Anyone regret moving to Raleigh? (Cary, Apex: oceanfront, showing, trip)

[beckycat]

Funny Mike. I've made up my mind, I'm not moving there b/c I can't do without toilet seat covers!

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

Good points.
But...
You know, with King Cobras and without toilet seat covers, I predict we will fall off all the Top Ten Lists and the roads will be more than adequate for our needs within 12 months...

The way I see it is the King Cobra thing is going to make us the Tourist Attraction of the decade. In the 70s it was all about Big Foot in North Cali. In the 90s it was all about crop circles and aliens in the midwest. This will be the decade of King Cobras in the Carolinas! I can see the 4 wheel drive tours now. Humvees with signs saying over 1000 Cobras spotted this year. Of course 1000 will be xed out in red paint and replaced with 1500. And in small print it will read "Toilet seat covers not provided. Bring your own."

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by PDXmom

The way I see it is the King Cobra thing is going to make us the Tourist Attraction of the decade. In the 70s it was all about Big Foot in North Cali. In the 90s it was all about crop circles and aliens in the midwest. This will be the decade of King Cobras in the Carolinas! I can see the 4 wheel drive tours now. Humvees with signs saying over 1000 Cobras spotted this year. Of course 1000 will be xed out in red paint and replaced with 1500. And in small print it will read "Toilet seat covers not provided. Bring your own."

"King Cobras in the Carolinas!"
Has a ring to it...
I'm having visions of an ad campaign....

[BigHouse9]

Originally Posted by smatus

Bighouse - we live in Glastonbury, CT right now and are dying to get out! It's a great place to raise a family.....if you're rich! We just can't afford it anymore! We are looking at the Raleigh area to save money and be in a family-friendly environment. I find Glastonbury to be snobby and the traffic into Hartford is a bear! My husband works 20 min south of Glastonbury off of I-91 and his commute is not much better, especially coming home. He's in IT and the job market is slowing here. The schools here are great, but you have to be able to afford the taxes. The housing market is horrible and the houses that are available are either McMansions or dumps, no in-between. Good luck if you move here!
We've looked all over the northeast to see if we could stay here, but prices don't drop as far as taxes and housing until you go south of Richmond. Plus, I hate to admit it, but I've found people up here in New England to be not as friendly and outgoing. We've lived in Glastonbury for 10 yrs and don't know half of our neighbors because everyone keeps to themselves, and that's sad. I want the feeling of a community, which I hear Raleigh and it's surrounding communities have got dead-on. CT is all about rush-rush and hectic lifestyles, and getting your kids into a million activities and never having enough time.....we are done with that and want to slow down. I guess that depends on where you live around Raleigh? I don't think we would regret a move to Raleigh, except being away from family, but we don't see them that much anyways. This has been a very informative post to read. Sorry I am so long-winded, but I had to get my 2 cents out there, for whatever it's worth!

Sorry to hear it. I found Glastonbury to be a great place to live an still keep in touch with so many of the great people we met there, including all of our neighbors. If you think CT is rush rush, then you do not want to come to Raleigh. I find that the driving in the Hartford area to be so much more pleasant, the traffic is certainly less hectic and trust me, they find a way to gouge us financially too.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

I just passed my three year marker living here in Raleigh. I have grown to like it even more the longer I am here. I think it is important to get out and explore all the different areas of the Triangle. It really gives you a better understanding of how many different lifestyles there are here. I have come to realize just how much there is out there to enjoy about this area and I still feel like I have only scratched the surface!

My wife and I truly enjoy living here and are building a nice life with a prosperous future here in Raleigh.

~ NRG

[NC man]

All this about traffic comes down to personal perception. The solid gold truth is for this city the traffic is worse then ever in its past history. The second truth is it will only get worse, not better. Lots of news articles related to this topic and Raleigh has been ranked high up the list for bad congestion. If you move here looking for low traffic, dont. Just like I would tell you if you are looking for low traffic dont move to NJ ,NY city, Nova ect. common sense folks high population high traffic. I travel all over the east coast and Raleigh is just as bad as the other areas discussed and will continue to degrade if people continue to move here. If you want low traffic move to a rural town like Sanford or Butner ect. Its a city folks, Charlotte and Raleigh Gboro Winston will have traffic.

[al_roethlisberger]

As mentioned in the last post, and numerous others, the traffic issue really is a matter or perspective, past experience, and even one's particular commute.

I've lived and worked in a number of large metro areas, most recently the SF Bay Area... and in my humble opinion, the Raleigh/Durham/Cary/RTP area isn't any worse, and in many cases is much less congested than other areas.

I'm sure we can all identify particular commutes and corridors at certain times in the Raleigh area that are congested with stop/go traffic, but my experience so far is that this just doesn't compare with endemic gridlock I've experienced in other higher density areas.

One downside of this area though is lack of alternatives. In many cases there is only one corridor/thoroughfare available, and if that is congested, then your options indeed are limited.

But overall I've been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the roads and lack of congestion here as compared to several other metro areas.

As the area continues to grow, one downside is indeed additional traffic. And that will have to be managed, but even then, expect the problem to worsen to some degree. There is only so much that can be done if the population grows and fights for the same limited resource all at the same time.

And yes, please consider Sanford if you like a slightly slower pace of life, but access to all our central metro areas. Even if you work in Raleigh, the commute is just under an hour(about 45min to RTP), but the drive up Hwy 1 is always clear and unobstructed. For those coming from some major metro areas, an hour or longer commute is the norm, so this may not be too bad considering it is a straight shot with no delays.

Oh, and I should add that we moved from San Jose, CA to Cary, then a year later to Sanford. We've been here for almost 3 years now, and love it. There are things about CA that we miss of course(it is a nice place after all ) .... but the Raleigh area has been good to us, and we love our adopted home of Sanford. No regrets.


Al

[lifeguard_bss]

I moved to Holly Springs from Tolland CT a year ago -- I had lived in CT my whole life. I will never to back to CT. No one seems to mention that traffic in CT is terrible in the winter whenever it snows, and that is after getting up at 5AM to snow blow out of the driveway. There are some things I miss about CT and Tolland in particular, but none enough to move back.

[ceili723]

Glastonbury?! Glastonbury..... very pretty to look at, but just like Wiscasset, ME (which has been rated one of the prettiest villages in the USA) the closer you get, the more you see the cracks.

But I do say, I did mature a lot during my four years living in CT... nothing like Lyme Disease, poison ivy, asbestos, lead paint, and bad bad air quality to toughen a girl up. It IS pretty though.

Traffic? Try leaving Central CT to go see a Red Sox or any NY game. I'll take the 15 minute ride to see the Hurricanes anyday!

In all seriousness, I can see the benefits to both places. It's just that for me, CT was what the Raleigh area is for you. The only thing I miss up there is Lyman Orchards!!

[saturnfan]

A co-worker told me about her CT experience.

She visited a beach area and was confronted by a few residents who told her to leave because she didn't live in the community owning the beach.

How did they know this, you ask. Simple, she came in a Saturn not a BMW or Benz.

NC is surely better than that.