Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary
 [Register]
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary The Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-15-2009, 10:44 AM
 
5 posts, read 6,770 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

This is a really helpful forum. I have been reading threads for 2 days and have learned a lot. Our family will be moving from N. Florida to the Triangle area in 3 months. We plan on buying a new home as soon as our house here sells. I would love some advice on areas, because I am really overwhelmed with the choices. I plan to visit the area at the end of September, but will have limited time so I need to narrow things down.

These are our main considerations:
1. Commute time- I will be working at UNC 2x/ week and NCS 2x/ week. I would like to be within 35 minutes of each of those locations. I will go to Duke fairly frequently as well. I also travel for work several times a month, so need to be able to jump on an interstate quickly to head to Charlotte, Winston-Salem or Southern Virginia.

2. Housing- I don't like neighborhoods with very small lots. I want at least .25 acres, hopefully bigger. We want a house built within the last 20 years. We are willing to update the home, but don't want a major fixer upper. We would like to pay no more than $300k.

3. Family Life- We have a 6 year old, so I would like to be in a neighborhood with lots of families near a parks or playground. It would be nice to have sidewalks for bike riding. A community pool or nearby swim club. I'm not sure if I want to be in a HOA neighborhood- I have never experienced that. Schools aren't an issue because we homeschool. Our daughter is active- piano, horseback riding, swimming, etc. so proximity to those type activities would be great. We are not interested in neighborhoods with a "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality.

So, does any thing come to mind? Are we realistic? West Cary? North Raleigh? Apex seems a little too far south from Duke and UNC.
Thanks for any insight you can offer.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-15-2009, 01:51 PM
 
3,155 posts, read 10,741,519 times
Reputation: 2127
We live in South Durham (South of Southpoint). It has incredibly easily access to i-40. And there are several of our neighbors down here who work at UNC, Duke, and or NCSU. Lots of households w/ one person working at NCSU and one at UNC etc. They all say this is the best centralized spot between the universities.

There is also a very active home school network down here. The pool neighborhoods will all have HOAs. Most neighborhoods down here have been built in the last 20 years and have HOAs... most also have .25 to .33 for the lots. Some neighborhoods like ours does not have a pool, but many of us join either Woodcroft, Hope Vally Farms, Parkwood, or Meadowmont as they all are open to non-residents. Parkwood has a large number of home school kids too and has by far the best swim team in Durham. (It's not an ubber-parent type of swim team or pool.... more the loving supportive of all type.)

South Durham is loaded w/ kids and lots of good neighborhood family fun.

Good luck on your search.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 09:45 AM
 
Location: South Beach and DT Raleigh
13,966 posts, read 24,085,502 times
Reputation: 14761
I imagine that most people will probably try to find a location for you that's central between the two universities. (BTW PDXmom, I wouldn't agree that the "central" location is near Southpoint. I think it's probably closer to Morrisville). In the end, I don't think that really matters...read on...
I think there's another option for you. Whether you are closer to one university or the other, your total weekly commute time and distance on I-40 will be about the same no matter where you choose to live. At the end of the day, you'll have to travel through RTP two times a week. My advice would be to look for easy access to I-40 but live in the place that you think is best for your family. You may choose to be central in order to even out your commute. You can choose to have a very easy commute for 2 days and a longer one on the other days by living nearer one university than the other.

Also, the time distance between the two universities is pretty close to your 35 minute target time. But, that's travel time without rush hour.

Oh, another thing to keep in mind is that heading East on I-40 in the AM and West on I-40 in the afternoon/evening will often mean that you're driving into the sunrise/sunset. That woud be a huge issue for me if I were choosing my location and commute patterns. But, given your work arrangement, you will not be able to avoid that two days a week.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
12,475 posts, read 32,191,857 times
Reputation: 9450
I'd suggest North Raleigh, near the Leesville Road area. You'll have a better chance of finding at least a l/4 acre AND you'll have the best access to activities for your children.

The Cary/Morrisville area would also work for you but as this area is fairly new, you may hve a bit of a difficult time finding your lot size.

Vicki
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 11:42 AM
 
757 posts, read 2,079,113 times
Reputation: 756
We commute to both NC state area and UNC on a regular basis. We did choose Apex...but I have found it's not the best point inbetween the two. It takes me 40 minutes door to door with no traffic at 6:00 am from Apex to Chapel Hill and takes 20 minutes to get to NC state. On the Map Apex looks like a good inbetween place..but you are really looking at backroads to UNC and a lot of deer on the side of the road coming from Apex. When they get the toll road built, it will be a much easier commute. I have a friend that lives near 540 in North Raleigh and it only takes her 30 minutes to get to work at UNC. It looks farther on the map than Apex, but she has better access to major roads going directly to UNC.

Morrisville is a really good inbetween area and maybe even Cary, but the prices of homes are much higher.

