Relocation with family (Raleigh, Cary: new home, neighborhood, buying)

[panther_fan]

Good evening everyone. Yes, this is another relocation question and I'm sorry for asking the same basic things, but I've not been able to find a lot of recent threads with a work location similar to mine, so I wanted to ask here. I'm going to be relocating to the Raleigh area and will be working on the Centennial Campus at NCSU. I'm married with 2 elementary aged children and we will be looking for a family friendly neighborhood with good schools (shocking, I know ). My question is what are the best locations commute wise for me keeping my commute within 30 minutes +/-? I would be okay pushing that to around 40 if it means getting into a better location. We'll probably be looking to buy and will have a budget up to $400k.

I'm just wondering if we should focus on one town or if we should look in several different areas. I do have an old friend that live in Fuquay and loves it, but I'm not sure about the commute from there to NCSU. Does anyone here make that commute daily?

Thank you very much for your help!

[MikeJaquish]

What do you think your new home will look like?

$400000 is very sufficient for buying you a short commute.

[panther_fan]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

What do you think your new home will look like?

$400000 is very sufficient for buying you a short commute.

We're ideally looking for a 4 bedroom house that's not really needing many updates. We could do with a 3 bedroom if there is a bonus room/office. Two car garage with a small yard (>0.12 acres). We would like a pool community as well, but that might not be a deal breaker.

[JONOV]

I would keep your commute shorter than that, unless you really must have brand spanking new with a community pool. Check if the schools in the 27606 zip code meet your standards. You'll be really close to work. Otherwise, look in South/East Cary.

[willowfly]

Renaissance Park