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We are looking to relocate and stay near one of the major cities. We don't need to be in the center of it all, and rather stay more on the outskirt with more property.
I can give you my view of Raleigh/Durham vs. Charlotte area since I have lived in both. I'm not too familar with Greensboro but my aunt seems to like it. I would not recommend Durham. To me, it's got a lot of crime and the area just seems unclean. Raleigh is nice but it's more expensive than Charlotte. Traffic is bad in both Raleigh and Charlotte. Raleigh is a good area if you work in IT, but I like Charlotte more. I would suggest somewhere like Matthews, which is outside of Charlotte and it's safer and has more of a community feel. If your interest is in more property, you might even consider Union County. It has lower taxes, good schools, and it's safe and affordable. Hope this helps
I lived in Raleigh for 24 years and loved it. I think Charlotte is a great sophisticated city, very urbanized. I would not recommend Greensboro unless you like the really quiet life. It's more of a blue collar city than either Raleigh or Charlotte. Raleigh has great museums and restaurants as does Charlotte. You can probably count the good restaurants in Greensboro on one hand. Good luck in your search
I have lived in Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh, and I have a lot of extended family in Charlotte so I've spent a lot of time there, too. Based on my opinion alone, here's how I'd rank some of the major towns:
Durham: Hip town with great food, lots of re-urbanization downtown, and trees galore. Crime is higher than other areas in the Triangle, but is largely concentrated in east-central Durham. Overall crime rate for Durham is lower than Charlotte, G'boro, or W-S. Raleigh: Safe city with a rapidly growing downtown and good proximity to coast. Lots of struggle to keep up w/ growth, and very homogenous overall. Charlotte: The "big city" of NC with some hip n'hoods near uptown and lots going on in the central parts now. Crime is getting bad quickly, and traffic is much worse than Raleigh-Durham. Chapel Hill: Charming college town with great proximity to RTP. If you don't like light blue, however, you won't like C-H. Excellent schools, but very high real estate costs. Greensboro: Decent town, but not as strong economicially as CLT or RDU. Real estate costs are lower, schools OK, and crime is moderate. Winston-Salem: Great proximity to hiking along the Blue Ridge and to NC's wine country. I know the least about W-S, however it seems to always be in GSO's shadow - I'm sure there are some great parts, especially west/NW of town in the hills.
Greensboro is in a bad way economically. My husband has a business that 2 out of state prospective buyers have been very interested in until they researched the Triad area. Then they reported back that their money would be better invested in a more progressive economically sound area. I moved here from Raleigh and it's the worst mistake I have made re a relocation.
Chapel Hill is part of the Research Triangle Park with Raleigh and Durham, small old university town, very pretty trees and hills.
Just to clarify, there is a big difference between Research Triangle Park and "The Triangle".
Research Triangle Park is a large business development that is home to many companies (technology, phamaceuticals, and much much more) on the eastern edge of Durham County. So actually, Chapel Hill is not part of Research Triangle Park. It's located about 10 miles or so from RTP. The Research Triangle Park
However, Chapel Hill is a part of The Triangle - the nickname given to the area that includes Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.
Hope that clears things up a bit.
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