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Hi to everyone! We are about to put our home in NJ on the market to relocate to NC. I am excited and petrified at the same time. When we bought this home our boys (3) were babies and we were clueless to even wonder about the neighborhood and if there were kids and if it was a good place for us to hang our hats. We ended up lucking out and the neighborhood is fabulous! so with that, we are now overly worried about the same things that never even came up the first time.
My questions are: does anyone live there and if so, can you share with me what it is like? Also, I have an auto search going for that area and it seems scarey how many homes in that development are coming on the market every couple of days! Is there something I am missing that I should know? Is there a pedifile or something? Is there high water and flooding? I am afraid to make an offer on a home until I know what we are getting our family into. As I said before, we are just afraid of doing the wrong thing but are so excited to move down if it is the right community. We have 3 boys who are also scared and so I really want to make the right move for them. Any help you can give me would be appreciated! thanks for your time! Tammy
Hi to everyone! We are about to put our home in NJ on the market to relocate to NC. I am excited and petrified at the same time. When we bought this home our boys (3) were babies and we were clueless to even wonder about the neighborhood and if there were kids and if it was a good place for us to hang our hats. We ended up lucking out and the neighborhood is fabulous! so with that, we are now overly worried about the same things that never even came up the first time.
My questions are: does anyone live there and if so, can you share with me what it is like? Also, I have an auto search going for that area and it seems scarey how many homes in that development are coming on the market every couple of days! Is there something I am missing that I should know? Is there a pedifile or something? Is there high water and flooding? I am afraid to make an offer on a home until I know what we are getting our family into. As I said before, we are just afraid of doing the wrong thing but are so excited to move down if it is the right community. We have 3 boys who are also scared and so I really want to make the right move for them. Any help you can give me would be appreciated! thanks for your time! Tammy
Tammy, you have been down for an initial visit and laid eyes on Waxhaw, haven't you? Just making sure...
Another resource would be to go onto UnionCountyMommies.com and speak to some of the "mommies" on there. There are quite a few familiar with that subdivision in there.
I live in Wesley Oaks. We bought our house about a year ago. We had a couple of small issues after the home was built with some work not be completed correctly, but it was fixed and was no big deal.
We were out on a walk last night and everyone is nice and friendly.
We really like living there. I work downtown, and although it can be a lon g drive, it is not that big of a deal.
Union county has very good schools, there are tons of kids in the neighborhood and it is real nice.
We are actually trying to talk the in-laws into moving into Wesley Oaks to be near us. We really like our neighbors as well.
As far as a bunch of homes being for sale, it is most likely due to the economy more so than being a problem with the neighborhood. I do not know why the homes in the neighborhood are for sale, but my guess is that people need to move for jobs, or bought more than they could afford, got laid off, want a bigger house, etc...
After being for almost 1 year, we know that we made the right decision of where to move.
I highly recommend the area and neighborhood. If you buy elsewhere, I would still stay in the area as it is one of the best in Charlotte.
Wesley oaks is right beside wesley Chapel, but is actually in Waxhaw.
EDIT: Feel free to PM me with any additional questions about the area or neighborhood.
Here's a map of Wesley Chapel from the town website:
http://ci.wesley-chapel.nc.us/vertical/Sites/%7B1AD59A02-0FFA-4E56-AC61-69E74B4BE4D0%7D/uploads/%7BE31E122E-A61B-4FAF-9EF8-EEDE5C2CA4D0%7D.PDF (broken link)
If Wesley Oaks is not in incorporated Wesley Chapel, it appears to be in Wesley Chapel's "sphere of influence," (hard to make out on the map). That means that Wesley Chapel has laid claim to future annexation of this area. Otherwise, the area is still in "unincorporated Union County."
Many newcomers are confused about exactly where they live. That's because the municipalities are fairly new and have very ragged municipal boundaries. Do not be confuse by your mailing address, because it only represents which post office your mail is delivered from (i.e. Waxhaw, Matthews, Monroe):
Many people in the Wesley Chapel area actually have a Waxhaw or Monroe postal address, but they live within the municipality of Wesley Chapel.
Many people in the Weddington municipality actually have a Matthews or Waxhaw address.
Most everyone in Marvin has a Waxhaw address.
LOL, and I think everyone who actually lives in the Town of Waxhaw has a Waxhaw address, although a large portion of them get their mail in a post office box. Even a few houses in South Carolina get their mail through the Waxhaw, NC post office!
Still, a large part of the area is still in unincorporated Union County.
All this means to you is that if you are a part of a municipality, you will pay an additional tax (Union County + municipality).
Union County has a county-wide school system that is laid out in districts, so living in a particular municipality does not impact which school your children would attend. A good resource for this information is on the Union County Pubic School website:
Hope I have not confused you more, but as a native, I see that a lot of newcomers are confused with this and thought I'd put some resources out there to help guide you.
Yes, Wesley Oaks may be incorporated into Wesley Chapel at some point and may have to pay extra taxes, especially if they start a police force. Some Wesley Oaks residents already took the steps to get themselves annexed into Wesley Chapel, just in case Waxhaw tried to annex them and make them pay Waxhaw town taxes. Right now, Wesley Oaks is officially unincorporated and pays only county taxes and Wesley Chapel fire taxes. It will be really confusing, if parts of the neighborhood are one day in both towns, if that is possible.
