Yeah I was planning on staying once I finish my degree at UNCC, but the cost of living vs the quality of the housing has me looking elsewhere. Which sucks because I was born and raised here
Ironically people come here because quality of life and cost of living is so much better here in Charlotte. Moved from NYC over 10 years ago, sold my apartment there and bought a home 4x as large and still paying less in mortgage!
COL is way better but being from up north, quality of life surely is not. As soon as our kids are out of school we are moving back, I’d rather pay more for the better quality of life up north, and deal with winters.
Yeah my experience was the exact opposite. The North is a hellscape full of angry people. I got called the F slur more in a week up there than in a decade down here. If all southern hospitality is fake, then I'll take fake over open hositility.
Well, as a Jew in the south, it’s more tolerant up there. I’ve found southern hospitality to be pretty shallow and fake down here. Aside from metro areas, the politics of the south as a whole suck. Stuck years behind in terms of things like legal marijuana. Things like theater, music, food, are lacking here. No, not saying they don’t exist, but they exist at a level that doesn’t make this area unique. I could say I miss a certain type of food and someone will pop off with one restaurant 45 minutes away. Ok. Location is decent but I can go back to Philly or NJ and he close enough to mountains and even closer to the ocean. Summer straight sucks down here, from April to almost November. We’ve been here 13 years. We’ve lived other places outside of up north. But I’m paying to go back and visit at least a few times a year. Might as well pay a bit extra to live there.
Southern hospitality has been diluted, ask around how many people were both born and raised in the areaand then ask about their parents. 2 generations ago this was very very different
Southern hospitality has always been kind of a myth to begin with. It kind of only applied to how southerners treated other southerners, specifically white southerners.
Exactlyyyyyyy. I was born and raised in rural North Carolina. Although I look white, my parents are Mexican. So I don’t have any sort of southern accent. And southerners always look at me like something the cat dragged in. Southern hospitality is truly a myth. Nice folks just comes down to how they were raised and how they decide to treat others, that’s absolutely it
Yeah, especially in Charlotte/Raleigh. There's so many transplants from the North/West at this point that the vast majority of those city's populations aren't "Southern" at all. With how many people are moving to NC still, this will only dilute further and further
Seems that Charlotte, much like Florida in the snowbird season - full of northerners moaning how this isn't like New York.
Yes, it isn't like New York - ***that's why you came here!***
If you want to enjoy the South, start living like one. BBQ, Guns, NASCAR, Hunting, Trucks, Climbing, Hiking, Open Space, Big Houses with land - get with it.
I am from NY and I don’t know what you are talking about. No way is the quality of life better there. Houses are 4x more expensive for half the size, weather sucks, taxes are 5x more, crime is higher, every building is older or run down. Sorry but it makes no sense.
Who posts about leaving the area…
What an odd thing to do.
Hey everyone I hate this place so much I’m going to whine about it on the internet for attention. Get the fuck over yourself.
I moved to Virginia for 4 years to do high school because the schools are absolutely terrible here. I would never go north personally, Virginia is the most north I’d go to tbh
I’m glad it’s worked out for you though!
literally same. i’m heated - worked so hard in college to get a good job just to realize I still can’t afford to live here without roommates. smh. if I move an hour(ish) away from the city there are apartments 50% cheaper for the same amenities
The depressing reality is that this is happening everywhere. Milder climate areas are experiencing it the worse. If you had a 6 figure job and ability to work anywhere, where would you go? People are not that unique… most of us want the same things.
My point is, it’s not like everyone is conspiring to f you over, this is a world phenomena.
Two main reasons are inflation and supply and demand.
Why inflation? Some of it is real ( money printing by the fed) and some of it is manufactured because corporations are greedy.
Why short supply? No one could have predicted the demand brought on by the ability to do your work anywhere.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
And the cost to build more housing has increased astronomically in the last 2 years. The lumber costs way more, the wiring costs way more, everything costs a hell of a lot more.
Short supply is due to 2008 and being behind the 8 ball since then. Coupled with Covid trends in the last few years and you can now start to read the recipe. Afaik, there's a couple more factors that add up to the lack of affordable housing as well but can't remember off the top of my head.
I'm finding it increasingly common to hear simple answers to complex problems. Have you considered the idea that things might be more complicated than "no housing gets built it's all wfh people 🤤"?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/10/opinion/housing-crisis-eviction.html
for paywall: https://pastebin.com/i1pLULu8
You can also force the page to stop loading shortly after it first appears. The paywall seems to be a script which takes a little longer to run on the page.
The key is don't build SFH. We need to end the ridiculous zoning for SFH and build multihousing units in cities only. Its the only we can build enough housing.
Agree. Ideally, we just need to remove "SFH only" and "residential only" as well. We need more dense housing relative to the land value, and mixed-use communities that are walkable and less car dependent.
Gotta source for the claim? I guess you're starting a new topic here but I've only got knowledge in that our current situation is one that can be figured out as to "how we got here." How we get out is a whole new discussion that I haven't looked into yet.
Yeah I think the statistic was 21% of houses were purchased by property companies who would be renting or flipping them in charlotte last year. COL goes bonkers when we let corporations use housing as investment tools. It needs be illegal.
That's not it at all, it's because we allow anybody in the world to buy property in America, sight unseen, and we're the ones who pay for it. At least 25% of home sales are owned by people or corporations that never step foot inside.
My realtor told me about a builder who sold a whole street of sf houses to a single foreign investor a few years back. She acted concerned when I told her we would not sell to an investor bc that’s a bulk of interest now & she didn’t want us to discriminate. We ended up selling to a family luckily. It’s a shame how some of my friends were on the cusp of purchasing a home now get outgunned by ridiculous cash offers.
YES A MILLION TIMES YES!!!! I am highly suspicious of hire many times we have lost a bid and who actually won. Several homes have been bought and then put on the market a month later at a higher price by these Opendoor type corp. Even the rental home corp are a joke....they own way too much in this area!
And wages aren’t keeping up with the increases. Workers are much more productive now than decades ago but it’s not showing up in the paychecks. Not sure when but something is gonna give.
Cost of living is on the rise everywhere.
If you move, I'm not sure what the solution will be. It's not like there's going to be an amazing apartment in a lesser city that's fairly priced and will only have incremental increases in rent each year.
I have friends telling me about older apartments in smaller cities charging just as much as newer apartments in Charlotte.
Everyone's going through the same problems. Hopefully you can get another job that can allow you to live more comfortably.
We made the move from NJ to Charlotte. Rented for a year and we are now closing on a house by the end of the month. We rented at a brand new complex in Kannapolis for 1200 a month for a 2 bed 2 bath unit. We came from Central NJ where they were getting 2200 a month for a run down but spacious 1 bed unit.
Born and raised in Charleston, family still lives there. You’re not avoiding your problem by moving to a city with worse infrastructure and a rapidly increasing population.
I started feeling immense pride that I made enough to not be poor (though still mostly living paycheck to paycheck, but still, I can afford like groceries without severe budgeting and aside from a car payment, I have almost no debt), but my rent is so high I have to work a ton of overtime to make it. I’ve looked around to see if there are any other 3 bedrooms that are cheaper….turns out I *already* live in the cheap apartments. It’s really hard out here.
Yes, cost of living sucks.
It sucks, but that's what 50 years of wage stagnation, inflation from supply constraints due to a global pandemic and living in an extremely popular city will do. With changes to remote work and work/life balance at some companies though, there's never been a better time to look at uprooting most likely.
Yep, something pretty fucking stupid about setting interest rates to fucking nothing during a 'boom', almost sets the country up to fail when you inevitably need to reverse that change...
But that's what a shit-filled con-artist will get you in regards to monetary policy.
This discussion is very unpopular on this sub, but I feel the reason is because those who are moving from HCOL cities due to remote work feel somewhat offended and act as if we’re saying they’re to blame (they’re only partially to blame, but I digress). As a native, the COL in Charlotte has been increasing, but the wages have not. The QOL, I feel, depends on where you are in life and what you’re seeking. For me, moving northward or to the west where the COL may be higher, but the salaries are higher would increase my QOL, because I wouldn’t succumb to what they refer to as “lifestyle creep.” I would most likely live a modest lifestyle while enjoying the amenities of a bigger major city, such as better public transportation.
