Possible move from Marietta to Holly Springs. Need opinions on the feel of each town. (Raleigh: new house, neighborhood)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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If you like "rural" with town amenities, HS sounds good and also Wake Forest is a nice town. As long as you don't plan to work in HS! WF has a nice walkable, small downtown area, with local stores. And then there's the new build, and Heritage Subdiv (golf course) with townhomes and single fam., and The Factory on site which has ice skating and roller rinks. You can find a home there on acreage if you don't want homes close to you. Across the road from Main St is New Falls Neuse Rd and Wakefield Subdiv...also new, lots of sidewalks to take long walks. ANd on site banking, stores, etc..
You can get to RTP from these places by going onto 540, or to Durham va hwy 98...my preference as you drive over Falls Lake, a lovely scenic, calming drive to prepare you for a frenetic workday!
Apex is nice and has some rural areas too. As well as nice little downtown area. Wendell is similar only no way near as built up. Land there is cheaper and it's further from RTP but not too bad a commute via the 64 bypass and I-540.
Maybe if you gave us a list of No, No's...we could come up with places you shouldn't consider
If you like "rural" with town amenities, HS sounds good and also Wake Forest is a nice town. As long as you don't plan to work in HS! WF has a nice walkable, small downtown area, with local stores. And then there's the new build, and Heritage Subdiv (golf course) with townhomes and single fam., and The Factory on site which has ice skating and roller rinks. You can find a home there on acreage if you don't want homes close to you. Across the road from Main St is New Falls Neuse Rd and Wakefield Subdiv...also new, lots of sidewalks to take long walks. ANd on site banking, stores, etc..
You can get to RTP from these places by going onto 540, or to Durham va hwy 98...my preference as you drive over Falls Lake, a lovely scenic, calming drive to prepare you for a frenetic workday!
Apex is nice and has some rural areas too. As well as nice little downtown area. Wendell is similar only no way near as built up. Land there is cheaper and it's further from RTP but not too bad a commute via the 64 bypass and I-540.
Maybe if you gave us a list of No, No's...we could come up with places you shouldn't consider
LOL, I'd agree...don't live in HS and work in WF or vice versa, you will not like the commute!
But WF is a very nice area. I have not lived there but we have been up there plenty for hockey games/tournaments for the kids. To kill time between games we'd drive around checking out the neighborhoods, dining and shopping.
Being from the Hous area, I can't get over getting to the airport in a clean 40 minutes. And I live south of Holly Springs by 12 mile. All of the active towns are what I call close. Cary, Raleigh, South to Fort Bragg. It is loosing a lot of small town/counrty feel. Unless you buy out in the country. But Be advised. When buying THIS IS HOLLY SPRINGS. So check in plans for Springs. They can run in your yard. This winter we had a few iced over yards.
Justthe6ofus, that was fantastic. I was so interested to read that, as these are things we're thinking about. (We just spent the weekend on a whirlwind drive around the area to see if it might be our fit!)
RaleighLass, we probably should have spent more time in Wake Forest, because we only got the "far out" feeling. We had limited time and had to get on the road back home, so we didn't get to see the actual town. DH was concerned that it was a little TOO far out, but it would depend on where the shopping and such were. We only got to see a few developments, but I have to say that I fell in love with a few houses in the Heritage neighborhood. Big-time.
I'm familiar with Marietta as I have a very good friend who lives there, and works as a librarian in the Marietta Schools.
You should find many of the areas in the general RTP area of the state comparable to the feel of Marietta, but what comes to mind is Holly Springs, Apex, or Cary -- particularly SW Cary, which is close to the RTP. Good schools -- although in a bit of an upheaval right now -- lovely homes, and child-friendly neighborhoods, many of which you'll find with small swimming pools and playgrounds and walking trails.
Any of the areas offer easy accessibility to Raleigh or Durham, and other outlying areas, and within two hours you can be at the beaches on the coast, or several hours to the NC mountains. Holly Springs, Apex,and Cary have a small-town feel, and if you crave more excitement or culture, you can easily be in Raleigh or Durham, where you can find sporting events like baseball, soccer, and hockey, or visit the NC Museum of Art, attend concerts, etc.
