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Relocating to North Carolina; seeking advice on best areas to live, 2200 square feet, near shopping, good schools, safe neighborhoods, 270k maximum budget
Well, where I live now, we have about 5 supermarkets within a mile radius, a Target, Circuit City, Walmart, 4 Blockbusters, Atlanta Bread Company, Lowes, Home Depot, Office Depot, Pet Supermarket, Best Buy, a major Hospital........all within a mile.
So that's kinda what I'm used to.
We go to the supermarket once a week for major shopping, but I have a 1 year old and a 4 year old, so I tend to run out of stuff sometimes (Baby Wipes, Milk, etc.)
This is funny that you say that. Everything that you have mention is within 15-20 min except Atlanta Bread company and Best buy. We have Walmart coming soon and Apex is growing and they one of the largest strip mall that has Lowes, Target, Home Depot, Wake Med Emergency centre opening on Monday, Movie theatre, Lots of dining places, Harris Teeter, Bojangle is coming soon, Ihop opened in Nov 2007, Lots of Doctor's offices. Everything is within 5- 10 miles depanding on your location. You won't miss your area when you move to Apex.
I think this will be a ideal place to be at but please come and see and than figure out where you want to be at. I hope this was helpful. Good luck.
This is funny that you say that. Everything that you have mention is within 15-20 min except Atlanta Bread company and Best buy. We have Walmart coming soon and Apex is growing and they one of the largest strip mall that has Lowes, Target, Home Depot, Wake Med Emergency centre opening on Monday, Movie theatre, Lots of dining places, Harris Teeter, Bojangle is coming soon, Ihop opened in Nov 2007, Lots of Doctor's offices. Everything is within 5- 10 miles depanding on your location. You won't miss your area when you move to Apex.
I think this will be a ideal place to be at but please come and see and than figure out where you want to be at. I hope this was helpful. Good luck.
Yeah, but the OP said that all these things are within 1 mile of them right now, not 5-10 miles.
Trying to pick an area when you have not been here is quite difficult.
Instead of doing that, take your target price of $270,000 and see what it buys you in (Wake County, for example) North Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest, Fuquay Varina. Now you have some idea that North Raleigh and Cary tend to be more pricey and the other areas may offer you more in the way of a house and land.
Once you get to the area, you'll be able to do some drive bys and look at the houses that are in your price range. You'll have a very strong feeling about what you like and what you don't like right away.
Yes, it is difficult to do this on paper but its a start.
Once you get here, within 4 days, you'll have figured out where you want to live. Yep, 4 days! It happens all the time!
I agree with Vicki and everyone else that suggests you come and spend a week or so here. Visit a few of the areas you have narrowed down online.
Once you get a feel for the areas, it will help a lot. There is a big difference from Holly Springs to North Raleigh. Not just in what stores are nearby, but the neighborhoods. I like Apex a lot, and to me Holly Springs and Wake Forest are close enough to Raleigh and have plenty of shopping... but it depends on your defintion of "out of the way".
I am going crazy trying to find the right area, through the internet, then we will plan a trip up there in the Spring.
We really don't want to spend more than $270k.
But I need convenience (shopping near, like Malls, etc. - or a within a 10 minutes drive...but grocery shopping and stuff must be within a mile), safety, good schools, family oriented areas.
We would like over 2200 sq. ft., with a nice size yard.
It could be a home built in the 90's or new (as long as it fits that criteria).
I am reading Holly Springs is kind of "out of the way", but they seem to have a lot in our price range.
Apex seems "ideal", but for our price range we're lucky we get 2,000 sq. ft.
Forget Cary...too expensive.
N. Raleigh seems like Apex...our price range shows little square footage.
Wake Forest gives us more for less money, but people say it's "out of the way" too.
HELP!
Hello:
My husband and I went for the first time to check out North Carolina. We do not have friends or family that live there. We really don't know anyone that lives in North Carolina but we had read and heard so much about Raleigh and Durham, so we decided to see for ourselves. We love it!
We are from Southern California and moved 3 years ago to St. George, UT. We bought a nice home here when the market was good but there are no good paying jobs and no diversity like California or North Carolina. We are not use to living in a bubble, so we made up our mind and selling our home and moving to North Carolina.
My advice is for you to take at least a week or two or longer if possible for you to see all the great places North Carolina has to offer. It all depends on your lifestyle.
I am going crazy trying to find the right area, through the internet, then we will plan a trip up there in the Spring.
Hi AJ, I moved from RI with my wife and kids and we had no clue of what to look for, or where to look.. we were just blessed to find via internet the NC School Report Cards which is basically a report card for the schools on the different counties, after searching for high or better scores for schools we found 2 cities ranked higher on their accomplished scores, both of this I believe are on the same county, and ranking on schools varies by city, even by neighborhood, We found the following schools to be best as we wanted our kids to get the last years of schooling on a good place, that offered lots of sports and other activities, close to the house the schools are Apex middle, Apex High and Olive Chapel elementary to be amongst the highest ranked. NOTE I DID NOT SAID THIS ARE THE HIGHEST, for us this combined with pricing on houses on the Apex area was what helped our decision to stay in Apex. I will suggest you guys don't buy or try to buy remotely, rather move into a temporary apartment in the Apex Area, or Cary, you can rent a nice looking place with a lake view and a walking trail and you can do it either month to month or 3-6-12 month lease, I leased a place at this complex in Apex (Camden Lake Pine) and it is very nice, 1 minute walk to the supermarket, 4 minutes drive to school, 20 minutes to Emperor Boulevard and there are also lots of shopping malls in the area, plus schools, churches, and the people are very nice...my suggestion from personal experience, look for homes online all you want, but move to the area into a rental for a little bid and see the different neighborhoods, in my case I did not move my furniture till I was sure where I was going to stay, we just signed to buy a house and now we will be moving all the stuff.. Hope this help.
I would also look at some of the older neighborhoods in Cary, where you can easily get a 1/3 - 1/2 acre lot. That's what I ended up doing. I didn't want a house where I would feel like I was on top of my neighbors. But I wanted/needed to be central to shopping AND wanted to be located centrally in the Triangle so I could just as easily and just as quickly get to Chapel Hill as well as North Raleigh, since my social life seems to be spread out among the 2 extremes. Good luck on your search. There's a lot of inventory out there right now.
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Best to go see for yourself like I did....
I am going crazy trying to find the right area, through the internet, then we will plan a trip up there in the Spring.