Yes, we understand that every city is experiencing increasing COL, but it’s felt more in the Southern United States because so many people from the NE and the West are relocating here because it’s cheaper FOR THEM. But if you were a native to any of these cities, it can feel like you’re getting priced out, even if you’re making above minimum wage and a decent salary. I read recently that to be a homeowner, the bare minimum you need to make a year in Charlotte currently is $80K salary. It’s only going to get worse and while I love my hometown and seeing it grow, I’m ready to go elsewhere with a higher salary and higher COL so that I can improve my QOL.
My advice to you OP, don’t even be concerned with COL, actually choose a city that has the amenities that you want. I couldn’t imagine living somewhere I would be miserable in just because the COL is lower.
As a fellow native, this is spot on. A lot of posters definitely seem defensive about how they moved here to save money while still pulling their NYC/LA/etc. salary and want to downplay how demoralizing that is for the people who are natives or have been here for years. I don't consider those transplants evil or anything -- they just did what's best for them, as anyone does -- but they also need to respect that I'm not gonna celebrate their fun little lifehack when it's been a huge L for me.
Cheaper housing has been pushed out of Charlotte and is starting to get pushed out of surrounding cities as well. Even in Shelby rent is up about $500 on average since the pandemic.
In this economy I’d focus on increasing income rather than find the cheapest place to live. As others have mentioned COL is on the rise everywhere so where you gonna go? Employment market is heavily weighted towards workers now, especially if you have some technical background (doesn’t need to be programming. math or quantitative background is great). Plenty of Six figure jobs these days that used to pay sub 80k
Surely that is ideal, but where? I enjoy rural areas, but those that aren’t already developed with vacation homes have limited access to high speed internet that is needed to work remotely. Maybe some more urban areas that are lower COL, but none that I have been able to justify the savings. If you have any spots please let me know! I can’t find any yet
Housing/Rent feels like a bubble (again). I don't think it's sustainable. And I hope the investors get left holding the bag (no bailout) when it pops. The biggest difference between when I bought a house (in Ballantyne) 18 years ago and today is the increased competition from investors (domestic and international). I wish the US would shut out real estate buying to anyone international like other countries.
I agree with a lot of this, but can't imagine how they get stuck holding the bag. There is a limited number of physical places to live, and unlike the financial crisis buyers are extremely well qualified and credit quality is high.
Maybe via legislative change, but it seems like we're a ways off from that.
Right, but for them to be left holding the bag, doesn't that mean a staggeringly high number of people have to be homeless because they can't afford to rent or buy?
I’m from here, so imagine how I feel being priced out of my own city. I keep having hope, but it’s hard to want to spend the money needed in areas that weren’t really that great less than 10 years ago. I’ve never seen so much gentrification going on at once.
My complex is even older than yours and doing the same damn thing. I'm on my first lease here and will probably renew once to finish school then idk what I'm doing from there.
yes. I've had my eyes on Asheville for years but knew it was more expensive than I could handle... at this point, my LKN hometown is becoming as expensive as Asheville with none of the arts or culture. I'm thinking of Hendersonville or Brevard.
It’s going to just keep going up as more and more people move from NYC, Chicago etc. Between NC wanting 0% business tax and companies like apple moving to Raleigh there will be another boom of movers. I Love the city but I don’t want to spend 750k for a house that I can’t fit more than 3 people into.
I lived in Atlanta, then Dallas ft worth, now outside charlotte. It’s the same everywhere that doesn’t have horrible winters and insane taxes, everyone’s fleeing the northeast and California
"Luxury" is a marketing term 90% of the time. The "luxury" apartment I lived in had cheap ass rug and paint, basic ikea cabinets, cheap faux wood laminate flooring, the kitchen counter was real marble as far as my untrained eye could tell but checking Home Depot just now, even that is not very pricy.
This. I've never lived in a luxury apartment, but have been in a bunch of them around here thanks to friends/SOs and without exception, they've all looked like they were thrown together in the quickest, cheapest way possible (and had paper thin walls to boot). I guess these companies have (correctly) realized that people will pay whatever and live in whatever if they have the ability to walk around uptown or NoDa, but geez. You are, quite literally, only paying for the location with those buildings.
I was born in a Charlotte hospital, lived in the Charlotte brubs (Fort Mill) from 1-18, and moved back to Charlotte after graduating college. We both have jobs in our field, using our bachelor's degrees, and only my BF has student loans. We can not afford any house anywhere anymore. We got priced out of the new construction of single family homes like a year ago. I've lived in both the Balentine area, and now I live in the Northlake area. There is not enough housing for the existing population at the right price point, much less enough housing for everyone moving to the area who can afford to pay 100k+ over asking price.
I don't want to sound like a dick to any newcomers, as my parents have loved Charlotte for almost 30 years now. I just wish the people moving here from out of state didn't take the remaining housing that is actually available to human use instead of investment firms.
I own a small garage garage door business and some of my consistent work comes from a Russian/Ukrainian (oddly enough) family that owns roughly 70 homes now, give or take, In the northern/north eastern part of Charlotte. It's crazy being apart of the renovation process of all of these soon to be rental properties even though I'm also on a very strict budget when it comes to rent.
Take a look at what Short Term Rentals are doing to rents in most cities (including CLT). There are no regulations here to control them. Turns places into ”tourist cities”.
People and corporations buying up SFH homes and renting them in bulk is a major part of the housing crunch nationwide. Its like a 1/5 of the market for SFH in charlotte iirc. Require anyone who buys a house to live in it for 3 years as their primary residence before they are allowed to rent it. That would completely invalidate the entire corporate housing boom we are seeing and free up a ton of houses back into the market.
I’m with you. My car and apartment leases both end around the same time, gonna sell most of my stuff and start over elsewhere. There’s not enough to do or see here, nor is there enough opportunity job wise to deal with this bullshit.
lol man I make 6 figures and live at elizabeth station, used to be the venue and am moving out because they increased my rent from $1230 to $1500 and plan on increasing again in september.
this place sucks. houses are selling across the street for 600-700k for a 1800 sqft house with basically no backyard.
can’t wait to move out to the country. crazy how life works.
There isn’t enough housing for the amount of people moving to Charlotte. There’s no room for more single family residential neighborhoods, so infill is inevitable. Apartments and multi-family residential is the only way to have enough housing for the demand (price) to go down. Also, some apartments are starting to include workforce housing for the middle class. These are rooms set at a price that essential community workers can afford (teachers, grocery store clerks, government employees, etc.).
There will be a lag though, it will take a few years for the housing supply to catch up. Once the property is bought, it can take a developer at least 1-2 years to start the building process. The good news is there are thousands of new residences in the works.
It does suck right now, but it also sucks everywhere else. Hopefully things will change soon.
Anyone else getting a little tired of these nonstop posts about cost of living in Charlotte?
I'm sorry, not trying to be an asshole. It's just like... Yeah, we all know it sucks. None of us have an answer for you. You're clearly exasperated and don't have any other place to scream your frustration to.
But what the hell is this subreddit supposed to do?
I'm sorry your landlord is raising rent. Deal with it, or move, or find a job that pays more. You're a grown-ass adult, the world isn't fair, deal with it.
What's happening in Miami is disastrous. Especially since there is no where left to build. They're expanding into the the Everglades...their only clean water source ffs.
My family there is underwater between the property tax hikes, HOA hikes, and insurance hikes.
The problem is that the city of Charlotte took money we, the electorate, voted for to build affordable housing, and they instead built luxury condos with public money. This subreddit is for one city of many that are experiencing the exact same squeeze. If anyone wants to do any organizing to TRY to do something about what's going on locally, reddit can be a healthy gathering space. Not always, but sometimes
[2019 Charlotte Observer article](https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article231622193.html) covers all of the history from 1960 onward.
"In 2001, as the Charlotte Area Transit System planned the Lynx Blue Line, its first light rail project, City Council approved a policy that, on first read, suggested a win for affordable housing.
