Originally from the Chicago area, they call us "half-backs" because we went from Chicago to Daytona and half the way back to Charlotte a mere 8-years later. Many New Yorkers and Bostonians go through the exact same process.

Unlike the vast majority of the country that over the last few years experienced a substantial increase in property costs, only to have the bubble burst (or near burst) in the last year, North Carolina and Charlotte in particular, has remained a study performer. If you are active in the stock market, you would refer to the Florida market as a .com stock and Charlotte as blue chip. A steady more than acceptable appreciation in most areas.

If you love sunny days and blue skies come to Charlotte. If you like electric bills in the 2-digits, come to Charlotte. If you love friendly people and great schools, come to Charlotte. If you love the ocean and need to be near it, then call my office in Daytona. We'll be happy to assist you there too. :)

Charlotte: Another Southern Real Estate Belle
By Graham Summers

For starters, Charlotte is big. Between the city and its neighboring regions, some 2.2 million individuals call Charlotte home. It's the 18th largest city in the U.S.

Like Nashville, Charlotte has a wide variety of industries. Wachovia Bank was founded there under the name Charlotte National Bank in 1897. Today, both Wachovia and Bank of America are headquartered there. Charlotte is also home to seven Fortune 500 companies. It's not just domestic businesses, either.

More than 630 foreign-owned companies have offices in the Charlotte region. In fact, if North Carolina and South Carolina were a separate country, it would have the 12th largest economy in the world, with over $397 billion in gross domestic product. This would place it just below Australia in terms of GDP.

Altogether we're talking about more than 200 automotive companies, 1,250 machine-part companies, and 60 medical-equipment companies in around Charlotte.

Charlotte has an NFL team and an NBA team. It's also the NASCAR capital of the world: 90% of all NASCAR teams and companies are within 50 miles of downtown Charlotte. On top of this, there are four universities, 11 liberal-arts colleges, and 10 community colleges in the Charlotte region.

You'd think a city with this much to offer would be expensive. You'd be wrong. Charlotte's cost of living index is below that of Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Miami. And the average home price in Charlotte is $116,000, well below the national average of $130,000.

You can buy a gorgeous three-bedroom house in the historic section of downtown Charlotte for $240-$300 per square foot. Brand new luxury condos are selling for roughly the same price. Bubble prices? No way.

I've got a piece of advice for the analysts worried about the housing bubble: Spend some time outside of your million-dollar Manhattan condo. Take a look at what's happening outside of your Newport Beach mansion. You won't find a housing bubble in places like Iowa, Texas, or Tennessee.

I'm headed to Charlotte later this month to dig up more. If you are in the Charlotte area or have any contacts in the real estate market, e-mail growthstockwire@gmail.com.

People often ask me why I relocated to Charlotte, NC from sunny Daytona Beach, FL.

Although the Daytona Beach area is very nice and I truly miss certain aspects of living 5-minutes from the ocean, I do not miss the high taxes and high hazard insurance. If you love the ocean, need to be in a warm to hot weather climate pretty much year round, then the Daytona Beach area is for you. I lived in a city just west of Daytona called, Port Orange.

We decided to move to Charlotte for the same reason many other Florida residents have made this same decision. The cost of real estate in Charlotte is much less than Florida. We could purchase the same size home we had in Florida for substantially less here in the Charlotte area. Additionally, we saved over $5000.00 a year on home insurance, auto insurance and property taxes. Our home insurance in Florida was $2800.00 a year. Here in Charlotte, it is $429.00.