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Not so much advice, but I'll give my opinion of Apex and how it differs from Cary. My background is born and raised in Eastern PA/Philly, and my wife in Brazil. Although Cary is far from perfect, myself and my wife enjoy it much more than Apex. Another piece of info that might make some difference in our case is that the house we rented in Apex was in an older established neighborhood. Our neighbors were likely to be different than those of the newer developments.
The diversity in the people of Cary is much greater than Apex if you care about that stuff. Apex is a lot more "southern" whether that is good, bad, or indifferent is for you to decide and I'm only stating this to explain the difference between Cary and Apex. I feel comfortable anywhere I go in Cary and Raleigh. Not so much in Apex, and it's a little hard to explain but that's only my opinion. And although our rent was not cheap by any standards, we were surrounded by some extremely weird and problematic people.
The Apex police seem like they are out to get everyone and are waiting to pounce. My wife had 2 not so nice traffic run-ins (minor violations which to this day my wife swears he made up 1 of them) with the Barney Fife police there, where she says the same 1 guy made her feel intimidated and extremely uncomfortable with what he was asking her and how he was talking to her. I also received the only traffic violation (again very minor) of my life on Williams street. And we both are extremely cautious drivers to begin with.
The eateries/restaurants in Cary is extremely good for The Triangle with a lot of diversity. Apex is just the same chain restaurants or in the case of downtown Apex, it's overpriced eateries owned and ran by the huge restaurant corporations and disguised as local/family owned. Cary has better parks and a much better greenway trail system that I use about 4-5 times per week when the weather permits. I also have an easier commute to Downtown Raleigh for work and that will be the case for most of Cary, except the far western part.
The area is growing so transplants are moving everywhere. What is happening to Cary/Apex is happening everywhere around here. I live near the Apex border and absolutely love the area and in my 20 years of living here have yet to see uppity in action. If you like the Apex area then that is where you should target and since it's large enough you'll have many different sections to choose from. Years ago we decided to look for another house. After two months of looking we could not beat the location that we currently live in and we dropped the idea. 8 miles to work, 5 grocery stores within 3 miles, 20 minutes to Raleigh, 30 minutes to Durham, ??? minutes to Chapel Hill (not sure, not a fan of it so we don't go there very often, but probably around a half hour).
Not so much advice, but I'll give my opinion of Apex and how it differs from Cary. My background is born and raised in Eastern PA/Philly, and my wife in Brazil. Although Cary is far from perfect, myself and my wife enjoy it much more than Apex. Another piece of info that might make some difference in our case is that the house we rented in Apex was in an older established neighborhood. Our neighbors were likely to be different than those of the newer developments.
The diversity in the people of Cary is much greater than Apex if you care about that stuff. Apex is a lot more "southern" whether that is good, bad, or indifferent is for you to decide and I'm only stating this to explain the difference between Cary and Apex. I feel comfortable anywhere I go in Cary and Raleigh. Not so much in Apex, and it's a little hard to explain but that's only my opinion. And although our rent was not cheap by any standards, we were surrounded by some extremely weird and problematic people.
The Apex police seem like they are out to get everyone and are waiting to pounce. My wife had 2 not so nice traffic run-ins (minor violations which to this day my wife swears he made up 1 of them) with the Barney Fife police there, where she says the same 1 guy made her feel intimidated and extremely uncomfortable with what he was asking her and how he was talking to her. I also received the only traffic violation (again very minor) of my life on Williams street. And we both are extremely cautious drivers to begin with.
The eateries/restaurants in Cary is extremely good for The Triangle with a lot of diversity. Apex is just the same chain restaurants or in the case of downtown Apex, it's overpriced eateries owned and ran by the huge restaurant corporations and disguised as local/family owned. Cary has better parks and a much better greenway trail system that I use about 4-5 times per week when the weather permits. I also have an easier commute to Downtown Raleigh for work and that will be the case for most of Cary, except the far western part.
Appreciate your input. I am still very much interested in Cary and will have another look!