Shame you didn't get into Wake Forest proper, you were 5 mins from the cute downtown area. Yes, Heritage is nice! If you drove from Holly Springs to WF, then it would seen far out just as HS seems to me driving from E, NE Raleigh. WF is no further than most of the other small towns here are from the center of town. Glad you to got to visit!
My husband also works at the plant you are referring to. He's about 15 minutes away from the plant where we live in SW Cary. We moved here from out of state a little over 2 years ago and have gotten to know all of the areas mentioned fairly well. So here's my thoughts:
We are in Cary and get all the benefits of living in Cary. We are a bit down from the main section of Cary, away from major traffic and traffic jams. At first I felt like we were way too far down, but now that we've lived here for awhile, we are close to just about everything we need to get to. Parks, lakes, community centers, YMCA are either within walking distance or a short drive away. Schools (2 elementary, middle and high school) are all within walking distance. Major shopping is maybe 15 minutes away (Beaver Creek, Crossroads). I can get to Crabtree Mall in 20 minutes. The airport is 25 minutes away max. And very important to me, the area is beautiful. I really love the whole feel of this part of Cary. The town of Cary takes good care of their town.
We like parts of Apex, too, and are less than 5 minutes from Holly Springs, which is my least favorite of the 3 areas. We feel like we can take advantage of the best these three towns have to offer as we are in a very central location off West Lake Road.
We moved four years ago from Marietta (East Cobb), not far from Johnson Ferry Road and Paper Mill. We moved to Cary, just north of Holly Springs.
Holly Springs is a bit more rural, but you have easy reach to the essentials: grocery, schools, etc. Major shopping (e.g. Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.) is located at Crossroads and Cary Town Center--about 15-20 minutes from Holly Springs. There are a number of great restaurants in Cary and in downtown Raleigh. It is not Buckhead, but how often did we go to Buckhead--not every week.
The pluses are exceptional: more golf courses, more bike trails (yes, there is a trail comparable to the Silver Comet), more parks--and the state farmers market in Raleigh (maybe 30 minutes) is outstanding.
The North Carolina Art Museum ranks on a par with the High in downtown Atlanta.
I lived in Holly Springs for 3 years and can give you the skinny. Just moved a few months ago to Raleigh.
Holly Springs is decent and I don't have much bad to say about it. I lived in the Bridgewater subdivision with Anderson Homes. You can get a lot of house for the money in HS, and I never really felt unsafe. Seems like a family type area all the way around.
There's not much to do in HS, though, and I found it quite boring. If you need quiet and family, you shouldn't have a problem there.
HS is getting a few huge contracts for larger stores like Target and such in the next few years. So it should be a lot easier to get stuff and not have to get into Apex or Cary.
On the negative side, HS is a bit outdated and has some eyesores of older homes, abandon mobile homes and just some shadiness here and there that can take away from the town. But it has come a long way in the 10 years I've been in NC, and it keeps getting better with more nice stores and places going up.
The awesome thing about the Raleigh metro area that's it's very easy to get around.
Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Raleigh - The hwy system here is SO much easier that Atlanta and the traffic is a piece of cake compared to ATL.
I'ved in ATL from 93-99. It's god awful with traffic and even if you offered to double my salary - I would not move back to the Atlanta area. The whole metro area is on lockdown from 4-7 pm every night and you can hardly get anywhere.
A lot of people commute long distances to work just to live in Holly Springs.....so I would start looking in Holly Springs since you will be working there.
Another option would be where Cary and Fuquay intersects around the Brighton Forest neighborhood area...which would be only a 10 min drive to Holly Springs. That seems to be a really nice area.
Holly springs will grow in the next 10 years. Right now there's not a whole lot of shopping there, but Apex is only 10 min or so away and there's a lot of shopping in Apex.
Eventually I 540 will link with Holly Springs and that will make the town grow a good bit and probably increase property values.
Apex is nice, but there is a very active railroad and you would have to be careful not to buy something too close to the rail.
A lot of people who work in RDU live in Holly Springs...it is a really really desirable spot!
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