Any mamas in NC that can give me tips on relocating to RTP area?

[brittone2]

Hi there!
I haven't been posting much these days, but if I remember correctly there are several NC area mamas on here, and I'm hoping you can give me some help :)

DH works in the pharma industry as a chemist. He is going back and forth trying to decide on whether to pursue a PhD now. In any case, moving to the RTP area of NC would give us the option of him working for an employer down there with the possibility open of going for his PhD instead. It would be nice because we could live in that area regardless of what avenue he decides to pursue.

We currently live outside of Philadelphia, and home prices here are quite a bit higher than those around RTP. We're looking at being able to commute to either RTP or UNC (chapel hill) so that we won't have to move again depending on what Dh decides to do. Durham seems like it would work...are there any nice suburbs I should consider?

We noticed the prices in Durham are substantially lower than those in Chapel Hill. It looked like there were some nice new construction colonials selling for 150-175,000 or so. We looked on Money Magazine's website as they have a "rating" and info system on various cities. It looked as though crime in Durham was about 2x the national average, whereas Chapel Hill wasn't nearly as high.

Can you give me a feel for what Durham vs. Chapel Hill vs. Raleigh is like? What is there to do, how are the people (our current area isn't the friendliest and things are quite "rushed" here...not sure if things are different in NC or if I'm just hoping that they are LOL), etc? We are hoping to visit the area soon to see for ourselves to decide if this is what we really want to do, but I'm curious if I can get some info. Are the demographics of Durham changing as it gets more developed (i.e. is it getting nicer/safer, or is it already not that bad, or is it really somewhere I might want to reconsider living??). It seems like Chapel Hill's schools are better? Do a lot of people in Durham use private schools? What's shopping /entertainment like in the area?

What do you like/dislike about the area? I've heard traffic is getting pretty bad from a few things I've read online?

TIA!!! I'd *****LOVE***** some advice/feedback on what areas are nice. I really appreciate it.

[blnony]

If you do a search here in the louge you will find a lot of recent threads about this :)

[steph2003]

Beth -
I don't live in Raleigh area but do live in Charlotte. Have a few friends who live or have lived in Raleigh & from what I remember Chapel Hill is a alot nicer then Durham. I know a nice area in Raleigh is Cary...just outside of Raleigh - I'm sorry I don't know where Cary is as far as north/south/east/west of Raleigh but it has nice higher end suburban homes, all the normal stores you could think of - Home Depot, Target, etc. Some people joke Cary stands for "containment area for relocated yankees" :)
A good college friend of mine lives in Fuquay-Varina which is about 20-30 minutes to downtown Raleigh. It is more of an out of the way feel to it - homes are considerably less. She doesn't mind the drive in each day because she likes being further out & more of a smaller community for her kids.

[brittone2]

Thanks ladies! Coincidentally last night I ended up doing a search on here for "Durham" just on a whim and I saw that there was a bunch of recent chatter on here about RTP as you said. That's kind of funny...who would have thought?? ;)

I appreciate the help!

[hellosmiletoday]

Hi! I posted a similar question less than a month ago...sounds like we are in the same boat! DH is has a job at UNC, and I will need to get a job in the area...have a chem BA and biomed PhD, so will be looking at UNC, RTP and Duke, but I prefer to stay at UNC so DH and I can potentially carpool. Here's the link to my questions

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=37&topic_id=107014

[lizajane]

can't go into too much detail because i think nap time is ending. feel free to email me. i am not a durham expert, but i can try or i can get you in touch with someone who lives there.

durham has some great suburbs. i think the area on the chapel hill side of durham is nice. and that is not the high crime district that you read about. the houses in the 150 range are going to be in the neighborhoods that have houses that all look the same, no trees, small yards... hillsborough might have more charm for that price range.

traffic on I-40 is bad, but i am sure it is nothing compared to philly.

chapel hill has fantastic schools. but i am sure durham has some good ones. near the nicer neighborhoods, of course. there is a great private school were i was a coach called durham academy. k-12.

shopping is on the rise. between durham and raleigh, we have nordstroms, saks, and all the basics. some neat boutiques (too rich for my blood, though!) in raleigh and probably in chapel hill, too.

entertainment-we have a big arena for concerts, hockey, and some really nice theaters. chapel hill has great theater, IMO.

raleigh isn't your best choice for commuting to chapel hill. and i feel bad for saying it so much, but i just don't like cary. also not your best choice for commuting. it sounds like durham is the place for you.

