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what does that mean, 'less student centered'? that bothers me too...A LOT. I don't think we can afford flowers...if what the realtor told us, it's a $200 a month HOA. we want to stay away from any 'intrusive' hoa's. seems the triangle area in general is all sub divisions with some sort of hoa attached to it.
Less-student centered-I meant that where they were used to more cooperative learning and learning by doing and now it's more, "memorize this" without applying it kinds of things.
Flowers has homes in all price ranges. Our neighbors moved into one of the gated communities (I Think called Pineville?) and her HOA is 125/month, BUT I thik because of their area, AND she said it balances out because Flowers in NOT in the Clayton city limits, so instead of 4-5,000 annual property taxes like in my neighborhood, hers are under 1500/year for a 329,000 house.
I understand your concern with an HOA-we never had one before and having to get permission to put up a trampoline and playset seemed odd to me, but I understand that they don't want "hoarder" or "junkyards" in the community.
thank you all for the good info. we will be coming into NC to look at all the areas that would potentially be 'home' for us before we make the 'leap'. we did belong to an HOA in the past, and it has it's good and bad. unfortunately, it was more bad then good for us. just annoyed us to bits with the way it was run. seemed like nosey neighbors bent on 'control' - we basically are very quiet and friendly people, but it seemed like we were never doing what they wanted us to do...such as; my husband was changing his tire in our carport, had the car on a jack for about 20 min or so. we ended up getting a 'fine' for that a few weeks later. stuff like that. we also love to garden and i love to raise chickens for fresh eggs, etc. i really can't imagine having to 'ask' someone if i could do this or that with my property.
we are hoping this will be our 'forever' home. so we would like to make really sure the area is safe and the people are kind, especially the children. we have 2 elementary school children and to be honest, if it weren't for them, we'd be perfectly happy living 'in the country' (or as NC'ers call it, 'rural' living). so, the idea of an hoa is only enticing in the regard that the kids would have more 'stuff to do' close to home.
I am debating homeschooling as well...but if the schools are better there, (which honestly, they sound about the same as we are experiencing here - as 'goodbyesnow' has pointed out, the 'memorize this or memorize that' is more about 'test scores' then really 'teaching' (imho).
can someone chime in about 'benson, nc'? i did a search on the forums and haven't been able to find much. the homes look really cute but the home prices seem a bit low. wondering what the reason for that is. because it's more out of the way? or for crime / etc reasons?
Check out Riverwood too...both the elementary and middle school are right at the entrance of the neighborhood and both are "Schools of Excellence".
It's nearer to the Knightdale side of Clayton which means you can quickly get on the 264 bypass and then either I-540, 440 or 40 for a commute if need be.
Benson is similar to Selma, Smithfield, Princeton, Angier, etc... they are a little more rural overall, each have some nice areas, and home prices are lower because they are further away from Raleigh. It's important to factor in where you will be working before you pick a town. The commute from Princeton to RTP would be awful, but if you're working in South Raleigh all of those places might be doable. We came from an area where the average commute is at least an hour, but this is an area where most people don't want to commute for nearly that long. And now that I drive instead of taking a train, I wouldn't move any further out than we already are (we're in the Cleveland area of Clayton). And actually, the only thing keeping me from moving into Raleigh is the Wake school mess, since I commute to North Raleigh and my husband works in RTP. Also, for what it's worth, you're going to have a heck of a time finding a house not in an HOA. For some reason this state LOVES them. We looked for 8 months and finally gave up. They're awful.
Also recommend checking out riverwood, lots for kids to do and tons of kids, big gym and pools and you can walk to school. Non HOA homes will be older or in small subdivisions of around 20 or less homes.