The South point area in South Durham would be really convienent to both Chapel Hill and South Raleigh. I have a friend that lives in Woodcroft and it only takes her 10 minutes to get to Chapel Hill. It would take about 20 min to get to downtown Raleigh in low traffic.

Also, once they get the new 540 loop finished...Apex and Holly Springs both will have an easier commute to Chapel Hill, so they would be good options. I've heard the completion date is set for 2012, but it keeps getting pushed back so who knows when it really will be complete.

Anywhere that you can get to a major highway within a 5 minute drive will make Chapel Hill easy to get to. Oh, Cary Park is in Cary but on the Chatham Co line and is an easy commute between the two. Carpenter Village in Morrisvile/Cary is really nice and you can walk to the library on the paved trails.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 12:12 PM
 
3,021 posts, read 11,044,842 times
Reputation: 1639
Living centrally is a nice idea. It might also be good to live closer to one campus so you'll have a shorter commute some days than others. I like the North Raleigh suggestion because I think there might be some good options there and it's reasonably close to State. I also think southern Durham would be a good option because it's convenient to I-40 and UNC (and the real estate is more affordable than in Chapel Hill).

You'll find activities for children all over the Triangle - it's an extremely family-friendly area - so I wouldn't worry about that unless, for instance, one of your children is a competitive figure skater & needs to be on the ice at 5am every morning.

There are a few smaller neighborhoods tucked around that don't have HOAs, but it certainly feels like the majority of homes built in the past 20 years are in neighborhoods with HOAs. If you want to live in a neighborhood with a community pool, you'll have to deal with an HOA. Don't let that worry you too much, though. Just do your own research. Not all HOAs are created equal. Some are more restrictive than others. For instance, I live in Woodcroft in southern Durham and in my neighborhood we can paint our homes pretty much any colors we want as long as it isn't exactly the same as a neighboring house. However, a friend of mine used to live in a neighborhood where the HOA was so controlling that they wouldn't even allow her to change her forest green shutters to navy blue. This is more of a problem for some people than others. In my experience, the great thing about my neighborhood's HOA is that it maintains our 6 miles of paved walking trails. That's worth the expense to me, but I can see how others may feel differently. That's okay. Different strokes for different folks and all that.



Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl View Post
Oh, another thing to keep in mind is that heading East on I-40 in the AM and West on I-40 in the afternoon/evening will often mean that you're driving into the sunrise/sunset. That woud be a huge issue for me if I were choosing my location and commute patterns. But, given your work arrangement, you will not be able to avoid that two days a week.
I think my husband has the opposite commute as you! He heads east on I-40 in the AM and west on I-40 in the PM (from southern Durham to RTP and back). From what I see on the morning news and what he experiences personally, it's a less crowded & faster drive than what people going the other direction experience. Sometimes he'll drive along Hwy 54 just for some variety. The times of his commute combined with the dense trees in this area mean that the sun is not a problem for him. Just FYI, rnc2mbfl.

Luckily, even the denser lanes of traffic only seem to come to a stand-still if there has been a big wreck. Most days the traffic seems to flow. I could tolerate it if I had to - & obviously others feel the same. If a person really hates commuting I think they should investigate it, but for a lot of people I suspect it isn't bad enough to worry about too much. Of course, I'm only speaking as a person who has watched the traffic reports on the news. The real experience might be quite different than it appears to be!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 04:22 PM
 
6,297 posts, read 16,070,788 times
Reputation: 4846
For what it's worth, people around here usually say "NC State" and not "NCS." They also say "UNC" for UNC at Chapel Hill (you had that right). And of course, just "Duke."

I remember being confused about NC State and UNC when I first moved here. Not into sports.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 04:44 PM
 
646 posts, read 2,046,894 times
Reputation: 465
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovebrentwood View Post
For what it's worth, people around here usually say "NC State" and not "NCS." They also say "UNC" for UNC at Chapel Hill (you had that right). And of course, just "Duke."

I remember being confused about NC State and UNC when I first moved here. Not into sports.
LOL....I had to read NCS several times before I figured out it was State she was speaking about.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 04:54 PM
 
Location: The Charming Town of Fuquay-Varina
393 posts, read 672,139 times
Reputation: 131
Quote:
Originally Posted by lovebrentwood View Post
For what it's worth, people around here usually say "NC State" and not "NCS."
For what it's worth, people around here usually say "State" and not "NC State".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2009, 05:14 PM
 
3,155 posts, read 10,741,519 times
Reputation: 2127
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl View Post
(BTW PDXmom, I wouldn't agree that the "central" location is near Southpoint. I think it's probably closer to Morrisville).
Well, I respectfully disagree. The Southpoint area has very easy access to I-40 which I have not always found to be the case in Morrisville. It doesn't matter if you are the "geographic center" if it takes you an extra 10-15 mins to get I-40. Plus in Morrisville you have all that plane noise from RDU.

I have a neighbor who commutes to NCSU and says it's takes about 20 mins -25 mins tops from her home (near Southpoint). Chapel is 15 mins.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:



Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:41 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top