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But if you really wanted to convince both me and the readers that you like Chapel Hill for the soft rolling hills and greenery you would just say that. Sure, there are a handful of people living there who really just love the location regardless of any real or perceived advantages but the majority of non-university employed people who live there do so because:
The schools are better
There's a higher intellectual state
It's culturally and ethnically diverse
The bottom line is that real estate is expensive to acquire with property taxes that go a long way towards bridging the gap between Wake County and most northeastern real estate. Unless you work at UNC or inherited a house, the only reason someone lives in Chapel Hill is for the perceived advantages (code words for "Status").
I've lived in Chapel Hill for 30 years NYC2RDU. I came to school here, fell in love with the town, meet my spouse here and bought a house 20 years ago. My spouse works at UNC now, but did not initially. That came about later because we love the town. Does that satisfy you? I was in Chapel Hill back when Cary really was a small (population about 30,000 in 1985) and before there was an I-40 going from Chapel Hill to Raleigh. I used to go via 54 to visit my friends at NC State.
Choice. We really enjoy having lots of choice of things around, that make daily living easier and more enjoyable. In Cary and other wonderful suburbs, there is simply a ton of nice options in housing stock, shopping options, a pharmacy on every corner etc. Chapel Hill, by design, is much more restrictive. We never even heard of either town, before we decided to start looking to move down and the very first place our realtor brought us was for a grand tour of Chapel Hill. He was all proud and such, but all we noticed was how few of anything was around. We noticed how we would have to drive everywhere else for everything. We pretty easily eliminated CH. We bought off Woodcroft Parkway in Durham for the great location, then bought in Cary to try out townhome mixed use living and then bought in a satellite northeast portion of FV to combine a great craftsmanship home on a heavily wooded lot and around the things we enjoyed doing.
When looking for a house, I guess for us it usually comes down to how will the home/neighborhood/area function for us in our daily lives. We have never owned a 3,000 sq ft house and have no urge to. Town names make no different to us. We have lived in places where we were the minority and where we were easily the majority. We have lived in tight lot sitiations and in multi acre situations. We have enjoyed them all for what they were, but the one thing they all had in common was that they functioned well for us in daily life.
A for instance is now, even though it is in Palm Harbor, FL. Because my wife travels weekly for her job and because I have issues with paralysis/mobility/chronic pain/a certain nasty disease in my organs, we need to be convenient to grocery shopping, bank, dentist, pharmacy and lots & lots of various medical facilities. We have that where we live now and I thank God for that each and every day. If we were the least bit concerned about status, we would have focused on South Tampa......but that is never in the equation. Why would we care about what other people think of us or where our town ranks on a status scale?
Last edited by The Villages Guy; 01-29-2016 at 09:34 PM..
Reason: Stupid voice recognition typo's, yet again. Arghhh!
Choice. We really enjoy having lots of choice of things around, that make daily living easier and more enjoyable. In Cary and other wonderful suburbs, there is simply a ton of nice options in housing stock, shopping options, etc. Chapel Hill, by design, is much more restrictive. We never even heard of either town, before we decided to start looking to move down and the very first place our realtor brought us was for a grand tour of Chapel Hill. He was all pround and such, but all we noticed was how few of anything was around. We noticed how we would have to drive everywhere else for everything. We pretty easily eliminated CH. We bought off Woodcroft Parkway in Durham for the great location, then bought in Cary to try out townhome mixed use living and then bought in a satellite northeast portion of FV to combine a great craftsmanship home on a heavily wooded lot and around the things we enjoyed doing.
When looking for a house, I guess for us it usually comes down to how will the home/neighborhood/area function for us in our daily lives. We have never owned a 3,000 sq ft house and have no urge to. Town names make no different to use. We have lived in places where we were the minority and where we were easily the majority. We have lived in tight lot sitiations and in multi acre situations. We have enjoyed them all for what they were, but the one thing they all had in common was that they functioned well for us in daily life.
A for instance is now, even though it is in Palm Harbor, FL. Because my wife travels weekly for her job and because I have issues with paralysis/mobility/chronic pain/a certain nasty disease in my organs, we need to be convenient to grocery shopping, bank, dentist, pharmacy and lots & lots of various medical facilities. We have that where we live now and I thank God for that each and every day. If we were the least bit concerned about status, we would have focused on South Tampa......but that is never in the equation. Why would we care about what other people think of us or where our town ranks on a status scale?
Mod Edit
Point is; I've lived in both towns, for significantly longer periods of time than you even lived in this state. To say "Chapel Hill doesn't have the wonderful things Cary does"....is a pretty presumptuous comment. As are most absolutism statements.
Ironically enough; that mindset seems to suggest more of a "status-seeking" vibe to Cary despite your previous argument to the contrary.
Last edited by The Villages Guy; 01-30-2016 at 02:26 PM..
Reason: Removed inappropriate post.
I am curious when the builder asked the question were they considering Chapel Hill address but not the schools. I keep thinking where in Chapel Hill would they allow 200 homes to be built and then I think of Brier Chapel. Correct me if I am wrong but aren't those marketed as Chapel Hill address without paying the higher taxes? I think those home are pretty similar to what one would find in W. Cary.
Choice. We really enjoy having lots of choice of things around, that make daily living easier and more enjoyable. In Cary and other wonderful suburbs, there is simply a ton of nice options in housing stock, shopping options, a pharmacy on every corner etc.
I never would have guessed that a pharmacy on every corner was something i needed to demonstrate my status!
Maybe I should change my username to 'Jaded by Suburbia'
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