Looking for small town outside Raleigh! (Greensboro, Cary: insurance, high crime, townhouse)

[bk4]

Hi there, I will be heading (with my family) to N.C. on Sunday, June 4th and I've been spending a lot of hours trying to figure out what communities to spend our few days researching for a move. Finding a job will be the biggest factor (in the insurance field) and an affordable community. Right now we are looking at Wake Forest, Clayton, Raleigh, not sure where else to look. We live in a town of around 7500 right now, 10 minutes from a town of around 30,000 and like it that way, looking for something comparable as far as community size, but affordable also, less than 140,000.

Any advice would be appreciated
bking

[Bethanytedder]

What about Garner, Knightdale, Wendell, Rolesville, Zebulon, and Cary?

[Bound4NC]

Less than $140k any where is hard to find that is not a fixer upper. Or a mobile home. There is URL removed you can view

[moderator note]
I remove links manually so writing URLs like 'adress dot com' or without [url] won't work.

[I'minformed2]

You can get some pretty decent new starter homes in some of the larger developments for well under 140k. As well as townhomes. If you are looking for a laid back small town environment than I would say all of the ones that Bethanytedder suggested except for Cary, which is not by any stretch of the imagination a small town anymore.

[Bethanytedder]

Like I said in another post, you guys that are doing research are definitely more in the loop about the "in places" than I am. The last time I went to Cary, it was still small. Of course I was about 10 then. LOL Seriously, I got lost in Cary some years ago so I guess that is saying something for the growth there.

[bk4]

We just returned from Raleigh, drove around a few towns and I'm still not sure where we would be happy! We have so many things to consider and it's not like my husband would be moving there "to" a job, so that makes it harder. I don't know that we can afford it with a new career start, we really need to stay under 130,000 realistically

We come from a town of about 7,000 and 10 minutes away from a town of 30,000 and about an hour from Cleveland about 450,000 population. This is the type of living we like, live in the small town, but close enough I can go 10min. away to a mall (pathetic mall unfortuneately), SuperWalMart, restaurants, Target, Kohl's, etc. We can go 30-40 min. away to something just North Hills and we love to go there. We are looking for something similar to this, although I would like to be closer to a big city than we are now to Cleveland, a half an hour away would be great.

My husband is changing careers and going into the Insurance Business and we are basically starting from there, so this is why it is so nerve racking. We are going to be on pins and needles financially until he gets the business established. One company he is looking at is Nationwide.

I homeschool (for now), so I give up an income, so being able to get into a home in a place similar to where we live now will be harder in N.C. I think. We get much more for our money here and a nice big yard which is important with two little ones, seems like there are alot of houses especially in the Raleigh area at high cost and little land. We would just be happy with 1/2 to 3/4 acre. I guess for now we will keep researching from here some of the smaller towns, Clayton, Apex, Fuquay Varnia and some that others recommended.

I'm not used to talking on these boards so I think I am sending this as a reply to someone, but I meant to do it as just a general new thread to anyone who can offer advice:-)

Where are the high crime areas in Raleigh, I saw articles about three murders in Raleigh and wondered where the best and worst areas are. In Cleveland, we know which areas to stay away from!

Thanks, sorry this was so long,
Bking

[I'minformed2]

under 130,000 isn't going to get you much in the triangle. Maybe a decent townhouse, but probably not a very nice single family home. 5-10 years ago you could have gotten a pretty decent house with that much, but that's not realistic any more. Maybe a smaller town like Gastonia or maybe in the Greensboro area. The job market isn't as good in those areas, but it's not bad. And it's more affordable. That's the thing. It makes a lot more economical sense when people from the Northeastern corridor (Boston, New York City, Washignton) come here because even if they have no job, the money they make off of their houses there can more than pay for what they'd get here because NC is more affordable than those areas. But NC actually has a higher cost of living than most areas around the Great Lakes. You'd actually be able to afford a much more comfortable lifestyle in Cleveland as long as you or your husband has a job.

[bk4]

That is what it is feeling like, too expensive for the situation we are in. Our home now is over 2,000 sq. ft with the basement, is only 4 yrs. old, and on about .25 acre and was only 144, 900!! Sounds like we would be giving up a lot, but we want to be somewhere warmer than here that still has season changes, this is honestly why we picked North Carolina, but of course we still need to be in an area that is growing, near a big city for job purposes, like everyone else I guess.

All I know right now is that I have a headache from trying to figure it all out

bking

[salatheel]

It's all what you are used to! To me a 1600 square foot 3 bedroom 2 bath home would be great! My current home is 1050 square feet with 2 bedrooms and one bath on a .33 acre lot in Connecticut. I pay almost $4000 a year in taxes on it and it will sell for over $360,000. To us a 2500 sq foot house would be huge! As anything that big in our area would be close to a million.

[salatheel]

A good friend of mine just bought in Fuquay Varina. A very nice smaller town.