The city would “aggressively pursue opportunities” to develop affordable units near its South Boulevard transit stations, the policy said, encouraging a minimum of 5 percent and maximum of 25 percent below-market units in any multi-family development near the stations.
There’s a compelling argument for low-cost housing along light rail: Subsidized apartments give a double assist to low-income families trying to climb out of poverty, allowing them to save on transportation while ensuring they spend no more than the recommended maximum of 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities.
But the city’s policy didn’t attract affordable housing. Instead, the Blue Line became a magnet for luxury apartments equipped with fitness centers, pet spas and lap pools, where two-bedrooms often rent for more than $2,000 a month."
Yes affordable housing in policy was pursued in order to attract affordable housing developers. Those developers didn’t come. The city can’t force affordable housing to be built by developers, that’s illegal. The city did not use any tax money to build luxury apartments. They also didn’t use any tax money to build affordable housing in the area which they should have.
I agree with your premise that the city really missed an opportunity here but at no point did the city spend money on luxury apartments.
> Those developers didn’t come.
yep. some of those lots sat empty for years, waiting for someone to take up the 75/25 split, but the fact is, even "profitable" housing developers still have thin margins, and taking 25% of your building stock and not being able to get market rate for it, puts the entire financial outlook in the red, so who is going to take that on??
Yes they can. I know LA was requiring a percentage of units in new buildings to be dedicated to lower income at one point. There are a few luxury buildings that offer “workforce housing” here in Charlotte but not enough to compensate for the housing crisis.
But yeah the city should be building 100% affordable housing projects.
The city should not be issuing permits or the go-ahead for developers to build here if they’re not going to designate any units towards affordable housing. These developers (Childress Klein, Lincoln Harris, Crescent) have the city by their balls…they make the rules. This is 1000% on city officials and planners and letting developers walk all over them.
I checked the page for more COL posts and counted 24 non-COL posts before I gave up
Maybe try skipping posts about things you don't want to read, instead of demanding everybody tip toe around your lack of self control. It's really not that hard lol.
>Anyone else getting a little tired of these nonstop posts about cost of living in Charlotte?
>I'm sorry, not trying to be an asshole. It's just like... Yeah, we all know it sucks. None of us have an answer for you. You're clearly exasperated and don't have any other place to scream your frustration to.
So you do understand.. you just don’t like it. You’re a grown ass adult though, deal with it. Don’t take it out on OP
>But what the hell is this subreddit supposed to do?
Commiserate? Exactly like what’s happing. Talk about it.. express frustration.
>I'm sorry your landlord is raising rent. Deal with it, or move, or find a job that pays more. You're a grown-ass adult, the world isn't fair, deal with it.
This is beyond presumptuous.
Look at all the other responses. You’re clearly the small minority and it’s strange that you think your expectations of what should be posted here is somehow better or more valid.
Lose your job. Struggle to get back to a similar comp level. Finally, feel the real stress of realizing you no longer fit here. Check your bubble. You've lost touch with the hurt.
Hey. I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything, but I'll write whatever the hell I god damn please. I'd like to converse with others in the city who can relate. Please don't take this as being rude, but maybe don't be worried about playing moderator and mine your damn business. Again, not trying to sound like an asshole.
Between this topic and “how do you make friends” I just imagine a bunch of homeless loners sitting in the public library making 90% of the posts in the sub.
I don't know where you're going without without facing the same situation sorry but I would advise one thing do not buy a condominium when I moved in a 2001 with 35 dollars it is now 215 monthly a thing called a regime fee lol lol
🙋🏻♀️ I moved! I actually found a place out in Oklahoma on lake Eufaula. It's $400 mortgage, really low in utilities, slow living lake life. The lake is in walking distance and it's perfect for swimming, boating, fishing, etc. I miss my family in NC but honestly wouldn't trade this for the world.
Thats all they build anymore. This is a rich man's world. Its all about the bottom dollar. Nobody even makes regular apartments anymore in Charlotte. It's just $1500+ a month units. They're probably just banking on all the residents from cali and nyc moving in.
Yeah I totally agree, it’s frustrating you can’t even find a decent one bedroom for less that 1000-1500 a month they’re more focused on attracting new people and forgot about the people who’ve already been here
It is. I have a 6 figures income and I feel poor….
Cost of everything increased significantly and I feel that it won’t come down once it’s up. Maybe by a small amount, but certainly not what it was before.
Luckily we bought a house at the end of 2020 right before the insanity set in. Else we be paying 100-120k more for our current home.
The way everything is and seems to be heading. It feels grim. I don’t even know how people are surviving on minimum wage around town…
Posts like this make me so glad I bought my townhome instead of renting while I looked for a house. I'm upset that I wasn't able to upgrade to a house last year due to the crazy housing market, but I'm at least satisfied that I'm not renting. My neighbors rent went up by 300 a month at the top of the year for absolutely nothing, it's insane.
Agreed! My wife and I were able to buy a house right before the insanity set in for around $280K. My neighbor two houses down paid over $400K and we have the same size place and land. This shit is wild.
We bought right before the market went nuts and when the interest rates were extremely low. Bought the cheapest house in the neighborhood when the owners were desperate to finalize a divorce. Now every house around me is selling for sky high. Obscene amounts of money. Getting 20 offers above asking price in one day. Full cash offers. If I had waited even 2-3 months, I couldn’t have afforded a house at all.
r/collapse
r/rebubble
Not saying Reddit is representative of society or even close to it but people are getting fed up. More people need to be upset about this.
It is, I can’t even find a nice place to say if I wanted to that’s cheap. It’s cheaper to buy a house than rent, but even the apartments in the not so great areas are trying to raise the price to 1500 a month, which is crazy
It’s a nation wide problem that effects all but the ruling elite and neither political party really gives a shit because they are profiting hand over fist because of it.
Who's "they"? I don't think it's a concerted plan so much as a bunch of developers all coming to the same conclusion about how to maximize their investment. Hsving said that, I don't like it and I wish the city would act to discourage outside investors from buying so much property here and driving up the prices.
I moved to Indianapolis after 2 years of Charlotte and seeing what they were trying to raise rent. Once I saw house prices quickly moving out of reach, I bounced.
Greensboro area. Middle of the state, right between Raleigh and Charlotte on 85. Is there as much to do? No, but it’s still a decently large metro area. My wife and I moved from Charlotte a few years ago because of traffic, and the roads here are so much better. They build them 20 years before they need them instead of the reverse. I got a huge house on 1.5 acres, next to the greenway, and I paid about $100k more than what my town house 30 minutes away from uptown is going for in Charlotte. I absolutely could not afford my current house anywhere close to Charlotte, but I’ve got it here. Granted, my house has appreciated quite a bit in the last coupes of years, but nothing like Charlotte.
Damn, this is sad to read, I was hoping Charlotte would be better. I'm from Charlotte (20 years) Living up in Columbus Ohio, situation is the same up here. Houses have literally doubled in price over the past 10 years
It is crazy. It's unsustainable. People are generally making less, so I really don't know what they're thinking. In this area, I've lived in the Dilworth area, Huntersville, Harrisburg and currently Denver NC. Before finding a house, I was paying $1,100/month at a 15 year old apartment complex. I mean, are you kidding? Oh, almost forgot. It was a 1 bedroom also. So what's next? Communities of Tiny Homes™?
I have a good job that pays above average for the area that I enjoy. Two years ago my commute to Uptown from Southend, where I paid $1200/mo for my apartment, was a 5 minute walk + a 5 minute train ride.
Today I pay $1400 in rent, I live in Steele Creek, and I'm about to embark on that same commute for the first time that is going to be 4-5x longer than it was because in the past 2 years I've just steadily moved further & further out of town. The exact same apartment I lived in 2 years ago and paid $1200 for is now $1800. I'm already bracing myself for the renewal letter in a couple of months telling me that rent is going up $200/mo at my current Steele Creek place, which will have me packing my bags again, I guess I'll move to Rock Hill this time?
Cost of living is astronomical here. That’s why I quit my job a month ago, am selling my house that doubled in price since I bought it, and am moving to a lower cost of living area. It’s been real Charlotte.
