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Hi everyone! We are looking to move back to NC in the next 3-4 months and I've been doing some research online and have read some threads in this forum. I am still OVERWHELMED!
We are a family of 5, my hubbie and I are both 29 and employed full-time. We have a son entering 1st grade, a 4 yr old daughter and a 2 mo old daughter.
We currently live in Northern VA and the housing costs and daycare costs are killing us! I grew up in Fayetteville (but I don't want to move back there) and we both graduated from ECU (don't want to live in Greenville, but Raleigh is close enough to keep season tickets to football )
I have already called a daycare (we are loyal to 1 center) and the cost is $100/less per week in Raleigh than our current area.
We are looking for a single family home that has at least 4 (preferrably 5) bedrooms, 3+ baths, garage (although we'd rather have a basement, seems those are hard to find in NC). We also want a neighborhood that has a lot of families.
I've been told that our kids can go to whatever school we want in the county as long as we have transportation for them, is that correct? I've also been told that you have to apply for Magnet schools. It seems (from posts here) that there are concerns w/ the constant redistricting, how does that affect everyone if you can pick your own school anyway? How do you apply for a magnet school? Are there good private schools in Raleigh, what are the tuition costs?
Can someone recommend an agent? We have own a townhouse in our area now and we still have to get it sold (there are lots for sale and we are in a planned urban development, lots of cookie cutter places).
We are looking for recommendations for neighborhoods. I'd be working near Crabtree Valley mall. I don't mind a commute of at most 40 minutes (that is my current commute!). Also recommendations for 'good' schools (magnet, private, public) regardless of location to neighborhood-although I'd like to have my kids go to schools w/ the 'neighborhood' kids. What's a charter school anyway?
I've been looking in N. Raleigh (off Buffaloe Road)... how is this area? How close is Cary to Crabtree Valley area? It seems like from what I am reading that Durham may not be recommended?? I'd like to stay on the Eastern side of Raleigh, I think, so that we are less than 2 hrs to Greenville (remember, I said we have season tickets .
Thanks in advance for your help, I know I am asking for a lot of info that may have been posted (generalized) before but I thought maybe w/ more info about our situation, I could get more individualized advice.
You had a lot of questions! LOL... I can't answer them all, but I wanted to just mention the thing about basements here.
Some houses here DO have basements. It's not the norm like it is up north, but you can find some. I have found that a LOT of houses here have walk up attics. To me this is a huge deal. Trying to carry things up a pull down attic stairs is a nitemare. Having a set of built in stairs to go up to your attic makes it much more usable as storage space. Some of the newer construction homes also have walk in storage areas. Our attic is pretty big and we could finish the attic off and have more rooms, but we're pretty happy just having it for storage.
Good Luck in your home search.
Since you'll be working around Crabtree Valley mall, I think I would stick to looking for homes in Cary or Apex.
So you are looking near Buffaloe road? i540 has just been extended to cover this exit. Hence, it would be a really good location to choose from.
There are some new communities along Buffaloe road towards downtown Raleigh, you may want to look at. One is a Lennar community (name of subdivision escapes me). Fits your price range, but, to be honest I think the community looks pretty ugly, unplanned and without landscaping.
However, you may want to check out a relatively new Centex community further down the road (Peyton Hall). As you can see from posts on this forum, Centex are generally well liked as a tract builder and also build in your price range. This part of Buffaloe road is about equal distance from i440 as it is i540, hence easy commute to Crabtree (about 15 minutes). For 250K you can probably have the largest house and max out upgrades. I've been looking to buy in this part of town too but haven't taken the plunge yet!
-Can someone recommend an agent? We have own a townhouse in our area now and we still have to get it sold (there are lots for sale and we are in a planned urban development, lots of cookie cutter places).
Good luck with the house sale. I'm sure most builders in this area will accept a contingent offer from you. Sales are slowing down here too!
There's a ton of agents out there (and on this forum) to give you advice with this matter.
Okay, I am going to tackle to school thing as much as possible..........so, your son will be in elementary school. What happens in this, you buy a home, and you are given a base school, which could either be a traditional school or a year round school. Many of the elementary schools are year round because they can accommodate more students without over crowding, as there are 4 tracks but only three tracks are in session at one time. Each track runs 9 weeks with 3 weeks off. There are certain "holidays" where the entire school is "tracked out". You should look on the wake county public school website for the track information (Wake County Public School System). As far as magnet schools, based on the address that you have you can apply to certain magnet schools. Magnets are a part of the wake county public school system. Basically students are districted to schools based on socioeconomics, not based necessarily on location. So, there could be a school close to you but you are assigned to a school a bit farther away so that the numbers of the school are matched up as they need to be to meet the state no child left behind requirements. Magnet schools, in general, are made from school that are in poorer communities so that people from all over the county will come to that particular school.
Charter schools generally follow the public school curriculum, but are private entities although you don't have to pay to go to them.....confusing, I know! Charters generally do not have transportation. One charter school in wake forest, called franklin academy, last year had 1500 applications for 101 spots. So, some charter schools are more popular than others.
Anyhow, PM me if you have more questions, because you asked a lot of questions and I can't remember them all now!
Hi, I thought I would address the school thing as well. Unfortunately you absolutely cannot "pick" your school in Wake County even if you provide your own transportation and they are really very strict about it. I have no idea who told you that, but it's totally incorrect. There are some options available, but you cannot count on them, so you need to choose your base school very wisely.
You will be assigned a school based on your address. You can go to their website and type in address, and it will tell you what school you are assigned to from KG-High school. Could be year round, could be traditional, could even be magnet. If it's a year round, you will be given a single option for a transfer to a traditional calendar school, but it may not necessarily close to your home.
There are magnet schools that you can apply to, but there is a lot of competition for spots and you have about a 50-50chance of getting in. They are generally found in lower income areas but offer programs beyond what "traditional curriculum" schools offer. There are no waiting lists for magnets, you're either in or not. You can apply every year. Even with magnets, there are certain magnets slotted for your address, you can't pick any magnet you want. We've applied for 3 kids for over 8 years and have never gotten in, so while I know a lot of people DO get in, you really cannot count on it, so make sure you pick your base school carefully. ALso, magnet applications are due in Februrary and the lottery is done in March, so it's too late to apply to magnets for the 2007-2008 school year.
Charter schools are popular too but there are not many seats available and an ever increasing demand. They also have entrance through the lottery process. Some keep waiting lists after the lottery and some do not. We were just accepted to Exploris Middle School (charter) after a year. They do not have to follow the same curriculum as Wake County schools EXCEPT for math, but they are required to take the same End of Grade tests.
Last edited by lamishra; 08-04-2007 at 09:17 PM..
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Basements
