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Oh, wow! Thank you all so much- you've given me some great leads!
Woohoo, I very much appreciate you weighing in as a fellow NE transplant. I agree- renting for awhile is great idea. As far as laid back attitude is concerned, bring it on. I lived in rural CT most of my life and have only been in the Boston area for 10 years. There are nice aspects to it, but the general population is a bit too angry for me.
The weather down there and me, however, are not going to get on well. I hate humid heat. I know, I know, then I shouldn't move there- but we have to go where the job is.
Which, by the way, Meh, would be at UNC in Raleigh.
Thanks again, folks, for all the help. The places that you guys mentioned sound like they could fit me pretty well and I'm going to check them all out. I was expecting there to be a lot more rural countryside within commuting distance in NC, so I was kind of thrown when I started investigating.
We moved from NJ and we also rented the first year. Sound advice from woohoo! You can visit and get a feel for the area but until you live here and then take a weekend to drive around and investigate areas, it will make it easier to buy a house. Especially when you want to make your commute easier. I used to drive an hour each way in NJ...hated it! Now I live in Apex and takes me about 20 minutes to get to Morrisville. There are pros and cons to planned communities. You can get an older home in a more established neighborhood with no HOA ( homeowner Assoc ) but be sure to drive around to see if the homes are consistently maintained etc. Where I used to live in NJ....I WISH we had and HOA for that very issue. Some people bothered to keep the exterior clean...others not so much..very long weeds, things looking run down etc. Some don't like that aspect of an HOA. For me with having kids...we love that the neighborhood has a pool. From what I know....( correct me anyone here if I am mistaken ) but in NJ we had some town pools. Here I don't think that is the case. It would be via a gym or ymca etc or the neighborhood you live in. I like not having to maintain any pool or a playground set. We have both here as well as MANY kid friendly parks nearby. Plus with many of those neighborhoods you will meet many other transplants from NY, NJ, MA ...on and on...Not that other transplants don't live in Chapel Hill or Carborro but with Apex, Cary and some of Raleigh being close to the jobs in RTP ( Research Triangle Park and Durham ) many plant roots in those areas. Wake Forrest is beautiful..love the old victorian homes and has a quaint down town...BUT commute to work could be closer to 45minutes to an hour. My friend lives in Rolesville ( next to Wake Forrest ) and drives to Durham and to an office in downtown Raleigh and is in the time range for drives. Which for myself I wanted to avoid. Those two towns only have a few main roads leading into them and traffic can be pain at times. But if work off hours you won't deal with that. It's things like that you won't get to see all in one trip and can take a day during the week at rush hour to see what it is like.
We rented in Garner and has some nice areas but overall have heard the schools are not great. Will have the open space in parts but not an artsy area at all. Chapel Hill, Carborro have the feel you are looking for but commutes again could be long depending where you work in Raleigh. As others have said it is BIG area...Raleigh is spread out and companies are all over the place. Hope that helps.
How long would a commute from those towns take, and how bad would the traffic be? They caught my eye and I thought it looked like a reasonable commute.
Pittsboro is about 35 miles from Raleigh. Not sure how the commute is. I'm also from New England (RI, lived in Boston for school) so I understand where you are coming from. Commute time/traffic really depends on the location of your husband's job in Raleigh. I used to commute from Providence to Boston (48 miles)...wasn't pleasant to say the least and I couldn't always take the commuter rail.
Although Cary is predominately a planned suburban community, there are areas in West Cary that border Chatham County and are more rural, less developed. Good location for easy access to great shopping, between Raleigh and Durham (I live 20 minutes from each) and about 30 minutes to Chapel Hill.
A couple of my good friends here live in Wake Forest - outside the town limits, almost a rural feel. One lives off New Light Rd, several miles out of town. They live in a newer but small development with over an acre of land. They love it and can be in Raleigh in about 20 minutes. The other has a WF address but lives closer to Youngsville, off Purnell Rd.
I really think you'd find something that meets your needs in any direction from Raleigh. Suggest you take a few days and come down to scope out the various areas. We love it here and would never move back.
Just saw your post...UNC as in NC state ? or UNC as in University of Chapel Hill? If he works in the 2nd...then Chapel Hill, Carborro will be a good choice. If it's NC State...that is not far at all from Apex and Cary. I live closer to the Chatham County border and it took about 30 -40 minutes to get to NC State. I took classes there for a bit and the drive was not too bad. Depends again on the hours but would say to take a test drive during rush hour from Apex to see if it's good.
If you like lakes we've got those too. Here's a picture of the beautiful Falls Lake (near the Falls of Neuse spillway) which is about 5 miles away from my home here in Wake Forest.
In fact, there's a small pond right behind my house. Check out this picture taken in the fall from my back deck.
Last edited by Grizzmeister; 04-30-2011 at 08:09 AM..
From what you say you are looking for, I'd suggest you check out Pittsboro! Small town, not far from Chapel Hill. Pittsboro itself is quite artsy. Chapel Hill is a great college town. Carrboro, an offshoot of Carrboro is also nice....artsy, Weaver St Market, green living etc.
I would agree 100% as long as the job is in RTP or west.
I can get to NCSU in about 15 minutes from my house, and I live in Cary, just off 1-40.
Now, I've gotta go back and see exactly what you wanted.
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