North Raleigh vs. Cary (Durham, Chapel Hill: crime, house prices, theater)

[Charlton Dude]

Originally Posted by davidbridgman

I also eat out a lot and ate out every day when I worked there for lunch and often for dinner. It's like - Applebees, Chili's, Outback, Ragazzi's, etc. with two screaming babies and a moderately attractive soccer mom on her cell phone on each side of you at no extra charge.

I think you need to look around a lot more. Yes, there are the standard chains, but there are a lot more restaurants than those. I think people miss what Cary actually has sometimes, because you can't see past the trees. That really bothered me when I first started driving around Cary and I swore I would never live in a town like that. Then one day the leaves fell off the trees and I discovered how much was in Cary that I was missing. Now I can find stuff behind the trees and I can also enjoy the beauty of the town. Cary is much different than the original stereotype that I have burned into my brain. I am glad I took the time to actually look around and discover it.

[lottamoxie]

Originally Posted by davidbridgman

I find Cary to be a painfully boring and sleepy place that has little other than strip malls, chain restaurants, Barney Fife cops on every corner, and micromanaged rules and ordinances to the point it is mind boggling. If you wanna go to work, go to Trader Joes, eat at Applebees with the kids, and be home and in bed with lights out by ten, move to Cary.

Having lived in Raleigh for 4+ years and now in Cary, please point out what is so 'different' about North Raleigh. Malls? check. Strip Malls? check. Chain restaurants? check. Houses? check. Parks? check. Traffic? Check.

Truth be told, North Raleigh and Cary are very similar. Now the people in No. Raleigh may take offense at that because Cary has a reputation of being the place where 'Yankees' have gone, but in reality you'll find as many transplants in Raleigh as in Cary. Having lived in both areas I feel qualified to offer this feedback. So it comes down to:

- Where will you be working and how close do you want to be to the office?
- Do you want to be generally equidistant to Chapel Hill/UNC? Durham/Duke? NC State?
- Do you have any family in the area or have friends here already?

Those are some considerations to determine right off the bat.

Commuting is a big deal for me so it was important for me to be within 15 min. of my office. YMMV.

[Charlton Dude]

Originally Posted by davidbridgman

I mean everything there is a chain, and it all looks the same.

Here is one link to Cary restaurants. As you can see, there are a lot of places that are not chains.

Restaurant Row - Cary Restaurants - Search Results

[joey2000]

First off: can we have a common agreement on what "N Raleigh" means - some think it's anything north of 440, while others now consider it anything north of 540. Since my impression is anything within 540 is (generally/roughly) similar, I'll go w/the latter.

Originally Posted by marciatj

given that we are looking to paying approximately $850,000,

So THIS is where the ex-CEO's of auto-makers are moving.

Different strokes for different folks but in my opinion Cary is the definition of suburban hell. I live in North Raleigh and worked in Cary for 7 years. I find Cary to be a painfully boring and sleepy place that has little other than strip malls, chain restaurants, Barney Fife cops on every corner, and micromanaged rules and ordinances to the point it is mind boggling. If you wanna go to work, go to Trader Joes, eat at Applebees with the kids, and be home and in bed with lights out by ten, move to Cary. For some people, this is exactly what they are looking for, and they think it's heaven. I personally would rather live in San Quentin prison than Cary.

If you took note of the OP vs simply ranting about Cary, you'd notice that a good family area is important, and my impression that is just the kind of "Hell" they are looking for. Can't say if N Raleigh is much different though.

Originally Posted by davidbridgman

I'm talking about the restaurants, entertainment,

Define "entertainment."

Originally Posted by Charlton Dude

Cary is more about beauty, cleanliness, wide variety of housing styles & colors,

Coulda fooled me. I think there is very much a "cookie cutter" feel here. The "cleanliness" is exaggerated too - but really the truth probably lies somewhere between what the 2 of you are saying.

Originally Posted by davidbridgman

with two screaming babies and a moderately attractive soccer mom on her cell phone on each side of you at no extra charge.

If you find a town w/o this, let me know. And it has nothing to do w/being a chain or not.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Originally Posted by marciatj

We are planning to move to one of the two subject areas in the spring. We have visted each area once, and find appeal in both. So I need advice on where to focus my search based upon the following criteria, given that we are looking to paying approximately $850,000, but don't mind neighborhoods with a wide range of prices: Some top criteria for us include:

1. High number of young (i.e. under 8 years of age kids for example) families
2. Good school system - strong SAT scores
3. Type of community - welcoming and community oriented i.e. block parties, halloween/holiday events etc. parks, and ideally an "the neighborhood pool"

We have looked in:
Bedford
Grey Hawk
Cary Park

Are we missing any good neighborhoods given our top criteria? Does any one have any biases given our criteria?

thanks in advance for your help,
M.

