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I've been moving around for several years but my husband and I are ready to pick the city we want to stay put in long enough to buy a house/make a baby/etc. Our families are in NoVA and it's really important to us to be within 4 hours (driving) of them (which sucks, because my heart is still in Austin). We've narrowed it down to the NC triangle and Richmond (I love my northern cities but hate winter). We've been to both places a handful of times and while I THINK I prefer NC I'm so damn indecisive and knowing it's somewhere we'll be for more than a year makes me so hesitant.
We're mid-20s, don't want to live in the suburbs or downtown, want somewhere that has a real neighborhood/community feel, somewhere we can walk to coffee/parks but still a short drive to downtown/shopping/etc.
I really like Carrboro but it's kind of pricey (we'd like to pay less than $250k for a 3br/2ba updated house (or newer) with a nice backyard) and I guess I'm worried Durham might be a little too boring. We checked out Bellevue in Richmond but it felt really small.
Any specific neighborhood recommendations that fit our wants/budget? Or just talk about how you feel about each of these cities!
Have you thought about Chapel Hill? If you like Austin, I understand Chapel Hill is the most liberal town in the Triangle area, with lots of restaurants, shops, etc. although it is somewhat more expensive, it might be worth looking into.
Charlotte would be farther to drive to NoVa but it is more of a "city" and seems to be less expensive housing-wise.
Richmond you might look into the Midlothian.Short Pump area (suburb), which is just west of Richmond.
Have you looked into Fredricksburg area in Virginia, it's really close to NoVa and all the amenities of DC.
There are some really trendy areas in Durham. I suggest going to the raleigh/durham subsection and hunting around a bit.
Yeah, I would so agree. Durham is anything but boring. The downtown has been revitalized and offers a lot of cultural events as well as a food/restaurant scene that rivals cities a many times it's size. For housing check out the southwest side in neighborhoods such as Hope Valley/Hope Valley Farms or in the unincorporated areas between Chapel Hill and Durham on either side of US15-501.
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