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Long Islanders moving to Triangle area North Carolina, schools over crowded, poor public school districts, beware moving from Long Island to Cary North Carolina
we are moving in with her family until we can save a ton of money and get our own place. I looked up fitness jobs and there are a ton in the raleigh area!!
Cary (City of Arrogant Relocated Yankees) is a nice little town, but that area of NC does have all the problems of an area that has experienced tremendous growth. This is very noticeable within the school districts down there as the districts have been sustaining huge increases in enrollment numbers each year.
However, Cary and the surrounding neighborhoods have a lot going for them. The fact that the neighborhoods are beautifully laid out is a direct result of the controlled planning that the town laid out. In comparison to the North of Raleigh, which was laid out about 10-20 years ago and is an example of uncontrolled growth that reminds me so much of Nassau county in its appearance.
Everything in Cary is new for the most part including the shopping stores, homes, streets and supermarkets. This makes the area very pleasing, but the newness of the schools has an opposite effect. You have a lot of teachers down there that are being hired by the handful and are woefully underpaid. Almost the total opposite situation from the education landscape of Long Island.
Winters rule down there and summers are painful at best.
Are you in Raleigh proper? I've heard that Raleigh schools are only just OK, and that Cary is good (despite both being Wake County--maybe because of the population in Cary?), Chapel Hill is better--but overall, standards are lower. if you're actually in Cary, then ouch--if that's what people consider top in NC, that's quite a gap. I have a friend who's a HS teacher near Charlotte, and she thinks the level is lower in NC (and in a lot of the South in general). It's a shame--the Triangle is one of the best concentrations of higher ed in the country (especially relative to population) with 3 excellent universities. (NC State isn't well known up here, but it's actually very good, better than UNC or Duke for many science and engineering subjects.)
I don't think the Triangle climate is that bad; it's hotter in summer and warmer in winter, but it's still a 4 season climate.
Had the same problem with Florida schools in 2004 with my kids,so we moved back after about 6 months.
We just moved from West Islip to Clayton in January, and wouldnt change it for the world......
The school systems are very different by county...We chose not to look for homes in Wake County due to the redistricting and different tracks....we have 3 boys who next year will be in three different schools......I couldnt see them never having the same vacations or two being all year and one being traditional calendar......never mind that a 5 year old can be bussed 45 mins away to a non local school never mind the traffic time......
I will also say that my 8th grader has already come accross lessons that he hadnt covered yet and seemed alittle surprised that they were ahead but when they did their level testing the teacher was happy to see that he was also way ahead in other areas in math.....the same for my Kindergartner.....he had lots of home work in west islip here they dont get the same sit down and do workpages but these kids go right to class sit down and write their own sentences, not what he did there.........I havent seen any major issues.........things may have been taught already by west islip or not yet and the same for the schools my boys are in now but they are very happy and by no means have come home and said there were any issues.
As for us we havent had any issues with acceptance, the kids have fit right in already and made many friends.....yes I'm sure there are plenty who have their issues.......
I love our new home and are really happy we finally made the move, luckily our home there sold in 4 days and we were here in 2.5 months from the time we listed it......
I would definately tell anyone who is considering a possible relocation to do your homework.....make trips and do comparisions, areas can be very different, as are the school systems, and yes the economy is hitting hard here also so jobs arent as abundant as some seem to think........
But its a great place and a long awaited change........we are very happy and it already feels like home!
Its a non issue that your kids are out of school .If you go theyll be building the infrastructure on the NC homeowners dime immediately if not sooner.
Love it or hate it our schools are built.
You couldnt pay me to move to NC tight now. Its a state of LI Lemmings and the Southerners who hate them.
Next stop.....LI taxes.
crooks
As someone who has lived, worked and owned a business in Crookhaven Township since the `80s, and has experienced the "wonderful" housing markets here on Long Island first-hand since the `70s, I can only say that
I can't WAIT to leave this overrated, trafficated, overpriced and overtaxed *****hole of an island ASAP. Say what you will about the Carolinas - no place is perfect - but in the Carolinas, I was able to buy a *cheap* home in a GREAT location with the best school district in the entire County, for cash, and my property taxes are only $150 a year.
