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Many thanks for your comments so far, I was trying to keep my post brief but now recognise it is a bit vague!..
The reason we would like to be within 2 hours of Greensboro is because my husbands boss is based there and they will probably like to catch up face to face or see clients together maybe a couple of times a month but no restrictions have been set.
We will both work from home 90% of the time. I will probably need to fly to my HO in NY a couple of times a month hence the request for a decent sized airport - by this I mean one with national flights not tiny private ones (I can see there is a few of those). We also like to holiday but will only probably come back to the UK once a year. Raleigh seems to have regular, cheap flights to NY.
We are only going to have so much time to visit before we actually move (due to school holidays, other commitments etc.) so we were just hoping to get some tips on areas so we could create a short list of places to scope out.
We like suburban life but are very social so local amenities and a city or big town not too far away. I've been staring at maps for the last few months so circled a few areas I think look good but I wanted to add local knowledge to my research. We are relatively flexible so if you could live anywhere in central NC, where would that be? We would be investing in a decent sized property so a prosperous area is important as I mentioned but this is again difficult to tell from the net..
From your comments I have added:
Greensboro itself - Clemmons, Oak Ridge, Summerfield, Kernersville, Enon
Triangle (Raleigh area). I know a lot of British ex-pats here in Chapel Hill.
From my search on the web these areas also looked in a decent location:
Cary
Durham
Theres no such place as Enon, so I don't know what to tell you about that. Really, I think what you'd probably like best is Cary. Clemmons, Oak Rigge, Summerfield, Kernersvile are very small places surrounding Winston-Salem and Greensboro and don't fit your requirements, in my opinion.
I'd focus on Cary, then Greensboro or Winston-Salem.
Cary and Durham were sort of on your list as part of the Triangle. IMO Charlotte is the only city with a true urban downtown area of any size. The Triangle has about as many people, shops and activities but is more spread out. Greensboro and Winston Salem are smaller cities but still have a lot going on. Winston Salem is right where it is starting to get mountainous and is very pretty. I live in the Raleigh area and I took the kids down to the beach on Sunday. A long day but doable.
You can find good schools in all those areas.
As fa as the weather, the coast does have the occasional hurricane, but I don't think Asheville is appreciably rainier than the middle of the state. It can rain all year long here (no rainy season), but can be sunny all year, too. Afternoon thunderstorms are frequent in the summer.
I don't know why, probably because I live here, but I'm feeling the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary) for you. I'm not familiar with Berkshire. Can you tell us more about it? Nothing in NC is going to be the size of London, of course! The Charlotte area is slightly more business-oriented, with an emphasis on finance and the Triangle is slightly more high tech with an emphasis on IT, biotech, pharma and academics (more universities here). They're really fairly similar, though.
We will both work from home 90% of the time. ..... We like suburban life but are very social so local amenities and a city or big town not too far away.
.......
Greensboro itself - Clemmons, Oak Ridge, Summerfield, Kernersville, Enon
Triangle (Raleigh area). I know a lot of British ex-pats here in Chapel Hill.
From my search on the web these areas also looked in a decent location:
Cary
Durham
I was confused about your priorities. I meant Elon rather than Enon, because I was trying to give you good suburbs around Greensboro. When you say good schools, safety and large property, it sounds like you want to be out in the distant suburbs. However, if by "very social", you mean you want to go to bars and restaurants frequently, then I'd suggest Greensboro. North Carolina is probably more spread out than Berkshire, and a distant suburb likely will not have the same amenities. We don't have local pubs in the suburbs, for example.
It would have been helpful to know how much you are willing to spend, and how large a property you want in acreage. Cary is about the most expensive place in the Triangle because people spend money to be in excellent schools. You could easily spend $500-600K to buy a house in the best school districts and the market is hot now. BTW, the Southpoint area of Durham would be a good choice close to the RTP airport. Other areas of Durham have weaker schools than Cary.
BTW, if you like the historic village atmosphere, look into Hillsborough. It is part of the Triangle and 30 miles from the RDU airport. And it actually has a pub called The Wooden Nickel: http://bit.ly/1TdqdH4
Last edited by goldenage1; 06-11-2015 at 07:00 AM..
Berkshire is the 'Royal county' (queen lives here) made up of one city (Reading) and a handful or large towns (Ascot, Windsor, Wokingham to name a few). I live towards the East between Ascot and Wokingham - its probably the second most expensive area in the UK so lots of nice parks, activities, bars, restaurants and gyms every few hundred yards. Consequently house are small and very, very expensive and the cost of living is vey high.
I have lived all over the UK so I am used to not having as much or areas being not as prosperous but I guess this is my comparison as it stands!
We could spend up to $1.2m but from what I can tell from Realator will only need to spend 500-600k to get a good sized 5/6 bed in a nice are? I don't want to risk loosing lots of money if we had to move again (hoping we don't) so id rather only spend what we need.
It sounds like my vision of a suburb is slightly wrong, I guess I might want to be close to a town/city. I'd just like to have a bit of space around my house and privacy! Maybe a 10 minutes taxi to go out somewhere for dinner? I currently live on a private estate and the houses are pretty close together with small gardens.
I am drawn to the Cary/ Durham / Chapel Hill area or maybe Greensboro based on what I am reading but will check out all including Hillsborough and Winston. Any more info gratefully received as we may need to prioritise..
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashley_Mc
Berkshire is the 'Royal county' (queen lives here) made up of one city (Reading) and a handful or large towns (Ascot, Windsor, Wokingham to name a few). I live towards the East between Ascot and Wokingham - its probably the second most expensive area in the UK so lots of nice parks, activities, bars, restaurants and gyms every few hundred yards. Consequently house are small and very, very expensive and the cost of living is vey high.
I have lived all over the UK so I am used to not having as much or areas being not as prosperous but I guess this is my comparison as it stands!
We could spend up to $1.2m but from what I can tell from Realator will only need to spend 500-600k to get a good sized 5/6 bed in a nice are? I don't want to risk loosing lots of money if we had to move again (hoping we don't) so id rather only spend what we need.
It sounds like my vision of a suburb is slightly wrong, I guess I might want to be close to a town/city. I'd just like to have a bit of space around my house and privacy! Maybe a 10 minutes taxi to go out somewhere for dinner? I currently live on a private estate and the houses are pretty close together with small gardens.
I am drawn to the Cary/ Durham / Chapel Hill area or maybe Greensboro based on what I am reading but will check out all including Hillsborough and Winston. Any more info gratefully received as we may need to prioritise..
I'd suggest that you look at the subforums for all 3 of the Piedmont metros. There are threads on the Charlotte board where British people ask where they can get specific foods. There is a pub in Charlotte. You may not be interested in living in Charlotte but you might want to go there occasionally.
I would look at Chapel Hill first if I were you, probably Cary/Morrisville (Preston and the neighborhoods around it) next. I don't live in either; I am in another part of Cary. But what you describe sounds like those areas to me.
From the information you've provided, you might like the Raleigh metro area - Cary, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, all within 2 hours of Greensboro.
I lived in Greensboro for a number of years and enjoyed the area.
Another area you will want to explore is Charlotte (about 1 1/2 to Greensboro). It's a very pretty city and has many cultural offerings, parks, great shopping, outdoor sports, and many options for residential living.
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Berkshire is... and we have to spend..
