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Hey all. There is so much excellent information on these forums, I thought it would be fun and interesting to hear peoples stories about where they came from when relocating to this area and what they think about it compared to their original perceptions. Please include city and state where you are from and where you landed.
We relocated from Hardwick, Massachusetts. It was just west of the center of the state. This was a very rural country town. We always wanted to move to the mid-Atlantic, although we had never heard of The Triangle or RTP. We were thinking of Virginia, but then saw a House Hunter show that had someone from Apex on it. That peaked our curiosity and after much research, we learned all about RTP and decided to move. We thought we were going to buy in Holly Springs, but after visiting we decided we did not want to be that far from RTP and Southpoint. We ended up spending more to buy around Southpoint. We quit our jobs, sold our house and moved down with NO jobs. I still can't believe we did it, but it was the best move we ever made. We love Southern Durham and realize the massive potential for ROI with a house in this area. After being here for 1.5 years, we can honestly say everything here exceeded our expectations. Thank you NC.
Last edited by Southpoint; 05-07-2007 at 07:57 PM..
Hey all. There is so much excellent information on these forums, I thought it would be fun and interesting to hear peoples stories about where they came from when relocating to this area and what they think about it compared to their original perceptions. Please include city and state where you are from and where you landed.
We are from northern NJ in a pretty rural area. We moved here so that I could go to graduate school at Duke in 2000, and then liked it well enough that we stayed! We originally lived in an apartment in Morrisville for about a year and a half before we bought our house in Durham (east side out Hwy 98). My parents and my in-laws both moved down here too from NJ to be closer to us. My parents live in Apex and my two sisters go to school there. My in-laws live in Clayton. If we can sell our house in Durham, we'd like to move to Mebane now for a bigger house with more land more in the country.
Ok, I'm not technically in The Triangle yet... but here is my story. Grew up in small town Eastern NC. Went to college in the Mid-West and West Coast. Have lived on West Coast for last 20 years. Now relocating to NC with hubby and 2 young kids. Today I am in Durham house hunting in the SW / Southpoint area. So many things have exceeded my expectations! It's so clean and green and friendly. I would love to see more mass trans and bicycle lanes. But I've got to have something to fight for when I get here. We'll be here officially in July! I'm VERY excited for that day!
hows the house hunting going? Isn't it overwhelming???
Quote:
Originally Posted by PDXmom
Ok, I'm not technically in The Triangle yet... but here is my story. Grew up in small town Eastern NC. Went to college in the Mid-West and West Coast. Have lived on West Coast for last 20 years. Now relocating to NC with hubby and 2 young kids. Today I am in Durham house hunting in the SW / Southpoint area. So many things have exceeded my expectations! It's so clean and green and friendly. I would love to see more mass trans and bicycle lanes. But I've got to have something to fight for when I get here. We'll be here officially in July! I'm VERY excited for that day!
Both my husband and I are from Northern Ohio, right on Lake Erie. We both traveled, living in foreign countries and other states, before settling down and starting a family in the town I grew up in.
Almost 4 years ago my husband's company brought him down for a 'visit' to their Butner facility and to help set up a specific machine. They never let him return to his old job and offered him a great relocation package.
We researched the area and accepted. We moved to Wake Forest because he doesn't like living too near his job and we prefered Wake Forest and Wake County schools to Granville County's.
A few months after moving I went to work for the same company....so we shared a commute. We have never regretted moving for a second.
Several months ago, the company went bankrupt and we had to find new employment down here. Even though we had several out of state job offers, we couldn't see moving and just flat out didn't want to. It took each of us two months, but we both found solid employment...and not in the typical growth industries of the Triangle. I can say that I'd rather be looking for a job in North Carolina then Ohio right now!!
There was a culture shock when we moved, but with some great co-workers top explain things, and a willingness to embrace what NC has to offer (I wasn't looking for a 'mini-Ohio'. I do miss Lake Erie...but not enough to move back anytime soon!)
My daughter is thriving down here, lots of friends, activities, great school, opportunities that she wouldn't get in a small lake town, my dog loves the dog parks (he is happier then ever - turns out he is a social butterfly!), we have a great home, nice .27 lot (bigger then the small town urban lot we had up north) that backs up to a creek and protected green-way. That is why we stay.
Southpoint, thanks for starting this thread. I've been curious about everyone's story for weeks now.
We moved here a year ago because my husband got a job in the area. Companies in various parts of the country (Chicago, San Fran, and others) showed a lot of interest in him, but he felt more comfortable with this company than all the others. It was purely coincidence that the company was located in an area that has earned so much attention in the last few years.
Oddly enough, a lot of my friends ended up moving all over the country within months of our move. They've moved to Seattle, LA, Baltimore, and Dallas amongst other places. The change has been hard on all of us, but it's obvious that my husband and I are much happier here in the Triangle than they have been in their new cities.
Edit: Oops! Forgot to say that I'm originally from Oklahoma & my husband is from England.
Well..........originally from North Dakota, seriously, North Dakota. My dad grew up in Canada, and my mom in North Dakota. We lived there until I was 3 and then moved to chapel hill to help my mom's sister who was newly divorced with 4 kids at home....we never really left.
We moved outside of chapel hill, my dad built our house. Now I was in chapel hill before interstate 40, it took an hour to get to raleigh on 54! Quite a different place back then, not better or worse, just different.
I went away to go to college in greensboro, then moved to winston salem for a job, then to durham for a job.........then graduate school at nc state.
Met my husband at nc state, and we have moved around the triangle finally settling in wake forest. We chose wake forest because it really helped his commute to work, and I liked being in a small feeling town. Quite nice.
We have two young daughters, one is just about to begin kindergarten, so that should be our newest interesting adventure and I am looking forward to the experience.
I'm originally from a border town in Texas, grew up overseas (mostly in Africa), and then lived in Louisiana and Virginia. We moved down here for two reasons - to be closer to family, and for the lower housing prices. We have four little boys and we are loving the size house (5 bedrooms + bonus upstairs) and yard (.28 acres w/ lots and lots of trees) we could buy here
What has surprised me most is just how beautiful SW Durham is, just like pdxmom said. I've been able to do a lot more exploring and it's a very lush area with lots of great shopping I even see the beauty in the historic areas that are currently run down. The downtown is amazing with really neat looking buildings. It has great bones.
Born in Winter Park (outside Orlando). Did my undergrad work in Cambridge, Mass. where I met my wife, who's from southern N.H. Lived and consulted in Charlotte, Louisville, Richmond and Silver Spring, Md. before moving back to Cambridge for five years.
We moved to Durham so my wife could attend law school. We looked at Apex, Chapel Hill, and Cary but knew the downtown Durham area was the right place for us -- an interesting and lively urban space, walkable neighborhoods with trees, and great neighbors. We love it here and can't imagine another place in the Triangle, or the South, that we'd want to live.
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We'll be here officially in July! I'm VERY excited for that day!
I even see the beauty in the historic areas that are currently run down. The downtown is amazing with really neat looking buildings. It has great bones.