Benson is similar to Selma, Smithfield, Princeton, Angier, etc... they are a little more rural overall, each have some nice areas, and home prices are lower because they are further away from Raleigh. It's important to factor in where you will be working before you pick a town. The commute from Princeton to RTP would be awful, but if you're working in South Raleigh all of those places might be doable. We came from an area where the average commute is at least an hour, but this is an area where most people don't want to commute for nearly that long. And now that I drive instead of taking a train, I wouldn't move any further out than we already are (we're in the Cleveland area of Clayton). And actually, the only thing keeping me from moving into Raleigh is the Wake school mess, since I commute to North Raleigh and my husband works in RTP. Also, for what it's worth, you're going to have a heck of a time finding a house not in an HOA. For some reason this state LOVES them. We looked for 8 months and finally gave up. They're awful.
we have a business we run from home, but the plan is that my husband will find a job over there. He works now, and the commute is an hour an half each way. our home business will be enough to cover us for the short term, but is by no means going to sustains us. so being close to a larger city is going to factor in as to where he can find a job.
the plan is to buy a home 'cash'. we have been working our butts off saving, saving, saving and depending on the sale of our home here in CA, we will finally have enough in equity and savings to buy a home cash. but it will be a small home, and not exceed our 150K budget.
i see some beautiful homes for 200k and up, which would be upwards of a 500k here. but my heart needs to stay focused on the reason for this move, which is to finally live 'mortgage free'. i know our budget is 'meager' to most, but i'm willing to give up a larger home for the peace of mind that will bring to our family. we long to simplify and that will be a huge check off of our list.
so, the search begins. do you see smaller homes in the cleveland area of clayton in our price range? seems like it's slim pickins, unless you start your search at 200k or up. which is why i wonder if the more rural parts would be better suited to our budget. but then again, taking into account the commute, which will add costs overall to our monthly budget. so much to consider.
we will be going over to NC soon, and we will get a feel for what a 'commute' will be like and the areas / neighborhoods etc.
btw, not sure if i mentioned this but we plan to 'RV' it over there, (cross country) land in a KOA for a few months, and homeschool our kids, (living like gypsies ) til he finds work or til we get a 'feel' for the different areas of job opps for him. His company has several locations over there, but he will have to 're apply' since a job transfer does not look like it is in the cards at this point as we anticipated.
I wanted to ask, do you find the HOA's are intrusive? most open to having a little chicken coop and bunnies in your backyard?
Also recommend checking out riverwood, lots for kids to do and tons of kids, big gym and pools and you can walk to school. Non HOA homes will be older or in small subdivisions of around 20 or less homes.
is riverwood a 'town' or a subdivision in clayton? i've seen it a few times pop up in my research of the area. do you see homes under or around 150k in riverwood?
Benson is similar to Selma, Smithfield, Princeton, Angier, etc... they are a little more rural overall, each have some nice areas, and home prices are lower because they are further away from Raleigh. It's important to factor in where you will be working before you pick a town. The commute from Princeton to RTP would be awful, but if you're working in South Raleigh all of those places might be doable. We came from an area where the average commute is at least an hour, but this is an area where most people don't want to commute for nearly that long. And now that I drive instead of taking a train, I wouldn't move any further out than we already are (we're in the Cleveland area of Clayton). And actually, the only thing keeping me from moving into Raleigh is the Wake school mess, since I commute to North Raleigh and my husband works in RTP. Also, for what it's worth, you're going to have a heck of a time finding a house not in an HOA. For some reason this state LOVES them. We looked for 8 months and finally gave up. They're awful.
my husbands commute is over an hour and a half here. all stop and go freeways. gridlock...it's bad. the funny thing is, his office is a mere 30 miles from our front door. when we lived closer to his work, before we moved farther out, took him over ONE hour and it was only 14 miles from our home. thus one of our biggest pulls to leaving CA. the traffic is a stress. it's not so much the 'commute' as he doesn't the 'drive'. it's the gridlock, the stop and go, the freeway mess....kwim?
Check out Riverwood too...both the elementary and middle school are right at the entrance of the neighborhood and both are "Schools of Excellence".
It's nearer to the Knightdale side of Clayton which means you can quickly get on the 264 bypass and then either I-540, 440 or 40 for a commute if need be.
so is knightdale an easy hop onto the main highway? btw, on of the locations of his company is also in Durham. (he works for a large corp. with many NC locations) if he were to transfer to that area, how far / miserable of a commute would durham be? or since that is on the other side of things, can you recommend a good town with good school (trying to steer clear of wake co schools) thanks!
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