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Hi! We (myself, husband and toddler son) are thinking of moving to the research triangle. We are moving from Seattle (via Brooklyn) and need help finding an area that has the following (in order of priority)... and budget is around 500K give or take...
1. Safe area with great schools (mainly preschools for now)
2. Urban, ideally walking distance to restaurants, boutique shops, etc..
3. More liberal, less conservative would be a plus
Yes, it it exists, but it it would be helpful if you gave us more information about where you plan to work, how much you want to spend.
#2 is going to be the hardest, as most of the towns around here are the very definition of "suburban sprawl". There are a few towns with slightly larger downtown areas but nothing like you'd see in the Northeast (I don't know Seattle).
Schools are handled on a county-wide basis and most of the schools in Wake County seem to be pretty good. That said, the most well regarded seem to be in Cary, Apex, Holly Springs (to the southwest) and Wake Forest (to the northeast), which all seem to be fairly liberal places as well.
$500 K would get you a nice place in Carrboro or Chapel Hill, very very nice towns with a very liberal attitude. Carrboro is the one I would love to live in but I can't afford it (I'm an old old lady and live out on the outskirts of the " Charboro " area. The nice thing about it (that I can't take advantage of) is the free transit buses that circle around the whole area, Carrboro is just a neat, funky, really hopping kinda place for young folk like you. When i drive by in downtown, all the little bistros, restaurants and gathering places are packed!!! Everyone is out on the town, enjoying life, conversing and sharing, it really looks idyllic. I don't know about the school systems, I would think Chapel Hill and Carrboro schools would offer great educations, but since I am an old lady who has only lived in NC for two years, I am not in the know about those things anymore. All I know is that I chose this area because of the strong artsy-fartsy kinda people that live here. Carrboro hosts all kinds of community activities, the one I love is the Fall Poetry Festival, but they have so so much going on all the time. I would think a young family would love to live here with all the events and amenities a University area has to offer. I sense that Carrboro really is a rare, small gem of a community that any family would love to grow and prosper in.
CHCCS is the best school system in the state, so no worries there. And it's not a county system, so make sure you're in the CHCCS district. It's Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools. It's like a tiny Seattle here, but less rain.
Hi
Thanks for the info so far! As for how much we want to spend, we are looking for a modern type house (maybe 400 - 650K range). As for working, we don't have jobs yet in this area! which is crazy, I know, but we would prefer to find a great neighborhood first, then work (I think).
And thanks for the advice on the CHCCS. Great tip!
My husband is uber liberal and I'm worried he won't be happy anywhere in NC. Carrboro sounds like a good option for us. Are there any specific areas within Carrboro or is it pretty small?
Chapel Hill and Carrboro are teeny tiny compared to Seattle and Brooklyn. Chapel Hill is home to UNC, so sort of Berkley of the Southeast. Carrboro is a separate town, but like a borough they just run together and their downtowns meet. Together I think the population is about 90,000 or so. Chapel Hill is about 60,000 and Carrboro is about 30,000. Google will tell you w/o having to follow a link.
I'd be concerned about the job first. The market can be tough, but if you have the right skills there are good jobs. I have known personally, and read here on city-data, about folks looking for work for more than a year. I wouldn't come w/o a job unless you've got plenty of savings to live off of.
I'm in total agreement with poppydog, both in the recommended area of CH \ Carreboro and that deciding on a community prior to finding jobs is a huge mistake.
CH might be an ideal community, but if you're commuting on a daily basis to, say, downtown Raleigh, I'll venture a guess that you'll be miserable in a year. Not a good way to enjoy life or your family.
Find the jobs then determine where to live. If you need to rent first, do it. If you need to rent while looking for jobs, consider Brier Creek.
BTW, we learned long ago that polite conversation avoids the topics of religion and politics. We find and enjoy our socializing and our friends so much more. Frankly, if it weren't for their Facebook posts, I'd never know their political leanings (which is my preference).
You can find a good many people who are very liberal in the Triangle area. I agree with the others regarding locating jobs before firmly committing to one city or town over the other.
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I'll agree on Chapel Hill / Carborro as well. If you are commuting to RTP or Durham then it will be a great fit. But Jkgourmet is right - you don't want to be commuting to Raleigh from Chapel Hill.
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