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FYI. Winters are almost non-existant in the Triangle area and there is no Winter in Wilmington, it is sub-tropical with ~same temps as Charleston, SC. Summers in the Triangle are hot, humid and buggy and they last from mid-May or sometimes earlier til early October. You will have the AC on 24/7 during the Summer. Wake County schools are good. Your housing budget is weak for Wake County. Agree with Edward on GC schools. I lived in Creedmoor and he is correct - the schools are sub-par.
Eastern NC is a different kettle of fish. Wilmington area is a hot spot for East Coast retirees. Nothing between Raleigh and Wilmington except a few small towns which have worse schools and nothing to do. Greenville is an exception, however, the people who live there do not think anything is West of Greenville. Oh, did I mention it? Traffic is brutal in the Triangle. Too many cars and too few roads. I don't like Greensboro. There is excellent health care in the Triangle, Greenville and Greensboro/Winston-Salem because of the university hospitals as in Duke, Wake, Vidant, UNC Health.
Hi all,
This is my first post. My husband and I currently live in the suburbs of Chicago. We’re visiting North Carolina this week and considering moving there. We’ve been doing a lot of research and are looking for some opinions. We’re staying in Raleigh, but going to be checking out different areas. Some of the cities were considering are Wake Forest, Apex, Fuquay-Varina, Wilmington, Davidson/Huntersville.
A little more input as to what we’re looking for:
1. We have two pit mixes that we love and want dog friendly towns.
2. We would really love somewhere scenic-lake or ocean breeze is something we always wanted to be by. Illinois isn’t scenic at all.
3. Fall is my favorite season, but we hate winter..so maybe somewhere that experiences cool periods.
4. Snakes and spiders are a small fear of mine- but I’m hoping that it’s not that different than IL.
5. Believe it or not, we love the suburbs and aren’t big city people. We want neighbors but huge crowds and night life isn’t our thing, we’re kind of home bodies lol.
If you guys have any more input as to where you think we should look, please let me know!! Also if you live in any of the areas we’re looking at and recommend or don’t recommend them- your opinion is appreciated!!!
Thank you in advance!!
The major things to highlight here:
1. Scenic is in the eye of the beholder, as someone else mentioned. I don't find NC to be particularly scenic at all, but you may disagree. I will say there is an unsuspecting charm if you were to tour eastern NC, maybe it's not as scenic in the sense of picturesque, but those rural counties and small towns are quite pleasant, and I was surprisingly pleased to learn this...
2. If you want cool periods you can find that pretty much everywhere in the state. There are four seasons here, though it doesn't snow alot in most of NC...
3. The only real big city here is Charlotte. Raleigh is big-ish, but is mostly a conglomeration of suburbs surrounding a small urban core. Its high on traffic because 2 million people are in the area, but the actual big city experience is minimal, so if you want a smaller or suburban area, you can find this anywhere...
Hi all,
This is my first post. My husband and I currently live in the suburbs of Chicago. We’re visiting North Carolina this week and considering moving there. We’ve been doing a lot of research and are looking for some opinions. We’re staying in Raleigh, but going to be checking out different areas. Some of the cities were considering are Wake Forest, Apex, Fuquay-Varina, Wilmington, Davidson/Huntersville.
A little more input as to what we’re looking for:
1. We have two pit mixes that we love and want dog friendly towns.
2. We would really love somewhere scenic-lake or ocean breeze is something we always wanted to be by. Illinois isn’t scenic at all.
3. Fall is my favorite season, but we hate winter..so maybe somewhere that experiences cool periods.
4. Snakes and spiders are a small fear of mine- but I’m hoping that it’s not that different than IL.
5. Believe it or not, we love the suburbs and aren’t big city people. We want neighbors but huge crowds and night life isn’t our thing, we’re kind of home bodies lol.
If you guys have any more input as to where you think we should look, please let me know!! Also if you live in any of the areas we’re looking at and recommend or don’t recommend them- your opinion is appreciated!!!
Thank you in advance!!
The Triangle and Wilmington are both what I'd call "Dog Friendly." I can't speak to Davidson/Huntersville but can't imagine its scenic.
Wilmington is nice...but remember that most of it isn't on the beach, its a flat suburb-like city. Raleigh/Durham/Apex/FV aren't what I'd call scenic either. BUT, the landscape is more hilly and forrested than Illinois. When i moved from the midwest (originally from Illinois) i remember walking places and thinking how hilly it was.
I don't think anywhere is going to have winter like Illinois. If you love fall you'd probably love most of the winters here. The tradeoff, of course, is the summers. But you knew that.
Snakes and Spiders: There are more of them. Regarding Spiders, it's more what I call "Halloween Spiders," big Garden type spiders that spin beautiful webs, are large and visible, and generally are outside creatures. I haven't noticed more spiders indoors than anywhere else I've lived. Snakes: I've seen one venomous snake in a neighborhood setting in five years. I've seen two more in the woods hiking, hunting or fishing.
Suburb Life: Any of the areas you mentioned will fit the bill.
I know what a sanctuary city is. It is a place where the illegal aliens can roam free with no fear of being held accountable . They often work for contractors who are doing work for the city....You can not deny that north carolina has one of the fastest growing numbers of ILLEGAL aliens.....Saying there are no sanctuary cities in NC is false, The numbers and facts say different......
If you wish to hold someone accountable why not the contractors that employ them? Seems kind of like locking up the teenager with a dime bag rather than the dealer, no?
Friend almost all of the areas you mention are well known sanctuary cities and communities with the number of illegal aliens growing daily. This alone will insure that your personal taxes will constantly be adjusted UP. I hope you are in the 400 k and up market if you want the nice things mentioned.
How do you figure that? Is this your opinion or do you have actual policy knowledge to back up your feelings?
(Psst. An essay is a paper some of us wrote in high school)
If you wish to hold someone accountable why not the contractors that employ them? Seems kind of like locking up the teenager with a dime bag rather than the dealer, no?
I also came from the Chicago 'burbs and have been here almost 20 years. I dare say you will not be disappointed by really any of the areas you have listed. I'd warn you against Wilmington only because of hurricanes and other concerns regarding beach development, etc.
In terms of critters, there are more snakes, but they're usually the good guys. Same with spiders. We do have black widows and brown recluses, but in my time here I've seen only 1 BW.
I think NC is quite scenic... SO much greener than IL!! If you want lakeside, you'll likely need to spend more on the house or go further from the big centers (e.g., Cary would be tough).
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