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Thank you so much for the positive encouragement. We certainly are hoping to have jobs before moving and have started sending out resumes. We hope to find something before the new school year starts. My husband also had the idea of going on ahead and looking so maybe we will try that.
This is something I have dreamed about for 4 years now with my husband ready to get out of this area as well I hope we can make it work.
Just out of curiosity... how much do you expect to pay for a house when you buy one? What size/number of bedrooms/lot size, etc?
I ask because your post before about the monthly cost of a home got me thinking about how affordable this area really is compared to where you are now.
That's something you can be heavily researching while you sort out the job situation.
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Unless you have lots of money, this place is B O R I N G. Yes, the mountains are three hours away. Yes, the beaches are two hours away. You know what that means? It means we live in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
And nobody but nobody is getting interviews or jobs. Rethink it, OP. I'd kill to be back up North where at least there is some culture.
I am not looking for a Big City atmosphere. I want a slower pace of life where we can enjoy being out doors with our children. Of course we like occasionally going to various places, I take my daughter to plays, but I enjoy the local theater groups more than the big Broadway productions. We went to see Beauty and the Beast at a local theater and she got to meet the actors afterwards and was THRILLED to get their autographs! She would not be able to do that with most of the ones in downtown Chicago.
I think that the Raleigh/Durham area would have enough "culture" for us to have fun with out the snooty factor involved.
Thanks to everyone for all your advise, good or bad.
I am not looking for a Big City atmosphere. I want a slower pace of life where we can enjoy being out doors with our children. Of course we like occasionally going to various places, I take my daughter to plays, but I enjoy the local theater groups more than the big Broadway productions. We went to see Beauty and the Beast at a local theater and she got to meet the actors afterwards and was THRILLED to get their autographs! She would not be able to do that with most of the ones in downtown Chicago.
I think that the Raleigh/Durham area would have enough "culture" for us to have fun with out the snooty factor involved.
Thanks to everyone for all your advise, good or bad.
Oh... there are snooty people here, too.
LOL.
I was just looking around Racine and Kenosha... no clue where you live, but those are decent suburbs between Milwaukee and Chicago....
Housing looks to be about the same as here.
Just fyi. If you see something way cheaper here, it's probably in a sketchy neighborhood. We do have a few sketchy areas in the Triangle. Nothing terrible, but not exactly someplace you'd be eager to move a thousand miles to live.
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Can you please clarify for those of us unfamiliar with the area what culture is lacking that makes it boring for you?
Well, let's see. It seems that all there is to do is:
1. go to a park
2. go to a bar and drink
3. go to a friend's house and drink
4. go out to eat, and try very hard to avoid chains, which is not easy unless you live in downtown Raleigh or Durham
5. If you are middle aged, with no kids, it seems that there is no place here for you.
Other than a few festivals that are NOTHING like anything up North, it's all strip mall shopping and chain restaurants.
I think a lot of my problem is living in the suburbs. ICK. So bored I could cry (and I do.)
Maybe it won't be that way for you since you have kids.
I wish I could afford to live in a big city b/c that's where I think I belong.
Well, let's see. It seems that all there is to do is:
1. go to a park
2. go to a bar and drink
3. go to a friend's house and drink
4. go out to eat, and try very hard to avoid chains, which is not easy unless you live in downtown Raleigh or Durham
5. If you are middle aged, with no kids, it seems that there is no place here for you.
Other than a few festivals that are NOTHING like anything up North, it's all strip mall shopping and chain restaurants.
I think a lot of my problem is living in the suburbs. ICK. So bored I could cry (and I do.)
Maybe it won't be that way for you since you have kids.
I wish I could afford to live in a big city b/c that's where I think I belong.
If you make enough money to afford it, that is where you belong. If you don't? You will hate the big city more than you do here because there's so much to do that you cannot afford.
I live in Cary and I can get out, climb into my car, drive 5 minutes down the road, and eat at any number of non-chain restaurants. I can drive toward Raleigh and go see a play... I could go to a museum... I mean, if I wanted to do these things, I could.
I'm not seeing how there are no things to do here, but maybe you're wanting something that jumps out at you, maybe?
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Just out of curiosity... how much do you expect to pay for a house when you buy one? What size/number of bedrooms/lot size, etc?
I ask because your post before about the monthly cost of a home got me thinking about how affordable this area really is compared to where you are now.
That's something you can be heavily researching while you sort out the job situation.
We are not going to be looking to buy for a few years. We want to rent for a while so we can determine the best area for us. I would ideally like to find a home for no more than 1400/month which seems reasonable based on what I see on realtor.com. Of course we are not familiar with the area and would have to come out to first.
Well, let's see. It seems that all there is to do is:
1. go to a park
2. go to a bar and drink
3. go to a friend's house and drink
4. go out to eat, and try very hard to avoid chains, which is not easy unless you live in downtown Raleigh or Durham
5. If you are middle aged, with no kids, it seems that there is no place here for you.
Other than a few festivals that are NOTHING like anything up North, it's all strip mall shopping and chain restaurants.
I think a lot of my problem is living in the suburbs. ICK. So bored I could cry (and I do.)
Maybe it won't be that way for you since you have kids.
I wish I could afford to live in a big city b/c that's where I think I belong.
I have found that people who say they live in a boring area are them selves very boring.
We are not going to be looking to buy for a few years. We want to rent for a while so we can determine the best area for us. I would ideally like to find a home for no more than 1400/month which seems reasonable based on what I see on realtor.com. Of course we are not familiar with the area and would have to come out to first.
Yes... you really do need to come here first. Unless you are looking for a townhouse for that price, you're likely to be living in a less than desirable neighborhood on that budget.
27610 isn't a great zip code. I'll be straight with you. There are some pockets of it that are a little better than others, but largely, it's a zip code that leads right into Southeast Raleigh and while I know that there are people who live there and like it, I also know that it's not the area of Raleigh that people flock to when trying to relocate to this area... not by a long shot.
Strange as it might seem, because an area like Cary is more expensive in general that Raleigh, you might do better trying to find a home here, assuming you can get by with a 3 bedroom house, because there's exactly one 4 bedroom house for rent in Cary right now that's in your price range. Pretty much all of Cary is considered a decent to great place to live, and Cary is quite low crime. Not saying Raleigh is high crime, it most certainly is not. Just saying it's easier to tell sketchy from not sketchy in Cary than it is in Raleigh... because there's generally not any sketchy in Cary.
I almost wonder if this is a case of you having pulled up a lot of houses for rent on Realtor.com in Raleigh and assumed that they all must be in good neighborhoods. Maybe you should dig up one of those crime maps and look up any homes you might like on the crime map. That may give you a different perspective.
All this said, if you want to rent an apartment in a clean, no frills complex? Totally doable on 1400 a month here. Ditto a townhouse... again, no frills, clean, decent neighborhood. Even some of the apartments and townhouses here can get pretty expensive for a family.
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