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If you're looking for a more mature community, within a reasonable drive to RDU where you would feel safe while your spouse is away, I would suggest you look at some of the HOA's in Cary with a pool.
We live in an HOA community with a pool and parents are down there watching their kids play nearly every warm day of the summer. Great way to meet neighbors. Neighborhood playground is well used.
We are in a quiet neighborhood, with nice backyards (one of my must-haves for raising kids), and 15 minutes from the airport. Travelers call when their plane lands and by the time they collect their luggage and are out on the sidewalk, I'm there. Sweet system. I can wait for a delayed flights in my own home rather than an airport parking lot.
The good news is that many who raised their kids in these older neighborhoods (forty years and newer), are now putting their homes on the market as they move to homes with less upkeep for their retirement years. They held off when the market was down, but they've put it off long enough and now they're painting and packing up.
They're are downsides to older homes, of course, depending on how much maintenance was deferred by over the years. Kitchens may be hopelessly out of date. Popcorn ceilings abound. And so forth.
I guess if I were in your shoes, I'd draw a circle around the airport with the outside being about a 20 minute drive and start looking for neighborhoods with a pool or at least a playground.
From what I can tell from a quick glance, there are lots of neighborhoods in Durham, Raleigh, Morrisville, and Cary that would all be a short drive to the airport.
See what you think.
Good luck.
Have fun.
Last edited by GotHereQuickAsICould; 11-16-2013 at 05:04 AM..
You may want to check out some of the neighborhoods in North Raleigh along Creedmoor Avenue. It is convenient to shopping, I-440 and I-540, nearby parks, and 10-15 minutes from the airport. Stonehenge is really nice, as is Greystone, Crosswinds, Vestavia Woods, etc. Just North of I-540 is Stonebridge, which is in the Falls Lake watershed and will get you homes with lots approaching 1 acre.
You may want to check out some of the neighborhoods in North Raleigh along Creedmoor Avenue. It is convenient to shopping, I-440 and I-540, nearby parks, and 10-15 minutes from the airport. Stonehenge is really nice, as is Greystone, Crosswinds, Vestavia Woods, etc. Just North of I-540 is Stonebridge, which is in the Falls Lake watershed and will get you homes with lots approaching 1 acre.
You stole my post! We live in this vicinity. Wonderful area with lots of trees, near walking trails, not far from Falls Lake beaches, and there are several pool clubs you could join, as well as the YMCA off Baileywick Rd. The Lake Lynn community center has lots of activities for kids and adults.
You may also want to check out a neighborhood in eastern Durham County - when we did our home search, Grove Park, Ashley Forest, Magnolia Place, and Stirrup Creek which all seemed to be more mature neighborhoods with the amenities you're looking for and are within a 20 minute drive of the airport.
If you're looking for a more mature community, within a reasonable drive to RDU where you would feel safe while your spouse is away, I would suggest you look at some of the HOA's in Cary with a pool.
We live in an HOA community with a pool and parents are down there watching their kids play nearly every warm day of the summer. Great way to meet neighbors. Neighborhood playground is well used.
We are in a quiet neighborhood, with nice backyards (one of my must-haves for raising kids), and 15 minutes from the airport. Travelers call when their plane lands and by the time they collect their luggage and are out on the sidewalk, I'm there. Sweet system. I can wait for a delayed flights in my own home rather than an airport parking lot.
The good news is that many who raised their kids in these older neighborhoods (forty years and newer), are now putting their homes on the market as they move to homes with less upkeep for their retirement years. They held off when the market was down, but they've put it off long enough and now they're painting and packing up.
They're are downsides to older homes, of course, depending on how much maintenance was deferred by over the years. Kitchens may be hopelessly out of date. Popcorn ceilings abound. And so forth.
I guess if I were in your shoes, I'd draw a circle around the airport with the outside being about a 20 minute drive and start looking for neighborhoods with a pool or at least a playground.
From what I can tell from a quick glance, there are lots of neighborhoods in Durham, Raleigh, Morrisville, and Cary that would all be a short drive to the airport.
Thank you everyone. I am gaining lots of help reading your posts. Oh I am so excited to come visit on Thursday! Partially because my husband and I could use a night or two away and because we have never been there. I have driven through NC many times on my way from FL to Maryland/Delaware.
Everyone we have spoken to from the area has been really nice and helpful!
Back from our Raleigh trip. Though we spent most of the time in Apex & Cary. We had such a short trip this time so we had to concentrate on such a small area. We loved it and everyone was super helpful and friendly!
I've long advocated conducting proper due diligence, researching as much as possible online and trying to visit the area several times at different points in the year to figure out where you should live. But truth be told, your planning to rent, wanting close proximity to the airport and likely wanting to be someplace among those in a similar position (e.g. young child, relocating, etc.) makes me think you should definitely start with both Cary and Brier Creek. While they aren't necessarily the areas I would target to buy a house and put down roots both of those areas will help you quickly develop a social network and feel like part of the community.
Good luck with your move, this is a great place to live and raise a family.
I agree with both the fact proper due diligence is important, and the fact that to some extent, that can come later.
My husband and I only made one trip to the area before moving (and at that, we each made one trip, not a trip together). We were living in NC less than 6 weeks from my trip out. We had done our due diligence through online research, and talking to LOT's of contacts we had from other states. Once we knew NC seemed like the place, we each took a visit to verify it was what we expected .
When we first moved here we rented an apartment on a 3 month lease (leaving our belongings in storage). This gave us time to explore & make better decisions. We ended up having our "stuff" sent to a house we will be living in for about a year. (we are now building a home locally.)
The 3 month lease was ideal for us, because although more expensive, it gave us time to look for a more long-term place while we were looking for where we would be building.
Remember, if you are renting (especially on a short term lease) you can always use that as an OPPORTUNITY to figure out what will work for you!
If you like older, established neighborhoods, check out Cary, but stay near the city center. As you move outward, and in particular, westward, the neighborhoods are much newer and more congested. As a rough rule of thumb, homes inside or just outside the "Maynard Loop" tend to be in the oldest neighborhoods. They also tend to have larger lots and often do not have HOAs.
I would use online tools like Zillow but set the year built filter to find homes between 1970 and 1985 for example.
Pay attention to the trees. You can often quickly assess the age of a neighborhood by the size and density of the trees around the homes. I purchased an older home built in 1971 and one of the major selling points for me was the larger lot and the towering trees. I wish I had moved here 20 years ago.
I've been through the buying process here in Cary 4 times now with friends and relatives. First was a home for me and my two roommates (from southern NJ), then a condo for my parents (also from southern NJ), then a home my roommate's brother (from CA), finally a home for my other roommate's parents (again from southern NJ).
Last edited by RedZin; 11-26-2013 at 10:00 PM..
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We live in this vicinity. Wonderful area with lots of trees, near walking trails, not far from Falls Lake beaches, and there are several pool clubs you could join, as well as the YMCA off Baileywick Rd. The Lake Lynn community center has lots of activities for kids and adults.
