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Hubby might be getting a job with UNC Chapel Hill (we'll know by tomorrow!). We may have to move rather quickly and have not been there in person, other than visiting friends in Cary a few years ago. We visit this forum quite often and you're all SO knowledgeable and helpful, so any insight from locals would be most appreciated.
While our friends love Cary/Apex area, they have been extremely disappointed with the schools in that their kids have had to change schools several times due to overflow issues. They had suggested the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, which is what led my husband to apply to this job and seriously consider there.
We're looking to rent a single family home ($2k or so a month) so we can get acclimated before buying anything. We have two small kids, but our daughter is a toddler and won't be in school for awhile, but our son will starting 1st grade, so schools are really important. He's already in the gifted program here and his teachers have said we need to really nurture that gift going forward. :-)
We're coming from the suburbs of Philadelphia (Bucks County, PA - 30 mins. outside the city) and are blessed with some of the top schools in the state...but it's not without VERY high taxes that keep going up ($10k/year) and home prices (around $425k and up - and that's for a home that's 30+ years old). Here, it's where you buy/rent your home determines what school you go to. Redistricting hasn't happened in decades, so it's very straightforward and simple. But not sure how that works in this area of NC. Basically, we're looking for more affordable lifestyle with great schools, and are excited since we've heard excellent things about the triangle area.
Eventually, our budget for a new home will be around $350-375k tops, but again, we won't be buying for awhile. The schools are most important, followed by low crime, things to do for the family, and within a 30-minute commute of UNC is what we're looking for.
Thank you so much for any advice to help us with our search - it is greatly appreciated!!
Redistricting happens when an area is growing very rapidly, as in Cary and Apex. Chapel Hill has many growth limits in place and isn't growing as fast as Cary. I would not expect redistricting to be much of an issue in Chapel Hill, particularly if you buy in a more established neighborhood.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Hi SwimChick,
I live in Chapel Hill and am pretty familiar with Bucks County as my sister's family lives there and my parents. (I grew up in Newtown Square - the other side of Philly.) My sister's kids were in Council Rock School District, and I know how highly rated they are. My parents live in Central Bucks district, which I believe is ranked even higher.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District is somewhat unique in North Carolina, as most school districts in the state are run by the county so are very big. There are a handful of smaller city school districts in the state, and CH-Carr is one of them. It's probably similar in size to Central Bucks. It has 3 high schools, 4 middle schools, and 11 elementary schools. The school district performs pretty well on standardized testing within the state and very well on SAT scores.
Where it would be different from either Council Rock or Central Bucks is the high percentage of low-income students enrolled in the schools. If your child is in gifted classes, it won't be much of a problem. But there are more "at-risk" students in this district than there would be in Bucks County.
Moving on from schools to housing. Chapel Hill is also one of the highest priced areas of the state. It's cheaper, but not *much* cheaper than Bucks County. We live in a 15-year old home worth $515K and pay $8500 in taxes. The tax rate is *about* 1.65%, so you can just multiply that by the cost of housing to get an idea of what taxes would be. So for a house in your range, you'd be paying about $6K in taxes. However, that housing budget won't go super far in Chapel Hill - most likely an older or smaller home.
I'm off to pick up my child from camp, but if you want more details or have more questions, ask away. I'd be happy to help out.
Thank you so much for the info! I'm so glad you responded since you're familiar with Bucks County. And like you, my parents live in the Central Bucks district (Doylestown), I graduated from Council Rock. and my son now goes to Pennsbury, another strong rated school system. I guess you can see why it'd be hard to give up a wonderful school system like the one we have here, but the job at UNC would be a great career move for my husband, and I work from home, so I think we can make it work. But the school question is kind of a sticking point for us.
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?
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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I love Doylestown! I always take my kids to the awesome Castle Playground when we're up there visiting. We almost had an opportunity to move there (from DC) a couple of years before moving to Chapel Hill, but it didn't work out. Pennsbury is Yardley, correct? That's a lovely area, too.