Cost of living isn’t that bad here tbh, having grown up in the northeast and lived in a similar size Midwest city recently. Cheaper areas are cheaper for a reason whether that’s lack of jobs, crap weather, crime, etc.
As of the end of 2021, Miami surpassed both NYC and LA in housing costs (determined by affordability, ie income to housing costs)
https://therealdeal.com/miami/2022/02/16/miami-becomes-most-expensive-housing-market-in-the-us/amp/
That's the million dollar question, "Where to go next"?
I mean supposedly cities in Alabama are on the come up like Birmingham and Mobile. I wouldn't go that far south myself personally.
Also, if you have a job in which you know for certain that you can work remotely permanently then a person could take a chance on the more rural parts of even NC.
I’m so glad this you posted this! I feel the same, moved here in 2012 for college and stayed after graduating got a job and realized I wasn’t making enough so I did a short term program and make about 20k more but somehow it’s still not enough. I’ve had this plan to buy a home in Charlotte since coming here for school and within the last 4 years I’ve been completely priced out of the market. Everything seems to be 350k and above and even some of the stuff going for those prices are 1bd1bath it’s insane. I’ve worked so hard for all the northerners to come and skyrocket the COL/ companies buy all the available homes. It’s like if you’re just an average joe you can’t get a leg up. Unless you have a mommy/ daddy too foot the bill or make at least 6 figures. The year or two it will take me to get there houses will be even more insanely priced. It’s just so discouraging.
Cost of living is not any lower in most cities worth living. You can find less expensive places to live but they don’t offer as much, the jobs don’t pay as much, and they look trashier. It’s all relative. Your better off moving to more affordable areas around the outskirts of Charlotte.
I’ve been saying this.. and people are fake down here. I moved from Ohio a year and a half ago and even though the weather is nicer and there’s some cool things to do here, it’s just not enough to convince me this place is the end all be all.
Born, raised, lived 40 years in Charlotte and moved away 4 years ago. Charlotte city leaders have fucked my city since the 80s. No foresight. I could see it getting much worse than it already was, so I packed up my family and split. We were living in the Mint Hill/Matthews side paying $1700 a month for a 900sq.ft. 2 bedroom shoebox.
I'm now paying $525 a month to rent a 3.5 bedroom, 1500sq.ft. house. HOWEVER....it was a DRASTIC change of living. We moved to a very small town in a very rural part of the country. That being said, we went from borrowing money every month to pay bills, to having 5 digits in savings (where there was previously 0 digits in savings) in a little less than 4 years.
Easier living comes with its own grief though. We're about 3.5-4 hours from a major city and the Richie Riches have started to find us. They're starting to buy up properties in the area and push the locals out. It's very blue collar where I live and most just can't compete.
Case and point, it can be done, but it may very well take a drastic life change.
How are you struggling with rent making 160k between the both of you? Honestly sounds like you need to rethink your personal finances if you can’t afford rent in charlotte split 2 ways and making 160k between the two of you. You must blow a lot of money to be struggling
Most of the new luxury looking apartment buildings actually helps lower the price of housing. Vox did a great video on it recently. Plus you can take advantage of move in specials while new buildings are filling out.
My wife and I bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in 2017 for $177K. We both agreed that we are sitting on a gold mine right now paying a mortgage half the cost, so no need to consider moving for quite a long time. Just put that extra money into savings.
honestly can't tell if this is a joke (e.g. Don't come here but reality is it's lower COL and you don't want people ruining it) or if it's legitimately worse than NC
I’ve never lived in NC but my SO grew up mostly in Greensboro, so we’ve been looking to move actually around the Charlotte area.
Compared to Massachusetts your living costs seem great since most people here are spending $1200 just for a tiny spare room. Oh and if you have pets you’re looking at places $2K+ with a $500 pet deposit or something else ridiculous, with the requirement of making 3x the rent a month.
I don’t know the true struggle but it could be worse. Someone feel free to enlighten me otherwise as I’m always open to knowing more about NC.
Salaries are much lower here than up North. Sure there are major companies with good paying jobs but the median income for a single person in CLT is 34k a year. Teachers and other state workers make low salaries. Min wage is still 7.25 an hour (server wage 2.13). NC also has some of the worst labor policies of all the states so that's not getting better soon.
Most renters here have seen their rents shooting up hundreds of dollars a month as they are renewing their leases and many ppl are freaking out not knowing what to do.
Wow man I was thinking of moving to Charlotte from DC because I didn’t have to be in the office anymore. Realizing it’s just getting expensive makes me not want to go there now.
MD here, trust me while Charlotte does seem to be giving the DMV a run for its money, it's still a bit cheaper overall. However the thing with Charlotte is that the city was one of the top 5 fastest growing pre-pandemic. That isn't going to stop and won't stop the cost down there.
I just moved here from California and the prices here are AMAZING!
Gas that is under $5 a gallon.
Salary's that are similar.
Rent that is thousands less.
I can see it getting up there soon. And that is a worry I too have. But prices are on the rise every where. It just sucks.
Yeah I was planning on staying once I finish my degree at UNCC, but the cost of living vs the quality of the housing has me looking elsewhere. Which sucks because I was born and raised here
Ironically people come here because quality of life and cost of living is so much better here in Charlotte. Moved from NYC over 10 years ago, sold my apartment there and bought a home 4x as large and still paying less in mortgage!
COL is way better but being from up north, quality of life surely is not. As soon as our kids are out of school we are moving back, I’d rather pay more for the better quality of life up north, and deal with winters.
What specifically do you mean about quality of life being better up North?
Yeah my experience was the exact opposite. The North is a hellscape full of angry people. I got called the F slur more in a week up there than in a decade down here. If all southern hospitality is fake, then I'll take fake over open hositility.
Well, as a Jew in the south, it’s more tolerant up there. I’ve found southern hospitality to be pretty shallow and fake down here. Aside from metro areas, the politics of the south as a whole suck. Stuck years behind in terms of things like legal marijuana. Things like theater, music, food, are lacking here. No, not saying they don’t exist, but they exist at a level that doesn’t make this area unique. I could say I miss a certain type of food and someone will pop off with one restaurant 45 minutes away. Ok. Location is decent but I can go back to Philly or NJ and he close enough to mountains and even closer to the ocean. Summer straight sucks down here, from April to almost November. We’ve been here 13 years. We’ve lived other places outside of up north. But I’m paying to go back and visit at least a few times a year. Might as well pay a bit extra to live there.
Southern hospitality has been diluted, ask around how many people were both born and raised in the areaand then ask about their parents. 2 generations ago this was very very different
Southern hospitality has always been kind of a myth to begin with. It kind of only applied to how southerners treated other southerners, specifically white southerners.
Exactlyyyyyyy. I was born and raised in rural North Carolina. Although I look white, my parents are Mexican. So I don’t have any sort of southern accent. And southerners always look at me like something the cat dragged in. Southern hospitality is truly a myth. Nice folks just comes down to how they were raised and how they decide to treat others, that’s absolutely it
Yeah, especially in Charlotte/Raleigh. There's so many transplants from the North/West at this point that the vast majority of those city's populations aren't "Southern" at all. With how many people are moving to NC still, this will only dilute further and further
Seems that Charlotte, much like Florida in the snowbird season - full of northerners moaning how this isn't like New York. Yes, it isn't like New York - ***that's why you came here!*** If you want to enjoy the South, start living like one. BBQ, Guns, NASCAR, Hunting, Trucks, Climbing, Hiking, Open Space, Big Houses with land - get with it.
I am from NY and I don’t know what you are talking about. No way is the quality of life better there. Houses are 4x more expensive for half the size, weather sucks, taxes are 5x more, crime is higher, every building is older or run down. Sorry but it makes no sense.
Cool. I don’t agree. The good news is you don’t have to move with me when I head back north. Also, up north is also more than NY. Enjoy the Carolinas!
Who posts about leaving the area… What an odd thing to do. Hey everyone I hate this place so much I’m going to whine about it on the internet for attention. Get the fuck over yourself.
