PSA for all those moving to NC (real estate, home)

[tbone65]

It seems like most people fleeing NJ are heading for NC. I am currently living in CAry, NC. I came by way of Dallas (3 years-not a great place) but lived my whole life in different areas of NJ.
Here is what I can tell you about NC.
-Cary is a nice town. Particularly if relocated from the NE since there are quite a few of us "Yankees" here. Real estate is not as inexpensive as other areas of NC, but some of these areas are a bit too rural for my blood.
-The Wake county Public School System is rated as one of the Best in State. The fact is that they are busting at their seams. Elementary schools average 27 students / class. Without classroom moms, it would be unmanageable. My daughters class is a converted storage room. Yes, they will be moving into a trailer by November, but that is not ideal. Also, I live in a nice area of Cary, good diversity, but mostly white collar upper middle class. Well, take a walk into the lunchroom at my kids elementary school and you would think that you are in the inner city. Wake County buses kids in from downtown Raleigh. Look, I pay to live in this community for a reason. My kids are affected since quite a few of the kids that are bused in do not speak English as their primary language. This serves as a distraction when teachers, in an already overcrowded situation, have to adjust their lessons to deal with the language barrier.
I read in a previous post where somebody stated that some schools in Charlotte are better than anything in NJ. I would not take this information as gospel. Some of the schools in NJ are among the best in the country.
-Fighting the Civil War mentality is still strong in many areas. They gave Cary the acronym Containment Area for Relocated Yankees. By and large, though, people are very nice.
-If you live in a more rural area, you will drive to everything.
-Since NC is seeing such a boom in population, infrastructure is suffering badly. I can't believe that the state and local governments did not see this coming. I am not only talking schools but local roads and highways. More so local roads. The traffic is an issue, particularly where construction has begun.
-Taxes here are pretty bad. Seems like everything is taxed. My property taxes are close to $9k.
-Healthcare is great. Many great physicians and hospitals.
-Jobs, at least white collar, are very specific. Biotech and healthcare rule the market.

Hope this gives some a bit of firsthand information. Let me say that I will be moving back to NJ as soon as my home sells. If I had to stay in NC, it would not be a bad situation. I like it here in Cary. That being said, I am choosing to live in NJ.

[Badfish740]

Nice post. I like the fact that you presented real world viewpoints without bashing anything. Personally I would never leave New Jersey and don't like it when folks bash the state. Likewise, I don't like it when the Carolinas are depicted as some heaven on earth where there are bubble gum trees and lemonade springs, but that doesn't mean they deserved to be bashed either. Everything has its good and bad points. I could never take the heat/humidity south of Maryland, and I would miss the change of seasons and snow too much. I also wouldn't trade being an hour's drive from the mountains, the beach, and two of the largest cities in the U.S. for anything. That's just me though.

I wonder what will eventually happen to the Carolinas-will it become so populated with tri-state area ex-pats that it will change the identity of the state? Then what? Will property taxes rise? It begs the question of whether or not in 20 years folks in the Carolinas will be screaming about how they can't wait to get out and go somewhere else-but where? Georgia maybe? I would think most parts of Florida are already too crowded. I guess there's always the option of moving west...