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Looking for advice from natives or recent transplants from CA on best places to live in RTP area. I know there are many similar threads, but our needs are a bit different. Thanks in advance.
My wife and I are older but new parents (two boys under 2 + two puppies = what were we thinking?). I grew up in SoCal and wife grew up in East Coast and relocated to CA 10 years ago. There are many things we love about San Diego (weather, beaches, good schools, many conveniences, great Mexican food...). BUT, there are many things we also don't like - real estate is very expensive with NO LAND, taxes are high and getting worse, too much congestion, people are not really community oriented, it's getting way too political here...). We don't need to move for a job, but we are reevaluating where we want to spend the next phase of our lives and raise our boys. I am in biotech industry so that basically means our options are San Francisco, Boston, SoCal, Seattle, NJ and RTP. Given our preferences, RTP is the far and away winner. I made two quick trips to scout the area last year, once with a realtor and once to check out the start-up community, but we still need some help understanding pros/cons of different areas.
Our priorities are:
1. Good schools. Doesn't have to be a 10 to make other requirements fit, but at least an 8 or 9.
2. Land. We would like minimum 1 acre, preferably 2+. Biggest thing I hate about CA is people live in $1M+ homes with no yard so kids still have to play in the street. We could build custom if needed if land available in right area (we'd probably prefer it).
3. Proximity to heart of RTP. I may do service business or start-up so don't need to find job before choosing location.
4. Proximity to SOME stuff. We do not need to walk to the restaurant or park (we'd rather have a bigger property), but we don't want to drive 15 minutes to find a gas station or store of any kind either.
5. Decent resale prospects. I realize prices don't appreciate as quickly here generally, but area should be viewed as desirable now or up and coming so if we need to sell in few years we should be able to without taking a big loss.
Getting a 1 acre property is going to put you pretty far out. Do you have a budget? The closer in that 1 acre is the more expensive, obviously.
Wake County schools are generally regarded as good. Individual schools will vary. Everybody wants good schools and you will pay more to be in good school district, especially if 1 acre is a minimum.
Suburban living with the newer neighborhood with the pool and clubhouse is very popular with families here for good reason. It's much easier for kids to make friends with other kids in the neighborhood. If you live on a bigger property you will have less of that instant-friend situation and as your kids get older will be doing a lot of arranging of playdates and driving the kids to their friends' houses, rather than spontaneous play around the neighborhood.
We don't live in that suburban pool neighborhood, either. We live in an older neighborhood in Chapel Hill with a pretty mixed demographic and my kids really don't have any friends in the neighborhood. My youngest did have a couple of acquaintance type friends, but they both moved.
Overall the best school district is Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools (look up the boundaries), Wake County Public School System, then in no particular order, Durham Public Schools, Chatham County Schools, Orange County Schools, Johnston County Schools. You can look up the state's accountability data on schools at https://ncreportcards.ondemand.sas.com/src/ .
You can tick off most of your boxes in North Raleigh, north of I-540 and west of Falls of Neuse. The farther west you move, the closer to RTP and the shorter your commute. I live near Creedmoor and Hwy 98 and my commute is ~20 minutes (+/- 5 minutes) to RTP during rush hour. Due to watershed rules, housing density is either 1-per-acre or 2-per-acre. Individual lots may be below or above the density restrictions, so if 1 acre is the bare minimum you will need to pay attention to specific properties.
Commercial development in this area is limited. There is a shopping center at Hwy 98 / Creedmoor Rd with a grocery store (Harris Teeter), as well as gas stations and a CVS pharmacy nearby. But don't expect to see much, if any, new commercial development in the area. 10 minutes down Creedmoor Rd lands you at Strickland Rd, where you will find plenty of shopping and dining options.
1+ acre and everything else? You're going to need to give us a budget, if you own a house in SoCal will presume you have a healthy housing budget but some numbers will help.
Former southern California girl here (Huntington Harbour). Then spent many years in the San Francisco Bay Area and now in good ole Raleigh North Carolina! All I can say is that there are so many areas here that would meet your needs.
