Visiting Charlotte - suggestions?

We might be coming to Charlotte this weekend on a whim. After reading many of the posts here on the Tripadvisor forums, I am curious about Charlotte and what makes it so popular. Our weekend is free, so why not :)

Any suggestions as to where we should stay? Preferably, the cheaper the better (under $100/night, $50 even better).

We will arrive Saturday afternoon - would there be any place where we might be able to obtain street/highway maps and restaurant info?

What areas do you recommend we drive around to? We would probably want to see areas where 4-bedroom, single family homes in reputable school districts are selling for around $200k. Is this realistic?

Husband is a taper/spackler who gets all of his Long Island business by word of mouth. Would he have trouble finding opportunities in Charlotte?

TIA!

Visiting Charlotte - suggestions?

You should stay anywhere close to Southpark, or Ballantyne. If you stay in Southpark, I would stay at the Doubletree or the Hyatt. I have stayed there before, and they are both nice and accomodating. There are a few areas close to Southpark that you can still get in for around 200K. Candlewyck is nice, and Beverly Woods is pretty popular. A couple of nice neighborhoods in Union County are Wincrest and Wesley Oaks. These are both new subdivisions, with good builders. Wincrest is Love Homes Cons., and Wesley Oaks is a Centex Homes community. I may know some people that may be able to help your husband. I meet a lot of people in that field being in Real Estate, so I might be able to make a couple contacts. Good Luck.

Visiting Charlotte - suggestions?

Hampton Inn at Southpark ( Phillips Place) may have a lower rate if you are really budget conscious. Best wishes.

To answer your last question most of the construction in charlotte has now gone to our large (mostly illeagle) Mexican population which has lowered the wage (according to the unions) to levels of the late 1970%26#39;s. It is really hard for a leagle guy to compete with this especially if he is then carrying his own insurance paying taxes leaglely and following the rules that US citizens must follow. Matthews has the best public schools in the county at this moment but they are still part of our bohemoth CMS school system which is quite a problem. May I suggest private schools. Unless things drastically improve in the next couple of years there is no way that my kid will be in the CMS system. Also before a move check out our tax rates (not always like this) Highest NC State Income tax bracket 8% but if you make as little as 22,000 a year you will fall in the much lower (haha) 7% tax bracket. If you own a business in Charlotte the city expects a cut of your profits also. NC gas tax is 30 cent per gallon but as you will quickly see as you drive around Charlotte and NC it does not go to street maintance. The climate here is great and so are most of the locals (although crime is out of control and even the Charlotte Observer is having to own up to that) Study everything before making the decision to move. A friend of mine moved from New Jersey and said that his NC tax was much higher than the tax in Jersy when he left. Count the cost of moving to NC. Jobs are leaving and the business climate is being made harder by raleigh and locals. Check out Tega Cay and York SC. You will save a lot of money the Schools are better, the roads are better and the tax rate is about half of NC.

This last post is inaccurate. Jobs are not leaving here. In fact, the net migration INTO Charlotte in 2005 was nearly 30,000 people. The economic growth rate of Charlotte is nearly twice the national average. You can look it up. Perhaps this poster was referring to blue collar and/or industrial jobs, which are definitely leaving the region. However, the service economy continues to hum along.

Realistic in Fort Mill with much better schools and lower taxes but unless you speak fluent mexican you can forget getting a construction job english is a foreign language here on job sites. NC government is corrupt and gives them drivers licenses without insurance and any id but they will put you through the ringer to get a drivers license in NC. Crime in Charlotte is off the scale and so are taxes. If they loose the big banks which right now is a 50/50 possiblility construction will go down the toidy as charlotte will be way overbuilt if it looses the banks.