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I moved here from very expensive West Coast 4 years ago and love it here. The COL is all relative, to me and probably you it is cheap, but to people from the Midwest it's not really. We're spoiled I was only 45 minutes from the beach but now 2 hours but you get used to it.
I would like it here more than Charleston- less hot summers (still plenty hot though), some "real" winter, better jobs, a pro sports team, 3 major universities, a tech sector.
I'll echo that Mexican, Chinese, Vietnames, Thai food is somewhat lacking and the lack of public transit is the negatives.
Plenty to do from breweries to parks to lakes to the beach 2 hours away, museums, restuarants, tons of festivals.
I will preface my response by saying that much of what I will share I have shared before in threads like this, so I am sure many of the regulars will be saying "not that guys story again!"
We moved down two years ago next month from MA. Prior to moving down, we had come down for a long weekend in January then a one day "look at all the houses we liked and figure out which one we will put an offer on" in February. Raleigh wasn't even on our radar 65 days before we closed, we were actually looking out West. I was born in OH, moved to MA when I was 8 and then moved to Indonesia when I was 11 only coming back to the States for college. Moving "sight unseen" is sorta what I have done in life. When our plans to go West fell apart (do to Real Estate prices inflating) , my wife and I pulled out a map and starting crossing out states we wouldn't live in; basically the Pacific NW, Plains/Midwest and anything South of NC were easily removed from consideration. Raleigh caught our eye during the visit and the rest is history.
Enough about me.
We left MA for the same reasons you state wanting to leave NJ. We wanted a "better quality of life" which to us was a better sense of community to raise our kids in, where neighbors know and talk to one another and an area where our kids could flourish. The weather was also on the list as was real estate. Yes taxes are lower here on real estate, but that comes with a trade off. I can't speak from personal experience yet (my daughter starts Kindergarten in July) but from everything i can find online and with neighbors, there is a wide spread of school quality here ranging from great to "holy **** thats just adolescent babysitting". School was important to us, so we chose areas based on that.
There are some great resident experts on the RE thing here, so I'll let them guide you where you can find what all you are looking for.
As for the "soft" things you are looking for. There are a ton of towns/areas/developments that have great convenience to them; we live in Heritage in Wake Forest and don't even really have to leave our "neighborhood" to go to the grocery store, the bank, the dentist, our doctors office, my daughters preschool. It really isn't like anything that exists in MA.
We are 2.5 hours to the beach and roughly 4 hours to the Mountains. The neighbors at the corner we bought a house at have become many of our best friends in a short time. Family gatherings in the driveway after work, dinners on the weekends, weekend trips to the Breweries out towards Asheville, or to the Pamlico River or to a beach house are largely readily available if you have the desire.
The brewery scene here is great and in most cases kid friendly and many of them have food/ food trucks that are great. Lots of greenways; either within a neighborhood (Heritage has a pretty extensive greenway system that connects you to the HS or to other parts of town) or public. Good parks downtown, great kids stuff (Pullen Park, Marbles, NC Museum of Science) and the zoo in Asheboro is surprisingly great. Not Cincinnati Zoo great or Philly Zoo great, but way better than Franklin Park in Boston or Roger Williams in Providence.
The foodie thing seems to be growing. Our biggest disappoint here frankly (and perhaps trivial) is the Chinese food. We ate Chinese once a week in MA (my parents would come over to see my daughter on Weds and we would eat Chinese). I have tried every Chinese food restaurant North of Raleigh between Durham and Wake Forest and not a single one has been good enough to go to a second time. When we go back to MA to see family, we eat Chinese basically daily.
In short, we have grown to really really like living here. Yes there was an adjustment (especially for my wife. We went back to MA for Thanksgiving the year we moved down and she was like "me and the kids are staying, come get us at XMas"....so it took her awhile to warm up). The dads go bowling, have driveway beer summits, the wives do wine and tv show get togethers routinely. A horde of 30 kids live within 6 houses of our corner get together everyday after school for basketball, bike riding, street football, you name it.
It is quite literally "Pleasantville".
In closing, I know little about SC. But one thing that was key to our selecting this area is the job market/wage rate. I work in IT and this area has a great pool for that. I'm not sure SC can come close to offering either.
I would aim your housing focus on the type of vibe you want; urban/ city feel, or cookie cutter "Pleasantville" suburbs, or more mature "small town" feel, or out in the sticks in an area that hasn't fully developed yet. All options are available.
