Quote:
Originally Posted by lmc069
My family may be relocating to Winston-Salem next year and I'm in need of information on good family areas. We have 3 kids (15,12&10) and I'm looking for a good school system. I currently reside in Mechanicsville,VA which has excellent schools and I'm apprehensive about the move since my kids are not young anymore. We visited the area a few weeks ago and we were happy with what we saw, but we are in the dark about where we should settle. HELP!
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I am copying and pasting some comments made earlier by Cassie - who knows this area well:
Mebane is nice, but growing fast in terms of development. Gosh, I remember when it was nothing but farmland. Mostly high volume production, tract homes now, but whatever suits your fancy :-) I like Burlington, a lot in fact, but it's a hike from there to most of the places where you'll be able to find suitable employment within the 1/2 hour driving range in the field you're looking for. Most of the work and the better pay will be in Raleigh and that's well over half an hour when you factor in traffic.
I agree with whoever suggested NW Guilford ( pronounced Giff-erd - <grin> )
We call it the 15 minute commute. 15 minutes to Greensboro, 15 minutes to High Point, realistically about 20 minutes to Winston- depending upon which part.
Winston is our least favorite city of the 3. There are parts that are very nice, parts that are little better than a ghetto, and overall, the traffic is much worse than in Greensboro or High Point, which traffic, especially around the Hanes mall area in Winston, reminds me of the gridlock of northern VA. Stoplight after stoplight where you crawl.
So I suggest that you look into the NW Guilford area. The town of Summerfield is charming, but a lot of Summerfield is booming and the higher prices are reflecting that. Oak Ridge is also terrific, but the average cost of a home is $334,000 - on an acre of land. ( Has to do with the watershed) The houses are very nicely built, but too rich for my blood, and not on enough land.
Stokesdale is about 7 miles from Oak Ridge. Most of Stokesdale is in Guilford ( again pronounced Giff-erd) but the part that is about 3 miles over the Guilford county line into Rockingham is considerably less expensive, both in housing costs and in real estate taxes -- Guilford's just seem to keep going up.
Stokesdale is rural ( and I do mean rural shug') but close to amenities, and within the 15 minute commute range that many people so love. The boom hasn't really hit there yet, so the opportunity to buy at lower prices still exists, plus it gives you 3 cities to work in, rather than just one.
High Point has extremely affordable housing, is really easy to find your way around in, plus if you so desire, you can make arrangements to rent out your home twice a year when the Furniture Market is underway. That's when 120,000 plus people descend upon the town, and you might want to rent out your house to some of the furniture buyers/ vendors and go away on vacation. People do that because it more than pays for taxes on their house for the year and they don't desire to be there when the Furniture Market is underway anyway.
Anyway, these are a few options to think about. Best wishes in making your decision.
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can anyone "please" give me some information!
