Best Place for mommy and Kids of 2 in NC (Charlotte: sales, apartment)

[Kufo]

Hy all.
Me (The Husband ) is relocated to NC.
I will start a position as a salesman.So I will traveling everyday all over the NC area. But central points are the 3 main city's.

I really don't care where I live.
I choose my location for my wife and my 2 kids (2+4)
What we saw online so far from housing and school system is Cary NC.
That is kind of the place to live for us so far. Why? It's highly recommended and always on the top of all searches online. But never been at that place. But sounds great.

So we looking for a save place for my family.
We are looking to rent a single home or similar to have our own privacy.
But most important to have a lot of space (garage , yard)
But not against renting a apartment if big enough (3 bedroom and additional space needed/available )

So let's point out what we are looking for.

Housing up to max. 1500$ rent -> garage -mostly for kids outside toys ;-)
Mommy's club around -> very important part for my wife to get social contacts
Shopping centers -> to get out and release some daily stress ;-)
Kindergarten - very important , good public school system (that was one point why we chooses Cary as first.
YMCA to get connections and to work out or something similar for my wife.
Parks or walking ways to take a walk with the kids and friends.
Library for the kids and for my wife to hang out with the kids.

So why I'm against Cary.
The housing is high. Living standard too , what I can read from the other post's.
So I thought maybe there are similar or better city's around what you could recommend.
When I search and I go further down (Aberdeen, rockingham, the houses very cheap less than 1200$ and huge, but can't find online any thing around, again for my wife to get socialized) It's most for my wife so she is happy with the surrounding area and community. So we love a family area. No party or anything like that. Going out. Meet other groups and hang out with kids and parents.

We move from CT (Hartford after 4 years) and pay rent 1400$ for a condo.
Total budget is around 85000$.

So do you know a good place to live for a small family with a lot going on for the kids /wife. With a house budget max 1500$.


Hope I didn't forgot anything.
And sorry when it is in the wrong forum. But we are looking in the whole NC area even when we preferred for the beginning to look at Cary Nc.

And sorry for all the misspelled words.. We are German's

And as an addition what we pay in CT.

Total month :5000$
1400 rent
250$ leasing car
300 pre k (4 days . 3 h)
100 gas
100 electr.
100 internet and tv
800 dollar food. (200$ each week) expensive in CT.
200$ kids supply
100$ fitness
300 clothes (specially for the kids)
120 gas (2 cars)
300 insurance car (2 cars + renters )
150 cellphone (At&t. --->. how is att in NC??)
200 errands
180outside restaurants or coffee :-)
Around 4100$ a month.

Thanks a lot. My wife will really appreciate it ;-)

[carolinadawg2]

I would recommend either Greensboro or Winston-Salem. More affordable than the Cary/Raleigh area, but meets your other criteria. Also more centrally located within the state. Great family cities with nice neighborhoods and amenities.

[LLN]

Cary is only highly recommended because so many sheep, erhhh... people move there. While if I had to live in a "city" it would be Winston Salem, but I would be looking at many of the smaller towns, say 25,000 to 45,000, roughly. I would recommend, in priority, Piedmont, mountains, coastal.

Do your research, but consider some of the smaller cities, too.

Good luck.

[Kufo]

Hi.
Yes we don't want to live in a bigger city. Small town would be good/great as long there is a lot going on for families. Like I mentioned a mommy club or similar things for kids. My wife doesn't want to drive every day 30 min to get to an event /library/ meetings or similar. Every parent knows how annoying it is to wrap up the kids, drive a long distance and finding out it would be better to stay at home ;-)


If someone has recommendation for a specific city or area around a city would be great.
I will take a look for Winston Salem. And appreciate a lot more recommendation ;-)

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by Kufo

Hi.
Yes we don't want to live in a bigger city. Small town would be good/great as long there is a lot going on for families. Like I mentioned a mommy club or similar things for kids......
If someone has recommendation for a specific city or area around a city would be great.
I will take a look for Winston Salem. And appreciate a lot more recommendation ;-)

For better answers, please take your questions to the Triad sub-forum. There are suggestions in a thread like this: Relocating to the Triad - Questions about best areas to buy

[Kufo]

Thanks for the link.
Yes I will move my questions regards Salem area or triad area.
But for the main question where to move at all to NC, I would like to keep (I hope more support are coming ) this post in the main section of NC.
May some other suggestions will come up.

May I have to ask about a specific town instead a area. (If so, I will post it in the right forum)
Or if someone tells me an area. May he could define a specific "favorite" city/town.

Thanks

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by Kufo

Thanks for the link.
Yes I will move my questions regards Salem area or triad area.
But for the main question where to move at all to NC, I would like to keep (I hope more support are coming ) this post in the main section of NC.
May some other suggestions will come up.

May I have to ask about a specific town instead a area. (If so, I will post it in the right forum)
Or if someone tells me an area. May he could define a specific "favorite" city/town.

Thanks

Do you have a job that you can take with you or will you need a job? If you will need a job, are you looking for German companies?

[carolinadawg2]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

Do you have a job that you can take with you or will you need a job? If you will need a job, are you looking for German companies?

Sounds like he already has one:

"Me (The Husband ) is relocated to NC.
I will start a position as a salesman.So I will traveling everyday all over the NC area. But central points are the 3 main city's. "

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by Kufo

But for the main question where to move at all to NC, I would like to keep (I hope more support are coming ) this post in the main section of NC.
May some other suggestions will come up.

I also agree that for a salesman job it is best to be centrally located. You already said that Cary is too expensive. So, the Greensboro/Winston-Salem is less expensive than Cary. Kernersville and Clemmons are nice suburbs, but the Triad cities themselves are very livable. In the Triad, there are certain to be mothers' groups, perhaps even a German-speaking group. Try Meet-up or Facebook.

For alternatives, perhaps you can plot where more of the sales call would be for the industry you serve. If there are many in Charlotte, Durham or even Fayetteville, you could consider those areas. Charlotte is served by the Charlotte subforum, where you will get recommendations for Matthews, Concord, etc. Durham is the Triangle, and you could look into Hillsborough, Wake Forest, Rolesville, etc. Fayetteville is served by the general NC forum, and you could look at Pinehurst, Raeford, etc.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by carolinadawg2

Sounds like he already has one:

"Me (The Husband ) is relocated to NC.
I will start a position as a salesman.So I will traveling everyday all over the NC area. But central points are the 3 main city's. "

Thanks. I overlooked that somehow. The Triad does seem like the best location for him.