New vs. Older Houses in Charlotte

One thing that surprised me about Charlotte is the overall lack of southern looking architecture in most houses being built. I was expecting to see those gracious front porches supported by wood columns and beautiful fern leaves swaying in the wake of the breeze provided by an outdoor fan. I was expecting live oaks gently shading that front porch as well. Well, that's not the case in Charlotte--most everything is new here and is built in a transitional style. If you want formal southern architecture, you'll have to move to Charleston. The Dilworth neighborhood, and those surrounding Uptown do still sport homes with typical southern design, and you will catch one here and there around town, but it's pretty rare.

Neighborhoods in Charlotte are mostly called "subdivisions," or what us non-natives might refer to as a "development." Most of Charlotte is not built on a grid of blocks like NYC, it's simply a series of subdivisions--and each one tends to be named. There's places like Providence Country Club, High Gate, Sunset Park and Heron Harbor. You tell your realtor about these named neighborhoods that you like, and they can search for you in this manner.

You'll see two scopes of buildings here--brand spanking new or a bit older. Here's the pluses and minuses of each:

New:
Heck, it's new! No one has lived in your brand new house before you, or maybe there was just one owner. You're probably getting an open floor plan, big closets and modern stainless appliances tucked into granite countertops. I call these "insta-neighborhoods," where you may have a community pool and playground surrounded by many cul-de-sacs. Houses tend to be really close together, and yards are puny. The developer has likely cut down every precious tree on the land to make way for many more houses than should be placed in any one place. Builders put four houses in the spot where there should be one. You better like your neighbors, because you're going to be really, really, close to 'em. If you get into a Hatfield-McCoys situation in this setting, you could just stare at each other through your side windows and make faces in the heat of battle.

Homes in these neighborhoods tend to look very much alike to their neighbors, with a slight variation of color or design. Its perfect for folks with kids, as they can ride around with their bikes in a safe manner and its easy for them (and you) to make friends. Some neighborhoods have taken this form a living to new heights. For example, the very popular Birkdale Village in Huntersville (Area 9) has adorable southern styled homes on .12 size lots. There's cute shopping right near all the homes, and it's almost like a little town onto itself.

There's a few amazing neighborhoods, however, that are not so extreme such as Ardey in Area 5 (South Charlotte). The builder has put together a collection of pretty southern inspired homes with front porches and alleyways in the back for cars. They are painted in marvelous Charleston colors like pink, teal and Georgia peach. It really is a stunning community, and the builder took care to really put together a design that gives variation to the homes.

You can find newer neighborhoods in golf communities or even lake communities. You can have tons of amenities where you may not even have to leave your subdivision (Sun City at Carolina Lakes for 55+ adults). Or, you can have a bare bones inexpensive place where the homes are pretty much cookie cutter.

Older:
Most of these will be built from the 1960's to just a couple of years ago. 90% of these will have siding versus any of the brickface or hardi-plank newer homes are wearing these days. Small or non-existent closets are the norm, and most likely everything will need some updating. You may not see the 10 foot ceilings that the new homes have, and there's less bathrooms. On the flipside, you get land, lush trees and privacy. You also tend to get a bargain in terms of a sale price of these homes, but you'll only plow it all back in to update the darn thing. But, at least you get to fix it up the way you want it. It's also likely that you won't be subjected to a Home Owners Association (HOA)--that's a blessing as far as I'm concerned.

I've lived in both of these types of homes, and I confess I'm partial to older homes. I've got 3 beautiful acres, with plenty of space between me and my neighbors. I've had to rip up everything in the house--kitchen, baths, etc., but you just can't find a 3,000 square foot house on a plot like mine in Union County for the price I bought it for. I got a bargain, in fact! There's also a bit more character in these older gals--if you consider that the house is mostly out-of-square character, that is. So, be sure to not ignore older homes in your search if you're looking for a steal in terms of real estate.

Basically, two things will determine the home you buy. The first will be money and the second will be the area you prefer to live in. Figure out that combination and just let your realtor know what you're looking for in terms of the house itself.

Oh, and I neglected to mention that when you house hunt here in Charlotte you'll be surprised to note that when you walk into houses it appears like all of them have been decorated by Martha Stewart. In New York, I was so used to walking into slummy looking homes for exorbitant prices, that I was totally shocked at the level of decor in the homes here. You're thinking to yourself, how can I compete with this?! But interior designers are inexpensive to work with around these parts, and every proud southern woman seems to use one. Good for them!

Happy house hunting in Charlotte!