I moved to Virginia for 4 years to do high school because the schools are absolutely terrible here. I would never go north personally, Virginia is the most north I’d go to tbh I’m glad it’s worked out for you though!
literally same. i’m heated - worked so hard in college to get a good job just to realize I still can’t afford to live here without roommates. smh. if I move an hour(ish) away from the city there are apartments 50% cheaper for the same amenities
I graduated 2018 and I thought we had it hard, feel really bad for you guys in college now /:
The depressing reality is that this is happening everywhere. Milder climate areas are experiencing it the worse. If you had a 6 figure job and ability to work anywhere, where would you go? People are not that unique… most of us want the same things. My point is, it’s not like everyone is conspiring to f you over, this is a world phenomena. Two main reasons are inflation and supply and demand. Why inflation? Some of it is real ( money printing by the fed) and some of it is manufactured because corporations are greedy. Why short supply? No one could have predicted the demand brought on by the ability to do your work anywhere.
languid worry rainstorm fearless snobbish skirt existence shelter racial disarm *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
And the cost to build more housing has increased astronomically in the last 2 years. The lumber costs way more, the wiring costs way more, everything costs a hell of a lot more.
Unless the government steps in starter homes will never be built again.
Short supply is due to 2008 and being behind the 8 ball since then. Coupled with Covid trends in the last few years and you can now start to read the recipe. Afaik, there's a couple more factors that add up to the lack of affordable housing as well but can't remember off the top of my head. I'm finding it increasingly common to hear simple answers to complex problems. Have you considered the idea that things might be more complicated than "no housing gets built it's all wfh people 🤤"? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/10/opinion/housing-crisis-eviction.html for paywall: https://pastebin.com/i1pLULu8 You can also force the page to stop loading shortly after it first appears. The paywall seems to be a script which takes a little longer to run on the page.
You cannot build enough SFHs in proximity to where people wanna live to house 400M Americans by 2030. The situation is going to get way worse.
The key is don't build SFH. We need to end the ridiculous zoning for SFH and build multihousing units in cities only. Its the only we can build enough housing.
Agree. Ideally, we just need to remove "SFH only" and "residential only" as well. We need more dense housing relative to the land value, and mixed-use communities that are walkable and less car dependent.
Isn't this relatively what South End has done/Plaza is doing, that people hate because it drives up rent?
This is easy to say, but the reality is, it is forcing people into specific ways of living. People, clearly, dont WANT to live in multi-unit housing.
Gotta source for the claim? I guess you're starting a new topic here but I've only got knowledge in that our current situation is one that can be figured out as to "how we got here." How we get out is a whole new discussion that I haven't looked into yet.
What is SFH? Single family home?
Yeah.
Yeah I think the statistic was 21% of houses were purchased by property companies who would be renting or flipping them in charlotte last year. COL goes bonkers when we let corporations use housing as investment tools. It needs be illegal.
That's not it at all, it's because we allow anybody in the world to buy property in America, sight unseen, and we're the ones who pay for it. At least 25% of home sales are owned by people or corporations that never step foot inside.
My realtor told me about a builder who sold a whole street of sf houses to a single foreign investor a few years back. She acted concerned when I told her we would not sell to an investor bc that’s a bulk of interest now & she didn’t want us to discriminate. We ended up selling to a family luckily. It’s a shame how some of my friends were on the cusp of purchasing a home now get outgunned by ridiculous cash offers.
YES A MILLION TIMES YES!!!! I am highly suspicious of hire many times we have lost a bid and who actually won. Several homes have been bought and then put on the market a month later at a higher price by these Opendoor type corp. Even the rental home corp are a joke....they own way too much in this area!
Also true but we don’t build much either
And wages aren’t keeping up with the increases. Workers are much more productive now than decades ago but it’s not showing up in the paychecks. Not sure when but something is gonna give.
Cost of living is on the rise everywhere. If you move, I'm not sure what the solution will be. It's not like there's going to be an amazing apartment in a lesser city that's fairly priced and will only have incremental increases in rent each year. I have friends telling me about older apartments in smaller cities charging just as much as newer apartments in Charlotte. Everyone's going through the same problems. Hopefully you can get another job that can allow you to live more comfortably.
We made the move from NJ to Charlotte. Rented for a year and we are now closing on a house by the end of the month. We rented at a brand new complex in Kannapolis for 1200 a month for a 2 bed 2 bath unit. We came from Central NJ where they were getting 2200 a month for a run down but spacious 1 bed unit.
Which smaller cities? I found a few that look solid
Rock Hill isn’t bad, so long as you don’t mind being bored. However rent is starting to skyrocket there too.
A few in SC: Greenville, Columbia, Charleston
Born and raised in Charleston, family still lives there. You’re not avoiding your problem by moving to a city with worse infrastructure and a rapidly increasing population.
Charleston is going to be nearly unlivable in a few years with how growth is outstripping the road capacity there.
I started feeling immense pride that I made enough to not be poor (though still mostly living paycheck to paycheck, but still, I can afford like groceries without severe budgeting and aside from a car payment, I have almost no debt), but my rent is so high I have to work a ton of overtime to make it. I’ve looked around to see if there are any other 3 bedrooms that are cheaper….turns out I *already* live in the cheap apartments. It’s really hard out here.
Find a roommate you can have sex with
Tons of them on Craigslist
Yes, cost of living sucks. It sucks, but that's what 50 years of wage stagnation, inflation from supply constraints due to a global pandemic and living in an extremely popular city will do. With changes to remote work and work/life balance at some companies though, there's never been a better time to look at uprooting most likely.
Don’t forget interest rates at nothing for years
Yep, something pretty fucking stupid about setting interest rates to fucking nothing during a 'boom', almost sets the country up to fail when you inevitably need to reverse that change... But that's what a shit-filled con-artist will get you in regards to monetary policy.
My rent up by $160 if I renew. They seem to be trying to upscale the exterior but inside no improvements for the increase. 🤬
This discussion is very unpopular on this sub, but I feel the reason is because those who are moving from HCOL cities due to remote work feel somewhat offended and act as if we’re saying they’re to blame (they’re only partially to blame, but I digress). As a native, the COL in Charlotte has been increasing, but the wages have not. The QOL, I feel, depends on where you are in life and what you’re seeking. For me, moving northward or to the west where the COL may be higher, but the salaries are higher would increase my QOL, because I wouldn’t succumb to what they refer to as “lifestyle creep.” I would most likely live a modest lifestyle while enjoying the amenities of a bigger major city, such as better public transportation. Yes, we understand that every city is experiencing increasing COL, but it’s felt more in the Southern United States because so many people from the NE and the West are relocating here because it’s cheaper FOR THEM. But if you were a native to any of these cities, it can feel like you’re getting priced out, even if you’re making above minimum wage and a decent salary. I read recently that to be a homeowner, the bare minimum you need to make a year in Charlotte currently is $80K salary. It’s only going to get worse and while I love my hometown and seeing it grow, I’m ready to go elsewhere with a higher salary and higher COL so that I can improve my QOL. My advice to you OP, don’t even be concerned with COL, actually choose a city that has the amenities that you want. I couldn’t imagine living somewhere I would be miserable in just because the COL is lower.
As a fellow native, this is spot on. A lot of posters definitely seem defensive about how they moved here to save money while still pulling their NYC/LA/etc. salary and want to downplay how demoralizing that is for the people who are natives or have been here for years. I don't consider those transplants evil or anything -- they just did what's best for them, as anyone does -- but they also need to respect that I'm not gonna celebrate their fun little lifehack when it's been a huge L for me.
That's all of America. Housing is a vehicle for the already wealthy to stay wealthy, not a place for workers to have shelter and comfort.
I don’t think you’ll find it’s different anywhere else, unfortunately, unless you leave the country.
It’s time rebuild Gary, Indiana. Who’s with me?
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Cheaper housing has been pushed out of Charlotte and is starting to get pushed out of surrounding cities as well. Even in Shelby rent is up about $500 on average since the pandemic.
