Likely Move to Greenville, NC (Winterville, Forest Hills: real estate, house, neighborhoods)

[kaycookiestl]

My husband is probably going to take a job as an assistant professor at ECU, so we will be moving to Greenville. We have 3 boys - 5, 3, and 1. We will be looking to buy our first home. This might be a little lengthy - I would love any answers though.

Our main concerns are: safety/crime, schools, commute, and cost. I am aware to stay away from downtown, north and West Greenville. As for price, we would like to spend around 250k (for a 4 bedroom, although the bonus rooms kind of throws me off) but can be somewhat flexible. I am aware that people think the traffic is awful, but it seems that some commute is inevitable as the safe places to live are not exactly close to ECU.

Schools - I aware they do not have great test scores and aren't rated well in greatschools. Is this largely due to demographics or do some schools really have much better teachers/principals/curriculum or are these largely uniform across the school district? Based on ratings, it looks like Wintergreen and Hope are the best schools - Chicod seems a little far out for my liking and it sounds like the facilities are very old. I hope to put our kids in the local public schools - private is not an option on our salary, especially if we have more children. I would be willing to homeschool if the schools are very poor, but would rather not.

Are people happy with Wintergreen if they have children that go there? How is the teaching? Is there any differentiation or are all students taught at the same level? Is there a reason that the gifted and talented program starts so late (3rd grade, it seemed)? Are the schools open to parental input and some individual instruction as needed? What kind of math curriculum is taught?

Do any children walk to Wintergreen - from maps, it looks like not. It seems like the bus rides (from the routes I looked up online) are quite long for some students. I just can't imagine my son leaving the house before 7 to go to elementary school! We aren't even up that early now and are lucky that we can walk to our elementary school here in St. Louis.

Also, I am aware that school assignment lines are often redrawn. And some elementary schools seems highly rated (well, 7 or so), while others are 1. Does this seem to effect housing prices? Here, you could practically draw the school district lines just by looking at housing prices, but I am surprised that some seemingly nice neighborhoods are in such poor elementary schools.

A couple questions about homes - is everything electric heat? I have only ever used gas or oil. Is this awfully expensive in the winter? My mother says it would be so based on her experience - and she lives in Texas which is warmer during the winter.

What are the main differences between living in Greenville city limits versus Winterville. It seems property taxes are higher in the city, but you are on city water/sewer/trash. Does it end up being significantly cheaper to live in Winterville?

Thank you very much!

[Richard Martin]

Originally Posted by kaycookiestl

Our main concerns are: safety/crime, schools, commute, and cost. I am aware to stay away from downtown, north and West Greenville. As for price, we would like to spend around 250k (for a 4 bedroom, although the bonus rooms kind of throws me off) but can be somewhat flexible. I am aware that people think the traffic is awful, but it seems that some commute is inevitable as the safe places to live are not exactly close to ECU.

Traffic is only bad at a few intersections. At rush hour you can get from any one place in Greenville to another in 1/2 hour or less.

Originally Posted by kaycookiestl

Schools - I aware they do not have great test scores and aren't rated well in greatschools. Is this largely due to demographics or do some schools really have much better teachers/principals/curriculum or are these largely uniform across the school district? Based on ratings, it looks like Wintergreen and Hope are the best schools - Chicod seems a little far out for my liking and it sounds like the facilities are very old. I hope to put our kids in the local public schools - private is not an option on our salary, especially if we have more children. I would be willing to homeschool if the schools are very poor, but would rather not.

Are people happy with Wintergreen if they have children that go there? How is the teaching? Is there any differentiation or are all students taught at the same level? Is there a reason that the gifted and talented program starts so late (3rd grade, it seemed)? Are the schools open to parental input and some individual instruction as needed? What kind of math curriculum is taught?

Do any children walk to Wintergreen - from maps, it looks like not. It seems like the bus rides (from the routes I looked up online) are quite long for some students. I just can't imagine my son leaving the house before 7 to go to elementary school! We aren't even up that early now and are lucky that we can walk to our elementary school here in St. Louis.

Chicod really is the best public elementary school in the county. The age of the facility has nothing to do with what goes on within it's walls. That said... Wintergreen seems to be an acceptable alternative. Virtually every student rides a bus or is driven to school. There is a habit here that I find strange at best and it causes a lot of problems. It seems like a significant number of parents drive their children to school. I'm not sure why but I think it has something to do with a whole lot of the households here are one income households. The problem is it is controlled anarchy at every school in the county twice a day. It really fouls traffic up all over the place too. Both rush hours could be made more tolerable if this practice was banned.

Originally Posted by kaycookiestl

Also, I am aware that school assignment lines are often redrawn. And some elementary schools seems highly rated (well, 7 or so), while others are 1. Does this seem to effect housing prices? Here, you could practically draw the school district lines just by looking at housing prices, but I am surprised that some seemingly nice neighborhoods are in such poor elementary schools.

