Those who live in NC or SC??

[spencersmommy]

Hello,
we live in CA right now and in town that's OK b/c we wanted to be near family. BUT my SIL and BIL are talking about moving to NC or SC. The cost of living would be lower and we all have jobs that we can do pretty much anywhere, plus maybe I could be a SAHM.
Anyway, what places do you recommend? I want to be near the ocean (30 min, drive away at least) and good schools and nice safe family-orientated community. We lived in an awesome community like that in So Cal but it was $$$$$$. What are the average home prices?
TIA for all your help. I don't know if we would actually be making the move soon, but it's fun to think about where else we could go! :-)

[holliam]

We moved from Bay Area CA to NC almost 3 years ago. No looking back. We absolutely love it here. Cost of living is not even remotely comparable to CA. Back there we were both making $$ and no idea where it went. Here, DH is a SAHD.

We live in the Triangle area of NC, which is around Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill. It's very liberal and diverse with lots of job opportunities compared to the more rural areas of NC. However, it's at least a 2 hour ride to the closest beach.

I don't know anything about SC or areas in NC closer to the beach.

Holli

[MelissaTC]

I live down the road from Holli (literally!!) and I like it here as well. Definitely in line with what you are looking for in terms of good schools, affordable housing (compared to So Cal, NY, DC!!!) and very family orientated. I am a SAHM and it is nice to be in a position where we can live comfortably on one salary. I don't know anything about SC. I also don't have first hand knowledge on anything closer to the coast but I have been told that there isn't much there.

[MegND95]

Before moving to the Chicago burbs, we lived just north of Charlotte, NC. We loved it there and would move back in a heartbeat. NC is very affordable, and the climate is terrific. YOu experience all four seasons, but the winters are short and fairly mild. I found Charlotte to be a pretty diverse city, with tons to offer young families. We moved away before my oldest was school aged, but I know from speaking to our friends still in the area, there are pockets with very good schools. Charlotte is not super close to the coast, but you can easily go for long weekends. And the mountains are close enough for day trips.

Good luck with you decision!

[June Mommy]

I live in the upstate area of SC and I love it here. I've lived here all my life, so I'm a little biased, though. I just wanted to address one thing that you mentioned that you wanted. I can't speak for NC, but here in SC the school districts near the coast are not that great. SC gets a bad rep for its school districts, but the ones where I live are all really good. Its the districts in the lower part of the state that really bring the state down. A lot of people I know of that live on or near the coastal area put their kids in private schools. Feel free to do your own research, though! I love SC! NC is great too :) I don't think you would be unhappy to move to either state.

[JFC]

We're in Raleigh and LOVE it. We moved from Boston almost 5 years ago and both agree we are HOME here. The weather is great, housing is much more affordable, and overall we find this area to be very family friendly - lots of kids programs, museums, etc. We are exactly 2 hours to the Wrightsville Beach - all highway, easy drive. My parents live there - in Wilmington. It is a smaller community, right at the coast - has pretty good public schools (I've heard they are getting better and better as the city grows) and there are also several private school options (FWIW, my friends who also moved from Boston say they pay less for private school than they did in Mass. taxes!). I suggest checking into it if you really want to be on the coast. I'd move there in an instance if DH's job allowed for it. Until then, we just drive down each weekend in the summer! HTH! Good luck and have fun looking around!

[brittone2]

We also live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area and love it. DH is here for graduate school, and we are already plotting to figure out how we can stay here for life :) When we first came down to check the area out, we instantly felt drawn here and kept joking that we wondered what we had been doing with our life before this :)

As the PPs said, the cost of living is quite low (we moved here from the far outer suburbs of Philadelphia), the weather is great, the people are nice, and there is so much to do. There are a lot of attractions like you would find in larger, more expensive cities like museums (including kids' museums), lots of free music, good shopping, many cultural events, etc. There are two major universities nearby us (UNC and Duke), which means good healthcare is available locally. The mountains of NC are a 3-4 hour drive, and the beach is about 2.5 for us, but it is a very easy drive.

We live in a modest house because DH is in graduate school and I'm a SAHM. We have an 1800 sq ft colonial on 1.3 acres and we paid about 180K. Our house in PA was the same size, on only 0.18 acres and sold for close to 250K. Taxes are rising in my area at least, but compared to where we moved from, are much lower. (Chapel Hill has higher taxes but has amazing schools. Home prices are also substantially higher in C.H., but I'm sure **nothing** like SoCal. The schools are decent, even fabulous if you can get into Chapel Hill's school district, and there are also some interesting private nad magnet type schools in the area as well.

I don't think there are a ton of jobs in Wilmington or coastal towns but I'm a relative newbie to the area (have been here less than a year). Raleigh would put you a bit closer to the beach than where I'm at. Research Triangle Park is the home of many many companies in the area (tech, biotech, pharmaceutical, etc. companies).

We love it and hope to stay in the area when DH is finished w/ his PhD.

[Caroline1124]

I was born and raised in Charleston, SC and I highly recommend it. The cost of living is a fraction of what it is in Cali. I live about 20 minutes from the beach, traffic isn't too bad and there's tons of things to do for adults and kids all year round.. cultural/art festivals, historic tours, etc.

Average home prices vary in Charleston depending on the part of town you live in.. in the most desirable areas the homes start around 200K for something like 1500sf. Of course if you choose to live on the beach or in a more exclusive part of town, that number increases exponentially, but the cost of living is very low.

The areas of NC mentioned above are beautiful but hours from the beach.

[miki]

We moved from the SF Bay area 2 years ago because real estate was so expensive there. We live in a great house on a huge lake north of Charlotte. We would never have been able to afford a house like this in SF even with 2 lawyers' salaries. And now I'm a SAHM. This area is very good for families. But I think aside from the real estate, the cost of all other living expenses are about the same. I don't know about school districts in communities near the ocean but our real estate agent spends half her time in Myrtle Beach because the real estate market is really growing. I don't miss living near the ocean--before this I've always lived on one of the coasts. With the lake here, there are all sorts of water related recreation and also beachfront for kids to play on.

[lizajane]

i live in raleigh, too (where are these other BBB moms that i haven't met??? i must host a playgroup someday soon!!) ditto ditto ditto.

but wanted to add- what about morehead city? don't know too much, but have some friends who moved there just before their daughter was born. the husband grew up there. they LOVE it. right near the beach. maybe google it??

[spencersmommy]

Wow, thanks for the replies! I guess DH and I need to come out and visit! So much is happening/changing here in CA and if I can't afford to live in a place like San Diego or Thousand Oaks, maybe we should look into other places! I will forward this info on to my SIL. Maybe we'll be moving soon! :-)