Single mom of 3 Relocating to NC from NE w/many ?'s (Raleigh: best neighborhoods, 2013)

[TrueQT78]

Hi, I am a 34 year old female who is moving to North Carolina (Raleigh-Durham) in the summer of 2013. I am moving from Nebraska, where I have lived all my life. I have 3 children (1st-elementary school, 2nd-middle school, 3rd-entering high school). I have over 10 years work experience for 911 Communications. I have no family in NC, I visited there before, briefly and loved it and have always wanted to move there and have decided to go ahead and do it this summer. I truly believe it will be beneficial for me and my kids. However, I am looking for any information that anyone can give me to help the transition go as smoothly as possible for my kids and I. Any helpful
1. Best school system or schools (elementary, middle and high school)
2. The best neighborhoods for a family (kid friendly and safe)
3. Advice on finding and job, when to start looking, where to start looking (I have applied to several places but no call backs and I am pretty sure it has to do with the fact that I am in Nebraska applying for jobs in NC)
4. What steps should I be making now and what timeline should i be on.
5. Best, reputable places to look online for housing, I would prefer to start out renting until we have been there awhile and I know what areas we like the best to then purchase a home.
6. Best reputable places to look online for jobs, does anyone know if they 911 center there is hiring?
7. Can I apply for a house to rent online w/me still living in NE and not having a job in NC yet?
8. Best places to grocery shop, cheap entertainment for family, is there a Costco or Sams in NC?

I am positive I have left out numerous questions so if anyone thinks of anything else that would be helpful to me and my family in this HUGE change any and all info and input would be greatly appreciated.

[LoopDeLoop]

hello. our fearless moderator has started a thread which every person considering relocation to the area should read first. you can find it here:

//www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...des-photo.html

after reviewing that, please feel free to ask more specific questions to get more understanding on certain items.

one thing that this thread may not answer, i can address: you will likely want to have a job before moving here or have a very large financial cushion (think along the lines of 6-8 months minimum). that is recommended not just because it will be difficult to rent a home in the area without employment to show, but also because the unemployment rate in NC is still high & especially in this area where people are quite often relocating. if you are in a highly desireable field, you may have better prospects, but otherwise that is probably the rule of thumb because competition in high in this economy for jobs, period, but then add into it the fact that many highly-qualified people are moving here, as well as the decent number of universities in the area producing graduates which are competiing for jobs & very interested in staying in the area. having employment is also recommended in order to find a place to rent/own a home since commuting can be tougher from certain areas to other areas & the triangle area is rather sprawling.

i say that not to discourage but to provide some perspective on questions about employment that you asked. best of luck to you in the search.

[Francois]

Yes, read the Stickied thread first, which will answer a lot. Otherwise, you are asking a slew of questions, difficult to answer in one thread. I will stab at a few:

1. Best school system or schools (elementary, middle and high school)

Are you aware that in NC, school systems are almost always county-wide, so in all of Wake county (Raleigh), it's the same school system. The termendous reate of growth in the past few years and the need for new schools is causing a lot of uproar regarding school assignments right now. You'd definitely want to read that thread about Wake County School System ("WCPSS") before thinking about Wake county. Otherwise, the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School system is generally considered tops for the area, but it's always by far the most expensive to live in.

3. Advice on finding and job, when to start looking, where to start looking (I have applied to several places but no call backs and I am pretty sure it has to do with the fact that I am in Nebraska applying for jobs in NC)
4. What steps should I be making now and what timeline should i be on.

Really, really not a good idea to move, especially with 3 children, without having something lined up first, no matter how badly you want it. If you were by yourself, it might not be such a big deal, but with kids, especially young kids...I would not dare risk uprooting and moving halfway across the country unemployed. You're far from the only person moving into NC looking for jobs right now, and our unemployment rate is #5 in the country. I don't know how the 911 center job market is, but you would want to look at other call center types of places, too.

7. Can I apply for a house to rent online w/me still living in NE and not having a job in NC yet?

Landlords are going to want some guarantee that you will be able to pay the rent, so I believe they would want an income source before renting (wouldn't you?)

8. Best places to grocery shop, cheap entertainment for family, is there a Costco or Sams in NC?

Yes, we have lots of Sam's and a small number of Costcos. You could probably go to the Costco web site and see the locations. We also have BJ's, which is a similar warehouse-type store.

[Special_Guest]

Side note: I had NO idea our unemployment rate was #5 in the country! I thought it was fairly good. That explains a LOT. I am in a career field that is known to be stable with plenty of opportunity; however, it's absolutely DEAD and SATURATED in the RDU area, as is pretty much everything else.

