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Hello! My parents are beginning to look at retirement options, and were asking my opinion of where to go (and I will likely follow where they go). I've always liked North Carolina for the beaches, weather, and the people have always seemed kind. However, I've only visited twice and very briefly (once at OBX), but I figured NC would be a good place to start looking.
We're from NJ and NY, Asian, not very political but liberal, and not religious. I'm not sure what the culture is like in NC, but obviously we'd like somewhere that'd be accepting of us/multicultural. Some other qualities we're looking for in our new home is:
-low cost of living (NJ is too high, main reason we're moving out)
-near a beach (like 30 min., my parents prefer not too close)
-near places to go hiking
-near a hospital (as I'm looking to go into the medical field)
-has a variety of great food places around
-low crime
To answer the sticky questions:
-Where you are working: my parents will be retired, I'd likely be working in a hospital
-How much you are willing to spend on housing: I think our house right now is around $500K, so probably not more than that. My parents are looking for a small place, maybe ranch style?
-How long of a commute you're willing to tolerate: 1 hr? 1.5 hrs? Preferably less
-If you have kids: Private school or public school? N/A
-What type of neighborhood environment you are looking for: small town feeling? small city excitement? suburbia delight? Probably suburbia as that's where we live right now. Not really a city person, prefer good air quality, but also not too small where there's one grocery store everyone goes to...more like several grocery stores, a mall, nearby places to go, lots of places to eat, etc.
-Community amenities important to you: N/A
I was already recommended the Raleigh Durham triangle area, but that's a little too city. I was also looking at Clayton, Winterville, and Knightsdale. Opinions? Suggestions? Thanks in advance!
I was already recommended the Raleigh Durham triangle area, but that's a little too city. I was also looking at Clayton, Winterville, and Knightsdale. Opinions?
None of these are 30 minutes from the beach, so I hope that's not essential. They are all good suburbs.
The Outer Banks could work. Like Goldenage1 said, none of the places you mentioned is within 30 minutes of the beach. There is a hospital in Norfolk, VA that would be about an hour/hour and a half from the Kitty Hawk area.
Pretty much Raleigh eastward, then. Knightdale and Clayton are close enough to Raleigh for you to get the benefits of a bigger town, plus Raleigh has more job options. I am sure there are plenty of diversified areas in both towns. Garner is another option, near 40/42, though traffic into Raleigh during rush hour is horrible.
Thanks for the replies! Being 30 min. from the beach isn't completely essential, how about more like max. 3 hours from the beach?
You might want to post in the Coastal NC forum which covers maybe 2 hours from the beach.
It's still a very wide swath of the state and if you have never visited here, you should do that before asking people who don't know you to find a municipality for you--it's like throwing a dart at a map.
Most of Eastern NC is very rural, and the larger towns/small cities like Rocky Mount and Kinston have severely declined in the past few decades. If you want to be in the Eastern part of the state and Raleigh is too "city" for you, that kind of leaves Greenville and Wilmington to try.
I would suggest expanding your search to surrounding states such as SC and VA, which have similar terrain, beaches, and hospitality, and there are areas around both Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach, SC that would give you proximity to the beach but some "city" too without being a larger city like the Triangle area. Except for Wilmington, or Jacksonville (heavy military) most of NC that is near the beach is pretty rural and/or touristy.
But visiting and scoping out for yourself will give you the best read on whether places meet your expectations, especially if you've never been anywhere but the OBX which really is a complete tourist economy and not really typical of most of NC.
Charleston, SC has access to beaches good university based health care, lots of good restaurants, however hiking would be on the beach.
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