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My partner actually has some extended family in Charlotte but my job is specific about the areas I can live in & Raleigh was the larger of the areas we could choose from. We're used to large areas so we didn't want to live in a small city/town.
I copied & pasted this from another thread but I'll be glad to answer any additional questions.
When are you moving? Most likely next summer when kids are out of school so June 2012
Where are you coming from? Franklin, NJ before that Atlanta, GA
Why are you moving? We just can't afford to keep living here. We want to buy a house eventually and with housing costs and taxes we don't think NJ is a owning option. Also the winters are a little much. We do want to live in an area that has seasons but not blizzards.
Where will you be working? I work from home, my partner is a high school teacher, who also tutors. She hasn't worked as a teacher since we left ATL.
Have you been here yet? In NC but not Fayetteville (or any of the other areas)
Will you buy or rent? Rent first until we get familiar with the areas & then buy within 2 - 3 years.
If renting, are you looking for an apartment or a townhouse? How much can you spend? We will need a 2 or 3 bedroom; if possible around $1000. Not too big on the amenities, as long as its in a safe neighborhood and a decent size.
Are you married or single? Do you have children? In a long-term relationship. Our daughter will be moving with us; she'll be in 3rd grade at that time and has a learning disability but does well in her public school here. We also have a son who lives with us part of the year.
Do you prefer a certain public or private schools? Good public schools
Do you have pets? No
Do you want or need a yard? would want a yard but near a park will work too
Are you keeping a car? yes we will have two cars
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? a mixture of both. I like a busy community that has lots to offer if I wanna go out but when I wanna stay in is not totally crowded and loud.
What do you want to be closest to?
Good schools/active community
Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? Diverse neighborhood would be great. We're a liberal, African-American, same sex couple.
Coke or Pepsi? Coke!
We'd like to live in an area that has an active community with lots of activities for kids. My daughter plays in a city basketball league and is also on the challenger baseball team.
Any & ALL feedback will be appreciated. Thanks so much!
You can rent a home for about $1,000 in the subdivision of Brentwood, with a yard, in a quiet neighborhood, close to everything. There's an elementary school in the middle of the subdivision. See BeautifulBrentwood.com, the (volunteer) neighborhood website for some info. (It's not a real estate site or anything.)
But I don't think I understand your post. What are you asking exactly? What kind of "feedback" are you looking for? Happy to help if I/we can.
My partner & I have decided to leave NJ. I don't want to go back to GA & she doesn't want to stay "up north". I have a work from home job but I have to live in one of the coverage areas (work for a phone company)
I'm not familiar with the Raleigh area so I kinda listed the things that are important to me & my family and I was hoping for some feedback to let me know if Raleigh may have what I'm looking for or if i'm wayyyy off base & should look at another city.
Also, IF Raleigh does sound like it may be a match was looking for some feedback on specific areas; school zones; neighborhoods; anything really.
Hope that helps clear up my orginal post but if not then I'll be glad to try to clarify some more.
Come visit and see if Raleigh would be a good fit for your family. Great place to raise kids plus decent places to eat and enough things going on to keep life interesting.
$1,000/month will get you a decent place to live in a safe area with good public schools.
I see you mentioned Fayetteville in your copied post. If that's another area you are considering, your partner might have a better chance at getting a teaching job there as the base is expanding and thus, so is the community. Depends on if you like living in a military town. Not everybody's cup of tea.
My partner & I have decided to leave NJ. I don't want to go back to GA & she doesn't want to stay "up north". I have a work from home job but I have to live in one of the coverage areas (work for a phone company)
I'm not familiar with the Raleigh area so I kinda listed the things that are important to me & my family and I was hoping for some feedback to let me know if Raleigh may have what I'm looking for or if i'm wayyyy off base & should look at another city.
Also, IF Raleigh does sound like it may be a match was looking for some feedback on specific areas; school zones; neighborhoods; anything really.
Hope that helps clear up my orginal post but if not then I'll be glad to try to clarify some more.
Okay, ATLater, thanks for clarifying, and I think I understand better now what you're asking about.
Anyhow, it sounds to me that in a general sense, the Raleigh/Triangle area could be a very good fit for what you're looking for. You're definitely not wayyyy off-base. This certainly is (for now) a somewhat less expensive place to live than most of New Jersey, and $1000 per month for rent should be plenty to find a perfectly nice, safe, pleasant 2- or 3-bedroom rental throughout much of the region, other than the very fanciest areas. If you're really able to work from home anywhere, then that's great, and you should be all set. If your partner is going to look for work as a high school teacher here, she may be looking for a while, since as other posters have mentioned, teaching jobs have become a lot more scarce here over the past few years. But if you guys are in a situation where you can afford to be patient and take your time in her finding a job, it may be worth the wait. But again, it will probably be a slow and frustrating process for a while.
If you liked the climate and outdoor conditions in Atlanta, then you'll like them here, since they're virtually identical.
Being a liberal, African-American, same-sex couple will be no issue anywhere in the Triangle area, especially since you don't demand to live in an area where you're surrounded by people just like you. To me, one of the very best things about the Triangle is that it really is quite diverse and mixed, so that there tends to a mix of people of different racial and ethnic groups, different political leanings, and different sexual orientations/family situations living in close proximity to one another. On the whole, the area tends to be pretty white, MOR, and suburban, but there are many, many, many people who are not, and for the most part they (we) get along just fine.
You mentioned that you would like a mixture of both bustling activity and calm and quiet, and "a busy community that has lots to offer if [you] wanna go out but when [you] wanna stay in is not totally crowded and loud." I think that you should be able to find that in the Triangle area, although many of the more suburban portions of the region may not be quite active or bustling enough for you. Somewhere in the older, inner parts of Raleigh, Durham, or Chapel Hill/Carrboro could suit you perfectly, though. Personally, I'm partial towards Raleigh. A lot of the neighborhoods inside the I-440 Beltline, or just outside of it, could be a great fit for you guys. lovebrentwood mentioned the Brentwood neighborhood, which is just outside of the Beltline, a little ways northeast of downtown Raleigh. Brentwood is a community of ranch and split-level houses from the 1950's, 60's, and 70's, on nice, medium-sized lots, and an interesting mix of cultures and ethnicities. There are similar neighborhoods scattered along and alround the Beltline on other sides of town, too. Inside the Beltine are older, denser neighborhoods, with a little more activity, and a bit more of an urban feel. But there's really no place in Raleigh that's really ever too "crowded and loud," except maybe some of the areas around Glenwood South or immediately adjacent to N.C. State. Some of the Inside the Beltline neighborhoods I might look at if I were you include Cameron Park, Oberlin Village, Worthdale, Five Points, Roanoke Park, Woodcrest/Belvedere Park, Longview, Boylan Heights, Thompson-Hunter, Oakwood, Oakdale, Mordecai, Georgetown, and others. $1000 a month goes a lot farther in some of those neighborhoods than in others, but to some extent you may also "get what you pay for."
A key for you may be the school for your daughter. The public schools almost everywhere in the Triangle have a reputation for being quite good. But I don't have kids, and so I don't know enough about the specific details, especially for a child with a learning disability or other special needs. Hopefully some other people here can give you more information about making the best choice for her.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Welcome to town when and if you make the move, and good luck!
Durham has a large number of same-sex families and is pretty diverse. The Northgate Park neighborhood springs to mind as a place where you could find an affordable house to rent and be within walking distance of one of Durham's favorite elementary schools---Club Blvd, an arts magnet. (you would have to be careful about your address, because not every household is in the walk zone)
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