My main regret is not discovering that there is a World outside of NY *sooner*. Enjoy the traffic, cold winters, high electric and heating costs
and 4-figure property taxes of Long Island - the schools *might* be better than in the Carolinas, but they are certainly not 15X-20X better, which is what they'd need to be to justify the disparity in property taxes.
We just moved from West Islip to Clayton in January, and wouldnt change it for the world......
The school systems are very different by county...We chose not to look for homes in Wake County due to the redistricting and different tracks....we have 3 boys who next year will be in three different schools......I couldnt see them never having the same vacations or two being all year and one being traditional calendar......never mind that a 5 year old can be bussed 45 mins away to a non local school never mind the traffic time......
I will also say that my 8th grader has already come accross lessons that he hadnt covered yet and seemed alittle surprised that they were ahead but when they did their level testing the teacher was happy to see that he was also way ahead in other areas in math.....the same for my Kindergartner.....he had lots of home work in west islip here they dont get the same sit down and do workpages but these kids go right to class sit down and write their own sentences, not what he did there.........I havent seen any major issues.........things may have been taught already by west islip or not yet and the same for the schools my boys are in now but they are very happy and by no means have come home and said there were any issues.
As for us we havent had any issues with acceptance, the kids have fit right in already and made many friends.....yes I'm sure there are plenty who have their issues.......
I love our new home and are really happy we finally made the move, luckily our home there sold in 4 days and we were here in 2.5 months from the time we listed it......
I would definately tell anyone who is considering a possible relocation to do your homework.....make trips and do comparisions, areas can be very different, as are the school systems, and yes the economy is hitting hard here also so jobs arent as abundant as some seem to think........
But its a great place and a long awaited change........we are very happy and it already feels like home!
Suzanne
Did you move to Clayton, NC? A fellow I worked with in Holbrook, NY - (his name is Phil)his ex-wife and kids moved to Clayton, NC about a year or so ago, and he borrowed an ambulette from work to drive his kids and some belongings down there. (Just wondering
As someone who has lived, worked and owned a business in Crookhaven Township since the `80s, and has experienced the "wonderful" housing markets here on Long Island first-hand since the `70s, I can only say that
I can't WAIT to leave this overrated, trafficated, overpriced and overtaxed *****hole of an island ASAP. Say what you will about the Carolinas - no place is perfect - but in the Carolinas, I was able to buy a *cheap* home in a GREAT location with the best school district in the entire County, for cash, and my property taxes are only $150 a year.
My main regret is not discovering that there is a World outside of NY *sooner*. Enjoy the traffic, cold winters, high electric and heating costs
and 4-figure property taxes of Long Island - the schools *might* be better than in the Carolinas, but they are certainly not 15X-20X better, which is what they'd need to be to justify the disparity in property taxes.
So, let me give you the heads up on Moving Down to NC. My parents have been down there for about 4 years now. Your property taxes are extremely low, however they will be reassessed when you move in. Don't be surprised if they go above 1k after you move in. Not a big deal, but the RE agents are very misleading to NYers about the this! The roads are very dangerous on account of mandatory licensing of students above the age of 16. Car insurance isn't cheaper down there due to high rate of young drivers and uninsured vehicles.
If you have children going to school, don't be surprised if they are way advanced for the learning curve that you will find there. The schools have grown so exponentially in the past 10 years that most of them are just about ready to pop, and property taxes have increased in the past few years and will continue to increase to account for the school growth. My parents property taxes have doubled in the time they have been there.
I know people that have gone down there and loved it and people that will go down and be back in 6 months. It has a lot to do with your ability to accept different cultures. You will meet people who are self-proclaimed "rednecks" or "hill-billies" and are very unaccepting of outsiders (Northerners.) You will meet people who are convinced that Iraq attacked the United States, people who will use the term 9/11 more than Rudy Guliani, and people who believe that the South didn't lose the War of Northern Aggression (Civil War.) I kid you not, the history teachers in Raleigh taught this until a few years ago. You are also guaranteed to meet people who hear your accent and are just pathetically rude for no other reason than you are a Northerner. Two solutions. 1. Move to Cary or areas that are more expensive as the only people that can afford those houses are Northerners 2. Just ignore them. If you move into one of the outside areas you are bound to meet those people.
Last edited by NYEconomist; 03-16-2009 at 09:21 PM..
$150/yr in tax is never going to last if they actually plan on providing any services. Yes, LI pays too much for what we get but that is unfeasibly low.
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