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Old 04-12-2017, 08:19 AM
 
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Hi, my family and I are moving to the area in the next couple of months from PA. My husband got a job in the RTP and we are trying to narrow our search for neighborhoods/school districts. We are a multi-racial family and have three kids ages 10, 6, 4. We value good schools and also diversity. Having a commute of 30-35 mins during rush hour would be fine. We aren't really cookie-cutter neighborhood types, though I would love a neighborhood pool, plus we would like to have other families nearby so our kids will have neighborhood friends to play with. We are trying to find a house in an established wooded neighborhood ($400k-ish with 4 br and .25+ acres of land) and also want to be able to have a firepit in our backyard (not sure if some neighborhoods have restrictions on that). We love being less than 10-15 minutes to coffee shops, shopping, parks, non-chain restaurants, "life" in general.

We are looking at areas in Durham and Chapel Hill and possibly Cary -- but are there other places to consider??

Can anyone speak to the schools in Durham? We're coming from a district in PA with high ratings for schools so I do feel concerned with the ratings on some Durham schools. I am mostly concerned about the middle schools at this point -- it seems there are a handful of good elementary schools in the areas we are targeting, but my son will only have one year left in an elementary school, and most of the middle school ratings seem really low??

Any thoughts on Wake County schools? Seems like Cary has a lot of newer developments which isn't really our style, but the schools appear to get good ratings and have diversity. I've heard that the Wake County schools are overpopulated and having re-districting issues though, and it makes me kind of nervous to step into that.

Thanks!
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Old 04-12-2017, 08:46 AM
 
Location: Chapelboro
12,798 posts, read 16,246,220 times
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Sounds like you might like Chapel Hill. Most older neighborhoods built before the 90s don't have HOAs and you can have firepit and whatever else you want in your backyard. You should be able to find a home in an older non-cookie cutter neighborhood for $400k. Families of all races and backgrounds welcome. Great schools. There are club pools that you can join in Chapel Hill that aren't necessarily neighborhood pools. Some are like Heritage Hills and some aren't like Exchange Pool. Check out the summer swim league in Chapel Hill for more info on pools that participate in that: www.chapelhillsummerswimleague.com/
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Old 04-12-2017, 10:11 AM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,633 posts, read 36,593,496 times
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Please do read the threads posted above.

You can get what you want in Cary, stick with the area east of highway 55. You'll find older neighborhoods with mature landscaping, bigger plots and more stable school assignments.

We are really having a run of people not wanting "cookie cutter" neighborhoods...wonder who's buying all those houses in West Cary??
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Old 04-12-2017, 01:10 PM
 
Location: My House
34,937 posts, read 36,115,735 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluedreamer View Post
Hi, my family and I are moving to the area in the next couple of months from PA. My husband got a job in the RTP and we are trying to narrow our search for neighborhoods/school districts. We are a multi-racial family and have three kids ages 10, 6, 4. We value good schools and also diversity. Having a commute of 30-35 mins during rush hour would be fine. We aren't really cookie-cutter neighborhood types, though I would love a neighborhood pool, plus we would like to have other families nearby so our kids will have neighborhood friends to play with. We are trying to find a house in an established wooded neighborhood ($400k-ish with 4 br and .25+ acres of land) and also want to be able to have a firepit in our backyard (not sure if some neighborhoods have restrictions on that). We love being less than 10-15 minutes to coffee shops, shopping, parks, non-chain restaurants, "life" in general.

We are looking at areas in Durham and Chapel Hill and possibly Cary -- but are there other places to consider??

Can anyone speak to the schools in Durham? We're coming from a district in PA with high ratings for schools so I do feel concerned with the ratings on some Durham schools. I am mostly concerned about the middle schools at this point -- it seems there are a handful of good elementary schools in the areas we are targeting, but my son will only have one year left in an elementary school, and most of the middle school ratings seem really low??