Integration is pushed heavily here by a few very vocal people with the backing of the NAACP. That is why the lines are constantly being moved around. They're trying to make every school underperform equally or so it seems. It is especially bad within Greenville. The Chicod school district is generally not affected by these constant movements and it shows in the grades. Just from my observations, there are 2 kinds of parents here. Those that grew up here and those that have moved here. The parents that grew up here don't really worry over which particular school their children attend. Those that move here, such as yourself, are very picky about the school. This is an important distinction because it does affect real estate prices. It does so in a way that lessens the effect that a specific school district has on prices. If you're not particularly concerned about the school then you won't penalize a specific neighborhood because it has a marginal school.

Originally Posted by kaycookiestl

A couple questions about homes - is everything electric heat? I have only ever used gas or oil. Is this awfully expensive in the winter? My mother says it would be so based on her experience - and she lives in Texas which is warmer during the winter.

Most homes are heated by electricity. Our 2600 sq ft house runs about $350 a month during the coldest months. There are some that have gas and even fewer with fuel oil.

[JanineandMike]

All of our research led us to Chicod. It has good ratings on greatschools and everyone we have spoken to has raved about it. You should be able to find multiple homes in your price range within the district. It may seem far out, but for us being a few extra minutes away from the congestion is great. I work downtown and my commute is 15-20 minutes each way, the only issue being crossing Greenville Blvd at 5PM. I had the same concern about the age of the school, but there have been a lot of improvements and additions recently.

For comparison our 3200 sqft house has barely cracked $200 in the coldest months, that's with 2 units set at 71. During the summer we averaged just under $100 with the a/c set at 78.

[emelvee]

We lived in the Eastern Pines area, just outside the Greenville city limits, from 2005-2009. The boundary for Chicod was literally across the street from our subdivision. Our daughter would have gone to Wintergreen...we sent her to private school instead.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by kaycookiestl

A couple questions about homes - is everything electric heat? I have only ever used gas or oil. Is this awfully expensive in the winter? My mother says it would be so based on her experience - and she lives in Texas which is warmer during the winter.

There is a big variation in the cost of electricity between states (and between power companies), so your mother's experience is not relevant. We pay a little over $200/month during the winter for a 3400 SF house in Onslow County, and we consider that reasonable.

[kaycookiestl]

Thanks everyone so far. That is very helpful. What particularly is better about Chicod than Wintergreen? I assume the curriculum is similar. Are the teachers much better or the principal? Does it have a better spirit about it - more academically focused or maybe more child-focused? What we would really like is a school that is focused on the whole child. Maybe this is asking too much for a public school, although our school here is like that. What I love about our school is that they are academically rigorous but in an age appropriate way, but they also see the importance of art, music, recess, time as a class spent to improve class camaraderie, field trips, service projects. They don't see these things as taking away from academics, but something that can be integrated into academics. They also are very good at differentiating the curriculum to the individual student, so each student can learn at their own pace. Sorry, I know I am being wordy, but I really appreciate all the help.

And good to know about heating - not too expensive!

[Richard Martin]

Originally Posted by kaycookiestl

Thanks everyone so far. That is very helpful. What particularly is better about Chicod than Wintergreen? I assume the curriculum is similar. Are the teachers much better or the principal? Does it have a better spirit about it - more academically focused or maybe more child-focused?

I think these reviews speak for themselves. Naturally, there are a few in the way back that weren't happy but no one school can be everything to everybody.

Chicod School - Greenville, North Carolina - NC - School overview

[Richard Martin]

Here's the review for both Wintergreen schools. Not good at all.

Wintergreen Primary School - Greenville, North Carolina - NC - School overview

Wintergreen Intermediate School - Greenville, North Carolina - NC - School overview

[HP91]

Greenville schools are fro the most part what you make of them. Some folks referenced the gerrymandering of the district lines which makes it hard to define which schools are the best.

If I was an ECU professor I would be looking at the Brookgreen section of Greenville behind Elm St park. It is within walking distance to one of the best parks around, as well as numerous churches, the Middle School and Elmhurst Elementary as well as ECU. And its safe. The Forest Hills section near the Athletic Complex is also a great area for kids. Again walking distance to everything. Just don't complain around Football season on those Saturdays....embrace it.

I guess my point is that if you are just looking at those rankings (which aren't the end all be all), you may be missing some real possibilities that won't let you down, IMO.

Let me add that I owned a house once off N Overlook in this area...when it was time for me to sell it, I put a FSBO sign in the yard and had 3 offers on my table in a week. The main thing people liked about my house was that I refinished the floors in the whole house...looked like new, didn't cost much at all. There is some real gems in these somewhat older neighborhoods. The location was great.

[LLN]

Seeing references to Great Schools, I checked out my school. We were 4 but downgraded by a parent with a beef about one teacher. The ratings seem to be from years ago.

In other words, the site is pretty worthless.

Go to the NC Department of education site. You can look how schools performed from several perspectives. You can see how many middle schoolers passes algebra...a significant indicator. For high school you can see how many either took or passed ap courses. I am sure elementary schools have meaningful data amongst the raw test scores. Good luck.

Lln