Raleigh vs. Durham (Chapel Hill, Knightdale, Hillsborough: renting, chapel, new house)

[jinkyks]

I'm from New Jersey and looking into buying a new home in NC. My husband & I are torn between Raleigh (North) & Durham (South Point area). Our main concern is the school. We have a 2 year old and expecting a second one. Any suggestions or comments would be of great help.

[jkmeca11]

Given the issues of overcrowding in Wake, you may want to look in bordering counties. Just a suggestion, not bashing Wake in any way.

[findingmesomeday]

We're not even considering Wake at this point. We don't want to become part of the problem. Of course, we're still considering the Triangle area so I guess we are part of the problem but by renting first, then purchasing an existing home, most likely in Chapel Hill or Hillsborough, we'll at least not directly be contributing. And at the rate we're going, our oldest will be out of HS so we'll only have 2 in the system.

[VickiR]

Johnston County is great! So much improvement in the last 5 years!

Vicki

[MrsSteel]

Originally Posted by jinkyks

I'm from New Jersey and looking into buying a new home in NC. My husband & I are torn between Raleigh (North) & Durham (South Point area). Our main concern is the school. We have a 2 year old and expecting a second one. Any suggestions or comments would be of great help.

Do you know where you will be working?

Also note: it's "Southpoint" - one word. That might help your search a bit.

[IdaClaire]

Where will you both be working? I would think that if you are working in eastern Raleigh, Raleigh would be your best bet, and if you're working in Durham or RTP, I might pick Durham. The Raleigh to RTP commute can be a bit slow, and when I worked in RTP and lived in Durham, I'd go sailing past the backed up traffic every day.

Also, if you pick Durham, you can probably at least be sure which school your kids will be attending, while in Raleigh, you can expect potential redistricting.

I've lived in both Raleigh and Durham, and both have their advantages and disadvantages. I'd probably choose now based more on where I worked.

[coltank]

I would live wherever is going to make you feel the most comfortable, and leave school out of it. The makeup of the schools change every single year, and too many people are moving to a certain area b/c of the test scores of a certain school. What are you going to do when your kids start going to school 3 years from now, and all the test scores are completely different?

What other things do you like to do? What other things in a neighborhood or area are important to you? Wheres the closest Hospital or Fire Station? How far away is the school? The last one I think is huge considering what happened about last year or the year before when we got some winter weather, the town shut down, and some kids never even made it home.

[jinkyks]

we are looking at an area at the city limits of Raleigh bordering Knightdale and another one slightly to the northwest .. it will be about 6 miles away from my husband's office location while mine will be in cary.. these development is by khov(stowecraft, anderson pointe) and the new houses we are looking are signifacantly less than what we have now yet almost double in size(and newly built!).. my main concern is the school system ratings/test scores that i'm seeing during my research are not too favorable.. the development itself has prices that are lower than other khov devs(but this could be attributed to several factors such as materials,location,lot size,etc).. regardless, i'm a bit skeptical of the areas so can someone kindly share their personal experience on these areas?

[jinkyks]

as of now, below are the school districts my child would belong to.. how would an nc resident describe the reputation of the area's i mentioned above?... by the way, we're also looking at houses built by centex and kb in more or less the same vicinity.. appreciate the help!

Stowecraft
River Bend Elementary
East Millbrook Middle School
Mill Brook High School

Anderson pointe
Hodge Road Elementary
Carnage Middle School
Knightdale High School

[coltank]

Well, as proof of my earlier post about not worrying too much about schools, read the post about Green Hope Elementary. Arguably one of the best elementaries in the area. Everyone wants in that district, but, the poster is having issues with her child's teacher. Schools change, teachers are always different. Visit the school to see what YOU think, not what everyone else thinks. It's good to hear opinions, but too many times you are getting opinions that don't come from first hand knowledge, or are isolated circumstances.