Hey, you should post that the head of the Wesley Oaks HOA, Sean, is a retired, but still young, New York City police officer that now works for Union County Schools. Or that another resident, Neil, is also a former NY police officer that now works in a local law enforcement position. They both have children, by the way and they seem to love Wesley Oaks, as do most residents. During pool hours, Sean has a somewhat regular spot in a shady corner near the clubhouse, I'm sure he'd be happy to assure you that the neighborhood is safe and unusually vigilant, if anything. With many, many northeners here, we don't think we lack street smarts nor take our children's safety lightly.
In a way, it is an enclave of people from up north, so don't move here if you only want to hear southern accents, it's probably half northeners. Most of the homes have at least one stay home parent, some even have two as they cashed out of NY with a lot of equity, so people are always around and on the look out for potential problems.
Walk the streets of Wesley Oaks anytime. You will see children playing freely, running between homes, like the old days. You will see moms with strollers and the regular dog walking couples. You will see the many front porches filled with parents talking while their children play. You will see parents driving in golf carts to drop their kids off or just to stop by and chat with other parents. They don't use golf carts because of a sex offender, it's because of the gorgeous rolling hills and large yards in the neighborhood! Many of these transplants can afford to move anywhere they choose and could easily take a small loss on their current house, if they wanted. They don't, because they love Wesley Oaks as a wonderful place to raise children.
Even suspicious vehicles are reported on the HOA website. On the other hand, the HOA doesn't freak out, if someone doesn't pull their trash can back up to the house by 7 pm, the way some might. Overall, the HOA fee of $450 a year is a bargain, considering it covers the common areas and the pool. Some neighborhoods charge that much for literally nothing. Oh yeah, the HOA fee also covers things like the Easter Egg hunt and the end of summer party, with it's DJ, free food, pony rides and the bouncy things for kids to play in.
The new shopping centers are opening in the next year. So, within one mile, you will have two grocery stores, all three of the largest local banks, a Target, a McD's, two pharmacies, etc to save you gas money and travel time. Residents on the shopping center side of Wesley Oaks already have a sidewalk to reach the stores, if they choose to walk over. The schools are great and the neighborhood has true spirit, doing things like raising money for a resident with cancer and holding block parties.
So, why are people selling? First, there aren't tons of homes for sale on every street. Perhaps 7% of the homes were for sale at the peak of the late spring market? 25 of 335 doesn't seem like a mass firesale. What is a normal rate in an older, established neighborhood, 5%? Remember, it is a large, newer neighborhood, some homes were still being built at this time last year, so there will be some period of change. Some of the people selling are young executives that are being transferred again, moving is part of their life. Some of the people are transplants that didn't have enough savings to move here without a job or simply miss the friends, family and the culture that they left behind. Some people that are selling are in over their heads, they bought too much house with easy credit and have found that their payments have adjusted too high. That is something happening all over the country. Some people are selling for profit, as they bought at lower, phase one prices in 2005 and can now trade up again. These are normal reasons to sell, especially in a market that was hot and has now cooled, as well as in a credit market that makes it harder to refinance.
At closing, people had to sign off that they had checked or were aware of the sex offender website, I doubt many sellers are scared of one guy living in his mother's house. Do people do background checks on every one of their neighbor's landscapers that may secretly leer at their children? There is possibly a greater danger in the weekly visitor that edges your neighbor's driveway, than there is in knowing exactly where a risk exists. Parental common sense and teaching kids about strangers is still the best defense against dangers to our children, isn't it?
Finally, remember that people have different motivations for bashing other people's neighborhoods. They might be realtors with homes to sell in competing areas or helping out a realtor, by steering buyers away from some areas. They might feel that bashing another neighborhood makes them feel better about their own purchase decision or boosts their own equity somehow. You never know why they choose to only see the negative in another area, but it may not be to genuinely help the OP. Posting links to sex offender websites is pretty misleading to someone from out of the area. I would advise the OP to visit the area and shop around, as it is a buyer's market for sure.
I must say that realtors are not allowed to disclose bout the sex offenders, and honestly it is someone's choice if they choose to live in a neighobrhood with one...so I dont think that this information is invaild to this post...or the original Posters question or that she was worried about having a sex offender in the development....I do know some people who live there that have bought over a year ago in there and they werent aware of it and well lets say thy wouldnt have moved in had they known about him....so again it is a personal choice, and I dont think that anyone was claiming it wasnt a nice development, or they didnt have nice people, as the family I know like the neighborhood regardless they just wish they were told before they bought...Marvin thanks for the links
I do think at this point it would be important to note that people can end up on the "sex offender registry" for reasons OTHER than for being a pedophile. So just because a neighbor is on the list isn't automatic cause for concern in my book. If there is one living in Wesley Oaks do we know what he was convicted of?
I wasn't aware that there was a sex offender there, just that the OP had asked if that might be a concern. I thought knowing just where someone resides and what they were charged with would ease her mind. I agree with Loves - sometimes just being armed with the facts helps ease your concerns, but just because someone has been labeled a "sex offender" is not necessarily a huge concern. Anyway, I'm not someone with an agenda (just a citizen who has been around long time). I just think it is best to give newcomers some links to resources so that they can deal in facts and not rumor. Didn't mean to cause concern or worry. As far as I can tell, Wesley Oaks is a well-respected neighborhood, but I don't live there.
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Union County Sheriff's Sex Offender Registry
