affordable area outside chapel hill/pittsboro? (Raleigh, Greensboro: condos, low crime, homes)

[WoMad]

We are a young family looking to relocate to the research triangle. We have been looking at jobs in the pittsboro area, but understand that it is very expensive to live there. Is there a decent surrounding area where you can get more than a delapidated ranch or condo for $120,000?

Criteria:
within an hour of chapel hill and pittsboro
(we also have family in raleigh, so in between would be great)
decent schools
decent land size
low crime
you know, typical family stuff

Thanks!

[mdp_az]

Sanford might be your best bet at that price point, but even so I'm not sure you'll find it all for $120k.

[sneezecake]

Mebane/Burlington/Graham?

[al_roethlisberger]

Indeed, if you like the Triangle/Triad area, and you are looking for land, open space, affordability, and more of a small/mid sized town feel, you might consider Sanford. $120,000 is a tough price point, but you can find many affordable homes in the sub $150,000 range in Sanford quite regularly.

We are almost smack-dab in the middle of the state, and practically equidistant from Greensboro, Raleigh/Durham/Cary, and Fayetteville. So we have easy ~30min access to any of those metro areas, and are equally 2-3 hours from beach or mountains.

Sanford has everything you need, being a mid-sized city of around 30k population, but still has a mayor that will wave to you and probably know you by name. And if there is something you "want" that Sanford doesn't have, again, the larger cities are just 30 minutes away.

We moved here, by way of a quick 1yr in Cary, from San Jose CA and have been very pleased. In the short 3 years we've been here, we've made more friends and gotten more involved in local government, community, etc than we were able to during a decade in the "big city". It really seems like you can make a difference and see progress in these smaller communities.

Being relatively small, Sanford has a variety of housing, everything from rural farms, historic housing, new condos, to golf/gated communities... all within minutes of each other.

We've also got several new schools in Lee County, and we've found the school system to be great.

And with the BRAC program, the area around Ft. Bragg is expecting up to 30k new senior military and skilled population growth, almost 10k of which is expected in Lee County by 2011/12. So we should see some great investment in the area even considering the current economy.

Also with the local military family population(as well as other residents), we have many young families in the area.

City of Sanford, North Carolina | Official Government Website

Sanford Area Chamber of Commerce

Downtown Sanford, INC. | Sanford, North Carolina


Here are some maps showing Sanford's relative position in the state:

Live Well Centered.


Good luck!
Al

[PDXmom]

Maybe check Moncure & Siler City in Chatham county. However, I really do not know about school quality or crime.