Any thoughts on Wake County schools? Seems like Cary has a lot of newer developments which isn't really our style, but the schools appear to get good ratings and have diversity. I've heard that the Wake County schools are overpopulated and having re-districting issues though, and it makes me kind of nervous to step into that.

Thanks!
Generally, if you stick to the established areas of Cary (don't cross over Highway 55) you will have very few issues with redistricting. Not saying it will never happen. It's just rarer in the established areas of Cary. We've had stable assignments for YEARS. And trees.

Try Weston Pointe or Weatherstone. In your price range and not cookie cutter. They are suburban, but they have the custom builder, trees, kids, fire pits, lot sizes, and good schools thing going on.

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Old 04-12-2017, 01:12 PM
 
Location: My House
34,937 posts, read 36,115,735 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twingles View Post
Please do read the threads posted above.

You can get what you want in Cary, stick with the area east of highway 55. You'll find older neighborhoods with mature landscaping, bigger plots and more stable school assignments.

We are really having a run of people not wanting "cookie cutter" neighborhoods...wonder who's buying all those houses in West Cary??
People who want new houses more than they want "not cookie cutter."

The irony (and this isn't addressed to the OP, it's just the truth) is that most neighborhoods with pools and families, even the older ones, ARE cookie cutter.

You may not be able to see it from the outside because so many older homes have been remodeled and added on to over the years, but even when I was a little kid around here, you could walk into the first house my folks built, then walk down the street and walk into another one that had the exact same floorplan.

And, now? You could NEVER tell that from the outside of those houses.
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Old 04-12-2017, 02:40 PM
 
Location: Somewhere
2,213 posts, read 2,918,945 times
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When we planned our move to NC we crossed Durham off of our list due to schools and crime. I know a lot of people love Durham but it just was not for us.

My husband actually grew up there (and still has family there) and is shocked at how bad the crime is. Sure you can find a nice home in a somewhat safe neighborhood but then you have to drive through pockets of really bad areas. And the bad areas keep spreading and bringing their crime to the nicer areas.

We finally settled in the north Raleigh area (north of 540 west of Capital Blvd) and have been very happy here. We are also a multiracial family so we did want an area with some diversity.
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Old 04-12-2017, 03:01 PM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,049,927 times
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You know, I really think that almost anywhere in the Triangle is going to be fine for a multiracial family. Certainly some areas will be better than others but it's not like there are just horrible places to avoid that are anywhere in the core communities of the Triangle.
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Old 04-12-2017, 03:31 PM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,633 posts, read 36,593,496 times
Reputation: 19838
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedZin View Post
The irony (and this isn't addressed to the OP, it's just the truth) is that most neighborhoods with pools and families, even the older ones, ARE cookie cutter.

I say that all the time. Neighborhoods would look pretty horrible if they were made up of completely different housing styles and types. My house in NY was built in 1938, guess what all the houses at my end of my block had almost the exact same elevation and blueprint. The other end looked like a giant had come in and threw down every housing style imaginable and frankly that end of the block did not look that great...too discordant. You can get away with it on larger properties but not on .15.
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Old 04-12-2017, 04:27 PM
Status: "Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!" (set 9 days ago)
 
Location: Cary, NC
43,095 posts, read 76,681,954 times
Reputation: 45408
Quote:
Originally Posted by twingles View Post
I say that all the time. Neighborhoods would look pretty horrible if they were made up of completely different housing styles and types. My house in NY was built in 1938, guess what all the houses at my end of my block had almost the exact same elevation and blueprint. The other end looked like a giant had come in and threw down every housing style imaginable and frankly that end of the block did not look that great...too discordant. You can get away with it on larger properties but not on .15.
I love diverse custom neighborhoods!

MacGregor Downs.
Lochmere
Brookhaven in Raleigh.
Yeah, the popularity of .15 acres or less makes it a challenge.

I also wish that we had more design that was appropriate for the site, rather than "Donald Trump Combover" architecture of false facades and crapola, with nothing interesting on the other three sides.
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