Places to live, Durham (Raleigh, Chapel Hill: chapel, house prices, school districts)

[sunnie741]

We moved to Chancellor's Ridge in 2000. It is a great neighborhood with a broad range of homes, including townhomes. I am more than happy to answer any specific questions.

[ButterFly32]

Why is Durham so overlooked? I have lived in Raleigh for a few months and the state of NC for almost 2 years and never heard a thing about places to live in Durham. Does the "rough" city of Durham give the whole area a bad reputation?

[9/9]

Originally Posted by ButterFly32

Does the "rough" city of Durham give the whole area a bad reputation?

Yep, pretty much covers it.

[MrsSteel]

ButterFly, you nailed it. Durham has a higher crime rate than surrounding towns. However, most of that crime is concentrated in the rougher part of town. The majority of Durham is just as pretty, safe, and family-friendly as the rest of the Triangle.

[rockyhillgal]

We're in process. We have an accepted offer and are scheduled to close, should all go well, later this month.

We really did start our research process a year ago, months before moving. As New England transplants, we were first nudged to N. Raleigh and Cary. It is largely because of this board that we even permitted Durham to come onto our radar screen. We discovered Fairfield during October's Parade of Homes and found it suits us to a "T."

We LOVE S. Durham! My husband's commute to the southern part of the RTP is less than 15 minutes. Shopping of every kind is minutes away. Restaurants abound. We also didn't want to be in a community dominated by other transplants. Unlike some parts of Cary and Morrisville, the flight path doesn't go over our part of town--a deal breaker for me. Don't even get me started on what it's like living by train tracks, such as we observed in Cary and Morrisville. The fact that we estimate that we're saving around $100,000+ on our home purchase-and it's a great house-is icing on the cake!

Originally Posted by sneezecake

Did you buy in Fairfield?

[fester600]

Congratulations soon to be neighbor!

Fairfield is great and I can certainly give more information if needed... I moved into Fairfield on 8/31/07 and I have no complaints... I will read though this post later tonight and come up with a better response

Matt

Originally Posted by rockyhillgal

We're in process. We have an accepted offer and are scheduled to close, should all go well, later this month.

We really did start our research process a year ago, months before moving. As New England transplants, we were first nudged to N. Raleigh and Cary. It is largely because of this board that we even permitted Durham to come onto our radar screen. We discovered Fairfield during October's Parade of Homes and found it suits us to a "T."

We LOVE S. Durham! My husband's commute to the southern part of the RTP is less than 15 minutes. Shopping of every kind is minutes away. Restaurants abound. We also didn't want to be in a community dominated by other transplants. Unlike some parts of Cary and Morrisville, the flight path doesn't go over our part of town--a deal breaker for me. Don't even get me started on what it's like living by train tracks, such as we observed in Cary and Morrisville. The fact that we estimate that we're saving around $100,000+ on our home purchase-and it's a great house-is icing on the cake!

[fester600]

Southwest Durham is great and very convenient to everything:
10 minutes to RTP
20 minutes to UNC Chapel-Hill
5 minutes to Southpoint Mall (one of the best if not the best in the area)
15 to the Airport (RDU)

Here are some of the subdivisions 'South of Southpoint" and homes that are available:
South Durham NC - Parkwood map, Lakehurst map, Grandale Place map, Fairfield map, Lake Park map, Chancellor's Ridge map, and Audubon Park map (http://www.fairfield-nc.com/pages/SouthDurhamMap3FF.shtml - broken link)
* This do not include subdivisions like Oakhurst, Oakhaven and Southampton.

Here is an interesting N & O article from this weekend:
The Durham News | Southern discomfort (broken link)


Enjoy and Good Luck! If you need any other information don't hesitate...
Matt

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by ButterFly32

I am new to the Raleigh/Durham area. I am renting in Raliegh right now. I really like it but, it is so congested. Everywhere I look there are new homes being built on practically no land. I drove up to Duke the other day and started wondering if there are good places to live in the Durham area. I would probably be looking south of Durham, near Wake county. Do you know of any nice neighborhoods? Also, which schools have good reputations? I don't have kids yet, but the repuation of schools says a lot about an area, in my opinion. Thanks! It's such a big area, it takes forever to get to know everything.

ButterFly, I'm glad you are giving Durham a look. I live in South Durham off Herndon Rd. If you don't have kids yet this may not be an immediate concern. As the article that Fester posted talks about the schools that this area is districted for are overcrowded (Creekside/ Githens / Jordan). There is rumor this area (including Chancellor's Ridge) will be redistricted to another school for Elementary. The district has not said where, but prior to Jan 2005 the elementary kids in this area went to Parkwood. You can find out more about these schools & scores at http://www.dpsnc.net/
I personally am concerned that the value of my home (which I just bought in July 07) will decrease if we are redistricted. There is also talk that the high school students in this area might be redistricted from Jordan (one of the best hs in Durham) to Hillside (one of the lowest performing schools).

I'm not sharing this to scare you off.... I recommend asking a lot of questions. If I did not have children or wanted to send them to private school I would have bought a home in a Downtown Durham area, like Trinity Park. Some areas downtown seem to appreciate well regardless of the associated schools and it's because these are desirable, walkable, urban neighborhoods. Others on this board are more familar with these neighborhoods. But my take is it's alot of young, educated couples and singles.

Good luck in your search!!

[orionmx1]

If you can handle a minor commute, Chatham county is the place to be. Cattail Creek is a place where you can still get 1.5+ acres, 2400 sq ft and trees. The commute is 25-30 to Apex shopping and food, 30-35 to RTP (once you learn the backroads). Relaxed, country living, all for less than some townhomes in those same places.

[gary_30307]

Originally Posted by PDXmom

There is rumor this area (including Chancellor's Ridge) will be redistricted to another school for Elementary. The district has not said where, but prior to Jan 2005 the elementary kids in this area went to Parkwood. You can find out more about these schools & scores at DPS District Site - Home
I personally am concerned that the value of my home (which I just bought in July 07) will decrease if we are redistricted. There is also talk that the high school students in this area might be redistricted from Jordan (one of the best hs in Durham) to Hillside (one of the lowest performing schools).

There is a post on the Chancellors Ridge neighborhood blog that talks about a new development going in and the developer may donate land for a new elementary. See: Chancellor's Ridge HOA: New Planned development on Hwy 751