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My family will be moving to the Raleigh/Durham area from the Phoenix area in the next two months and I'm having a hard time pinning down an area to concentrate on.
I'm a SAHM and my husband's office will either be in NW Raleigh (27607), or downtown (27601). His job also entails quite a bit of travel within NC, like Greensboro, Wilmington, Ashville, etc.
I had heard really great things about Cary, but I think it's a little above our price range. We need to stay under $310, but I'd like >2500 sf., 4+ bedrooms. I was able to find several homes in that price range in Durham, but I want to know more about the schools there. Are there decent public schools in Durham? We have a 2nd grader, Kindergartener and a 2 yo.
I had also found several homes in the Wake Forest area in our price range, but the commute to above mentioned office sites were about 30 minutes, which I wasn't thrilled about.
If you have other ideas for places to concentrate on I'm all ears. Thank you!
We have a son in second grade at Creekside. We like the school very much. We have friends whose children go to Pearsontown, a year-round elementary school--they have wonderful things to say about the school. While I don't hear much about the middle schools, I have done some research and the schools in Wake appear to rank better than those in Durham. That's why we are thinking about moving to Wake county. But I will say that in Wake county, you won't necessarily be zoned to the school that's closest to your home, so that is a consideration as well.
If your husband is going to work in downtown Raleigh, you might also want to check out Johnston county, where the schools appear to be very good and you'll get a lot more house for your money.
To get a general idea of the schools in this area, check out the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction website for school report cards and also go to www.greatschools.net, which ranks schools from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest)
Since your husband's job is pretty centrally located you have a lot of areas to choose from! If you are interested in Cary, check out the listings on Moderator cut: no realty recommendations allowed. I bet you will find dozens of resale houses that meet your criteria. Also, houses in this area (all of the Triangle) frequently have what is called a "bonus room" over the garage that is sometimes used as a den, office, rec room or additional bedroom. Sometimes that room cannot be listed as a bedroom when listed for sale (ex. if it does not have a fire alarm, if it does not have a closet etc), so you might not realize that there is another "room" that you can do whatever you want with that is not counted as a bedroom on the listing. I have seen plenty of 15-20 year old well kept up houses in Cary near good schools with 4 bedrooms AND a bonus room in your price range. . Happy hunting!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilsprstr
My family will be moving to the Raleigh/Durham area from the Phoenix area in the next two months and I'm having a hard time pinning down an area to concentrate on.
I'm a SAHM and my husband's office will either be in NW Raleigh (27607), or downtown (27601). His job also entails quite a bit of travel within NC, like Greensboro, Wilmington, Ashville, etc.
I had heard really great things about Cary, but I think it's a little above our price range. We need to stay under $310, but I'd like >2500 sf., 4+ bedrooms. I was able to find several homes in that price range in Durham, but I want to know more about the schools there. Are there decent public schools in Durham? We have a 2nd grader, Kindergartener and a 2 yo.
I had also found several homes in the Wake Forest area in our price range, but the commute to above mentioned office sites were about 30 minutes, which I wasn't thrilled about.
If you have other ideas for places to concentrate on I'm all ears. Thank you!
Just a reminder that recommending specific real estate agents OR realty sites on the open forum is not allowed. You're welcome, of course, to send those to the OP via direct message.
Just a reminder that recommending specific real estate agents OR realty sites on the open forum is not allowed. You're welcome, of course, to send those to the OP via direct message.
My family will be moving to the Raleigh/Durham area from the Phoenix area in the next two months and I'm having a hard time pinning down an area to concentrate on.
I'm a SAHM and my husband's office will either be in NW Raleigh (27607), or downtown (27601). His job also entails quite a bit of travel within NC, like Greensboro, Wilmington, Ashville, etc.
I had heard really great things about Cary, but I think it's a little above our price range. We need to stay under $310, but I'd like >2500 sf., 4+ bedrooms. I was able to find several homes in that price range in Durham, but I want to know more about the schools there. Are there decent public schools in Durham? We have a 2nd grader, Kindergartener and a 2 yo.
I had also found several homes in the Wake Forest area in our price range, but the commute to above mentioned office sites were about 30 minutes, which I wasn't thrilled about.
