Charlotte

We don't take too kindly to carpet bagger yankees in these parts. Ya'll best just stay with yer own kind...

Ok, just kidding. What industry are you looking to get into? That's gonna be the big factor. I live in Cary, which is right outside of Raleigh. The local joke is that Cary stands for Concentrated Area of Relocated Yankees. I personally am from Ohio. Its a lot harder to find a true southerner than it is to find a true yankee around here.

 

I spent the night in Cary last night doing the drinking thing for a buddies GF's b-day. Watch out for the Cary Gestopo!!!!

 

They're building multiple 4-Star hotels (I think three) in the Raleigh / Cary area as we speak. Might be a good place for you to look. Sorry I can't help you much with Charlotte, like you, I've only visited.

 

are you finishing at the cornell program?

 

Westworld,

I too grew up in New York (Cortland) and went to school at Fredonia. I moved to Florida after graduation and recently to the Atlanta area. I can only speak from my experience but my whole family loves it here. North Carolina is also very nice. I would never move back to Buffalo!

My advice for you is, now is the time to move while you are young. Give it a year and it you don't like it go somewhere else. Eventually you will find a place to call "home". Plus I can drive my Ferrari year round here, I just wear a sweatshirt if it is a little chilly.

Good Luck to You!

 

charlotte is a great area and has a great feel. i really like it and don't know too many other places i would rather live.

 

well...you said it! let me know when you plan a visit so i can plan on being back from the left coast. we will have to see if we can organize an f-chat tour for you when in town.

best,

pcb

 

Foreign Cars Italia actually built a dealership down in the Charlotte area. The original FCI and Sport Auto are both in the Greensboro area which is maybe an hour and a half to two hours away from Charlotte? (Correct me if I am wrong). There is a slew of smaller shops around the state.

 

I too am looking to moving into the area with my wife. I know there is a lot of commercial construction going on in the area. I hear Huntsville is really nice area? I am so over the Million+ populations of Florida and need to go back to the "small town" feeling again. Besides, it beautiful country up there!
-Nate

 

North Carolina is a funny state. Most of the cities are pretty classy and then you drive out into the country for about ten minutes and you are back in the sticks. Both Charlotte and Raleigh are pretty much in an image battle as to who can out do who. Obviously Raleigh is trying to catch up to Charlotte and they are going so far as to hang some LEDs in a huge mesh screen over the top of the main street that will flash inspirational messages and they are calling it modern art. People who are coming down from the north want that southern comfort and weather but don't want to give up the perks of city life. What you see here is an interesting mix of both. I'm sure that if you log onto whatever newspaper they have in Charlotte, it would answer most of your questions about how life is there. If you read the Raleigh paper and the front page story is about LEDs and a big water fountain, well you know that isn't all that bad around here if that's all we have to talk about. I'm sure the same applies to Charlotte.

 

I can only imagine what you "city slickers" think of:

Winston-Salem (me)
Statesville (eclipse185)
Graham (resnow)
Advance (khughes)

 

Don't forget me in the big metropolis of Asheville

 

Are those even places? Just kidding. I'm talking more like Johnston County type of country. Its like a time portal when you get to these places. I don't think Winston or Ashville count in that regards. I haven't been to Statesville nor Advance, so I have no idea about either of them. I've met Bob, he doesn't seem like one of them good ole boys that likes to spend the afternoon on the old couch on the front porch popping shots at squirrels while drinking moonshine, so I'll go with Graham/Burlington not being quite the hickville either. Now Hillsborough on the other hand...

 

As someone that moved from NJ about 4 1/2 years ago, I can tell you that we absolutely love it down here in Charlotte. As a few people have already mentioned, it has the "city" feel right around down town, a more laid back feel as you head out of town, and very rural country just 10-15 miles away. I could never imagined starting our business in NJ, but down here, it seemed like a great idea.

With all the new businesses, growth, and new facilities going up, I gotta believe the hotel and restaurant business is going to be booming over the next few years. Johnson and Wales University just moved in a year or so ago, so we're anticipating many new and exciting restaurants here.

Moving from outside NYC, at first it was tough finding good restaurants here, but in our short time, we've found a ton of them, and new ones keep going up every day.

From your original post....tax friendly. That's relative. Certain taxes are much less than NJ, others are more. In all, I think you end up paying the same, they just nickel and dime you down here, where in NJ they hit you big once or twice. The biggest difference we see is that houses are MUCH cheaper down here relative to NJ. We sold a 2200 sq ft TOWNHOUSE up there for as much as we bought our 4000 sq ft, new, brick house on 2/3 acres and a boat dock here.

anyway,...my 2 cents.

-Bob Saville