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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
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