Except for a few responses with suggestions most of the responses have not been to much help now have they? You will have multiple options in both North Raleigh and Cary. FWIW, most people consider anything North of I-440 and west of Capital Boulevard to be "North Raleigh".

Both North Raleigh and Cary could work splendidly for you depending on what other considerations you have. Adlnc07 mentioned a good point. Is commute an issue? If so it is something to consider when deciding between North Raleigh and Cary.

As MikeJ pointed out the options open up even more when you eliminate the pool requirement. Your price point is way above mine so take my suggestions with a grain of salt, but I really like the look of Ethan's Glen in North Raleigh. There are also some great neighborhoods between Falls of Neuse Road and Six Forks Road on Durant Road that are quite nice.

I would hook up with a realtor as you likely have a myriad of options to sift through!

Have fun and good luck!

[Charlton Dude]

Originally Posted by bill545

Coulda fooled me. I think there is very much a "cookie cutter" feel here.

I think the cookie cutter thing is an over exaggerated stereotype, when comparing towns. The same builders build homes in Cary, Durham, Raleigh, Wake Forest and other towns and they use similar plans. I think that because there has been so much growth in Cary, many of the homes are newer, therefore people like to label the entire town as cookie cutter. But if you actually drive around, you will find many different styles, colors and size homes. There are plenty of homes on medium to big lots and then there are newer homes on postage stamp lots. There are old brick ranches and there are huge McMansions. There are homes where you can walk to everything and there are homes with a drive to everything. There are developments that are all the same color and basic design and there are developments with lots of color and varying styles. I would be willing to bet that the majority of Cary haters are people that pass through Cary once per year or just drive through the main roads and never really see what lies behind the trees. I know, I used to be one of the those blinded by stereotypical ignorance. But as newbies in NC, we did a lot of investigation of many towns around here. We drove and drove and drove. We checked out all kinds of neighborhoods and roads we never knew went there from here. And guess what? Once we actually decided to see for ourselves, we found a completely different Cary than some people were trying to portray. I have never seen another town under such attack from people that do not live there. I find it amazing how it bothers outsiders that the residents of Cary are happy with their town. Obviously Cary is attractive to a huge number of the transplants, because that is where they end up. No one forces people there. They have the money to go where they want and the choose Cary. Why does that bother people? I often wonder why rather than trying to cut down Cary, why don't people from other towns just talk about the great things in their town. I think more good would come from enlightening people about the qualities of one's own town, rather than trying to present a false image of another.

FWIW - I love North Raleigh, too. The only thing that would stop me from purchasing there would be the commute into RTP. The commute I have now is really short and easy. But in all of our research, we found North Raleigh and Cary to be almost twins.

[saturnfan]

Originally Posted by Charlton Dude

Now see to me, Capital is awful. I hate the look, the awful traffic, the signage. I prefer the manicured look with lots and lots of landscaping. But I came from an area that did not have any development, so I mostly saw trees, shrubs and the like.

I came from big cities, LA, Manhattan, and New Orleans. Too peaceful places spook me.

[Charlton Dude]

Originally Posted by saturnfan

I came from big cities, LA, Manhattan, and New Orleans. Too peaceful places spook me.

I think it is all in what one is used to. I have definitely tried to open myself up to discovering more though. That's how I ended up here.

[saturnfan]

Originally Posted by Charlton Dude

I think it is all in what one is used to. I have definitely tried to open myself up to discovering more though. That's how I ended up here.

Agreed.

[Irvinegal]

I live in Cary and it's very similar to Irvine, CA where I used to live, with regard to Master Planned-ness, homeowners associations, no nightlife and chain restaurants... So it feels very familiar to me. I like the big homes, generous landscaping, cleanliness and lack of signs. But it is boring suburbia. And the restsurants are chains mostly, which i dont care for... I didnt like that in Irvine either. I mean, how many times can you eat at a Red Robin? You have to drive everywhere in Cary. Not very walkable. I do like the trees; in fact the forest of trees was a big attraction for me. Ultimately, your choice just depends on what you like; what makes you happy.