For those who live in Chapel Hill/Carrboro - which neighborhoods have a lot of children? (Raleigh: fit in, how much)

[michgc]

Originally Posted by mommapudding

There will be younger families around Estes Hills school, including Coker Hills, Lake Forest etc but they seem to move in when the previous occupants age out and downsize. We thought we'd be amongst lots of similar families with the proximity to the school, but we were surrounded by older folk. Blessed with great neighbors though.
As they move on people in their 30s and 40s are buying those older houses with the land. Lake Forest also has a lake that residents pay dues to access.

Without seeing it, Estes Hills reminds me of where we live now. Here the homes were built in the 50's and 60's. Each lot is 1/4 to 1/2 acre. Lots of tall trees. And we can walk places. But...there are a lot of people without children. On my street - there are 5 houses - only two of them have children. At our school bus stop for elementary school there are only 6 kids there from 4 streets. So while I love older homes and a nice lot of land, I'd like my kids to have playmates nearby that they can run outside and play with. Well, I'll see tomorrow when we get there - I think we'll "feel" if it's right for us.

[Karyn H]

This is all very helpful to me, too. Thanks, everyone. We have two young kids and will most likely be moving to the area next year. (And yes, having a library that we could walk to would be delightful!)

[michgc]

We're down here now. Found a very nice house in West Coker Hills that we like. Anyone know much about the neighborhood (Somerset Drive)? Do you know if there are many kids around there? It seems nice and is pretty close to Estes Hills and Guy Phillips. We liked Southern Village but unless we can afford one of the bigger houses, I don't think we can handle the uber-small lots. Everyone was nice and friendly, though, at the elementary school, the pool, and the apartments. Great weather today, too! Had Maple View Ice Cream and hung out at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro.

We also checked out Bolin Forest and Quarter? Trace. They seemed pretty nice, too.

[invent1]

Originally Posted by no kudzu

go into all the neighborhoods along Homestead and you will find lots of young kids- when it isn't too hot outside. Hard to get a good idea of kids this time of year but neighborhoods around elementary schools are your best bet.
Chatham County will not give you the great schools you are probably looking for in Chapel Hill/Carrboro.

The school issue again.....here's my take on schools.....be sure you look around really hard and long before you decide what a good school is, and don't just focus on scores and what the neighbors say. Schools are not one size fits all. We're a very education focused family, both my husband and I went to Ivy League schools, our son was accepted to Duke, I work at a university, our idea of interior decorating is adding another bookcase to our home ;-) .....I take education extraordinarily seriously. And I know it well enough to know that that what is a great school for the top 10% of the class is not always a great school for the rest. We lived that experience in our previous "Newsweek Top 100 Ranked High School" in Atlanta. That school was higher ranked than any of the CH/Carrboro schools and we were all very happy to leave (my high achieving son hated the breakneck competition and our solid-B student/daughter wasn't one of the kids the administration really focused on, bc she didn't help their rankings much). There's a dark side to schools like that, don't think you can get the good without the bad, too.

I toured Orange County, CH/Carrboro,and Chatham schools and met with guidance counselors before we decided where to move (tried to tour Wake but they won't let you tour ahead of time, I was told that everything we needed to know was on their websites; not the attitude I expected from them, but glad to know it ahead of time). I was very pleased with what I discovered at the Chatham County schools, especially the ones that Briar Chapel feeds into.

So do your research and form your own conclusion. Ask questions, get the PTSA newsletters online, reach out to the PTSA and ask for the phone numbers of parents to talk to, do research on the teachers, principal, college placement of the top 50% of the class ( not just the top 10%), ask to have current student tour you through the school, network a bit to get the names of a few kids from the high school and ask them what they think of their experiences there, dig deep.

Good luck to you!

[bluecar]

Michgc - Glad you are down here and looking at houses (and the community!). Coker Hills is super close to Whole Foods, the library, the mall, grocery stores, etc. Somerset is less than half a mile from where I live! Sorry I can't answer question about children in that specific neighborhood. Just as example, in our neighborhood, much like the Coker Hills area, there are more and more people moving in with children. 10 years ago, there were hardly any kids. Now, I'd say about 1/3 of the families have children. Ask away with questions!

[CHTransplant]

Originally Posted by invent1

I toured Orange County, CH/Carrboro,and Chatham schools and met with guidance counselors before we decided where to move (tried to tour Wake but they won't let you tour ahead of time, I was told that everything we needed to know was on their websites; not the attitude I expected from them, but glad to know it ahead of time).

Weird; all CHCCS schools (to my knowledge) have programs for students to give tours to prospective families. We did such a tour at both (then) of the high schools before we moved here, and one of our children earned the privilege of giving such tours at their elementary school.

[CHTransplant]

I'm sorry I misread your post and missed the reference to Wake being an exception.

[invent1]

CHTRansplant, yes, the Chapel Hill/Carrboro schools were so willing to give tours and answer questions, they were wonderful!

[michgc]

Thought I'd do a follow-up. We ended up putting in an offer on a house in Southern Village. I hope I like living in a planned community - it will be a big change for us. We're moving down at the end of January, most likely.

[no kudzu]

Interesting---I thought you didn't like the small lots. Would you mind sharing how you made that neighborhood decision?