I think moving to Chapel Hill or Carrboro would be your best bet for the combination of quality of schools and short commute. There is very little chance of redistricting in Chapel Hill. There was some redistricting a few years ago, but that was because a new elementary school was built, so they had to move people around. But I haven't heard of any new schools in the pipeline, so it should be stable for awhile. In any case, the good thing about redistricting in CH is that it's done by neighborhood, so a whole neighborhood would move to a new school should it happen. (In Cary where your friend lives, some schools are "capped" so newcomers to a neighborhood can be shut out of a school that their neighbors are assigned to).
I haven't looked at the housing market in your price range, but a neighborhood that I think might work for you is Lake Hogan Farms. It's a large neighborhood with lots of children, and there are a lot of different price points within the neighborhood. When looking on real estate sites, make sure when you look for homes that they are districted to either East Chapel Hill High, Chapel Hill High, or Carrboro High in order to be in the CH-Carr School district. Those are the only high schools in the district. All of them are decent. East is seen as the most pressure-cooker of the three. Carrboro is the newest and smallest. Chapel Hill is the original. All of the elementary schools are pretty good. Northside, the newest school, is probably the least desirable on paper as it has the lowest test scores and the most "at risk" students. I've heard directly from two friends mixed things about it. But overall, all of the elementary schools would be fine, also.
If you are finding cheaper homes, there's a good chance they are out of district but with a Chapel Hill address. If you see Jordan High as the high school, then it's in the Durham School District, Orange High School or Cedar Ridge High are Orange County Schools, and Northwood High is Chatham County Schools. They are not bad schools, necessarily, but they're not part of the highly-rated Chapel Hill-Carrboro School district, if that's what you decide you want.
ETA: I just did a search for $375K and under in both Chapel Hill and Carrboro in the CH-Carr School district, and while there are about 60 single-family homes, they are almost all older homes, which it sounds like you are used to. And unfortunately, Lake Hogan Farms is more expensive than I thought. The cheapest I saw there was $395K, and it was pending, so there *might* be some in your range, but likely few and far between.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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One last thing. You might want to check out Hillsborough. It's a super-cute town with a walkable downtown. It *almost* could fit in in Bucks County. The school district is Orange County which isn't as highly ranked as Chapel Hill, but is generally thought of as being adequate. The properties are much cheaper there than in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and the taxes are much cheaper, too (about 1% give or take). There's a nice family-oriented neighborhood there called Churton Grove that has very nice, newer homes in the $350K-$375K price range. Commute to UNC would be about 25 minutes.
You would definitely get more house for your money in Hillsborough than in Chapel Hill and you wouldn't have to worry much about reassignments their either. Hillsborough is also a relatively quick commute into downtown Durham which has really taken off in the past few years.
You can find a house in-town in Chapel Hill in your pricerange; but it will be older and probably need updating.
I live in Hillsborough and agree that it is a great place. We are at Cameron Park Elementary and love it. Lots of great kids and active parent involvement. That budget would buy in a great neighborhood here in Orange County or on a rural lot (we bought and built on 2 acres for only a little bit more than your budget).
If the job is at UNC, I'd live in Chapel Hill or Carrboro if you can.
If you're open to a not new home, you might check out Spring Valley and Bolin Forest (adjacent neighborhoods) in Carrboro. I know a lot of kids that live there. They're circa 80s/90s homes.
The schools here do a good job with gifted kids and there are a lot of them in the district so your kid will have plenty of peers. My kids went to Carrboro Elementary, an old bldg (built in the 50s, looks just like my elementary school), but it has a lot of heart. It's a dual language (Spanish) magnet, but also has a traditional track. It also has an amazing after school theater program for 4th and 5th grades.
Frank Porter Graham is the other Spanish dual language magnet elementary school. It's all dual language (no traditional track). Glenwood Elementary is a Mandarin dual language elementary. They also offer French as a special I believe.
Many of the other surrounding area schools not in the CHCCS district do not have foreign language in elementary. My kids go to a charter middle and high school now and they have a lot of peers who went to Perry Harrison in Chatham County in particular and a lot of other area elementary schools too. A lot of those kids have never been exposed to Spanish or other foreign languages. My youngest went to Carrboro Elementary and didn't do the dual language program, but has been taking high school level Spanish since she entered middle school because she picked up so much of it in elementary. The entry level 6th grade Spanish was way too easy.
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Pennsbury is Yardley, correct? That's a lovely area, too. 
