I's so exhausted and so sad.......

[sinstars]

Like many people who moved to the triangle, from far away, all we heard about was Cary. Although Cary is the perfect place for many people, with many amenities, we found it too generic. We lived in many of the same type communities in both NJ and IL. So we decided to search out areas with a little more personality, and less developed. Try North Raleigh, inc. Wake Forest. There are plenty of smaller, both new, and older, developments that have a lot of character, and are still close to the needed services. As mentioned earlier, Clayton is a good choice now, but all depends if and where anyone in your home may commute.

[tassy]

Originally Posted by Skipstone

Lea, I'm so sorry you've had such a challenging time. My heart goes out to you.

Cary is the one place in Raleigh where everyone from outside the area wants to move. So that's why it is so difficult finding the right place before someone else jumps on it. I've heard that people actually camp out on the grounds outside some new neighborhoods trying to be first in line for teeny, tiny, pip-squeak lots. Cary is a beautiful place if you can squeeze in (no pun intended).

Lea, the good news is that you work from home so you have great flexibility in that regard. I'm into homeschooling, so I honestly couldn't in good conscience recommend any public school in the area to you, but there are others here who may be able to help you with that. If you ever consider homeschooling, there are over 3500 homeschool families in Wake County alone, so your children would have plenty of activities, resources, friends, etc. I thought I'd plug that in case the public school ends up not meeting your needs in some way.

The closer to RTP you get, the higher the prices. You can get the same quality at a better price by going farther away from RTP. I have a friend who recently found a nice rental home in Clayton. Clayton is a nice rural town with a sense of community. Youngsville has very good housing availability so it seems rentals might be easier to find there. It's a pretty area just north of Wake Forest. The Knightdale/Wendell area is nice too from what I hear.

Outside of Cary, crime is less in north Raleigh and Wake Forest. Clayton probably has low crime too.

I wish you well. PM me if you need anything else.

Clayton does have a low crime rate, and is a very nice town. Plenty of shopping, 15 minutes from Raleigh just out 70 E or 40 E. Not quite as pricey as Cary. I moved here from Boston 10 years ago, and would never want to move to Cary. I don't have children, but I love the community, the close proximity to shopping, the restaurants/bars. Check it out, you might like it!