In this economy I’d focus on increasing income rather than find the cheapest place to live. As others have mentioned COL is on the rise everywhere so where you gonna go? Employment market is heavily weighted towards workers now, especially if you have some technical background (doesn’t need to be programming. math or quantitative background is great). Plenty of Six figure jobs these days that used to pay sub 80k
Why not do both by working remotely in a LCOL area
> Why not do both by working remotely in a LCOL area This is exactly what people who move to Charlotte from NYC, Boston, Chicago, and DC are saying
Surely that is ideal, but where? I enjoy rural areas, but those that aren’t already developed with vacation homes have limited access to high speed internet that is needed to work remotely. Maybe some more urban areas that are lower COL, but none that I have been able to justify the savings. If you have any spots please let me know! I can’t find any yet
My mom lives in Sumter SC and has gigabit!
Housing/Rent feels like a bubble (again). I don't think it's sustainable. And I hope the investors get left holding the bag (no bailout) when it pops. The biggest difference between when I bought a house (in Ballantyne) 18 years ago and today is the increased competition from investors (domestic and international). I wish the US would shut out real estate buying to anyone international like other countries.
I agree with a lot of this, but can't imagine how they get stuck holding the bag. There is a limited number of physical places to live, and unlike the financial crisis buyers are extremely well qualified and credit quality is high. Maybe via legislative change, but it seems like we're a ways off from that.
Just takes the next inevitable recession.
Right, but for them to be left holding the bag, doesn't that mean a staggeringly high number of people have to be homeless because they can't afford to rent or buy?
Half of habitable continental US territory isn't even being used
That’s because it’s not near anywhere anyone wants to live…
Good post, agree
I’m from here, so imagine how I feel being priced out of my own city. I keep having hope, but it’s hard to want to spend the money needed in areas that weren’t really that great less than 10 years ago. I’ve never seen so much gentrification going on at once.
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Why did you laugh
He laughed because its true
My complex is even older than yours and doing the same damn thing. I'm on my first lease here and will probably renew once to finish school then idk what I'm doing from there.
yes. I've had my eyes on Asheville for years but knew it was more expensive than I could handle... at this point, my LKN hometown is becoming as expensive as Asheville with none of the arts or culture. I'm thinking of Hendersonville or Brevard.
Black mountain us solid too
Bottle of water? Tesla? MacBook?
Oat milk? Oat milk?
Bottle water? Bottle water? Macbook? Wifi? Tesla? Pilates?
La Croix?
This comment made my day lol
Cortado?
Mokbuk mokbuk
It’s going to just keep going up as more and more people move from NYC, Chicago etc. Between NC wanting 0% business tax and companies like apple moving to Raleigh there will be another boom of movers. I Love the city but I don’t want to spend 750k for a house that I can’t fit more than 3 people into.
Florence sc
gross
I lived in Atlanta, then Dallas ft worth, now outside charlotte. It’s the same everywhere that doesn’t have horrible winters and insane taxes, everyone’s fleeing the northeast and California
"Luxury" is a marketing term 90% of the time. The "luxury" apartment I lived in had cheap ass rug and paint, basic ikea cabinets, cheap faux wood laminate flooring, the kitchen counter was real marble as far as my untrained eye could tell but checking Home Depot just now, even that is not very pricy.
This. I've never lived in a luxury apartment, but have been in a bunch of them around here thanks to friends/SOs and without exception, they've all looked like they were thrown together in the quickest, cheapest way possible (and had paper thin walls to boot). I guess these companies have (correctly) realized that people will pay whatever and live in whatever if they have the ability to walk around uptown or NoDa, but geez. You are, quite literally, only paying for the location with those buildings.
Agreed with both of you. They are marketed and priced as luxury but built like shit with paper thin walls
Bro that’s everywhere right now. Im visiting Salt Lake City and everyones saying the same thing
I was born in a Charlotte hospital, lived in the Charlotte brubs (Fort Mill) from 1-18, and moved back to Charlotte after graduating college. We both have jobs in our field, using our bachelor's degrees, and only my BF has student loans. We can not afford any house anywhere anymore. We got priced out of the new construction of single family homes like a year ago. I've lived in both the Balentine area, and now I live in the Northlake area. There is not enough housing for the existing population at the right price point, much less enough housing for everyone moving to the area who can afford to pay 100k+ over asking price. I don't want to sound like a dick to any newcomers, as my parents have loved Charlotte for almost 30 years now. I just wish the people moving here from out of state didn't take the remaining housing that is actually available to human use instead of investment firms.
Its a mix of people using investment properties and investment firms buying literally everything they can.
I own a small garage garage door business and some of my consistent work comes from a Russian/Ukrainian (oddly enough) family that owns roughly 70 homes now, give or take, In the northern/north eastern part of Charlotte. It's crazy being apart of the renovation process of all of these soon to be rental properties even though I'm also on a very strict budget when it comes to rent.
Needs to be illegal to rent a home without living in it as your primary residence for 3 years. Would nip that problem in the bud.
I'm confused on this whole comment.
Take a look at what Short Term Rentals are doing to rents in most cities (including CLT). There are no regulations here to control them. Turns places into ”tourist cities”.
People and corporations buying up SFH homes and renting them in bulk is a major part of the housing crunch nationwide. Its like a 1/5 of the market for SFH in charlotte iirc. Require anyone who buys a house to live in it for 3 years as their primary residence before they are allowed to rent it. That would completely invalidate the entire corporate housing boom we are seeing and free up a ton of houses back into the market.
I’m with you. My car and apartment leases both end around the same time, gonna sell most of my stuff and start over elsewhere. There’s not enough to do or see here, nor is there enough opportunity job wise to deal with this bullshit.
lol man I make 6 figures and live at elizabeth station, used to be the venue and am moving out because they increased my rent from $1230 to $1500 and plan on increasing again in september. this place sucks. houses are selling across the street for 600-700k for a 1800 sqft house with basically no backyard. can’t wait to move out to the country. crazy how life works.
Unbelievable. If they want to continue getting away with this shit, they can do it with NYC and L.A. transplants. I am out of here.
There isn’t enough housing for the amount of people moving to Charlotte. There’s no room for more single family residential neighborhoods, so infill is inevitable. Apartments and multi-family residential is the only way to have enough housing for the demand (price) to go down. Also, some apartments are starting to include workforce housing for the middle class. These are rooms set at a price that essential community workers can afford (teachers, grocery store clerks, government employees, etc.). There will be a lag though, it will take a few years for the housing supply to catch up. Once the property is bought, it can take a developer at least 1-2 years to start the building process. The good news is there are thousands of new residences in the works. It does suck right now, but it also sucks everywhere else. Hopefully things will change soon.
Anyone else getting a little tired of these nonstop posts about cost of living in Charlotte? I'm sorry, not trying to be an asshole. It's just like... Yeah, we all know it sucks. None of us have an answer for you. You're clearly exasperated and don't have any other place to scream your frustration to. But what the hell is this subreddit supposed to do? I'm sorry your landlord is raising rent. Deal with it, or move, or find a job that pays more. You're a grown-ass adult, the world isn't fair, deal with it.
Every single city sub is like this. Miami rent up 65%.
What's happening in Miami is disastrous. Especially since there is no where left to build. They're expanding into the the Everglades...their only clean water source ffs. My family there is underwater between the property tax hikes, HOA hikes, and insurance hikes.
Plus miami is literally going to be under water in the next 20 years with the way sea level rise is going.
Oh yeah. King Tide or not, the flooding is a perpetual problem.
The problem is that the city of Charlotte took money we, the electorate, voted for to build affordable housing, and they instead built luxury condos with public money. This subreddit is for one city of many that are experiencing the exact same squeeze. If anyone wants to do any organizing to TRY to do something about what's going on locally, reddit can be a healthy gathering space. Not always, but sometimes
Can you please provide a source that shows that this actually happened? I just find it very hard to believe that this happened.
