Considering moving to Durham

[Chapel Hill Connection]

Hi Juststudying,
You should have tremendous choice in your price range. I would highly recommend checking out Chapel Hill & Carrboro; their school system is the highest ranked in the state. Very rigorous curriculum, highly involved parents, excellent gifted and special ed programs. You can get more info and compare all of the school systems on GreatSchools.net and ReDir.

Chapel Hill and Carrboro also offer a lot of diversity, as do the Durham neighborhoods that everyone has mentioned. Tons of families with young children wherever you go. Some neighborhoods to check out in Chapel Hill would be Lake Hogan Farms, Creekwood, Meadowmont, Southern Village, The Oaks. Many of these communities have swim and tennis clubs, walking trails, playgrounds. Southern Village and Meadowmont also feature elementary schools within their communities, as well as village centers. Great walkability!

I moved here from Boston 17 years ago, and it's a very easy transition. There is as much culture and arts here, in my opinion, for this size community. We have wonderful symphony, broadway shows, art walks, performing art centers, regional theatre -- anything you could ask for. I did not feel I was losing anything culturally making the transition from the Northeast.

Best wishes.

[Mikeheel]

Originally Posted by juststudying

We are considering a job related move to Durham from a major east coast city . . . I know nothing about the area. We have young children and the resale value of our current home is $1.5-2M . . . what can we buy in Durham for that? if we live in one of cities outside of Durham, what is the commute like? where do young families live? are there ethnically mixed higher-end neighborhoods? what are the public schools like? what are the best schools in the area? what is the arts scene like? what is the restaurant scene like? Sorry but this is sudden and I don't even know where to start!! Thank you!

If you are really looking for something in the 1.5-2M range, you'll find that you can get into some very nice areas around here for that. You have options in Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest and Youngsville.

You may not know the area, but I'm betting you can come up with a list of 5-10 things that are important to (proximity to airport, shopping, or golf, for instance). That will help you figure out where to look. Also, would you rather have old or new?

You could go historic, as some of the initial posters suggested. Or you could go modern. There are developments dedicated to only 1M+ and there are developments from 400k - 3M.

There really are too many options to suggest without some better idea of what you might be looking for.

Good luck,
Mike

[jln69]

I am not trying to steer you away from Durham but I was wondering what your basis was for choosing Durham. Maybe Durham is right for you but there are lots of other areas to explore. With your price range you are at an advantage that you can live basically anywhere in the Triangle.

Price - Some of the pricier areas in the Triangle are Chapel Hill, Northern Durham, Cary, North Raleigh and Inside the Beltline (Raleigh).

Schools - Are you thinking of sending your children to public or private? Chapel Hill- Carrboro has some of the best public schools. Cary has some good ones. Raleigh has some good magnet and charter public schools.

Restaurants - I think the best restaurants can be found in Chapel Hill and Durham.

Commute - Do you need to commute to Durham for a job? If so, I would say Chapel Hill or N. Raleigh depending on where in Durham.

Families - You will find that there are many options all over the Triangle. Young families seem to like Cary.

Arts - Raleigh (inside the beltline), Chapel Hill and Durham

Good luck. Hope this helps.