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I am with you, jad77. I am finding it overwhelming as well and I just found out schools start in July and are year round which I think is great and registration is coming up and we aren't even moved until Apilr or May. I might fly in for 2 weeks and pick a school. YIKES.
where are you moving from? Where are you looking in NC?
Since you aren't interested in renting first, this is what I would do. Use some local RE sites to look at housing in your price range. Depending on how old/new you want your house to be a 4/5 bedroom at $250K may limit your choice of areas. Once you find home that meet your price range look at the schools that serve the neighborhood (the schools are usually listed on the listing for the house for sale). Then check out the school on greatschools.net. If you are interested in living in Wake County I suggest you visit the Wkae County School Website and read the daily news on wral.com. There is a lot of discussion about school reassignements that you will want to be aware of. Also know that there are heated deabtes over the issue so you will hear both good and bad information from all sides.
If you can provide a little more info about the type of area you are looking for you may get more detailed responses. Are you looking for suburban living? or maybe more rural? Newer or older homes? Close to shopping? If so, any particular stores ect...
FWIW, I think you can rule out Chapel Hill because of price. Clayton in Johnston County has some nice schools and affordable housing, but you will be pushing your 45 minute commute requirement. I would look to older areas of Cary (price may limit you there) and Apex, Holly Springs, and Fuquay Varina.
You may also want to explore parts of North Raleigh west of Capital Boulevard and Wake Forest - Though again you may be limited by price range and will have to check on commute times.
Durham may be a great option as well, but I don't know much about the schools there..
Does anyone have any experience with Johnston schools? From a parent's perspective, how do they compare to Wake County?
We actually planned a move 4 years ago, but a job transfer fell through. We spent a weekend in NC looking at areas, and liked Clayton, Fuquay Varina and North Raleigh. At that time, the realtor we spent the weekend with (she's since moved to Florida) said Johnston schools were good too. Are they still up to par with Wake? Are they better? Opinions?
There are many (many many many) previous threads asking basically the exact same question, if you search the forum for older threads, including comparisons between Wake and Johnston counties.
For your price range, I recommend Wake Forest. Great schools, small town feel, and tons of activities for children. Wake Forest more affordable than some of the other areas in Wake County because it's a little farther from Raleigh (a 40 min drive into downtown). It would take about 45 min to get to RTP. Very family oriented town. Lots to do here. Remember that down here most people don't have basements. Instead, a lot of houses have bonus rooms above the garage that are finished. A lot of people use these as a bedroom...but you have to remember that there are rarely closets in the bonus room. The bonus rooms are usually huge. If you are okay using this room as a bedroom...then you can easily find a 3 bedroom house with a bonus room over the garage for under $250,000 in Wake Forest. The bonus rooms over the garage are usually not insulated as well as the rest of the house, so it can be a tad warmer in the summer and a tad cooler in the winter than the rest of the house.
There are a couple of houses in the Heritage subdivision (which is a huge kid friendly subdivision) in Wake Forest in your price range. The only thing is that you have to pay a lot to join the pool. Besides that, the HOA dues are about $30 a month minus the pool.
Some areas are more desirable than others. School is one important reason why!
Based on your price point, I'd agree with Wake Forest. Johnston County is good if you want a bit more land. Schools in Johnston County are as good as Wake County and I wouldn't have said that 8 years ago!
I'd also want to know where you'll be working. Living in Clayton and working in Wake Forest doesn't make much sense.
It isn't as overwhelming as you may think once you figure out where you'll be working and your price point!
Apex
Holly Springs
Fuquay Varina
Cary
N Raleigh
Clayton
Durham
Wake Forest
Chapel Hill
Mebane
Hillsboro
Throw in Raleigh proper, Garner, and Morrisville and you have the entire Triangle.
See?. . . . . . .wasn't this helpful?
you're right. hopefully the OP only listens to me since I'm pretty much awesome.
seriously, you do need to visit (a few times). this place is not for everyone. if you have a strong family structure in MA, you may be homesick....me being the bastard child of my family with warrants in all Northeast states, the triangle makes perfect sense....good luck and go sawx.....
For your price range, I recommend Wake Forest. Great schools, small town feel, and tons of activities for children. Wake Forest more affordable than some of the other areas in Wake County because it's a little farther from Raleigh (a 40 min drive into downtown). It would take about 45 min to get to RTP. Very family oriented town. Lots to do here. Remember that down here most people don't have basements. Instead, a lot of houses have bonus rooms above the garage that are finished. A lot of people use these as a bedroom...but you have to remember that there are rarely closets in the bonus room. The bonus rooms are usually huge. If you are okay using this room as a bedroom...then you can easily find a 3 bedroom house with a bonus room over the garage for under $250,000 in Wake Forest. The bonus rooms over the garage are usually not insulated as well as the rest of the house, so it can be a tad warmer in the summer and a tad cooler in the winter than the rest of the house.
There are a couple of houses in the Heritage subdivision (which is a huge kid friendly subdivision) in Wake Forest in your price range. The only thing is that you have to pay a lot to join the pool. Besides that, the HOA dues are about $30 a month minus the pool.
40 minutes to downtown ? really? I live in Wake Forest and it takes me about 1/2 hour to get clear over to the Farmers Market on the other side of Downtown. How, exactly, do you go ? (remind me not to go that way?)
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you're right. hopefully the OP only listens to me since I'm pretty much awesome. 