[MelissaTC]

Traffic is a pain if you have to commute on 40. If you live in West Cary/Apex/Jordan Lake area, you can take the back way in via Hwy 64 which is what my friends and neighbors do. Decent spots in Durham are getting pricey as well. Durham schools are not great so that is why we passed on living there. Areas in Raleigh in your range are far as well. Hillsborough is an option but keep in mind that the water prices are going out the roof and housing is on the rise there as well. Chapel Hill school district is excellent but the housing cost in the district are out the roof. Same goes for Carrboro. Have you looked into Chatham county like the Pittsboro area? Some of those neighborhoods will get you Orange county schools as opposed to Chatham county and it is mighty close to Chapel Hill.

Good luck with making your decision! I think the best thing is to come on down and check it out!

[MartiesMom2B]

Some more info. about Durham. My husband used to work for Durham county and said that Durham has the highest property taxes in the Triangle. We always said that we never move there b/c of the high taxes and the poor schools. The reason why there is so much development in Durham is b/c there is a moratorium on building in the other counties. While it is developing and lots of great stores, restaurants, etc. are being developed, NCDOT is struggling to keep up with the roads.

We live in Raleigh and I love it. We used to live in the DC metro area, yes people complain about traffic, but traffic around here is laughable compared to what I had to drive through. I love that I live somewhere that has the mentality of "if it's further than 15 minutes it's too far!" If you want to check out Raleigh, I'd suggest looking at the North Raleigh area, because you can take I-540 and avoid going on 40 to get into RTP.

If you want some more info about the area, perhaps you'd like to check out the local paper online. It's www.newsandobserver.com.

Sonia http://www.planetsmilies.com/smilies/character/1/character03.gif
Proud Mommy to Martie
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[brittone2]

Thanks so very much ladies....that was *tremendously* helpful!!! Now I understand a bit more about Durham.

Yes, we're used to commuting now. DH commutes about 35 mins to work but it would be much longer if he didn't adjust his schedule to start at 7 and leave around 4pm. If he went into work 8-5 it would be more like 45-50 mins. So, while we don't love having a long commute, it isn't that out of the ordinary for us.

Raleigh does seem like it would be a bit far should he decide to go to school at UNC. How far is Hillsborough from UNC and also from RTP? I can look at it on the map, but that doesn't tell me much in terms of how traffic is in those parts.

I see why Durham is getting developed...I didn't realize there is a building moratorium in the surrounding areas. That explains why there are so many new developments. I definitely don't want to live in a cookie cutter subdivision forever, but in our price range should DH go to school, it seems like that is what we'll end up with most likely. I'm okay with that for a few years anyway. I just want to make sure we have enough space, etc. to make it for a few years if he goes to school. Where we are now it is very similar...very cookie cutter. If we wanted more land (half an acre to an acre lot) with 4br 2.5 baths, we'd be easily looking at over 350-400K in a heartbeat, and that would still be in a relatively cookie cutter development. Our house now is only 3 beds, 1.5 baths on 0.13 acre, 1800 sq ft (not a problem for right now because we only have one child, who is 6 months) and would probably sell for 240K. Not a big home, not a large lot, and very much a duplicate of all the surrounding houses.

Schools are a concern obviously, but DS would barely be in school by the time DH would finish his PhD, so hopefully it wouldn't affect us for long. I've also considered homeschooling DS for elementary school and if Durham's schools weren't great at that point, I'd probably just keep DS at home with me.

Thanks so much for the responses. THey were tremendously helpful in understanding the area better. I agree...sounds like we need to just drive down there and get a feel for commute times, traffic, and the general area. I really appreciate the info!!