Totally Freaked About Moving to Raleigh! (Durham, Chapel Hill: organic, property taxes, place to live)

[autumngal]

Originally Posted by Funky Chicken

As a rule, most people here are not impressed by a fancy car. I live on a street of houses with values of 2 to 3 times the median price for the Raleigh area. Most of my neighbors can buy any car they want. Most of them drive older Hondas, Toyotas, or Saturns. The Honda Odyssey is the official car of my neighborhood for moms. People would rather spend their money on family vacations or save than drop $50K on a car. That's just not the way we roll around here.

I love humble people!

[findingmesomeday]

And face it, when you've got 3+ kids, what's more practical? The fancy jag (which no PhD candidate I ever knew owned...) or a sturdy van!

[grifter]

Originally Posted by Funky Chicken

As a rule, most people here are not impressed by a fancy car.

As a rule, most people anywhere are not impressed by a fancy car! Except for the people who need the cars to validate their own self worth.

And as for homeless people, the original poster is deluded if she thinks they don't exist in Austin! Homeless people are everywhere, and yes - just as their name suggests, they are indeed homeless!

[Clever User Name]

I totally understand. When I rolled into Raleigh, I stopped at the Whole Foods to get my favorite Madagascan organic sparkling water. But, I was totally worried that my driver, Vlad, would be kidnapped by some local ruffians. I didn't like the way the locals, most of whom were shoeless, shirtless, and covered in general poorness, were eyeing up the Silver Spur, no doubt thinking of stealing the wheels for their trailor homes. Needless to say, I had to quench my thirst elsewhere. Fortunately, I can afford to build my own Madagascan Organic Sparkling Water store in the wretched Raleigh area - that I'm forced to move to against my will, due to a complex set of favorable tax loopholes and North Carolina extradition laws. Did I mention my degrees from Oxford? Perhaps you should do what I plan to do. I'm going to build a 20 story home and live on the top floor to avoid the stench of the surrounding area.

Sigh.

[Orchard]

Currently a NY'er thinking about relocating to Chapel Hill. Any other Northerners who moved to Chapel Hill? Can you share your experiences?

[Redrover]

Brenda, have you ever heard the saying, "Bloom where you're planted?" Having lived in Texas for more years than I care to admit, I am more than well versed in its attributes as well as its warts. Every time I attend a concert or other cultural event I acknowledge that when we move to North Carolina I may not get to replicate the experiences (Yo-Yo Ma, Sarah Chang, Joshua Bell etc.) but I am just fine with that. Houston gets the cream of the crop in music/artists as well as other performers such as comdians and I have enjoyed and relished them all. But I have enjoyed them at a price - massive traffic congestion, enormous crowds and parking nightmares. But we have made it a point to sample some of the offerings in Raleigh when we've visited (North Carolina Symphony and the Raleigh Little Theater) and have thoroughly enjoyed the experiences. Once we decided to make the move we accepted that if we wanted to enjoy some of our favorite performers we might have to travel to do so and we are just fine with that. Bloom where you're planted Brenda...

[clockwork]

Originally Posted by Clever User Name

When I rolled into Raleigh, I stopped at the Whole Foods to get my favorite Madagascan organic sparkling water.

This is ridiculous since seventy-five percent of Malagasy lack access to potable water. With that said, I find it outlandish that you would ship what little water there is to the US.

On a more serious note, has it occurred to anyone that Brenda may just be trolling?

[jkmeca11]

Originally Posted by Clever User Name

I totally understand. When I rolled into Raleigh, I stopped at the Whole Foods to get my favorite Madagascan organic sparkling water. But, I was totally worried that my driver, Vlad, would be kidnapped by some local ruffians. I didn't like the way the locals, most of whom were shoeless, shirtless, and covered in general poorness, were eyeing up the Silver Spur, no doubt thinking of stealing the wheels for their trailor homes. Needless to say, I had to quench my thirst elsewhere. Fortunately, I can afford to build my own Madagascan Organic Sparkling Water store in the wretched Raleigh area - that I'm forced to move to against my will, due to a complex set of favorable tax loopholes and North Carolina extradition laws. Did I mention my degrees from Oxford? Perhaps you should do what I plan to do. I'm going to build a 20 story home and live on the top floor to avoid the stench of the surrounding area.

