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This looks like a great board! Thanks for having us. My wife and I have been married 7 years and living on the North Shore of Massachusetts... where we cannot afford to buy a home or condo, because the prices are outrageous up here.
I'm 31 and she's 28 and we want to start a family soon. We heard Raleigh, North Carolina and suburbs are a great place! I just wanted to get some inside info from you guys (the pros) about your area...
What do you like about it? How is the job market? What are the homes and communities like? Pricing, etc etc. How's the weather??
I work for a regional Chamber of Commerce and am the VP of Sales and Marketing and my wife works for a software development company. Even with our combined salaries in the over $100,000 we can't afford to live up here. Any decent home or condo up here start at $450,000 and that is for a beat up cape that is over 60 years old - needing to replace almost everything... and people wonder why no young professionals stay around Massachusetts.
So I'd be very interested in hearing what its like in Raleigh North Carolina. Anything you can think of that would help us out would be great!! Where to relocate to... What you consider best about the Raleigh Durham Area.
We want to come visit in January or February and don't know where to start looking for homes or jobs or pretty much anything I've looked online everywhere and its really hard to find a straight answer on anything, but I thought maybe posting here would help!
Thanks so much,
Last edited by Marka; 06-03-2007 at 04:10 PM..
Reason: per OP's request
My husband and I recently moved down here from Northern MA as well (Burlington Area), because we are, like you, young professionals (26 and 28) with higher incomes and still could not afford anything in a 50 mile radius of Boston.
We currently live in Cary NC, large suburb of Raleigh and we absolutely love it. Still metro enough, shopping is better than Peabody or Burlington, and people are friendly!
We did our research before we came down for 3 months. I do recommend getting a GPS when you come down, just to learn different areas down here. You can email almost email any realtor down here and they will give you a relocation package with maps, magazines, etc. about the area.
I would recommend looking at Cary, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill for areas comparable to the Boston Metro areas. Let me know if you have any questions, from a fellow Bostonian.
My husband and I recently moved down here from Northern MA as well (Burlington Area), because we are, like you, young professionals (26 and 28) with higher incomes and still could not afford anything in a 50 mile radius of Boston.
We currently live in Cary NC, large suburb of Raleigh and we absolutely love it. Still metro enough, shopping is better than Peabody or Burlington, and people are friendly!
We did our research before we came down for 3 months. I do recommend getting a GPS when you come down, just to learn different areas down here. You can email almost email any realtor down here and they will give you a relocation package with maps, magazines, etc. about the area.
I would recommend looking at Cary, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill for areas comparable to the Boston Metro areas. Let me know if you have any questions, from a fellow Bostonian.
Trish
thank you so much! that is just the type of encouragement i needed to hear!! i work in Danvers and live in Gloucester, grew up in Topsfield. I heard Cary is the place to be. Better than the North Shore Mall?? awesome!
what fields of work are you guys in?? my whole deal is we want to start a family soon....and maybe have my wife stay home for a little while. so the whole thing is dependent on me getting a great job! we saved almost $30,000 and are ready for a life change
i hear ya on the MA housing crisis, its just horrible. did you guys build or buy new? thanks so much for the advice!
I agree about Cary being a great place for relocating young professionals, as well as North Raleigh. You can check www.rtp.org for jobs in Research Triangle Park, as well as going the usual routes. We relocated 3 years ago for my husband's job in RTP. There is a great support network here for stay-at-home moms, both online and in the form of moms groups and playgroups, which is how I met a lot of my friends here. It sounds like you have planned well, and you should be able to comfortably afford a nice house here on one income. If you haven't already spoken with a mortgage lender, it may be good to have an initial conversation and get prequalified (this takes very little time, and it gives you an idea of what loan products are available to you as a first-time homebuyer so you can plan your budget.) There are some great threads here to help you plan and budget for taxes, insurance, etc. in this area, too.
Good luck, and hopefully welcome to North Carolina!
We actually have not bought yet, we are renting for a year in Cary. We really wanted to learn the areas, neighborhoods, etc. before buying anything. You learn the little quirky things, about the schools, etc. alot more when you live down here for a couple of months.
We are most likely going to buy in the areas of Cary, Apex, and Holly Springs. Cary is starting to go up, but you still can get a decent house (1800 sq ft) for 200-250K.
My husband is in car sales (mercedes benz) and I am a Guidance Counselor in Chapel Hill. Hope this helps- shoot me an email or PM if you want more details.
We actually have not bought yet, we are renting for a year in Cary. We really wanted to learn the areas, neighborhoods, etc. before buying anything. You learn the little quirky things, about the schools, etc. alot more when you live down here for a couple of months.
We are most likely going to buy in the areas of Cary, Apex, and Holly Springs. Cary is starting to go up, but you still can get a decent house (1800 sq ft) for 200-250K.
My husband is in car sales (mercedes benz) and I am a Guidance Counselor in Chapel Hill. Hope this helps- shoot me an email or PM if you want more details.
I think being from the North Shore you'll like Cary. Also check out Holly Springs, where you can get a lot more for your money. Apex is not as pretty as those 2 in my opinion.
FWIW, Cary is most definitely NOT a suburb of Raleigh.
Raleigh won't have Cary, even if Cary craved the designation, which it doesn't.
Not enough Beige in Raleigh for Cary's taste.
And if you want to start a real row, call Apex or Holly Springs a suburb of Cary......
Holy Nelly!!!!!!!!!!
STAND BACK!!!! WAY, WAY BACK!!!!!
okay so im way way confused... Cary is a little metropolis of its own? youve got to equivocate it for us up here in Massachusetts, you lost me at beige...or cary....
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I've looked online everywhere and its really hard to find a straight answer on anything, but I thought maybe posting here would help!
From another Bostonian
