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Raleigh Charter High School is the best in the area according to US News. It's ranked 24 nationwide. (Monta Vista was ranked 70 and Lynbrook was ranked 98 to give you an idea) It's a lottery school, so it's hard to get into, but worth a try if you are moving to the area.
I too moved from Cali, but from Los Angeles where schools aren't as great as the bay area, so I get your concern. I think Cary/Chapel Hill schools are very good too, so you should be ok here.
Yes, I know about the weird phenomenon about the East Coast and beach weather. On the West, it's cooler near the coast and hotter as you go inland. Here, it can be hot inland and overcast and cool at the beach (say Half-Moon Bay). All along the East, it's the reverse. Even in the Northeast. It's hotter to closer you are to the beach.
I'll say that I'm not a big beach fan. I'm not usually a big fan of beach communities, either. I like La Jolla and Stinson for beaches. Monterey/Pacific Grove for waterside recreation.
The humidity is made uncomfortable by the dew point. The higher the dew point, the more oppressive the humidity feels. The Northeast is just as humid, but the dew point is 60 or below, while the dew point in the Southeast is near or above 70 during the summer. At 40ish, you don't really feel the humidity. Ft. Worth's heat index is higher than NC's, so I do know how oppressive it can be.
Now is a good time to come back. Housing prices are pretty low, so you can get a lot for your money.
The people are changing, though. Strong sense of entitlement, disregard for others. The rules apply to everyone but them. Not disrespect, but certainly a lack of respect for others. All of which, they pass along to their kids.
The state has become very economically and socially stratified. Lots of status-oriented people and pretentiousness.
I live in Concord, near the Walnut Creek border. Our school district's borders aren't bound by city borders, and my part of Concord has attended Walnut Creek schools for nearly 30 years. Now, some people in Walnut Creek resent the Concord kids who attend those schools. So much, that they've got a drive going to kick those kids out.
Some things can be uglier than weather.
We tend to go to the mountains in the summer and save the beach for the Fall and Spring seasons.
We are looking more in Washington (further up the coast) rather than California and concur with much of what you say how things are/have changed. Everywhere does have its challenges.
I think our first mistake buying here was buying within a few months of arriving here. I think it is a really good idea to rent for a bit until you get a chance to explore all your options. We ended up selling our home within 3 years of arriving realizing that we bought in the wrong area and wanted a different school district as well. It all worked out but looking back I wished we would have rented for at least the first year and I think we would have made a different decision. We now like our home and neighborhood and really love the elementary school.
That was another reason we left...we needed more room, but didn't want to add on in our location and couldn't move because the Mello Roos or the tax rate on a bigger home (or any home) would have killed us. Our assessed value was super low since we bought before the boom...if we sold our house and bought the house next door the tax value would have been a half-million higher...crazy!! Prop 13 has ruined the schools. Here we take the hit every 7 yrs...they re-assess tax values...and the values just don't go up that much...relatively speaking.
I would double check the air quality in Sac...I thought they had alot of action days. Of course when I was a kid they burned the rice fields...I think they restrict that now. All that stagnant hot air & cars, farming, and being in a valley...not good.
Prop 13 has ruined the schools and the state. My in-laws live in Alamo, and their home value is over $1M. Their property taxes are about $2400/year. How can you run a state and fund programs when you don't have the money to do so? I wish Prop 13 could be repealed, and all homes would be taxed on their assessed value. If you are low-income, you could get property tax relief based on a means test. I don't buy into the senior exemption. My in-laws are seniors. They own the home they live in, and five rental properties. They're non-adjusted gross income is over $500K/year. Why should they get a property tax break because they're over 65?
I know that folks thing California has spent itself into a recession, but really it's the lack of steady revenue. If you look at Republican states, they don't have caps on their property taxes. Oklahoma is one of the reddest states, and their property taxes are pretty high relative to the fair market value of their homes. Another thing that is a problem is that we're one of the few states that require a supermajority vote to pass a budget. That rarely happens. So, our budgets are always late, which drives down our credit rating, and we pay more in interest as a result. Our economy is driven by sales tax, developer fees, etc. That's why the economy failed when the housing bubble burst.
El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, El Dorado all have good air quality. Rocklin, Roseville, etc., aren't as good, but better than the greater Bay Area.
You can't burn anything anymore. Most or all gas-powered equipment purchased in CA are specially-made for CA. You can't buy any old pressure washer or lawnmower. You have to buy one made for California.
Emissions testing is becoming more stringent. Gas is high. We're paying about $3.15/gallon right now.
We tend to go to the mountains in the summer and save the beach for the Fall and Spring seasons.