We chose North Raleigh (north of 540) to build and have been very happy here. We also have some acreage in Orange County that we currently use for recreation (includes a 4 acre pond for fishing and boating). So there are so many different areas that you could choose from. The best thing to do is take a little longer trip out here with your wife and just drive around all the areas. I also found walking into the various local supermarkets helpful. It gave me a sense of what the local community in that area would be like. Others may think that is ridiculous but I found it insightful.
Thanks for your replies. Budget is $1M, but preferably less. I guess there is a magic lot size range where kids and dogs can play in the back yard and still have friends in the neighborhood. We'd be willing to go a bit smaller on the lot to be in the best area for the boys.
I'll look into Chapel Hill a bit more.
One other question: Does anyone have experience with getting their kids into local charter schools such as Woods Charter in Chapel Hill? We're a few years away from our first entering kindergarten, but would love to get a sense of how difficult it is to gain admission...
I also found walking into the various local supermarkets helpful. It gave me a sense of what the local community in that area would be like. Others may think that is ridiculous but I found it insightful.
Good luck with your search!
I actually think that's a good idea.
OP, I agree with her other advice - there are many areas that will meet your needs, I would come back and take some time and visit all the potential areas that might work. If your kids are little you aren't tied to a school schedule so take advantage! Good luck with your search.
As far as lot size, I also think looking at some properties with various lot sizes will also be helpful. An acre is large, and will be very difficult to care for unless you are REALLY into that (my sister lived on an acre in NY, it was lovely but half the yard went completely unused, and she had a swing set, pool, badminton net and 3 car unattached garage on the property....it is A LOT of room).
We wanted minimum .25 since, like you, we were coming from a tiny plot (.15) and were sick of our neighbors being rightnexttous. We ended up on .38 and it's perfect for the kids and dog to play and the back half is all trees so there's not much to take care of back there. DH is already sick of mowing the lawn area, though One thing you may find hard to find here is a flat, cleared large piece of property in a subdivision; one of the reasons we bought this house is because we wanted a large USABLE yard and a lot of the houses we saw were on big enough parcels but yards were too hilly, all trees, house situated strangely, etc. Your budget is larger than ours was though!
I was one of the "I had an acre and I need an acre here" people. We have just over .25, some of which is wooded, and I love it. Mowing the lawn in 20 minutes is the best (with a battery operated mower to boot).
I understand wanting privacy, but it is doable on a smaller lot, especially on a culdesac. I'm not the type that wants to have a conversation with my neighbor every time I set foot on the back deck. And we made sure that wasn't the case.
Thanks for your replies. Budget is $1M, but preferably less. I guess there is a magic lot size range where kids and dogs can play in the back yard and still have friends in the neighborhood. We'd be willing to go a bit smaller on the lot to be in the best area for the boys.
I'll look into Chapel Hill a bit more.
One other question: Does anyone have experience with getting their kids into local charter schools such as Woods Charter in Chapel Hill? We're a few years away from our first entering kindergarten, but would love to get a sense of how difficult it is to gain admission...
Thank you!
Woods Charter is not actually in Chapel Hill. The Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools are generally regarded as the best overall school system in the state. Woods is in northern Chatham County, which is not in the CHCCS district, hence its popularity. There actually aren't any charter schools in the CHCCS district right now. There was one that serviced primarily a special needs population, PACE Academy, but it closed a couple of years ago.
Entrance to all charters is lottery-based and your chances depend entirely on how many other applicants there are. There are usually a whole lot of applicants to Woods — probably 1000s for 100 spots or so.
You might like Lake Hogan Farms in Chapel Hill. It will be a little further from RTP, but I'm sure plenty of people who live there work in RTP.
Wanted to add that there are many very good schools in Wake County also. Overall the Wake County School System doesn't score as highly as CHCCS, but your kids aren't going to every school, y'know? There are some great ones there and some great ones in Durham, too!
Last edited by poppydog; 04-09-2017 at 08:15 AM..
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One thing you may find hard to find here is a flat, cleared large piece of property in a subdivision; one of the reasons we bought this house is because we wanted a large USABLE yard and a lot of the houses we saw were on big enough parcels but yards were too hilly, all trees, house situated strangely, etc. Your budget is larger than ours was though!
