Wife and I - Moving to Raleigh to Start Family from Massachusetts (need your advice) (Durham: new home, find a job)

[bluedevilz]

Another Boston transplant here who loves NC and can't conceive of returning to the Northeast....

Some great comments above.

My 2 cents....I too was attracted to the Cary/Apex/Wake areas when I was researching places to relocate from my computer up north. It all looks great, and 4 years ago even more affordable (particularly coming from the Boston area) however, once my wife and I got here we ruled out Cary right away.

No offense to folks who live in and love Cary but it isn't for everyone. To me it is the definition of suburban sprawl with cookie cutter developments laid out end to end with strip malls every 100 feet for good measure. Traffic is not Northeast bad, but it is bad. No discernible sense of community or center...homes on less than a 1/3 of an acre...and to my wife and I, at least, less of the "southern charm" we were looking for. Plus for all the accolades the Wake county school system receives, getting redistricted every couple of years is less than appealing.


We settled on Chapel Hill which has a vibrant college town feel, a real downtown, and the best school system in the state, with a little more security in the fact that the school in your neighborhood will actually be the school your kids will attend. As much as we liked Chapel Hill, the downside for us was spiraling taxes and to be honest the uber-competitiveness in the schools at a young age.

Once here for a few years, we fell in love with Hillsborough. A true "small" town with fewer than 6,000 residents, but a real sense of community, a real historic district/downtown with many revolutionary war era homes...still an excellent school system with which we are really pleased. We were also able to build our dream house for less than what we sold our house in Massachusetts for > 4 years ago, and cut our taxes in half from Chapel Hill.

The point of this overly long post is this, don't be frightened off from venturing beyond the Cary area....if you truly like what Cary has to offer, great....just make sure you spend enough time to visit it in person and get a true feel for the area. There are plenty of great places, still within the Triangle, that are far different from Cary.

[Bear717]

how's garner?

does anyone live there?

how about holly springs or apex?

thanks

[Tina888]

Hi,

We are in a same shoe as you are. We are currently residing in western mass and owning a town house. We are also planning to relocate to NC as it is crazy out here and I am tired of working all the time. I would surely love to take year break from work and spend quality time with my kid. And that is possible only if we move to some other place. My husbands company is relocating them so job is not an issue here but education for my kid is.... We r still debating...

Anyways, all the best !!!!

[deuterdu]

I think Mike means we are all yuppies. CARY concentrated area of relocated yuppies (or yankees)
I moved 3,000 miles to live in Cary, not because of cost of living but because it is nice, but more importantly because of all the beige!

[movin2nc]

Originally Posted by Bear717

how's garner?

does anyone live there?

how about holly springs or apex?

thanks

I'm relocating to Holly Springs in 3 weeks - I don't really know anything about it yet but will let you know more once I make the move. Haven't heard anything negative about it yet so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Good luck!

[Bear717]

well, its THAT time !

the wife and i are booking our first trip to NC in March! We're coming down to check out the homes, neighborhoods, jobs, cities, and the whole bunch.

what should i see for fun down there?? any ideas?

we're going to have plenty to do on the job and home front, but need some off-time as well... suggestions??

thanks so much for all of your help again. along with looking online, and help from friends, this forum has been of the utmost usefullness and in all sincerity - thank you to all who've posted in this thread - it has really helped my wife and i feel at ease in this transition process ... believe me, its a big leap of faith for us, finding jobs, relocating, taking our savings, $40,000 + and packing up.

so thanks again for all your help and kindness and can't wait until march!

erik

[Erin1264]

The Duke Gardens are nice (on Duke's campus), and the Raleigh farmers market is a neat place to walk around too.
Cameron Village downtown - nice outdoor shopping and good restaurants. Other shopping - North Hills (upscale) or Triangle Town Center, Cary Town Center or the shops at Southpointe.

March will be a nice time to visit!

[Bull City Rising]

Hope you have a great trip down to visit!

Some other great things to check out--

I'm a big fan of the NC Museum of Natural History in downtown Raleigh, which is very cool. Don't remember if you have kids; if so, the NC Museum of Life and Science in Durham and Exploris in Raleigh are also great.

The Duke Gardens are a lot of fun. There's also the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke, and the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh.

Franklin Street in Chapel Hill is a fun walk and has neat restaurants, bars, etc.

I'd recommend seeing a Durham Bulls game, but you'll be down too early... and you've already got Fenway. :-)

[holdenoversoul]

Raleigh, Raleigh, Raleigh, can't go wrong.

I found 10ac. meadow/wooded, private road, 3800sf home 2yrs old, no HOA, 2 miles from 540, $340k. I know that's not typical and I found a steal but they are out there in Raleigh, much more for your $

Cary if you like you neighbor's house 12' away from your's. Screw that!

[jello212]

Be aware, though, if the subject of barbecue comes up, and it WILL, with the natives at least, there are some rules you MUST follow - Barbecue is NEVER spelled with a Q, nor is it abbreviated into anything other than - 'cue -, and it ALWAYS must involve ONLY pork cooked long & slow over low heat. Don't be shocked when the sauce has no tomatoes, as that is heresy around the area. The word is vinegar, and people will definitely get more upset when discussing the 'merits' of various types of barbecue than they will even when discussing politics or religion. Barbecue is MORE than a religion, some locals would say... ;-)

That's one of the trueest things I've read in a while. My wife (from Fl) would pee in her pants if she read that because it describes me to a T.