I really need input from NC fans - please!

[jjohnson]

If anyone read awhile back, I posted that DH & I were going to NC over Thanksgiving to look into relocating. Housing in Westchester County is out of control & prices in the triangle are a 1/4 of what they are here.

So we had narrowed it down the area we like to the Apex/Cary. Then a friend of mine who moved to Charlotte 2 years ago called & went "on & on" how happy she is there so we started researching the area.

I would love to hear from anyone in NC that could give me pros/cons of both areas.

Thanks,
Joyce

 

[LisaInNc]

I live in Elizabeth City which is on the coast. This area is growing and the neighboring county Camden County is one of the hottest places in the country right now.

I am an hour from the Norfolk/ Va Beach Va area and 90 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg, 40 minutes from the Outer Banks.

We moved here 12 years ago when Elizabeth City was one of the 100 best towns to live in America and have stayed ever since.

Good luck with your move!

 

[KTSMOM]

I live in Raleigh and have lived here for more than twenty years. It's a great place to live and raise your kids. The schools are excellent, homes are moderate in price (although the prices have gone up a ton recently), and lots of nice neighborhoods. Apex and Cary are nice places to live. Cary is a little larger than Apex and closer to RTP if you plan on working there. Apex is a little further out from RTP, but has some wonderful homes. I've never lived in Charlotte, but have visited there. It seems like a nice place, but from what I know it's much more of a dangerous city then Raleigh..of course they probably have suburbs like Apex/Cary where it's much safer to live. If you have any questions about this area..feel free to ask.

 

[jjohnson]

I live in Raleigh and have lived here for more than twenty years. It's a great place to live and raise your kids. The schools are excellent, homes are moderate in price (although the prices have gone up a ton recently), and lots of nice neighborhoods. Apex and Cary are nice places to live. Cary is a little larger than Apex and closer to RTP if you plan on working there. Apex is a little further out from RTP, but has some wonderful homes. I've never lived in Charlotte, but have visited there. It seems like a nice place, but from what I know it's much more of a dangerous city then Raleigh..of course they probably have suburbs like Apex/Cary where it's much safer to live. If you have any questions about this area..feel free to ask.

Thank you. I do prefer Apex. It had that small town feel to it when we visited.Could you tell me if there is a water problem all over NC or just Wake County? We had read the papers while we were there & noticed all the brown grass. I've also researched school districts & it seems Apex & Cary are good schools. Do you know anything about them?

Joyce

 

[KTSMOM]

The water problem is definately here in the Wake county area which is Cary and Apex too. We didn't get a whole lot of rain this year and that's why there is a mandatory water restriction. I can only recall this happening one other time and that was a few years ago, so this is a temporary problem. We could still water our lawns just only on certain days of the week.
Wake county has an excellent school system. There is a lot of overcrowding in the schools now and they are trying to relieve that by moving people around and there is a very good chance that all elementary schools will be year round by the 2007 school year. Go to www.wakegov.com and click on school info and it will take you out to school system website where you can see all the schools and the info on each one. They will have end of year test scores and the like.

 

[Steph in NC]

The schools in wake county are good, as the previous poster said, check out the Wake County site. They are overcrowded though. We are in Cary and love it. I won't leave except under duress, been here 15 years. Housing prices are kind of high though.

Cary/Apex western wake is booming. Prices in Holly Springs are lower than Cary and Apex. It depends on where you are working/driving to every day.

I do know a great real estate agent, pm me if you need one.

If you have any spcific area questions, I'd be glad to help.

Happy house hunting & good luck!

 

[tar heel]

Remember you are talking about moving to two of the fastest-growing areas in the South. These towns are growing so quickly that services, including water and schools, sometimes have to play catch-up. In the case of water, if there's a drought (not uncommon in the summer), there may be restrictions on watering. Some people may also choose not to water b/c of the futility (if it's not raining and it's 95 degrees every day, it takes a LOT of water) and the expense (if a community is trying to play catch-up on providing water, rates naturally go up).

Also, the climate plays a major part in the brown grass. I grew up in the North Carolina mountains, where you planted your grass, fertilized it every two or three years and kept it mowed. I've lived in both the Triangle and the Charlotte area and worked really hard -- planting, replanting, sowing lime, fertilizing twice a year, watering, aerating - for grass that still wasn't that great.

If you can afford it and the jobs are close enough, look at Chapel Hill. The schools are phenomenal and it still retains much of the small-town atmoshere, plus you have the amenities of a major university. If you go to the Charlotte area, you will probably want to head to the suburbs where the schools are more dependable. While Charlotte-Mecklenburg has schools that are on the 100 best in the nation list and possibly the best elementary school in the state (Davidson IB), a lot of the schools are not good. Davidson is another phenomenal but expensive small college town. I live 20 miles north of Charlotte and will be happy to give you any information you need about my area.

 

[jjohnson]

The water problem is definately here in the Wake county area which is Cary and Apex too. We didn't get a whole lot of rain this year and that's why there is a mandatory water restriction. I can only recall this happening one other time and that was a few years ago, so this is a temporary problem. We could still water our lawns just only on certain days of the week.
Wake county has an excellent school system. There is a lot of overcrowding in the schools now and they are trying to relieve that by moving people around and there is a very good chance that all elementary schools will be year round by the 2007 school year. Go to www.wakegov.com and click on school info and it will take you out to school system website where you can see all the schools and the info on each one. They will have end of year test scores and the like.

If they change the elementary schools to year round, does this mean all 3 of my children could possibly have different days off? They will be entering 4th, 6th & 8th grades in the Fall.

Sounds silly...but I was thinking something major with the water. Like running out. Water restrictions are common in our area too.

Thanks for the information DH was concerned about it.