Sorry for the disjointed response.
I lived near Heritage (and its newly built neighbor now, Traditions) for many years. I don't dispute any of what you are saying... I'm glad you've had a great experience... However will the OP really be able to replicate that with a housing budget at or below 300K? Now? I'm really not sure I'm buying the line that you can find great schools with (what another poster indicated) a pool and tennis community, for under 300K -- unless you're talking about a townhouse. I know because we were looking at relocating a couple of years ago to an area with better schools and whatever SFHs we found under 300K didn't usually come with those types of amenities -- and whatever did come up usually involved a bidding war, from what we heard from those fully in the real estate game in that price point at the time.
I mean, I would have completely agreed with all of this info even 5 years ago, but now I feel like it's overpromising what is available at that price point in the Triangle. If the OP can up the budget a little, or is willing to definitely live without a pool community or more average schools, then yes. But great schools + pool + <$300k feels dubious.
Outside of that particular point, I agree there are a lot of Pleasantville subdivisions in the Triangle and there is generally speaking good quality of life.
ok.
here is "daily life" in Orange County (Chapel Hill) today:
1. right now, it is 72 at 11:30AM. partly cloudy (mostly sunny).
2. two hours ago, our dogs and i went walking in the woods looking for deer antlers. they shed this time of year.
3. did not find any, but we did find a snipe (woodcock) nest with four eggs already.
4. got some leftover baked ziti in the oven for lunch.
5. yes, i took off on a fabulous Friday in February.
this afternoon, the real work starts:
1. washing the cars, vacuuming, etc.
2. hanging the laundry on the clothesline.
3. pruning some trees. i am way late on this.
Homes around me here in Garner are $200k with 2/3 acre lots, middle of town, and only 10 minutes from downtown Raleigh. Yes, it really is 10 minutes from my driveway to a parking deck downtown. 1.5 hours from the beach making a day trip easy. We discovered we get all of the amenities (foods, theater, shows, museums, concerts, etc) of Raleigh for half the real estate costs. I have worked for a software company in RTP for 20 years and is a daily 35 minutes away straight down I40. Very happy with it.
If you want to get the feel for Garner just go to Angie's restaurant on a Saturday morning and watch the people. Garner is more blue collar in nature, southern, diverse, and friendly. We have lived in Garner for 25 years after moving from western PA and absolutely love it. Cant' recommend it enough. Another town to consider is quaint Clayton depending on where your work is. Its about 10-15 minutes further then Garner but can find great deals on real estate there...
A typical weekend day from Spring to Fall at our house is spent entirely outside on our covered deck. Will have breakfast out there followed by puttering around in our flower beds and butterfly gardens. If I don't have any home maintenance items that need done then I'll typically paint or draw out on the deck. If friends come over then it will be music, board games and corn hole. In the evening we unusually get the fire pit going and sit on the swings. Kids like to roast marshmallows and make camper pies. We do attend a lot of concerts and visit the various museums a lot. We like to travel and Raleigh makes a great halfway point to explore the east coast. Also eat out way too much judging by my waist line. We also go to the outer banks a few times a year and the mountains in the spring and fall. We really enjoy southern living.
There are 3 houses in Park Village under $300K, walk to both Davis Drive schools, zoned for Green Hope HS, pool, tennis, two playgrounds and greenway access...yeah they are not abundant, but houses are out there. Even more if they will take a (almost brand new) townhouse. This couple of 28 and 30 years old, hopefully they have many years to upgrade houses.
One of my friends moved out of our neighborhood to a house zoned for Cary HS and paid right around $300K. Right near DT Cary, and she's very happy.
Originally from NC, moved to Charleston and stayed three years...moved back to NC to
...get away from the heat and humidity, widespread crime, higher prices overall...ie property taxes in the city were twice what I pay now. It's getting terribly crowded, and traffic jams are numerous daily. I lived in a townhome so that was an issue for me...back to a sfh.
IMHO, the two states are NOT comparable. The only thing they share is the Carolina name.
Unless they’re from UpEast Maine or the sticks of New Hampshire real estate prices here are 40-60% less than what they are in New England.
Towns in the middle of nowhere MA, 45 miles south of Boston with the nearest highway 25 minutes away get $215/sq foot.
