxes are cheap. There, just had to put my two cents in.
Of course, my hubby can't get a job but he's not a teacher.
We're near the towns of Halifax and South Boston. I have 27 acres for which I paid $75000 and stuck a modular on. Taxes are $900/yr and my homeowners ins is $450.

I have definitely seen that property is cheaper in VA. They haven't quite been hit with the influx of new folks like we have...yet

Paws, just want to tell you about one of my friends who moved here from NY with her family a couple of years ago. She, her husband and her three grown (one finishing high school, almost grown) children moved here with a lot of hope and prayer and all had good job experience and were capable hard-working people. It took 6 months for anyone to get a job, and it was not paying well enough to support the family...and over a full year before they all found work. None of them are doing what they could do here, but they are living just to make ends meet.

They feel like what they are doing is worth it and they love it here, but my friend has said she wished they had been interviewing and putting in applications, etc, for at least 6 months prior to coming here because it was so hard. If they had rented from anyone other than a church member, they would have been homeless because they could not make the rent for many months, and are still in debt. They had to get assistance for awhile, too, and I know they didn't like that.

So I know you are hearing lots of good things, but it really is often a struggle to find steady employment and avoid the cycle of poverty often found in the south. My advice would be to start applying for jobs and talking to people and try to get something started before you move. ...lol....FYI...you couldn't pay me enough to live in Chatham County..lol

My sisters family just moved to Durham and are renting. She's telecommuting right now and he's working for Account Temps for now until he finds a permanent job.

I personally think the rent is pretty high, $1575/mo but it is a signle family in a huge development (Hope valley Farms) with a lot of families and young children.

Holy moly, that is high!
I'll be teaching, and I think there will be a job for me before I get there. That's more or less the plan, so thanks Trop, for checking in.

Lemon Drops in Lizard Lick? A purple house? I have a purple house - Paws Purple Palace for Pets....lol

One of the reasons NC has gotten to the top of the list is the extensive and clear website for teacher recruitment. I've already started the process. Often getting licensed in another state takes months (and money!). NC also seems to have some creative ways to get good teachers certified and give them solid professional development to keep them good. The salary cut compared to CA is not that huge; I've worked for less.

We too had thought of renting a house for a year in NC before deciding where and what to buy. The single family rents were way, way higher than here in NM, and home prices are higher as well. $1575 a month rent was typical, and home prices were in the $300,000 range. When we start adding in Highway Use Tax for our 3 vehicles, utility costs for a/c and other expenses that we don't now have it was quite a surprise. We still are holding the possibility of living in NC but it's not looking nearly as financially feasible as we thought. We don't want to think of retirement and end up being greeters at Wal-Mart to make ends meet. LOL

My sister lives in Pinehurst and just loves it. They built a large home there and don't plan to ever move.

June

My son was just looking at a townhome in HVF for $150,000 - three level, three bedroom - the maintenance fee turned him off tho.

Mid city like that near the huge mall is expensive. I moved from HVF to Hillsborough in 2000 -just before the big mall. We knew it would get crowded. My total mortgage ~2500 sq foot house ...including taxes and insurance was $850. month at that time - and it wasn't with a big down payment either.

If you don't want to live in the "city" (like Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill) prices are reasonable. That same son was looking at a house in Mebane--a pale yellow beauty with a white front porch and a fireplace, etc. Clean and neat and on a manicured acre.Listed for 141,000 and would have sold easily for mid-high 130's. It's still there on Daniels Farm Road Laura (:0)

This message was edited Oct 2, 2007 6:08 PM