We are looking more in Washington (further up the coast) rather than California and concur with much of what you say how things are/have changed. Everywhere does have its challenges.
I think our first mistake buying here was buying within a few months of arriving here. I think it is a really good idea to rent for a bit until you get a chance to explore all your options. We ended up selling our home within 3 years of arriving realizing that we bought in the wrong area and wanted a different school district as well. It all worked out but looking back I wished we would have rented for at least the first year and I think we would have made a different decision. We now like our home and neighborhood and really love the elementary school.
I have a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old. We'll be switching schools, and it's important to me that we don't have a great deal of school turnover. Our home is for sale, and once it's under contract, I want to put an offer on a house and get ready to move. I can't handle the insecurity of not living in my own, permanent home. I get too anxious about it.
Our first priority is a good school system. Especially, because I understand that California's standards are higher than NC's as they relate to federal standards. My 10-YO is talented in math and science, and needs a lot of higher-grade material (between 6th and 9th grade). We need a school that will work with us to provide him with the accelerated material he needs.
Just by reading Green Hope's website, it appears that they have so much to offer in the way of academics, clubs, and athletics.
As far as diversity, it's way more diverse than what we're accustomed to here. The kids will very much enjoy being in a school with a diverse student body.
You will be able to find a school for your children. The kids will adapt to the heat. Just be sure that YOU can make the adjustment. It is literally "oppressive" with the humidity level and it lasts from June until the beginning to mid-September. It's not a trivial consideration. If you're particular about hot weather, know what you're getting into before finalizing your decision. Good luck.
I moved from San Jose in the early '90s and while I am no longer "in the game" (as an employee or employer) think all the discussion about the weather is good beacause it is SIGNIFICANTLY hotter here than in "the Valley", but I personally believe that a more important discussion is the current state of employment/work here. The situation is of course dependent on what you do for a living, but unless you are coming with enough money to retire, or you "telecommute" and can work from anywhere, I (and many other posters on this board who usually chime in on this subject) would suggest you be very careful about moving without employment and/or carefully asses the employment situation here; and the phrase used earler "... I am prioritizing the schools first..." scares me because it looks like you may be assuming that there are many sources of work here (like there are in the "Bay Area"), which I do not believe is currently the case. I believe (as I have said in other posts) that the critical difference between the "Triangle area" and the country's large urban centers like NY, Chicago, Atlanta, "The Bay Area", etc. is that "the Triangle" is not a "major urban center", and as such it does not have a large number of businesses to employ people outside of it's few "big employers" which include it's several world-class universities, multiple Federal Gov. groups (like EPA, etc.), "infrastructure-related" businesses (like healthcare, "service business" (hotels, eateries, etc)). The area has a strong group of "modern" industries (but much smaller compared to say the Bay Area) Tec, Pharma, etc. but words cannot describe how hard that segment has been hit by this "recession" (and I need to emphasize that I mean HERE; NOT in say NY, SF etc.). I am lucky to have business associates and friends in several major urban centers around the country, and when I tell them that my friends here are seeing literally hundreds of resumes for single job postings (I myself advertised for a low level receptionist about the time this recession hit and got hundreds of resumes) for highly specialized tec and other types of "seriously credentialed" jobs they are blown away, and they tell me that is NOT the way the recession is going in the large urban areas where they live and work.
I moved from San Jose in the early '90s and while I am no longer "in the game" (as an employee or employer) think all the discussion about the weather is good beacause it is SIGNIFICANTLY hotter here than in "the Valley", but I personally believe that a more important discussion is the current state of employment/work here. The situation is of course dependent on what you do for a living, but unless you are coming with enough money to retire, or you "telecommute" and can work from anywhere, I (and many other posters on this board who usually chime in on this subject) would suggest you be very careful about moving without employment and/or carefully asses the employment situation here; and the phrase used earler "... I am prioritizing the schools first..." scares me because it looks like you may be assuming that there are many sources of work here (like there are in the "Bay Area"), which I do not believe is currently the case. I believe (as I have said in other posts) that the critical difference between the "Triangle area" and the country's large urban centers like NY, Chicago, Atlanta, "The Bay Area", etc. is that "the Triangle" is not a "major urban center", and as such it does not have a large number of businesses to employ people outside of it's few "big employers" which include it's several world-class universities, multiple Federal Gov. groups (like EPA, etc.), "infrastructure-related" businesses (like healthcare, "service business" (hotels, eateries, etc)). The area has a strong group of "modern" industries (but much smaller compared to say the Bay Area) Tec, Pharma, etc. but words cannot describe how hard that segment has been hit by this "recession" (and I need to emphasize that I mean HERE; NOT in say NY, SF etc.). I am lucky to have business associates and friends in several major urban centers around the country, and when I tell them that my friends here are seeing literally hundreds of resumes for single job postings (I myself advertised for a low level receptionist about the time this recession hit and got hundreds of resumes) for highly specialized tec and other types of "seriously credentialed" jobs they are blown away, and they tell me that is NOT the way the recession is going in the large urban areas where they live and work.
