A recent study released by the Gallop orgnization shows that many of Charlotte NC’s residents rate it highly in terms of it’s overall beauty, quality of life, and access to higher education, but simultaneously rank it lower for things like the areas parks, playgrounds, and hiking trails.
While it all sounds like a bit of a contradiction, overall the feeling from the poll shows that Charlotte is very open to new comers as well, as it should be. It’s very difficult to find many native Charlotteans and even some of the cities most well known people, former Charlotte Observer owner D.A. Tompkins and former Bank of America CEO Hugh McColl just to name a few. I can honestly say that’s one of the reasons I love the Charlotte NC area so much is because of the diversity brought about by people coming from all over the country. It truly is a melting pot of cultures and ideals.
Some of the areas cited as needing improvement include the quality of the schools and the economy. The economy is certainly an easy one to understand when you consider that much of Charlotte’s economy is based on the banking industry, which has certainly taken a beating over the past 18+ months.
In terms of the school systems, I really don’t know what to say about this one. It certainly is a bit of a mess and as much as I’d love to say we can see a light at the end of the tunnel I don’t know that that’s the case.
Fortunately, for those of us down here in the Fort Mill SC and Rock Hill SC area, we don’t have to deal with the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System’s troubles. Fort Mill SC school district is rated as one of the top school districts in the state of SC and many people are choosing to purchase the new home in the Fort Mill SC area for this very reason.
Overall, I’d say that Charlotte NC definitely has a ton of great features and is a great place to live. At the same time, the Fort Mill SC and Rock Hill SC areas offer many additional benefits PLUS we also get to take advantage of everything that Charlotte has to offer because of it’s close proximity!
Filed under Carolina Real Estate, Charlotte NC, Fort Mill SC, Life In the Carolinas, Rock Hill SC by 
In July, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities rose 1.2 percent from June’s number to a reading of 143.05. Although home prices are still 13.3 percent below last July’s figures a year ago, the study also shows that the annual declines have slowed in all 20 cities for the sixth straight month.
Now, although this is certainly some encouraging news, home prices overall are still down roughly 33% from the numbers from mid-July 2006. So while we are starting to see some improvements in the housing market overall, there’s still a very long way to go before things are completely back.
The report shows that with the exception of the Las Vegas, Detroit, and Seattle areas home prices are rising across the country and I would say that that’s the trend I’m seeing here in the Fort Mill SC and Rock Hill SC area.
Yes, it’s still very much a buyer’s market, but you can slowly see home prices starting to increase ever so slightly. We’ve been very fortunate in that home prices never really took the nose dive experienced by other markets, but home buyer confidence is certainly returning which in turn means homes are selling closer to asking price than previously.
Hopefully this trend will continue, not just in the Fort Mill SC area, but nationwide as well. Home sales has always been a bit of a barometer of how well the economy is doing so the better the home market is, the better off our economy is!
Filed under Home Buyers, Home Sellers, Market Trends, News Reports by