[Francois]

Originally Posted by Special_Guest

Side note: I had NO idea our unemployment rate was #5 in the country! I thought it was fairly good. That explains a LOT. I am in a career field that is known to be stable with plenty of opportunity; however, it's absolutely DEAD and SATURATED in the RDU area, as is pretty much everything else.

Here's the official table, updated monthly. And that doesn't take into account those searching for jobs in the state from afar, adding to the competition.

Yup, NC's population is growing much faster than the new jobs are being created, so supply of workers significantly exceeds demand in many fields--the term "importing unemployment" is often used. Common when a state "suffers from its own success/reputation". This is a primary reason people always say "you should get a job BEFORE moving here", yet those who are honest in this manner are often derided as being "negative", instead of "realistic".

Side note: interesting that the OP in this thread is planning to leave the state with the second BEST job market for the fifth WORST...without lining up a job first.

[RedZin]

Just glancing at the salary brackets for 911 call center in City of Raleigh, I have to say I'd be very concerned about anyone moving here with 3 kids as a single parent on those wages.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by TrueQT78

I have over 10 years work experience for 911 Communications.

Here's a place to start: Wake County North Carolina (NC) Jobs / A Wake Employment Opportunities Directory

I don't know the field, but wouldn't most of the 911 call centers be county jobs? You might find it easier at the smaller, more remote counties. Each county has it's own web site for hiring.

Another possibility is the universities. I used Indeed.com, and turned up a job at Duke in Emergency communications. You might look at it, but it had 12-hour shifts. NC State had a similar job paying $22,000-42,800K/year. Could you support three kids on that pay?

[ALStafford]

Hi, True! I moved from Nebraska to NC in 2005. What part of NE are you planning on moving from? I grew up in a really, really small town in the Sandhills (we were one of the first 6-man football schools, that's how small), then went to UN-L, and stayed in Lincoln until I moved. I can answer any questions you might have along the lines of "is there anything like..." Sometimes these questions sound like "Why don't you have X in NC?" but for me it was really helpful if I could say said "Is there something like the Starship 9 or Joyo." And they could say, "The Blue Ridge Theater on Blue Ridge Road in western Raleigh is like that, but wear closed toed shoes, the have a bit of a mice problem..." Sometimes I knew what I was looking for, but didn't know how to describe it without saying, "Well, I'm looking for something kinda like X from out west."

I did move without a job, but I work in a field where I could free-lance really easily, and the field is pretty small, and didn't have a lot of job competition due to it's specialized nature. With that said, though, I did come to NC for three separate visits, focusing on 3 separate areas to job-and-house hunt before the move (one was for a job interview, which was nice, but didn't get the job). While here, I looked at different regions of NC (mountains, central, coast), and decided on the Triangle area. I visited grocery stores to see the prices, I stopped by a few independent insurance agents and chatted with them about the cost of car, home, and renter's insurances. I got the local paper each day, and read it cover to cover, including sports stuff, so I would understand conversations when I moved. I looked into schools, but didn't stress too much after I chose Wake County, because I knew I'd be renting at first, and when I knew the schools better, I'd look for a more permanent home. I figured the kiddo could survive anything for a year, as long as I remained a good, involved parent. When I did move, I knew what the expenses would be (or had a rough idea), and stayed in a pretty inexpensive apartment the first year, to keep costs down. I came with 6 months of estimated expenses in savings, and the first thing I did after I had a local phone number was walk into the office of the only company in town that was in my field (I said it was a small field..). I was able to free lance for them for about 8 months before they could bring me on full time. Again, this was before 2008, when NC lost so many jobs, and the economy tanked. So things are very different now. If you have anyone to watch your children for a few days so you can visit the area, see what the job opportunities are like, make some contacts with people in your field before the move, maybe talk to a few temp agencies to see if they can be helpful, that would be a really good idea. I would not recommend moving without first spending some time here to see the reality of the situation as far as employment and cost of living are concerned.

If you would like to PM me about any specific NE-to-NC type questions, I'd be happy to answer!

[Victoria-moving]

I agree with ALStafford, you should go and visit before making any decision. I will be relocating from FL the first week of January, and even with all the hours that I spent on the internet, nothing was as good as getting there. We visited 4 rental communties. After signing the lease in the one that we liked the most (based on commute and the sorrounding areas), we visited a shopping mall, a WalMart and few restaurants.
I would not move without a job unless you have 6 months of savings to cover your expenses. When we signed the lease, they asked us for an offer letter, so I guess not having a job would make it difficult to find a place. For some communities you can apply through the internet others don't.
Good Luck with your plans!!!

[T|K]

Orange County 911 recently has been hiring.