Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We are a family from new jersey relocating to NC . Our choices are narrowed down to Greenville area or Raleigh area. I want my two small kids to live in a generally safe place. We are an exterminator and a hospitality industry employed people, who live an average life with an average income. We really have no idea since neither of us have ever been to NC before, were drawn to NC by the idea of southern hospitality, lower cost of living and laid back lifestyle. We are people who live in a mixed race community and find it to be fine for us, we are not all that religious and just want somewhere safe. Nice parks, flea markets, good fishing and BINGO yeah i said bingo halls would be an added bonus. please please please any advice, planning to move as soon as we sell our current property, which is going on the market TODAY.
Last edited by deedah12; 05-16-2008 at 10:11 AM..
Reason: error
Greenville is not a safe place to live, the crime rate is actually getting worse since I moved from there a year ago.
If you're looking for a nice family area, I would consider a town closer to raleigh such as Knightdale, Zebulon, etc. NOT Greenville, it's mostly college kids...then poor neighborhoods..then million dollar homes on the outskirts.
There is nothing to do really, mostly just the university.
Why do you want to move someplace you've never even been before? Before you decide to move down to NC you will probably want to go and check out the places you are considering and see if you would even like living there. NC is a hot spot to relocate to and ther is too much a "buzz" about it in the northeast esp. around LI and NJ...too many people just hear how great and cheap it is, move there and then find that theere are drawbacks that they didn't expect and wish they had known about before. Raleigh would defiiniteily be a better place to live than Greenville which is basically a routy college town surrounded by poor neighborhoods and then cotton and tobacco fields (my son briefly considered attending ECU before we decided to move back to NY last summer after he graduated and he decided to go to school in NY). But again, NC may not be for you at all and you should really go down there and check it out before you make the decision to move.
you hit the nail on the head with the great deals and "buzz" about nc, i am oriiginally from ny and have wanted to be out of the cold for years.. the area we currently live in has goten worse crime wise over the last year and im a small town girl i remember my childhood being great playing outside from dawn to dusk this is what i want for my children but without the snow and ice and violent crime. additionally i dont want a mortgage. so the areas that im looking at are the ones that have low crime, low housing price and deacent schools. small towns are ok for me.
My best advice is to make a trip down and check out both areas. It is an easy drive between the two cities (1.5 hours at most). I have lived in both cities and can tell you that they are very different. Raleigh definitely has more amenities than Greenville, but there is a cost of living difference with Greenville being cheaper. But, it's not night and day cheaper. Raleigh will have larger city advantages and disadvantages (traffice). Greenville is closer to the coast, with decent boating options about a half hour away.
Both cities are growing like crazy with people coming from all around. Greenville has a lot of transplants because of the hospital, which has undergone and is undergoing major expansions.
I see you are looking at Washington...things are starting to pick up there with development. Lots of waterfront nearby and the city has a nice riverfront boardwalk/park. Greenville would be your main shopping area, but Washington has a Wal-Mart, Lowes, and a few other big box stores. There are a couple of nice restaurants downtown within walking distance of the river. Good luck!
From one Northerner to another, stay up north! Greenville is hideous in my opinion. I moved here just over 2 years ago and I am looking to go back up north! The "southern hospitality" you hear about is people being nice and sweet to your face, then as you walk away they talk nice and "ugly" about you.
The schools are a hot mess! Greenville (all of NC I think) has what's called racial districting, which basically means they base which children go to which schools based solely upon the color of your skin. You could live in a great neighborhood, and your child will have to go to a school across town, to a school that has horrible academic standards. The teachers are non-unioned. This might be a good thing or a not so good thing. Again, you get what you pay for. The school buses do not have school bus monitors, and my 8 and 7 year old boys have unfortunately been the targets of bullies more than once.
Where I come from up north, you bought your house based on the school that was in the neighborhood.
Yes, housing is cheaper and the property taxes are cheaper - just remember YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. You get nickled and dimed in many other ways. At least up north, you might pay high property taxes, but you don't have to pay separately for things like trash pick up.
If you pull statistical data and compare, Greenville and Raleigh have higher crime rates (robbery, murder, etc.) than in bigger cities up north - that is very scary to me. Believe it or not, gang activity is prevalent in Greenville as well.
You might like it here. Just please, please, please DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you decide to move here. Check into schools, crime rates, etc. before you make a decision.
From one northerner to another! Good luck in your search!!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Don't Do it!!
