Help on what Town to Live in (Cary, Apex: apartment, lease)

[twingles]

Originally Posted by m378

Holly Springs and Apex are out of the price range for SFH.

Fuquay may be do-able, not sure about Wake Forest.

Can get into Apex but it will be a tiny older house. We could probably use more info on the commute, don't want to recommend Fuquay if the job is in Wake Forest and so on.

I'd target a townhouse and trade up once you run out of room, honestly. It's very common here.

Many people move here thinking this area is cheap and it's really not any longer. That may be a nice budget in Buffalo unfortunately it's not here anymore.

[skaternum]

No offense, but how much research *did* you do? Wake County is one giant school district. Pretty much everything in the whole region is suburb, except the not-very-big downtown areas. And 250-300k won't get you in a sfh close to downtown. Almost all of the Raleigh area is safe, with a few notable exceptions. Crime stat maps are available online.

I think you're going to have to look further out, but don't bother in Apex, Cary, Holly Springs. And I think you're going to need to warm to the idea of an older house.

[TarHeelNick]

Originally Posted by Tracy432

More of my musts would be:

- 5 min from Grocery store, shopping, etc.
- Has a decent amount of things to do
- Around 250-300K housing, can get decent house for your money
- Safe area
- Good school district for soon future children
- Suburbs

You are going to hear this a lot and probably already do know but it is certainly worth repeating...

We don't have school districts here like you do in NY. With the exception of Chapel Hill (waaaaaay out of the budget) the "school districts" here are County-wide; there are countless threads here discussing the pros and cons of this especially recently but it is just the way it is.

That being said; generally speaking you can find what you are looking for in some of the more "further out" suburban areas on the far south, east, and northeast areas of Wake County. Fuquay, Wake Forest/Rolesville, Knightdale, potentially Holly Springs.

From a "potential future value" perspective; my personal recommendation would be Fuquay or Wake Forest.

Most of my relatives are in and around WNY; more-so around Rochester area. They get sticker-shock with the prices of homes here compared to there; but sticker-shock the other way when it comes to property taxes.

While a house with a "price tag" of $250k here may be a pittance to what type of house you can find in WNY with that "price tag"....when you compare the monthly payments once property taxes are taken into consideration....the "bang for your buck" perspective changes considerably.

[farebluenc]

Maybe check out Wendell or Knightdale.

[brickandiron]

You can buy a smaller, older SFH in central Cary (older neighborhoods) for 250-300k.

Meets all the other musts, too.

[Fiona8484]

I’d also say Fuquay or Wake Forest. Going to have to go to a townhome with your budget if you want the more desired towns.

[enTERPRising]

Ppl may shoot holes into this method; but, it worked for us in Atlanta, where school ratings had a significant impact on home values. Greatschools.com has a tie in with Zillow. Search cities/towns for the school's ratings. Once you find a school you like, there is a link to homes for sale in that area (via Zillow).

I think the school ratings objectiveness may be up for debate. Also, doesn't account for the future (schools' ratings can change pretty quickly; you may progress to a higher housing budget and move, etc.)

But, you can traverse the Triangle area fairly quickly (non-rush hour). For example, I needed to go from the Lake Wheeler area to RTP one weekend. Thought it would take over 30 mins, looking at a map. But, I got there closer to 20 mins. Point is, where ever you end up, you'll be able to cover a wide swath of the area in 25 mins evenings/weekends.

[twingles]

Originally Posted by enTERPRising

Ppl may shoot holes into this method; but, it worked for us in Atlanta, where school ratings had a significant impact on home values. Greatschools.com has a tie in with Zillow. Search cities/towns for the school's ratings. Once you find a school you like, there is a link to homes for sale in that area (via Zillow).

.

Very often zillow is linked to incorrect schools....even in areas with small districts. Almost impossible to believe they get it right here annnnnnd she doesn't have kids yet and we know how stable school assignments are here.

[BoSox 15]

Originally Posted by Tracy432

More of my musts would be:

- 5 min from Grocery store, shopping, etc.
- Has a decent amount of things to do
- Around 250-300K housing, can get decent house for your money
- Safe area
- Good school district for soon future children
- Suburbs

Replying to your "must have" list

- I could be wrong but just about every town within 30 minutes of Raleigh should have a grocery store within 5 minutes.

- What do you mean by "decent amount of things to do"? What do you like to do? Like above, every Raleigh suburb has dinner/drinking options for adults and parks and rec stuff for kids.

- To get "decent house for your money" you're looking at the outskirts of the suburbs you mentioned. That's not to say you can't find anything in that price point but I'm imagining you're looking at an 80's-90's house thats going to need a remodel.

- I would say that all of the suburbs are "safe". Even Raleigh in the run down sections is still safer than a big city.

- As mentioned previously the entire county is the school district. With respect to your "local school" your kids will most likely be going to school with your neighbors.

- Your price point leaves no choice but suburbs (but don't fret the whole area is "suburbs"). Raleigh proper feels like a suburb, actually.

Out of curiosity, have you visited here before?

[Tracy432]

Coming from buffalo, honestly our prices aren't too crazy different from here when you put in how much cheaper the taxes are down here.

I feel like with townhomes they are still considered "Renting" correct? I guess I feel like I want my own space and own yard without being smushed next to someone.

May I ask - has any of you gone with a townhome first before a house? Is it similar at all? As that is not much a thing in buffalo as townhomes are just as expensive as houses usually.