The area is growing so transplants are moving everywhere. What is happening to Cary/Apex is happening everywhere around here. I live near the Apex border and absolutely love the area and in my 20 years of living here have yet to see uppity in action. If you like the Apex area then that is where you should target and since it's large enough you'll have many different sections to choose from. Years ago we decided to look for another house. After two months of looking we could not beat the location that we currently live in and we dropped the idea. 8 miles to work, 5 grocery stores within 3 miles, 20 minutes to Raleigh, 30 minutes to Durham, ??? minutes to Chapel Hill (not sure, not a fan of it so we don't go there very often, but probably around a half hour).
Very much appreciate another opinion. I think anywhere within a 10 mile range from the Cary/Apex border will be a good choice!
Any info on that Chatham Park development in your opinion?
I heard years ago that Chatham Park was planned to be the tech hub that RTP never quite aspired to. I have not seen the housing plans. It looks promising and is on my watch list should we decide to move again. I have not been out that way in a long time but the general area is beautiful...have they started building homes there?
Just to clarify to everyone, while the populations of towns like Cary and Apex and Holly Springs have grown tremendously in the last 15 yrs, so has the size of each of the towns. Unlike some other states, in NC towns grow in physical area as land is transferred from the county into the town, as town services are requested by the property owners or developers. Towns can grow in acreage so much that they include land from more than one county. Already Cary, which is mostly in Wake Co., has crept into Chatham Co. If you look at the town boundaries, they are extremely irregular and oddly stretched out so it is difficult to tell what town you are in sometimes.
The big difference between Cary and the other small towns is that Cary and Morrisville are right next to RTP, so it used to be that the commute was shorter if you lived in Cary/Morrisvile and worked in high tech RTP. But now 540 is connecting parts of Apex and Holly Springs so that those commutes to RTP are quite relaxing and quick. As far as amenities and so forth, Apex and HS are a little younger overall than Cary, but are catching up quite quickly with parks and greenways and nice shopping options. Prices are a little better in Apex and HS but not for long.
The diversity in the people of Cary is much greater than Apex if you care about that stuff. Apex is a lot more "southern" whether that is good, bad, or indifferent is for you to decide and I'm only stating this to explain the difference between Cary and Apex.
Well, since I sounded like I was bashing the area in my last message I'll reply just to even things out for me.
From the description Flamenguista gave I can pretty much figure out where he was living and can say that Apex has a 4 block area that fits his description surrounded by 20 square miles of neighborhoods that are more or less identical to Cary. Frankly even if he lived here only 4 years ago, Apex is a very different town in many ways than it was then.
We've only had good experience with the town police, love Apex's parks especially the disc golf course in the new Nature Park, but I'll admit that Cary's greenways are currently more extensive than Apex's although there are plans for more in Apex (which they make very clear as we keep getting email requests for ideas and comment from the Parks and Rec department). Yay Apex.
The OP also posted a question asking if Apex feels like it's getting more crowded. Route 55 through town is definitely a bottle neck during rush hour AM and PM. That's true of where it goes through Holly Springs as well. While it's undeniably selfish and elitist, I personally hope the keep the tolls on 540 as I'm willing the pay the premium to avoid traffic.
There's no real extra crowding in businesses because new ones keep being built along with all the new housing. New stores, new restaurants, new parks. All the nice wooded areas are being bulldozed to build those new businesses, but that's the inevitable result of development (and as a pilot I know how vast the remaining wooded areas are in the area that most people can't see from the roads).
I would say however that for town events Apex is really outgrowing its downtown. There was recently a long discussion in an online Apex town forum about the Christmas parade. People were complaining that it was getting too crowded and suggesting they extend the route so there was more viewing area. One of the town councilmen was contributing explaining the problems with that (there are no other good staging areas, the route is already quite long for the high school bands that play for the entire length, & cet.). On the other hand, it may be getting crowded but I think it's cool we even have a Christmas parade as a lot of other towns in the area don't.
I really do like Apex, but it doesn't take much to see the direction it's heading and I doubt I'll be sticking around once the kids graduate from high school. I tend to get wanderlust and move every 5 years though, so the fact I'm willing to stick around that long is a vote in Apex's favor, at least for the present time.
Last edited by Pixel_Dent; 12-16-2015 at 05:31 PM..
Appreciate your input. I am still very much interested in Cary and will have another look!
Try one of the more established areas of Cary. Less likely to be a ton of development nearby.
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