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Husband and I are planning on relocating to NC and are trying to figure out a good spot for us. We are both in early 30's, are somewhat social on occasion (mostly bookworms though) and probably won't have kids for another 2-5 years though. We have two dogs and would like to buy a somewhat nice starter home with a backyard ($90-$125,000) in the next two years in a peaceful area that has access to a bigger city feel within 30 mins.
We like : mountains/open spaces
open minded people/progressiveness/diversity - hopefully without the yuppiness
shopping/movies/good bookstore - somewhat nearby
we love eating out when we can - good restaurants would be nice
and we are health conscious and gluten free - would prefer to be near a large health food store for access to the foods that we can actually eat, i.e a Whole Foods type place.
I am a wedding photographer and can pick where I would like to live, but I would do better near a higher income area (within 30 mins preferred) as those are most of my clients, or near a large population of 25-35 yr old creative types (usually in bigger cities as it turns out) as they are also my photography demographic. Being centrally located between a few bigger cities would help with work since I am willing to travel up to 2-3 hours for a wedding if need be if I can't get all my clients from one general area.
We are taking a roadtrip in August and stopping in different cities to check them out and see how they feel and would love some suggestions for places to investigate. Thanks ahead of time for any input.
As a side note, we lived in Chicago for 8 years - love the access to food and a variety of people and shopping, hated the pollution/noise/crime. We wouldn't mind living near a bigger city at all since it would be good for work, but we would be happy in a smaller place that has a lot of charm as well.
As I'm reading it... you're looking for a college town within or very near an actual CITY
which will be needed in order to have enough population to support the arts scene we want
an arts and culture scene beyond what is available exclusively at that college that is...
as well as support all the other social and cultural and business infrastructure needed too.
Close?
There are a couple of choices available.
Last edited by MrRational; 06-11-2011 at 06:06 PM..
Why North Carolina?
I lived in Michigan, Chicago, and Florida. No longer want to live somewhere with a severe winter because it's bad for business. The more temperate the seasons the longer the wedding season is for me.
I have family in Michigan though, so I don't want to go too terribly far..as in I don't want to go out west.
Florida is generally warm all year round, but I didn't like living there and it was a bit TOO hot in the summers..which can also mess with the wedding season.
I figured something in between would work the best and decided NC sounded good. I am open to other states in the vicinity.
I wasn't really thinking college town, most of the places I have lived/worked were not college towns and I was pretty successful without that college demographic. But how you put it does make it sound about right, lol. Most of my clients are young professionals though, out of college by about 3-10 years.
Northeastern Chatham county might work. It is reasonably close to Chapel Hill, Durham, and Cary, and close enough to Chapel Hill to have its share of progressives and health food type stores, but that price range for housing might be difficult.
Certain parts of the Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) match most of the criteria you describe. But, it is doubtful you could find a nice starter home in the triangle in the price range you described. To be completely honest, I think you will be pretty hard pressed to find housing in that price range in any desireable part of NC with easy access to the ammenities you seek.
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