Great honest post! I guess when I was going on about the weather I assumed those who come here already have secured a job. You are so right on that to come here and expect it to have the Bay Area job possibilities is not a good plan because the job market here is very different. We personally saved a bunch of money before coming here and I DID have a secured job when we landed (my husband got one within the month of moving but that was 5 years ago).
Sometimes I think we get a bit caught up in the excitement of moving to a new place and everything "seems" to be better than where we are now. Often the excitement wears off early with poor planning.
I moved from San Jose in the early '90s and while I am no longer "in the game" (as an employee or employer) think all the discussion about the weather is good beacause it is SIGNIFICANTLY hotter here than in "the Valley", but I personally believe that a more important discussion is the current state of employment/work here. The situation is of course dependent on what you do for a living, but unless you are coming with enough money to retire, or you "telecommute" and can work from anywhere, I (and many other posters on this board who usually chime in on this subject) would suggest you be very careful about moving without employment and/or carefully asses the employment situation here; and the phrase used earler "... I am prioritizing the schools first..." scares me because it looks like you may be assuming that there are many sources of work here (like there are in the "Bay Area"), which I do not believe is currently the case. I believe (as I have said in other posts) that the critical difference between the "Triangle area" and the country's large urban centers like NY, Chicago, Atlanta, "The Bay Area", etc. is that "the Triangle" is not a "major urban center", and as such it does not have a large number of businesses to employ people outside of it's few "big employers" which include it's several world-class universities, multiple Federal Gov. groups (like EPA, etc.), "infrastructure-related" businesses (like healthcare, "service business" (hotels, eateries, etc)). The area has a strong group of "modern" industries (but much smaller compared to say the Bay Area) Tec, Pharma, etc. but words cannot describe how hard that segment has been hit by this "recession" (and I need to emphasize that I mean HERE; NOT in say NY, SF etc.). I am lucky to have business associates and friends in several major urban centers around the country, and when I tell them that my friends here are seeing literally hundreds of resumes for single job postings (I myself advertised for a low level receptionist about the time this recession hit and got hundreds of resumes) for highly specialized tec and other types of "seriously credentialed" jobs they are blown away, and they tell me that is NOT the way the recession is going in the large urban areas where they live and work.
My husband and I took early retirement. I was a public employee, and you may have heard about how public employee salaries, benefits, and retirement have become such an issue here. I left because I wasn't sure what would happen to my retirement when the state modifies it's retirement system. Once the state modifies it's system, counties, and then municipal and special districts will follow.
So other than what our children will do for employment as they become adults, work is not an issue for us. My 10-year-old is very strong in math and science, and will likely end up in engineering or architecture. Other than that, we just get the kids to school, sports, and activities.
Our income has decreased dramatically (as you can imagine), which is why we are looking for a lower cost-of-living state. It looks like most of NC is less expensive overall, with one exception: Cary natural gas and electric costs less than those utilities here, but you may run them more than we do here. We live in the Bay Area, but the BA has different microclimates, and we live in one of the warmest.
Great honest post! I guess when I was going on about the weather I assumed those who come here already have secured a job. You are so right on that to come here and expect it to have the Bay Area job possibilities is not a good plan because the job market here is very different. We personally saved a bunch of money before coming here and I DID have a secured job when we landed (my husband got one within the month of moving but that was 5 years ago).
Sometimes I think we get a bit caught up in the excitement of moving to a new place and everything "seems" to be better than where we are now. Often the excitement wears off early with poor planning.
We're retired. We have a bunch in savings, but the cost of living here is so high that we would use the bulk of our monthly earnings to live rather than being able to put much into savings. We don't commute anymore, but our kids swim year-round, and we spend as much in gas with them as we ever did commuting
You will be able to find a school for your children. The kids will adapt to the heat. Just be sure that YOU can make the adjustment. It is literally "oppressive" with the humidity level and it lasts from June until the beginning to mid-September. It's not a trivial consideration. If you're particular about hot weather, know what you're getting into before finalizing your decision. Good luck.
I know it's oppressive. I used to visit my family in Ft. Worth, which has high humidity and dew point, but gets higher temps than NC. I felt like the heat felt like it was pushing on me. The adults can always escape into the air conditioning. I just don't want my kids to be stuck inside all day during the summertime. Really, I do know what the heat is like
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