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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Riley09swb
I read his thread in the Northern VA forum. He wants to be by a Metro stop and he's going to pay dearly for that.
I read it too, hence my suggestion that he look at the Philadelphia area. Far more choices in excellent school districts with public transportation at & below his budget. Many choices of towns loaded with colonial, federal, & Victorian architecture. . . I remember when Reston was built.
DC is a MidAtlantic city at the southern end of the Northeast rail corridor. The real estate is super expensive. If you're willing to look that far north, look at Philadelphia, while you're at it. It's much more affordable. Your budget is no problem there unless you want a mansion on the Main Line. I'd suggest that you look at & compare Philadelphia, Charlotte, & Atlanta. DC is the outlier in your chosen group.
DC isn't in the Southeast, but many would argue that Charlotte isn't really a "large city." If OP has narrowed it down to those 3 and wants a "large city in the SE," I think Atlanta wins by process of elimination. No clue about the school situation in the closer-in neighborhoods though.
Edit: and if "friendly" is a requirement, that rules out the DC area IMO also
Cotswold/Chantilly/SouthPark checks all the boxes. May be a little car dependent though...but so is Dilworth, Eastover or some of the other more centrally located neighborhoods.
In general Charlotte has a very well educated general populace that is only continuing to attract the best and brightest. We also should be proud to have one of the best community college systems in the country.
I read it too, hence my suggestion that he look at the Philadelphia area. Far more choices in excellent school districts with public transportation at & below his budget. Many choices of towns loaded with colonial, federal, & Victorian architecture. . . I remember when Reston was built.
My husband moved from Vienna to Reston back in the late 80's. His brother went to Dogwood ES which is now a school that everyone is told to avoid. My husband graduated from South Lakes which is also a HS that people are told to avoid. I mean it has been over 20 years since he graduated so things change.
I think the OP should give Cabarrus a try. He should check out Christenbury for a neighborhood and see if it's to his liking. There isn't transit out here but he could meet his budget requirements and good schools. He could also go private with Cannon.
I used the criteria because those data points match the census data in real, actual places that exist that we like and are familiar with elsewhere. It's an attempt to get closer to apples-to-apples without having lived there. It's not a snub, it's just trying to identify a more specific profile than "what's a great place to raise a family with good schools" which means a dozen different things to twelve people.
Snub? Not for most reasonable people, including those of us lucky enough to have obtained respected grad degrees, but maybe for a few of the keeping up with the Jones' crowd. Regardless, a prior post identifies only 6 SFH in Charlotte under $700K in neighborhoods with 25-30% of the homeowners holding grad degrees. The 2 neighborhoods are on bus lines, but not on a metro/subway line nor is either semi-urban. They're both driving-dependent suburbia within Charlotte. Good luck!
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Riley09swb
My husband moved from Vienna to Reston back in the late 80's. His brother went to Dogwood ES which is now a school that everyone is told to avoid. My husband graduated from South Lakes which is also a HS that people are told to avoid. I mean it has been over 20 years since he graduated so things change.
I think the OP should give Cabarrus a try. He should check out Christenbury for a neighborhood and see if it's to his liking. There isn't transit out here but he could meet his budget requirements and good schools. He could also go private with Cannon.
I think that there are several possibilities in & near Charlotte.
I also think that the OP is not aware of nor'easters. The same winter storm that hits Philadelphia has hit Baltimore, DC, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, & Atlanta. All, none, or some might be rain or snow, & sometimes the nor'easter goes out to sea somewhere in the middle of the path.
I think that there are several possibilities in & near Charlotte.
I also think that the OP is not aware of nor'easters. The same winter storm that hits Philadelphia has hit Baltimore, DC, Richmond, Raleigh, Charlotte, & Atlanta. All, none, or some might be rain or snow, & sometimes the nor'easter goes out to sea somewhere in the middle of the path.
He's from the Chicago area. Lake effect snow which can be comparable to a nor'easter. I'm from the midwest originally and lived about 90 minutes west of Chicago in another state. We got the lake effect snow as well.
Thanks for all of the input, other similar areas within Myers Park HS zone are helpful. Yes, I posted in the NOVA forum as well.
It's true that Charlotte and DC are quite different, but both being large cities are far more cosmopolitan than most parts of FL (outside Dade-Broward-Palm Beach, which is off the list for other reasons). Both appeal in different ways and have pros and cons.
In DC, the top choice would be Arlington, which would likely mean a townhouse or a SFH that needed a lot of updating. In Charlotte, it would probably mean smaller/updates to get between Uptown and SouthPark.
If we can't get in a neighborhood we love, we wouldn't compromise location (western Fairfax/Loudoun or outside 485) and rethink the plan. Any place would require a car, but a place like Dilworth is walkable to shops/restaurants and still a close drive to much else vs somewhere clogged with culs-de-sac like Waxhaw or Lake Norman area. Same with Arlington vs Reston, etc. We like the regional location of Charlotte and the lifestyle in DC is also appealing. Going north of DC (eg Philly) just doesn't appeal to us, especially with higher taxes.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Riley09swb
He's from the Chicago area. Lake effect snow which can be comparable to a nor'easter. I'm from the midwest originally and lived about 90 minutes west of Chicago in another state. We got the lake effect snow as well.
I'm a Michigan native. When I was a teenager my family moved to South Jersey. The concept of snow coming from the south never struck me as anything like lake effect snow.
If the advanced degree thing is really big for you check out the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). More advanced degrees there than many other places in the country. Forty-six percent of Chapel Hill residents have masters, PhDs, or professional degrees according to this list: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/stud...p-cities-2015/
Charlotte has more of a big city vibe, but Raleigh has a lot going on, too. Certainly more suburban lifestyle than Chicago, but might be worth checking out.
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