If you have other ideas for places to concentrate on I'm all ears. Thank you!
We moved here 3 years ago and choose Durham. One of the things that convinced me Durham's schools would be fine is SAT scores. We compared SAT scores in Durham to Wake County. And when we compared scores that were broken out by demographics we found that the demographic that our children are in perform just as well (if not slightly better) than Wake County. Also, we liked that all the middle schools in Durham offered foreign language. In Wake there were a couple of middle schools that we looked at that did not offer foreign language. (Double check this as it was 3.5 years ago that we were looking.)
Durham Public Schools has a VERY strong AIG program for students. So if your child is gifted I think he or she will do well here. We have friends who moved from a DPS elementary to a CH/C elementary and she (a teacher) felt the AIG pull out program in DPS was superior to the in class differentiation that her child receives in CH/C.
Also, Durham has some very strong lottery magnet or charter choices for middle school. Durham School of the Arts (is nationally ranked), Rogers Herr (year round), and Kestrel Heights Charter School.
We choose to look at homes that were zoned for Creekside ES, Hope Valley ES, Githens MS, and Jordan High School because we wanted to be in the Southern 1/2 of the county. Other schools that I would consider are Forest View ES, Hillandale ES, Little River ES, Mangum ES, Brogden MS, and Riverside HS.
My favorite thing about Durham is the people. We made really good friends quickly. It's a great community.
Best of luck to you.
One last thought... check out the website strongdurhamschools.com. It's got great stories from parents, teachers, and students about schools.
Last edited by PDXmom; 02-12-2011 at 08:19 PM..
Reason: one more thought
We moved here 3 years ago and choose Durham. One of the things that convinced me Durham's schools would be fine is SAT scores. We compared SAT scores in Durham to Wake County. And when we compared scores that were broken out by demographics we found that the demographic that our children are in perform just as well (if not slightly better) than Wake County. Also, we liked that all the middle schools in Durham offered foreign language. In Wake there were a couple of middle schools that we looked at that did not offer foreign language. (Double check this as it was 3.5 years ago that we were looking.)
Durham Public Schools has a VERY strong AIG program for students. So if your child is gifted I think he or she will do well here. We have friends who moved from a DPS elementary to a CH/C elementary and she (a teacher) felt the AIG pull out program in DPS was superior to the in class differentiation that her child receives in CH/C.
Also, Durham has some very strong lottery magnet or charter choices for middle school. Durham School of the Arts (is nationally ranked), Rogers Herr (year round), and Kestrel Heights Charter School.
We choose to look at homes that were zoned for Creekside ES, Hope Valley ES, Githens MS, and Jordan High School because we wanted to be in the Southern 1/2 of the county. Other schools that I would consider are Forest View ES, Hillandale ES, Little River ES, Mangum ES, Brogden MS, and Riverside HS.
My favorite thing about Durham is the people. We made really good friends quickly. It's a great community.
Best of luck to you.
One last thought... check out the website strongdurhamschools.com. It's got great stories from parents, teachers, and students about schools.
Thanks for the advice. I will check out those schools you mentioned.
PDXMom is right on. When we moved to the area, and I looked at the overall picture of Durham Public Schools, I assumed, as many do, that the schools are inferior to the other schools in the area. No way did I want that for my children! However, when you look at the demographic breakdown, many of the schools compare very well to schools in Chapel Hill or Wake County. You do have to research the individual schools a little more, however. When we were buying our house here in southern Durham, we made sure we were zoned for Jordan HS and not Hillside HS, for example. There are many choices available in the district, though. We are zoned for Creekside ES, which is a good school, but we will likely be opting for Pearsontown ES because of its year-round schedule as well as academic excellence.
We wanted nothing but the best for our kids, so we were a bit concerned that Durham schools weren't "the best." However, we did more research and found that there is a lot more to the story than the quick snapshot we almost dismissed. What a loss it would have been!
We wanted nothing but the best for our kids, so we were a bit concerned that Durham schools weren't "the best." However, we did more research and found that there is a lot more to the story than the quick snapshot we almost dismissed. What a loss it would have been!
Totally agree! Don't overlook Easley ES year-round. It has its own zone and students in the Hillandale and Eno Valley zones can also apply.
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