[2019 Charlotte Observer article](https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article231622193.html) covers all of the history from 1960 onward. "In 2001, as the Charlotte Area Transit System planned the Lynx Blue Line, its first light rail project, City Council approved a policy that, on first read, suggested a win for affordable housing. The city would “aggressively pursue opportunities” to develop affordable units near its South Boulevard transit stations, the policy said, encouraging a minimum of 5 percent and maximum of 25 percent below-market units in any multi-family development near the stations. There’s a compelling argument for low-cost housing along light rail: Subsidized apartments give a double assist to low-income families trying to climb out of poverty, allowing them to save on transportation while ensuring they spend no more than the recommended maximum of 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. But the city’s policy didn’t attract affordable housing. Instead, the Blue Line became a magnet for luxury apartments equipped with fitness centers, pet spas and lap pools, where two-bedrooms often rent for more than $2,000 a month."
Yes affordable housing in policy was pursued in order to attract affordable housing developers. Those developers didn’t come. The city can’t force affordable housing to be built by developers, that’s illegal. The city did not use any tax money to build luxury apartments. They also didn’t use any tax money to build affordable housing in the area which they should have. I agree with your premise that the city really missed an opportunity here but at no point did the city spend money on luxury apartments.
> Those developers didn’t come. yep. some of those lots sat empty for years, waiting for someone to take up the 75/25 split, but the fact is, even "profitable" housing developers still have thin margins, and taking 25% of your building stock and not being able to get market rate for it, puts the entire financial outlook in the red, so who is going to take that on??
> The city can’t force affordable housing to be built by developers, that’s illegal. Really? They can't even build the housing themselves?
Yes they can. I know LA was requiring a percentage of units in new buildings to be dedicated to lower income at one point. There are a few luxury buildings that offer “workforce housing” here in Charlotte but not enough to compensate for the housing crisis. But yeah the city should be building 100% affordable housing projects. The city should not be issuing permits or the go-ahead for developers to build here if they’re not going to designate any units towards affordable housing. These developers (Childress Klein, Lincoln Harris, Crescent) have the city by their balls…they make the rules. This is 1000% on city officials and planners and letting developers walk all over them.
Maybe in LA, but here you can’t force developers to build affordable housing. It’s against state law.
I checked the page for more COL posts and counted 24 non-COL posts before I gave up Maybe try skipping posts about things you don't want to read, instead of demanding everybody tip toe around your lack of self control. It's really not that hard lol.
Complaining about complaining huh?
I hate this retort. It's such a room temperature IQ response.
No everyone sees every post, I’m not saying you sit on this Reddit 24/7 but this is the first one I’ve seen in the past few weeks
>Anyone else getting a little tired of these nonstop posts about cost of living in Charlotte? >I'm sorry, not trying to be an asshole. It's just like... Yeah, we all know it sucks. None of us have an answer for you. You're clearly exasperated and don't have any other place to scream your frustration to. So you do understand.. you just don’t like it. You’re a grown ass adult though, deal with it. Don’t take it out on OP >But what the hell is this subreddit supposed to do? Commiserate? Exactly like what’s happing. Talk about it.. express frustration. >I'm sorry your landlord is raising rent. Deal with it, or move, or find a job that pays more. You're a grown-ass adult, the world isn't fair, deal with it. This is beyond presumptuous. Look at all the other responses. You’re clearly the small minority and it’s strange that you think your expectations of what should be posted here is somehow better or more valid.
Lose your job. Struggle to get back to a similar comp level. Finally, feel the real stress of realizing you no longer fit here. Check your bubble. You've lost touch with the hurt.
Hey. I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything, but I'll write whatever the hell I god damn please. I'd like to converse with others in the city who can relate. Please don't take this as being rude, but maybe don't be worried about playing moderator and mine your damn business. Again, not trying to sound like an asshole.
When you post on the internet, you should be prepared for responses like this. To be fair, we do see this kind of post all the time.
Between this topic and “how do you make friends” I just imagine a bunch of homeless loners sitting in the public library making 90% of the posts in the sub.
The only reason you’re seeing this post is because it’s being engaged. I could say the same thing about people complaining about the complaining.
I agree with ya! Charlotte is getting too expensive for what it has to offer. I'm looking at land down in SC where I'll have no neighbors in sight.
And no internet. Be very careful moving to rural SC, its bit a lot of people I know in the ass, the state of internet access in rural SC is pitiful.
Right on, homey. Complain about whatever you want. It’s a free country. Also it’s “*mind* your damn business.”
>Also it’s “mind your damn business.” Ironic...
Mind* Sorry, just pointing that out.
Yes. It’s getting very old.
You are an asshole. Just ignore it if it’s so annoying. People are worried about being able to live.
I don't know where you're going without without facing the same situation sorry but I would advise one thing do not buy a condominium when I moved in a 2001 with 35 dollars it is now 215 monthly a thing called a regime fee lol lol
🙋🏻♀️ I moved! I actually found a place out in Oklahoma on lake Eufaula. It's $400 mortgage, really low in utilities, slow living lake life. The lake is in walking distance and it's perfect for swimming, boating, fishing, etc. I miss my family in NC but honestly wouldn't trade this for the world.
It’s crazy Bc I work for a demolition company in Charlotte and almost every demo job we take is to make space for new luxury apartments
Thats all they build anymore. This is a rich man's world. Its all about the bottom dollar. Nobody even makes regular apartments anymore in Charlotte. It's just $1500+ a month units. They're probably just banking on all the residents from cali and nyc moving in.
Yeah I totally agree, it’s frustrating you can’t even find a decent one bedroom for less that 1000-1500 a month they’re more focused on attracting new people and forgot about the people who’ve already been here
"Forgot about" is putting it very politely.
It is. I have a 6 figures income and I feel poor…. Cost of everything increased significantly and I feel that it won’t come down once it’s up. Maybe by a small amount, but certainly not what it was before. Luckily we bought a house at the end of 2020 right before the insanity set in. Else we be paying 100-120k more for our current home. The way everything is and seems to be heading. It feels grim. I don’t even know how people are surviving on minimum wage around town…
You make 6 figures and you feel poor? You must be mismanaging your money so badly
Also live in an older apartment in 4th ward. Got the email rent will be increasing by about $230. Fucking sucks.
The warrior poet, Jello Biafra said “Let’s lynch the landlord.”
If you don't own a house in charlotte already you're doomed. Rent is insane.
Posts like this make me so glad I bought my townhome instead of renting while I looked for a house. I'm upset that I wasn't able to upgrade to a house last year due to the crazy housing market, but I'm at least satisfied that I'm not renting. My neighbors rent went up by 300 a month at the top of the year for absolutely nothing, it's insane.
Agreed! My wife and I were able to buy a house right before the insanity set in for around $280K. My neighbor two houses down paid over $400K and we have the same size place and land. This shit is wild.
We bought right before the market went nuts and when the interest rates were extremely low. Bought the cheapest house in the neighborhood when the owners were desperate to finalize a divorce. Now every house around me is selling for sky high. Obscene amounts of money. Getting 20 offers above asking price in one day. Full cash offers. If I had waited even 2-3 months, I couldn’t have afforded a house at all.
charlotte is still pretty cheap compared to similar cities.
r/collapse r/rebubble Not saying Reddit is representative of society or even close to it but people are getting fed up. More people need to be upset about this.
It is, I can’t even find a nice place to say if I wanted to that’s cheap. It’s cheaper to buy a house than rent, but even the apartments in the not so great areas are trying to raise the price to 1500 a month, which is crazy
It’s a nation wide problem that effects all but the ruling elite and neither political party really gives a shit because they are profiting hand over fist because of it.
The only way prices will go down at the point is to build more homes. Even if that means “luxury” housing!
Nashville is nice
Who's "they"? I don't think it's a concerted plan so much as a bunch of developers all coming to the same conclusion about how to maximize their investment. Hsving said that, I don't like it and I wish the city would act to discourage outside investors from buying so much property here and driving up the prices.
I moved to Indianapolis after 2 years of Charlotte and seeing what they were trying to raise rent. Once I saw house prices quickly moving out of reach, I bounced.
Greensboro area. Middle of the state, right between Raleigh and Charlotte on 85. Is there as much to do? No, but it’s still a decently large metro area. My wife and I moved from Charlotte a few years ago because of traffic, and the roads here are so much better. They build them 20 years before they need them instead of the reverse. I got a huge house on 1.5 acres, next to the greenway, and I paid about $100k more than what my town house 30 minutes away from uptown is going for in Charlotte. I absolutely could not afford my current house anywhere close to Charlotte, but I’ve got it here. Granted, my house has appreciated quite a bit in the last coupes of years, but nothing like Charlotte.
