Charleston SC is actually cheaper than Charlotte now. My wife and I looked at houses their about 2 years ago and you could get a 3,000 SF 2 story house on any of the surrounding islands for around $300k.

The only issue is the high crime due to the surrounding low income popluation. That portion of SC is very poor.

My wife is from Charlotte and her mom just moved back there from FL. Housing prices are at their peak. Very good economy there right now.

Shoot me a pm and I can get you the name of her realtor. She came highly recommended.

Here's a plug for Raleigh or much of the surrounding area.

2 hrs to the beach and 2 hrs to the mountains.
Three large lakes nearby and a bunch of smaller ones.
Three major universities.

You gotta consider, He is in CLEVELAND!! :p

NC is in my future plans as well. Our beach community has been twisted into a mini-florida with overpriced condos and 10,000 sq ft. tacky tourist junk shops.

Gotta be a coastal area though for me. I'll travel to go trout fishing in the mountains but beyond that fresh water is for drinking and that's about it. Saltwater is a necessity.

My parents live in Asheville, where they moved to from Michigan when my dad retired in 1999.

-I think it is a nice place, and I recommend it overall, but there a few negatives. First of all, there is little "zoning" in that area. What this means is that you might be living in a $400,000 home of 3500 square feet with all the upgrades and a three-car garage, while the people right next door are living in a mobile home with an old truck up on blocks in the front yard. Also, though the winter is gentle...you still have winter. Figure on some snow every year, though it will be gone in a day. Finally, the police up there are heavily into "revenue enhancement". I've not had any run-ins with them during my visits, but my parents and brother sure have!

Asheville's downtown area is wonderful, and the place is growing rapidly. But right now there is only one real mall, and I think only one Wal-Mart and only a few other big-box stores. It really is still a fairly small place.

Good luck!

I was actually thinking that myself, but did not want to say it. ;):D:D

I guess for folks who like to live in a big city, Ohio might not have the nicest cities (Columbus is nice), but the small towns, suburbs and rural areas seem nice enough. Whatever though, everyone enjoys different lifestyles. I myself, could care less about how far the nearest Starbucks is. I and my wife are most happy at home enjoying our property or working on hobbies and we simply make a pot of coffee if we get the urge for some. ;):D

Asheville or Knoxville

Wilmington is where most movie related activities have been in NC

Tucson Arizona. Nicest descent sized town in the sunbelt. Baring that, San Antonio Texas.

QUOTE: "Please don't come to Florida."
Nothing personal you understand.
__________________


LOL...or Missouri. Nothing here. SmileWavy

Fixed that for you Joe.:D I like to visit San Antonio, but couldn't live there. I don't know spanish.SmileWavy

We just moved from Charlotte NC where we spent 5 years...

Charlotte is a nice place where day to day quality of life is very high. Relatively little traffic, nice parks, nice shops, restaurants, clubs. 2 Professional teams. Opera house etc.

Charlotte lacks character big time. Every 4-5 years they tear down buildings and put them up again. So everything is relatively new and a bit cleansed.

So family life is top. Commute is OK and it is easy to enjoy time with family. People are nice and welcoming.

There is not much diversity though. In the nice neighbourhoods everybody had 2.4 kids, works at Bank of America, sends their kids to Latin (insert here expensive private school), drives a Lexus SUV and a CLK convertible etc.

From Charlotte you can be at the beach in 3h (door to door to Sullivan's Island) or at Dragon in 2.5h.
There are several race tracks for DEs around the corner (Rockingham, CMP, VIR, Loewes, Road Atlanta, Roebling rd).

All in all we had a great time. We missed diversity the most and being Europeans we missed being around old stuff (difficult to explain).

We have always said that if Charlotte was a 3h flight from Europe we would have never moved.

Wilmington is a very nice place. You cannot beat the beach on your doorstep. If Charlotte lacks character the same (apart from a 1 mile square in downtown) is the same.

What I mean by lack of character is the fact that to go to the restaurant you go to the shopping mall.... etc.

Ashville by contract has a busy center with lots of things happening every weekend. It does not have the choice in shopping and entertainment that Charlotte offer, and the closest big airport is Charlotte itself.

Send me a PM if you have any questions....

Good luck

You could not pay me to live in Columbia, SC.

I like Asheville a lot. I am selling my vacation home 45 minutes southwest of Asheville. (regretfully) I liked Asheville because mostly of the downtown area. The architecture is quite old for the area, not European old but dating back to the late 1800's. Some of the buildings downtown were designed by NYC architects and it shows.

There are lots of shops and restaurants downtown, the only downside was all the meth heads. There were an alarmingly dense population of them panhandling on the street. Mostly 18-25 year olds and a lot of couples. It was really weird.

I preferred being 45 minutes from there in the sticks. By sticks I mean no real city life and none of the problems. Crime was zero and being close to a lot of National Parks and recreations areas made where I was at ideal for me, there was a downtown there as well just small, lots of little restaurants and shops, along with a Lowes, Wal-Mart and grocery stores. Everything I needed was in town about 5-10 minutes from my house with a city 45 minutes away.

I vote for outskirts of Asheville with Charlotte a close second.

Go for the coastal areas! Gets very hot in Charlotte mid summer! Traffic sucks too!

Don't forget the biggest plus

Lots, and LOTS of NASCAR!!! :D

I've lived on the Gulf coast of FL and in NoVA. I think the east coast of the US is a great place to live.

Why are you selling jim

Move west young man!

Ashville is beautiful, but the further west you go, to a point, the more friendly the people are. I recently left the crowded east coast after 15 years for some Indiana elbow room.

-Nice people here.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/suppo...s/beerchug.gif

I expect Sweden is out of the question. :D

We have free health care, sill and vodka for everyone!

New York City is about the only place to live in this world. Other places are nice, and great to visit, but NYC is the best place to live.