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Moving to Charlotte in a year

DeaconWalker

DeaconWalker

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Despite Governor McCrory's best efforts to try and scare me away from my home state, I'm sticking to my plan to move to Charlotte next spring/summer with my fiance.

I just wanted to get some ideas of what areas in Charlotte I need to be looking at to try and find an affordable place (under $700/month) for my fiance and I to rent.

Thanks.
 
What part of town will you be working in? $700 won't get you a 1BR in most of the more desirable neighborhoods.
 
$700 would be stretching it in most areas of town, unless you're willing to live in a rather sketchy area. if you found a way to increase it to about $1000, you could find lots of great places. renting houses can also sometimes be a better option financially (as long as you're willing to do things like mow the lawn).
 
Yeah $700 would be el cheapo if you want to be in the city or even "in" one of the burbs in something that's not completely run-down. Rental rates are through the roof right now because purchasing is so much harder. I know friends who own 2 bed houses that they were renting for $700 2 years ago who are not getting $1200-1300. Noted, some of it's gentrification in the specific area, but rates are still up substantially.
 
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DeacHoops said:
$700 would be stretching it in most areas of town, unless you're willing to live in a rather sketchy area.
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There are lower income areas, but there are very few areas in Charlotte I'd consider sketchy and/or unsafe to live in...at least that's been my experience living in a few different "sketchy" areas of CLT in the last 10 years.
 
RacerDeac said:
There are lower income areas, but there are very few areas in Charlotte I'd consider sketchy and/or unsafe to live in...at least that's been my experience living in a few different "sketchy" areas of CLT in the last 10 years.
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i think that's probably a difference in guys and girls. i know there are several areas, even areas that are up and coming where lots of my friends live, that i'd be uncomfortable being in alone.
 
freakadeac said:
Try looking at places in NODA.
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1BR apartment in NODA is about $1,000 to $1,200.

Edgeline Flats on North Davidson just started renting at about $975/mo for a 1BR with an open floorplan with $745 sf. It's right around the corner from Racer's house. Extremely convenient to uptown. There's also an impound/salvage lot across the street. Oh and a guy was murdered two blocks from there last year. Not sketchy though. ;)
 
DeacHoops said:
i think that's probably a difference in guys and girls. i know there are several areas, even areas that are up and coming where lots of my friends live, that i'd be uncomfortable being in alone.
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Yeah, I drive through an area every day on my way to/from work where I know about 10% of the residents walk out the front door each morning, look around, and mutter "fucking realtor" on their way to their car or bus. However, I do get waves from the usual hookers every morning, which gives me a good start to the day.
 
Hahaha, I wonder what your definitions of sketchy are. I've always lived in the poorer parts of every town that I've ever lived in. I don't need to live in Uptown or NODA, I had already resigned myself to those areas being way out of my reach. And Uptown is always a short bus ride away so I'm not too hung up on proximity. After looking up real estate in the area I'd almost venture to guess that trying to buy an inexpensive place in Charlotte might be more cost effective than trying to rent something.
 
yeah, where are you working? you can also think about considerations like if you're working downtown and would need to pay for parking, you might as well just live close enough to walk, and then you don't have to pay for parking, and you could move your parking budget to rent.
 
HeavyPetter said:
It's right around the corner from Racer's house. Extremely convenient to uptown. There's also an impound/salvage lot across the street. Oh and a guy was murdered two blocks from there last year. Not sketchy though. ;)
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I moved from the fine neighborhood of Belmont into the equally fine West End. :thumbsup: I just rented my two bedroom in Belmont for about $500 more a month than my payment on the place (that I bought near the peak in 2005), murderous neighbors and all!

OP - Tell us more about what you like and where you'll be working. Are you a big beer fan (craft breweries are popping up everywhere in NoDa and SouthEnd)? Prefer to drive or do you like public transport? Walkability important? Modern subdivision vs old urban neighborhood? Foodie? Working in Uptown? Southend? SW Charlotte? Ballantyne?
 
freakadeac said:
Racer, is West End next to Lincoln Heights?
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It's somewhat close. The Historic West End is mostly made of of Wesley Heights, Biddleville, Seversville and Smallwood neighborhoods. It's "anchored" by Johnson C. Smith at the top of the hill.

If you look at a map, it's basically everything past Gateway in Uptown. The neighborhoods inside of the box formed by 77, Brookshire, 85 and Freedom. It includes Gateway and the neighborhoods Northwest of Graham depending on who you talk to.
 
You can sometimes find smaller houses in NoDa for rent around 800 or 900, but they are usually the dumpy ones that no one has touched yet.

I live in Villa Heights, one neighborhood down from NoDa (between NoDa and Racer's Belmont neighborhood.) We have friends in Belmont too and my wife was over there getting some eggs and lettuce from their house about 10 minutes before the drive by shooting at one of the sketchy neighborhood convenience stores about one block down the street. Personally my take on Belmont is that it would get better much more quickly if the city rezoned it and got those convenience stores out of the neighborhood.

Here in Villa Heights there have been a rash of break ins during the day lately. Well not a rash really, but 4-5 in the past month or so. There has been one stabbing in the year since we got here, along with occasional gunfire, but hey, "'Merica!"

Seriously though, if/when we buy a house I would love to buy in NoDa. We spend a ton of time there. (Hello Dog Bar.) But houses, and rent, is so much more affordable in Villa Heights, that we would look here, especially with the light rail extension. If we could find a place on that side of the neighborhood where you could walk to a light rail station, that would be ideal.

So that's a lot of rambling about our specific situation, but my point is you can probably find a one bedroom place, or a run down two bedroom place within your budget near NoDa if you really want to. But yeah, it would be better to know where your work is, etc.
 
I've had a lot of luck in Dilworth - my place is a 2 br off park and is $900 a month. Doesn't look like much on the outside but the owner flipper it right before I moved in and it's in great shape.

I honestly don't know where to tell you to go for $700... I was paying more than that the first summer I moved here and lived in a dump in Matthews a few years back.
 
bth9673 said:
I've had a lot of luck in Dilworth - my place is a 2 br off park and is $900 a month. Doesn't look like much on the outside but the owner flipper it right before I moved in and it's in great shape
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When was that lease signed? That's cheap. You can occasionally find landlords in this old neighborhoods who don't really pay attention to the market and are just happy to cover their costs.
 
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