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Girls who moved to the south from another state...
Hi girls,
I've lurked on this board quite a bit, and I know you get asked these questions a lot. My husband and I have been thinking about moving from Pennsylvania to North/South (preferably South) Carolina for about 2 years. Simply put, we just don't like where we live right now; I've lived in PA my entire life, and he moved here to be with me when we got married. We're in the middle of a pros and cons of moving list, and the 2 cons are family and finding jobs, which are two pretty big reasons not to move. I am not super close to my family, but I do worry about meeting new people and finding a new network of friends, plus I know the unemployment rate is SC is a lot higher than where we live now (Pittsburgh was already pretty depressed when the recession hit, so we sort just stayed status quo!). So while we would not move unless one of us (most likely him) had a job first, I do worry about myself finding a job.
We're finding ourselves getting more serious about this lately because of the housing tax credit. We're finally ready to buy a home, and we want to make sure we are where we want to be living when we make that commitment.
Anywho, if you got this far, thanks! And, my question is, what made you just decide to move? Were you transferred for a job, or did you just want something different? We're the type of people that can over think things sometimes, and while this is a big decision, we're trying not to let an opportunity pass us by this time. We love the Charleston/Mt. Pleasant Area in particular, and we would love to be somewhere with more than 45 days of sun a year. We have no children, we don't own any property, and we're not married to our jobs, so nothing is really keeping us in PA.
As a side note, are there any industries that ARE hiring in the south?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Re: Girls who moved to the south from another state...
In 2001 the day after I graduated high school. I moved down to Charlotte, NC to take a job for the summer. Well my parents ended up following me down since my mom has family in the area. I have only been back to Maine to visit.
I also went to college in NC and I met my dh. When he graduated college he got a job in SC in his field which is how we decided to move to SC.
I think it is good to think about things. Have you been to the charleston/ Mt. pleasant area? I don't live that way so I do not know about the area or jobs. Hopefully someone will come along who can give you better advice. I wish you the best.
DH and I grew up in WV (I grew up about an hour and a half from Pittsburgh in fact.) After college we took jobs in Fairfax, VA.
We hated it. I think we're both very much southerners at heart, even though we grew up yankies
We decided we wanted to live somewhere where the COL was lower, where it was warmer, and where it was less crowded than the DC Metro area.
We wound up coming here for an interview for a job I had applied for and wound up falling in love with Greenville, SC. We decided to leave our jobs and pack up and move without having jobs lined up here. We payed for an apartment for 6 months (up front,) to give us time to decide if this is where we wanted to stay.
I don't think we've regretted it for even a moment.
South Carolina is one of those states where the employment statistics can be very misleading. Charleston is kind of off on its own, but you can almost divide our state in half. The lower region of the state is unfortunately extremely poor, rural, and there has always been very little economic growth.
I'm not going to act like things are ideal in the Greenville Area, but there has seemed to be a lot of different industries being attracted to the area. If you are curious about jobs, I'd suggest getting on a site like Monster or Careerbuilder and seeing what's available.
I've lived here almost my entire life and love it! I moved here from Iowa when I was 12.
DH and I moved from Pittsburgh to Spartanburg, SC last June. We moved bc I had a great job offer here as an engineer. DH has a business degree and has had trouble finding a job since being here. Since being here, my company has put a hire freeze up and have done layoffs, as have many other companies. If you're serious about moving here, try to get jobs set up 1st.
As for info about making the move. DH and I like it here now. The first few months were very hard. We knew no one here nor did we know the area. Now, we have discovered Greenville, Asheville, and Charlotte. We have founds lots of activities to keep us busy and it's great. The weather is beutiful.
The negatives, this is a very different place than Pittsburgh -- much slower paced. Drivers here are terrible and cause me much anger. It is difficult to make new friends. We have made a few close friends but still not many and are hoping to still find more.
Also, we are not super close with our families but like seeing them for the holidays. Plus, all of our friends still live in Pittsburgh (I'd assume this is the same for you bc many people stay in Pittsburgh). So being 8 hours away is tough. We thought about moving closer (3 - 4 hours) to make trips back easier. We have adapted now and the more time we're here, the more we love it.
hudysgirl, that's a concern of ours too. We are also not super close with our families, but we would be going home for the holidays, and 8 hours would be a tough drive.
Even on vacation we recognize the differences in driving than Pittsburgh! It's a lot, lot slower!
I moved here from Colorado during the summer of '07. My main reasons for moving were a great job promotion for DH, plus I was in a rut and needed a change. I had a good job/house/friends/famiy/etc in CO, but wanted to experience a few more things before I made a full comitment in my life. I am so glad I did!
Yes, people are "different" in the South and it was harder to make friends, but eventually I have found them to be genuine. You can't beat the weather either... no more freezing cold snow storms or wind! It made me more independant and closer with DH because we both had so many "firsts" here; first Sweet Tea, first religion/race/economic differences, first swing (dance), and it also made us depend more on one another.
The job market is not the best but it depends a lot on the industry. I am doing very well right now in property development, and the IT fields are getting bigger. What are you looking for?
I am from the south, Dh is more than happy to honor my wish to raise a family down there. He has a job offer in Charleston, so that will be the reason for our move (if it pans out).
Not to discourage you, but Charleston housing is really expensive. It costs the same to live there as it does to live in Boston, plus the income taxes down there are higher than here. It was a little discouraging house hunting on Saturday while down there and looking at 4 BR homes for $620k.