We aren't kidding.


I've grown up here and lived here. NC is pretty central to anything on the East coast. I grew up in Gastonia, a city of maybe 100k outside of Charlotte, NC and have been in school for the past 3.5 years in Boone, NC at Appalachian State (yes, the 15k student D1-AA school who beat up on Michigan last year) and I really like the state. Its not very liberal at all, just keep that in mind, a lot of immigration by both people relocating and illegal/legal immigrants.

I'd stay out of Charlotte...that place blows in my humble opinion. To much crime and the schools suck.

The Raleigh/Cary/Apex area is where a lot of new jobs are, fairly expensive to live in, but if you can find a pretty nice neighborhood its not a bad place. My roommate is from Cary, my g/fs roommate is from Apex.

Asheville is small...artsy, and redneck on the weekends. Also a high gay/lesbian population engaging in lost of liberal hippy activities. In Boone we just drink, drive real fast around curves, and every other person smokes weed. We also bitch about the immense about of rich ******* from Florida who 1) can not drive 2) need to die already and help solve congestion problems and 3) cause land prices to go way the **** up


Emissions is county by county, but only if you are post 96.

 

Lots of good info....
I guess a few things are relative...ie: "more expensive to live", and "liberal"...care to give a few details/examples?
I ask because like i mentioned, finding a home in FL/NY for $150k is a joke...however I see lots of listings near Raleigh in that range. In fact finding 1/2+acre is also a joke, pretty much regardless of price...
Also liberal, I live in an HOA here...have to get permission to do anything that can be seen from street view, and thats very limited to what they will allow (colors, options, etc...). In other words I couldnt change my mailbox, only replace it with the same exact one everyone else has...I have to get permission if I want to put landscaping rocks around my flower bed, and if they say yes they will tell YOU what colors/types you can use. Thinking of making an addition to the house, FOOOOOOOORGET it...not allowed period!
On the other side, homosexualality is very open here.
So if you're kinda saying, we dont like queers...then thats fine by me...if you're saying you can only have a black mailbox, then that sucks...

So more info please, and thanks for real world opinion....good to know you got some smokers up there too...