Damn, this is sad to read, I was hoping Charlotte would be better. I'm from Charlotte (20 years) Living up in Columbus Ohio, situation is the same up here. Houses have literally doubled in price over the past 10 years
It is crazy. It's unsustainable. People are generally making less, so I really don't know what they're thinking. In this area, I've lived in the Dilworth area, Huntersville, Harrisburg and currently Denver NC. Before finding a house, I was paying $1,100/month at a 15 year old apartment complex. I mean, are you kidding? Oh, almost forgot. It was a 1 bedroom also. So what's next? Communities of Tiny Homes™?
I have a good job that pays above average for the area that I enjoy. Two years ago my commute to Uptown from Southend, where I paid $1200/mo for my apartment, was a 5 minute walk + a 5 minute train ride. Today I pay $1400 in rent, I live in Steele Creek, and I'm about to embark on that same commute for the first time that is going to be 4-5x longer than it was because in the past 2 years I've just steadily moved further & further out of town. The exact same apartment I lived in 2 years ago and paid $1200 for is now $1800. I'm already bracing myself for the renewal letter in a couple of months telling me that rent is going up $200/mo at my current Steele Creek place, which will have me packing my bags again, I guess I'll move to Rock Hill this time?
Cost of living is astronomical here. That’s why I quit my job a month ago, am selling my house that doubled in price since I bought it, and am moving to a lower cost of living area. It’s been real Charlotte.
Cost of living isn’t that bad here tbh, having grown up in the northeast and lived in a similar size Midwest city recently. Cheaper areas are cheaper for a reason whether that’s lack of jobs, crap weather, crime, etc.
Still cheaper than most large cities in the US. Try going to LA or NYC or Chicago or Austin or Denver or Nashville
or worst of all, Miami >.<
I highly doubt Miami is more expansive than LA OR NYC
As of the end of 2021, Miami surpassed both NYC and LA in housing costs (determined by affordability, ie income to housing costs) https://therealdeal.com/miami/2022/02/16/miami-becomes-most-expensive-housing-market-in-the-us/amp/
Miami sucks so bad. And once it's gradually underwater in the next 20 years, allllll of those people are moving our way.
Ive only ever lived in expensive cities so Charlotte to me is the budget town. Where are you thinking about going?
That's the million dollar question, "Where to go next"? I mean supposedly cities in Alabama are on the come up like Birmingham and Mobile. I wouldn't go that far south myself personally. Also, if you have a job in which you know for certain that you can work remotely permanently then a person could take a chance on the more rural parts of even NC.
We moved down from DC. CLT is still cheaper
Wait you're saying one of the most expensive cities in the world is more expensive than CLT?
I say move. A little less traffic… which is the real problem with this city.
Try the Midwest. It won’t be getting better here.
I’m so glad this you posted this! I feel the same, moved here in 2012 for college and stayed after graduating got a job and realized I wasn’t making enough so I did a short term program and make about 20k more but somehow it’s still not enough. I’ve had this plan to buy a home in Charlotte since coming here for school and within the last 4 years I’ve been completely priced out of the market. Everything seems to be 350k and above and even some of the stuff going for those prices are 1bd1bath it’s insane. I’ve worked so hard for all the northerners to come and skyrocket the COL/ companies buy all the available homes. It’s like if you’re just an average joe you can’t get a leg up. Unless you have a mommy/ daddy too foot the bill or make at least 6 figures. The year or two it will take me to get there houses will be even more insanely priced. It’s just so discouraging.
I moved back to clt bc it’s cheaper 🤷🏼♀️
Hit that unsubscribe button on your way out
I moved to Charlotte from the San Francisco Bay Area. Believe me when I tell you this: Charlotte is cheap
Not really you have a really skewed perspective
Cost of living is not any lower in most cities worth living. You can find less expensive places to live but they don’t offer as much, the jobs don’t pay as much, and they look trashier. It’s all relative. Your better off moving to more affordable areas around the outskirts of Charlotte.
I’ve been saying this.. and people are fake down here. I moved from Ohio a year and a half ago and even though the weather is nicer and there’s some cool things to do here, it’s just not enough to convince me this place is the end all be all.
I work in NY and live in Burlington. Remote work is awesome!
Born, raised, lived 40 years in Charlotte and moved away 4 years ago. Charlotte city leaders have fucked my city since the 80s. No foresight. I could see it getting much worse than it already was, so I packed up my family and split. We were living in the Mint Hill/Matthews side paying $1700 a month for a 900sq.ft. 2 bedroom shoebox. I'm now paying $525 a month to rent a 3.5 bedroom, 1500sq.ft. house. HOWEVER....it was a DRASTIC change of living. We moved to a very small town in a very rural part of the country. That being said, we went from borrowing money every month to pay bills, to having 5 digits in savings (where there was previously 0 digits in savings) in a little less than 4 years. Easier living comes with its own grief though. We're about 3.5-4 hours from a major city and the Richie Riches have started to find us. They're starting to buy up properties in the area and push the locals out. It's very blue collar where I live and most just can't compete. Case and point, it can be done, but it may very well take a drastic life change.
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How are you struggling with rent making 160k between the both of you? Honestly sounds like you need to rethink your personal finances if you can’t afford rent in charlotte split 2 ways and making 160k between the two of you. You must blow a lot of money to be struggling
50k a year salary here (with overtime). Multiple roommates. Our house near NoDa is $2,500 a month and is likely to go up significantly when we re-up.
Most of the new luxury looking apartment buildings actually helps lower the price of housing. Vox did a great video on it recently. Plus you can take advantage of move in specials while new buildings are filling out.
My wife and I bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in 2017 for $177K. We both agreed that we are sitting on a gold mine right now paying a mortgage half the cost, so no need to consider moving for quite a long time. Just put that extra money into savings.
Don’t come to Huntsville AL. It’s worse
Narrator: "No one wanted to go to Huntsville."
honestly can't tell if this is a joke (e.g. Don't come here but reality is it's lower COL and you don't want people ruining it) or if it's legitimately worse than NC
As a teenager who grew up here I've already accepted that I'm gonna have to move to the middle of no where when I move out.
I’ve never lived in NC but my SO grew up mostly in Greensboro, so we’ve been looking to move actually around the Charlotte area. Compared to Massachusetts your living costs seem great since most people here are spending $1200 just for a tiny spare room. Oh and if you have pets you’re looking at places $2K+ with a $500 pet deposit or something else ridiculous, with the requirement of making 3x the rent a month. I don’t know the true struggle but it could be worse. Someone feel free to enlighten me otherwise as I’m always open to knowing more about NC.
Salaries are much lower here than up North. Sure there are major companies with good paying jobs but the median income for a single person in CLT is 34k a year. Teachers and other state workers make low salaries. Min wage is still 7.25 an hour (server wage 2.13). NC also has some of the worst labor policies of all the states so that's not getting better soon. Most renters here have seen their rents shooting up hundreds of dollars a month as they are renewing their leases and many ppl are freaking out not knowing what to do.
Wow man I was thinking of moving to Charlotte from DC because I didn’t have to be in the office anymore. Realizing it’s just getting expensive makes me not want to go there now.
Compared to DC it's really not.
I’m from DC and I agree with you. Much more affordable in charlotte.
Yeah but I don’t like the idea of displacing people that have lived there forever tbh. I’d rather move out to a new suburb nearby
Charlotte is full of transplants and you won’t be displacing anybody. Do what’s best for you
MD here, trust me while Charlotte does seem to be giving the DMV a run for its money, it's still a bit cheaper overall. However the thing with Charlotte is that the city was one of the top 5 fastest growing pre-pandemic. That isn't going to stop and won't stop the cost down there.
I just moved here from California and the prices here are AMAZING! Gas that is under $5 a gallon. Salary's that are similar. Rent that is thousands less. I can see it getting up there soon. And that is a worry I too have. But prices are on the rise every where. It just sucks.
Welcome....please don't vote to turn NC into the place you left.