ANy one from North Carolina?

[Luckbox]

The LOML and I are thinking of moving to North Carolina. We are thinking of the Releigh, Durham area and was wondering if anyone has any inout in the area. Such as places to stay away from or good areas to live. We are hoping to go up to the area and visit for a few days and look around to see if we can see ourselves living there, but seeing neiter of us have spent any time there would be nice to know where to look. The reason we picked the Releigh Durham area was mainly jobs. I am a programmer and she currently works as an office administrator for a constuction company, but is studying to get more involved in teh purchasing and estimating.

Thanks for any input.

[crokett]

I live in and work in the area you want to move to. I will give a quickie reply but email via the forum or pm me with your email addy and we can chat some more.

You don't want to live in City of Durham or Durham County. Crime rate and taxes are both higher per capita than most places in the state. Plus judging from what I see in the local papers neither is run nearly as well as surrounding counties. I live about 1/2 hr west of RTP. I get a lot more land for a lot less $$$. Plus it doubles chances for employment since I am about 30 minutes from Greensboro. However if you are used to suburbs/neighborhoods, etc Wake County (Raleigh/Cary) are probably where you want to be.

If you have kids, I'd rank Wake County schools first (mostly cause that is where the majority of the techworkers live) then Orange (where I live) and finally Durham. Durham County schools are as mismanaged as the city/county. Wake announced it is going to move 14 elementary schools to year-round next year if that is a concern for you.

[Tarheel]

Luckbox,

I have lived here in Cary, NC for about 22 years. Have seen it grow from a wee town of 25000 to about 130,000 in the past 20 years or so. I have raised four daughters and I too agree that the school system is excellent (Wake County schools.). They have had a little trouble keeping up with the population explosion, hence the look at year-round programs. Also. Some great colleges nearby. Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, East Carolina, NC State, Central...to name a few. We are on the outskirts of Raleigh proper and about 20 minutes to downtown Raleigh, Research Triangle Park and the airport. Great location! Only 2 short hours drive to the beach (Wilmington) and about 3.5 hours to the NC mountains.

Oh ya. Sports. We have the Stanley Cup Champions - Carolina Hurricanes hockey team, lots of minor league soccer and course great college basketball - Duke, Carolina and NC State all in the area. (Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh)

I am not sure what the job prospects look like these days in the IT world but I am sure that you could land something.

Cary is a very clean and neat town with a very low crime rate. (The previous poster is correct in remarking about Durham's crime rate.) Housing prices in some areas can be quite high as I think that I have read that there are more PhD's per capita than anywhere in the state. There are, however some neighborhoods that are quite reasonably priced.

A trip up and a quick tour around the area some weekend would be a great idea!

[Tree Farmer]

A native's point of view

I've spent all 35 of my years in NC and since I was a toddler, I've always kept my permanent residence within a hour's drive of Raleigh. Great city, decent schools, good atmosphere, nice people. Real estate is really expensive however, and has been for some time. It's always been nice to have ready access to the beach, the mountains, the city, and the colleges. I now live in the sticks about one hour south of Raleigh.

Durham has some nice spots: Duke University and the revitalized tobacco district for example, but otherwise, the "nice" parts of non-Duke Durham are on the edge of RTP and do not comprise what I'd consider to be part of Durham proper. Durham proper is likely the most mismanaged and economically retarded part of the triangle area. There's a lot of poverty and thus, an abnormal number of situations involving the blind leading the blind there. The downtown area is overwhelmingly and somewhat disproportionately African-American and this sometimes creates racial tension when trends in crime, economics, education, and related hot-button topics are discussed.

If you don't mind a commute, then I'd recommend moving out in the far reaches of southern Wake County or into a neighboring county. I was raised and educated in the so-called redneck hinterlands of neighboring Harnett County, yet I found that in college I held my own and often surpassed those smart city kids from the Wake County school system!

If you move, then consider yourself welcomed to the area!

[bigsteel15]

Luckbox,
Oh ya. Sports. We have the Stanley Cup Champions - Carolina Hurricanes hockey team

BLA, BLA, BLA

Sorry, no hijack intended, but he lives in Florida, he couldn't possibly be a hockey guy.
Oh, wait a minute Tampa beat Calgary...ha ha ha.

[Luckbox]

Thanks a lot guys, I hope to visit the area for a few days in the next couple of months and this has been very helpful. Really like the idea of being somewhere where I am not far from the colleges, cities (for work purposes), the beach, and really looking forward to the mountains. Here in Florida there are none so really looking forward to seeing them.
Schools are not a real concerned since I do not have kids. Just would like a nice quite house with a nice yard for the dog and a huge garage to set up all those tools.

And on the Hockey front I am a Penguins fan.

[jseklund]

It seems that you have a lot of responses from people who are currently in NC. This may give you another view. I went to school at Elon University in Burlington, which is about in the middle between Greensboro and Raleigh. I loved the area. I came home after I graduated (Massachusetts), but wouldn't hesitate to move back.

Great weather (mild, not too cold, not too hot- but you do get snow from time to time in the winter), the people were friendly (I'm from the northeast remember- it's relative maybe), lots to do, etc.

Having said that, I do know a few people who didn't seem to like it....but not many. Check it out and see what you think. I think you'll be happy there.