Moving from Florida to Fayetteville area... Lots of ???? (Sanford, Salem: apartment complex, houses)

[amymcbrew]

Hello all! I know it has been asked before, and I've read ALL the threads, but I just feel like I need more information and want to make the best decision on where to live in the Fayetteville area. We currently live in St. Augustine, FL and I've lived in FL all my life... so I feel like a fish out of water relocating to NC! I've just never been anywhere near the area so I have no idea what lays in store for us. My husband will be working at Ft. Bragg. I stay at home with 2 small children and one will be entering PreK... probably easiest for me to break my questions down:

I'm used to living in a smaller town but also love the convenience of having shopping within 10 - 15 mins and a large city within 35 - 40... what is the best area to live in or around Fayetteville?

We are looking for a neighborhood that is family friendly and has amenities such as a swimming pool and playground. Doesn't matter if the houses are new or older... just want a safe, friendly neighborhood where the kids can ride bikes, go swimming, go walking with me, etc. Our price range is around $200K... less would be great but we could go a bit higher for the perfect location!

Also, I'd like to find a PreK private school that is christian based.

And I plan to go back to school and finish my RN... can anyone recommend any colleges in and around the area with a good RN program?

From what I've read on here Sanford seems like it would be a good fit for us but I just wanted to see if there were any other areas we should consider.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
And thanks to all those of you that post... I'm so glad I found this forum! :-)

Thanks so much!
Amy

[LRoyal10900]

East of Fayetteville would fit you nicely as well. Eastover, Stedman......you'll find lots of church-preschools. Salem Methodist Church in Eastover has a really good preschool. So does Synder Baptist Church in Fayetteville. You'll find 3 of the top 5 elementary schools in all of Cumberland County in this area as well (this is the Cape Fear High School school district). You'll be within 15 minutes of town (Fayetteville--and about 20-30 minutes to Ft. Bragg), but you're in much smaller towns--but still have a grocery store, drug store, and even a pediatrician (in Eastover--Rainbow Pediatrics).

Stedman and Eastover both have recreation department programs--sports, if your child would be interested---really good programs. You're not too far from Fayetteville to go to the Fascinate-U Children's Museum (free after 1pm on Wed.), or Snyder Baptist Church's Music Academy & their Kindermusik programs. The Art Museum offers activities for small kids as well.

Unless you live in a country club, or an apartment complex, you really won't find neighborhoods with community pools. And you can definitely find a nice house in your price range! Like Joanchris2000 said below, alot of people have their own pools.

As for your degree---are you talking about a 2-year RN, or a BSN?? For the 2-year program, you can go to Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC). Methodist University has a PA program, if that might interest you. Fayetteville State University had started a BSN program, but they've had lots of problems, and I think it's on hold for right now.

Feel free to contact me if you have more questions. I've lived just east of Fayetteville my entire life and have 2 kids, and for us, to "go to town" meant going to Fayetteville.

[joanchris2000]

Much to our dismay when moving to Fayetteville, there were NO housing developments (2006) with community pools except Gates Four and even then I think you had to join the country club to use it. However, it seemed like lots of people had their own pools...we had just moved from CT and had our own pool for 14 yrs and didn't really want one, but found it hard to believe that with it being so hot there were so few communities with pools.

[faabala]

Actually "Westgate" just inside Hoke County has a community pool and it has several developments (The Oaks, The Hollies, The Maples and The Pines) in several price ranges for everybody. We've sold a few out there and many folks love it.

It might be just what you are looking for. Most of the residents work on Bragg.

I sent my daughter to Pre-K at St. Anns Catholic school last year and I would highly recommend it. It was excellent! We are not Catholics BTW.

Fayetteville State has lost its Nursing program due to poor performance.

UNC-Pembroke would be the one to look into to.