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Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary The Triangle Area
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Old 08-04-2016, 08:24 PM
 
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For what you seem to be looking for & with the job being at UNC, I'd say that Chapel Hill/Carrboro would seem to make the most sense for you.
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Old 08-04-2016, 11:10 PM
 
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If your commute limit is 30 minutes, then West Cary would be within that range. Plenty of kids with which to play. Very good schools, albeit with some growth issues, but they are building more new schools. Lots of transplants. Commute would be 20-30 minutes depending where on campus the job is, how close you can park to building, etc.

Living in town of chapel hill would get you closer, living in West Cary would get you a newer house.
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Old 08-05-2016, 05:28 AM
 
Location: Research Triangle Area, NC
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Originally Posted by cheapdad00 View Post
If your commute limit is 30 minutes, then West Cary would be within that range. Plenty of kids with which to play. Very good schools, albeit with some growth issues, but they are building more new schools. Lots of transplants. Commute would be 20-30 minutes depending where on campus the job is, how close you can park to building, etc.

Living in town of chapel hill would get you closer, living in West Cary would get you a newer house.
Not in the OP's pricerange. Plus they are looking to avoid redistricting. They could find a house in their pricerange that would not be in an area prime for redistricting in older parts of central/east Cary....but that would make the commute longer.
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Old 08-05-2016, 06:49 AM
LLN
 
Location: Upstairs closet
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The primary reason the Chapel Hill/Carrboro schools are good are the parents. Highly educated for the most part and support education. There are many areas in NC where this is NOT the case.

Please do not expect to come to NC and have all the good but none of the bad from PA. Life does not work that way. You also should reassess your expectations about schools in general. Less taxes means less services and that includes less money for schools. Having stated that, there are lots of people thrilled with the schools in Chapel Hill. I expect you will be too!

Good Luck.
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Old 08-05-2016, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
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Originally Posted by swimchick001 View Post
Are there any towns you would recommend near UNC? And, which one(s) would you avoid? I'd really like to hear your advice since you know exactly the area we're coming from. We've seen some homes for sale in CH in our price range that look on the newer side, but are is there one area that's drastically different than the other?
If you're looking for tip-top schools as your primary criterion, you'd need to stay within the Chapel Hill/Carrboro school district. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, this is also among the highest COL areas in the state (the two are not unrelated, of course).

Orange county, the county that contains Chapel Hill, is another school system (i.e. non-CH/Carrboro Orange) that is still pretty good (lots of professors' kids sin the area, meaning education of course is valued). Mebane is an up-and-coming town west of Chapel Hill that has a very "Mayberry" feel to it while also modernizing. I think Mebane is split between Orange and Alamance county and you'd want the Orange side--though frankly a dear friend of mine (very educated) has a daughter who went to Yoder Elementary on the Alamance side and was very happy with it.

Nothing can help like getting out a map and researching the places around the area (you can use the City-Data cites pages to get a little snapshot of each one with tons of data). Since you're (wisely) planning to rent, it isn't the end of the world is you pick the wrong place the first time.
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Old 08-05-2016, 04:42 PM
jgb
 
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We were looking at a move to Chapel Hill because of the schools, in part. We have settled on south Durham. If you are curious look at homes that feed to Jordan High. I am not saying that there are not other good schools in Durham, but if you are looking to be close to Chapel Hill -- and in our case we wanted to be close to both Chapel Hill and RTP, south Durham could fit your budget. You can also get to all the new shopping centers in West Cary (including a new Whole Foods coming soon) so you get a lot of the amenities of Chapel Hill and West Cary but it could actually be affordable to buy a new home. Our kids have not started in these schools but from what I have learned I am confident the schools will be suitable. Also, Durham has a lot to offer, but I realize with work in Chapel Hill that's your starting point.
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Old 08-05-2016, 08:49 PM
 
Location: Research Triangle Area, NC
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We were looking at a move to Chapel Hill because of the schools, in part. We have settled on south Durham. If you are curious look at homes that feed to Jordan High. I am not saying that there are not other good schools in Durham, but if you are looking to be close to Chapel Hill -- and in our case we wanted to be close to both Chapel Hill and RTP, south Durham could fit your budget. You can also get to all the new shopping centers in West Cary (including a new Whole Foods coming soon) so you get a lot of the amenities of Chapel Hill and West Cary but it could actually be affordable to buy a new home. Our kids have not started in these schools but from what I have learned I am confident the schools will be suitable. Also, Durham has a lot to offer, but I realize with work in Chapel Hill that's your starting point.
I know a lot of people who have settled in South Durham for this reason. The one caveat is the middle school. Creekside Elementary and Jordan High are both very good schools; but Githens middle is pretty rough.
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Old 08-05-2016, 09:08 PM
 
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Originally Posted by TarHeelNick View Post
I know a lot of people who have settled in South Durham for this reason. The one caveat is the middle school. Creekside Elementary and Jordan High are both very good schools; but Githens middle is pretty rough.
I always wondered, with all the new construction in Southwest Durham, why Githens did not improve. How many people living in the area apply for transfer to Rogers-Herr for middle school?
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Old 08-05-2016, 11:05 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill
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You should also consider looking in Durham neighborhoods zoned for the Forest View school district. Looks for neighborhoods along Raldolph Rd, Pickett Rd, and Loch N'Ora is right across the street from Forest View. Our kids went there-- although it's been 10 years--before moving to Chapel Hill and we were very happy with the teachers and administration. Frankly, we found the teachers there to be more caring and nurturing than most of the schools in Chapel Hill. It's also very convenient to UNC (less than 15 minutes).

In Chapel Hill, we were very pleased with the teachers and admin at Morris Grove elementary in Chapel Hill. Can't say the same for Ephesus Elementary. Hope that has improved since our kids were there 7-8 years ago.
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Old 08-05-2016, 11:22 PM
 
Location: Chapelboro
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Well, I know folks who have been very happy with Githens (very gifted kid, too) and Ephesus Elementary (several people, in fact) so it just depends.
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