Forget about getting close to any metro area up there at anything approaching what RE goes for here ($/sq ft)
I lived in New England and regret moving away to the Carolinas (and Fla before that).
With way higher pay, MUCH more in the ways of things to do, way better medical, access to resources etc New England is a better bet.. even with the higher costs just education alone is a reason to consider it instead. Especially with kids I'd be thinking about that. NC/SC aren't exactly known for their educational systems and rank nearly at or near the bottom in the nation for education below the college level. Even with the "pockets" of good schools they won't even touch the quality of a "mediocre" school in New England. I've found the cost of living in NC to not be as affordable as people say. I'm sure maybe 5-10 years ago it may have been and I can't argue that. Im also in no doubt taxes are cheaper here than in NJ. Overall tho, other than weather and taxes, the move is imo a step down in quality of life for family with younger kids. Your loss of access to wonderful resources and close proximity to cities with a lot to offer is a big down side.
I lived in New England and regret moving away to the Carolinas (and Fla before that).
With way higher pay, MUCH more in the ways of things to do, way better medical, access to resources etc New England is a better bet.. even with the higher costs just education alone is a reason to consider it instead. Especially with kids I'd be thinking about that. NC/SC aren't exactly known for their educational systems and rank nearly at or near the bottom in the nation for education below the college level. Even with the "pockets" of good schools they won't even touch the quality of a "mediocre" school in New England. I've found the cost of living in NC to not be as affordable as people say. I'm sure maybe 5-10 years ago it may have been and I can't argue that. Im also in no doubt taxes are cheaper here than in NJ. Overall tho, other than weather and taxes, the move is imo a step down in quality of life for family with younger kids. Your loss of access to wonderful resources and close proximity to cities with a lot to offer is a big down side.
Just out of curiosity, where in the Carolinas do/did you live? I would disagree with most of your statements as far as the Triangle goes.
Just out of curiosity, where in the Carolinas do/did you live? I would disagree with most of your statements as far as the Triangle goes.
I live in Charlotte so I'm right on the border of NC and SC. I've seen the schools in both. I just got back from the triangle area last week actually and admittedly I was bored as was my husband. We went because we had always hear such great things but the city was a ghost town even in the evening compared to what we're used to and VERY tiny. I felt like I could have walked from one end to the other in a very short time. . Raleigh is a significantly smaller city than Charlotte which is significantly smaller than Boston. Both seem lacking in comparison to a lot of things.. Crossing the border into SC can be a scary experience depending on where you go. Fort. Mill is ok and their school system is better than most in regards to the surrounding area. I'd say Cary is a nice area, we really enjoyed downtown (beautiful) but with OP's budget in mind I dunno what they'd get there. I don't know about any other surrounding towns because we have limited experience there. I was kinda painting with broad strokes in relation to the Carolinas vs the NE because it was previously brought up. I'm sure individual areas vary but I do think the areas are lacking compared to what you can get from NYC to Boston
Last edited by Sweetbottoms; 02-08-2019 at 11:25 AM..
I live in Charlotte so I'm right on the border of NC and SC. I've seen the schools in both. I just got back from the triangle area last week actually and admittedly I was bored as was my husband. We went because we had always hear such great things but the city was a ghost town even in the evening compared to what we're used to and VERY tiny. I felt like I could have walked from one end to the other in a very short time. . Raleigh is a significantly smaller city than Charlotte which is significantly smaller than Boston. Both seem lacking in comparison to a lot of things.. Crossing the border into SC can be a scary experience depending on where you go. Fort. Mill is ok and they're school system is better than most in regards to the surrounding area. I'd say Cary is a nice area, we really enjoyed downtown (beautiful) but with OP's budget in mind I dunno what they'd get there. I don't know about any other surrounding towns because we have limited experience there. I was kinda painting with broad strokes in relation to the Carolinas vs the NE because it was previously brought up. I'm sure individual areas vary but I do think the areas are lacking compared to what you can get from NYC to Boston
Ok, so you've never lived in the Triangle (which is what this forum is and what the OP is inquiring about), so you really don't know much about it.
You're painting the entire state with a very broad brush, especially in regards to education, medical, and cost of living. Anyone moving here that is looking for an urban lifestyle and doesn't understand that Raleigh is smaller than Boston for example, needs to do a lot more research.
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