Sigh.

You are killing me!!

[JustChar]

Brenda, You defintely love Austin, and so you should, it is a wonderful place. I am so sorry you have to move from there to the Raleigh area for your Phd program. But, take it from me, no matter where you move it won't be Austin and you won't like it.

I have to sympathize with you in being forced to move somewhere, because anywhere you move to is NOT the place you love. When I was married to my first husband, he coerced, guilted and pretty much forced me into moving to Victoria TX. Now Victoria is a beautiful town, south of San Antonio, TX which is also pretty nice. Victoria has lots of parks and the Guadalupe River runs through it. It is a small town and people there were friendly. But I hated living there because I was forced to live there. I look back now and it wasn't the worst place I have ever lived.

I would not force anyone to move to a different place when they didn't want to move there, because you will hate, hate, hate it. If it is a temporary move for you, try to look at it that way, that it is only temporary and you will be able to move back to the place you absolutely love.

I just have to say something about your remark on Jaguars. I live in Oxnard CA and I have to say I have had my cars (Nissan, Honda) broken into almost a dozen times, and have never owned a Jag in my life. BUT, there are more Jags here than probably Beverly Hills. There is not a day goes by that I am out driving around Oxnard that I don't see several Jags around town. And they look like they have never been harmed. And since Durham has less crime then we do, I am sure your Jag would be perfectly safe there.

So calm down and just think of it as a temporary move and you will be back on your way to the place you love the most in the world, Ok?

Char

[dianadarling]

Originally Posted by brenda9417

We are relocating to Raleigh from Austin (the mecca of diversity, wierdness, hightech and live music). We visited Raleigh a couple of weeks back, and came back home in tears. What we saw was, to say the least, shocking. Overpriced homes with beaters in the driveway (a sign of people who work to simply pay the house payment), No greenbelts or hike and bike trails in your back yard (apparently you have to go to a park to get that), and your homeless people were actually homeless! Where's the love? Other people were walking down the streets--not for exercise, but because they didn't have a ride. We saw a few cyclists in Hillsborough and Pittsboro (but that was the only sign of outdoor exercise we witnessed). We saw one sad little farmer's market, but no artists kiosks or street musicians. Where is the culture? If one more person points us in the direction of the museums I think I'll scream! We were told to go to Durham for live music (We drove through Durham and kept on driving! I drive a Jaguar and figured the cat wouldn't be on the hood when I came back out.) We were then told to go to Chapel Hill. That's an awfully small town with a few quaint shops and restaruants, but nothing to write home about! Is this what we have to look forward to? Overpriced homes, driving out of town or having to fight the college students to hear a good band, museums, nothing to do but work to pay the mortgage? Please tell us it isn't so!

I live in Durham and commute to Raleigh. Durham gets a bad rep due to inner city problems. However, there are many nice areas that are not cookie cutter houses. We live near Duke Forest with many trails. Plus there is the 9th street area and Brightleaf. My car has been broken into TWICE in RALEIGH but never in Durham. I would not live in Raleigh. We are happy with the schools our kids are in, and guess what they do not get redistricted every year. In fact, they have never been redistricted. They are in 11th, 10th and 7th grade now. They also have a 10 minute bus ride to neighborhood schools. Jordan High School made the Newsweek top 250 list and only 2 Wake schools even made the top 1000.
You can find a four bedroom house with 3/4 acre and lots of trees for under $250.
No, I do not work for the chamber of commerce. But I choose Durham to avoid the traffic, school chaos, and boring look a like neighborhoods with houses on top of each other.