 

[czycropper]

I currently live in Central Jersey but lived/worked in Raleigh for a few years and would move back there in a heartbeat!

A friend of mine from here in Jersey is moving there and has found a house in North Raleigh courtesy of one my best friends down there who's a realtor. She couldn't believe the differences both in housing prices & taxes(we live in the highest per income counties in the nation & the house prices reflect that). She can't wait to move -she's staying through the end of the school year here but her DH is moving in February as soon as they close on the house there.

You'll love it there!

 

[KTSMOM]

If they change the elementary schools to year round, does this mean all 3 of my children could possibly have different days off? They will be entering 4th, 6th & 8th grades in the Fall.

There's a good chance of that from what i'm understanding, especially if they make elementary year round and not middle/high schools. The school system hasn't made a final decision on mandatory year round schools yet. From what I can tell that decision will be made early in 2006.

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

Anybody have any input about Charleston S.C.? We might be pcsing this summer. How are the home prices, etc. Thanks, Tink

 

[jjohnson]

I currently live in Central Jersey but lived/worked in Raleigh for a few years and would move back there in a heartbeat!

A friend of mine from here in Jersey is moving there and has found a house in North Raleigh courtesy of one my best friends down there who's a realtor. She couldn't believe the differences both in housing prices & taxes(we live in the highest per income counties in the nation & the house prices reflect that). She can't wait to move -she's staying through the end of the school year here but her DH is moving in February as soon as they close on the house there.

You'll love it there!

I agree with the housing/taxes. The difference is shocking. I also found out my car insurance will drop $100 per month, gas is over $.50 per gallon less and health insurance is $750 less (per month) so the move will more than makeup for what we earn here.

 

[jjohnson]

If they change the elementary schools to year round, does this mean all 3 of my children could possibly have different days off? They will be entering 4th, 6th & 8th grades in the Fall.

There's a good chance of that from what i'm understanding, especially if they make elementary year round and not middle/high schools. The school system hasn't made a final decision on mandatory year round schools yet. From what I can tell that decision will be made early in 2006.

I have another thread going on the resort board about changing my vacation dates. I would hope if they switch to year round it wouldn't go into effect until the summer of 2007.

 

[KTSMOM]

It will definatley not be this upcoming year. Now some elementary schools here are already year round so if you moved to a neighborhood and the school was a base school you might have an issue, but if you move to a neighborhood with a traditional school, you won't have to worry about it until 2007 school year.

 

[jennifer293]

Just stay away from Fayetteville and you will be fine. I was forced to live there for 4 years and it was the first time in my life I have ever had to carry a gun by my side. NOT A NICE PLACE!!!!

Holly Springs, Sanford, Cary, all those places are pretty nice!!

 

[Lulu's Mom]

We are planning on moving to Charlotte area in August/September of 2006. I keep watching the housing prices to make sure that they are not sky rocketing over night, like what happened in Las Vegas, where we were originally going to move to. We are hoping to go buy our house in April. Does anyone who lives there or around there have an idea if they think the house prices will rise dramatically by then?

I know it is hard to tell but any guess would be nice. Would you guys recommend buying sooner?

Thanks
Vannessa

 

[marybarbara60102]

We seriously considered moving to the same areas as you. It was between Apex/Cary or Atlanta, Georgia. We still have not made the move, but are leaning towards Atlanta as we both would have jobs. I would highly suggest checking out Tripadvisor.com. Search Raleigh, NC and then select "forum". There is some great advice there.

We really love NC and have been there several times. We have friends who moved there. Good luck on your decision.

 

[jjohnson]

We seriously considered moving to the same areas as you. It was between Apex/Cary or Atlanta, Georgia. We still have not made the move, but are leaning towards Atlanta as we both would have jobs. I would highly suggest checking out Tripadvisor.com. Search Raleigh, NC and then select "forum". There is some great advice there.

We really love NC and have been there several times. We have friends who moved there. Good luck on your decision.

I love Atlanta too. We picked NC to be centrally located. It's still only 9 hours from NY + my Mom lives in FL & sister in AZ. So we could drive to visit family.
I never thought of tripadvisor. I'll check it out. Thanks. Apex has a great discussion board too, if anyone is interested:
http://www.apexnc.com/forum/default.asp

 

[luvthatdisney]

I guess I'll chime in...

I grew up in Charlotte and now I live west of Charlotte in a little town called Bessemer City. That is where my DH is from. I definately would never ever live in Charlotte again! Just my opinion. It has changed alot from when I lived there - I am really not a big city kind of person. I do enjoy the small town we live in. We only go to Charlotte for shopping and sometimes to eat at restaurants we dont have in Gastonia. I did go back to the side of town I grew up on in September - 20th high school reunion - it was so sad to see how run down everything is in that area.

My kids attend school in the Gaston County School District - which is is probably not the best - it is definately not the worst. All schools have their pros and cons - even the best schools in the state have their downfalls! Kings Mountain is another town right beside us that supposedly has very good schools - alot of people I know pay to take their kids there. I just cant bring myself to pay for a public school education!

Bessemer City is a very small town, but we are getting a large Dole plant in our town - its really big news! The schools are bracing for a big influx of new kids due to this plant and the people that will move to this area to work there. This area is growing rapidly and but hopefully I will not be in the "big city" again!

I do really like NC as I do like to enjoy all of the seasons with out excess. Not too much snow, not too much rain - it does have a even mix of of seasons in our area. Now the more towards the coast you go - there is not as much snow - which I really enjoy for about 2 days, but by then its gone!!!

 

[jjohnson]

Is there any cons to living in NC. Everyone seems so happy living there. You don't find that here in NY. I know alot of people who talk of moving but are hesitant to make the leap.