Calling all North Carolina residential experts!

[Thirty4]

I really need your help!

Can you please help me with what areas are really the best areas to live in Raleigh N.C.? We are heavily considering a move and would like to know your opinions of everything from schools to hospitals.

Please, please, please…..even if you do not have in depth knowledge of the area, but you have a solid opinion of anything (i.e. hospitals, daycare, shopping, etc) please do respond. I am looking for general information as a whole, but would like the granular information as well.

I do know that North Carolina is a beautiful state to live in, so looking forward to your advice and opinions.

NOTE: Should I consider the Charlotte area versus Raleigh? At this point, I am focused on Raleigh, but if you have an opinion on areas around Charlotte that are better, please do let me know.

Thank you Everyone!!

 

[Thirty4]

Please help, I really want information from a local versus the random internet search results. This would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Thirty4]

Is there not a single person who lives in the Raleigh area that could lend some advice? Or that used to live there?

 

[CdaleR4000si]

Fridays are usually pretty slow on this site. I'm sure you will get some responses over the weekend though.

You may also want to post in the Carolinas thread...
Carolinas - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum

 

[Thirty4]

Thank you for the information, I appreciate it.

 

[Thirty4]

Bump

 

[2016 4Runner SR5]

Ill be heading that way in about a year. Moving to Mooresville which is a beautiful area. Looking at property on Lake Norman, check it out.

 

[tb-av]

Hospitals ---

Duke Hospitals - I believe it is the Trauma Center for that area.

https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/nc/duke-university-medical-center-6360355

Followed by UNC hospitals.

I don't live there but that's a pretty long standing rank of those hospitals I believe. If you can't get it done between those two, you are probably in really big trouble.

It's not Raleigh but another place people always go crazy about is Boon NC but that's a different thing that what you are seeking.

You can also go online and search school rankings for K-12. Find the highest rated... then go to Zillow and look for real estate in that school district. You can then search for those towns/areas/etc by name to see what's new or happening.

 

[Thirty4]

Thank you, I will look up those hospitals for sure and those areas. I know of a couple of areas around Raleigh, but I have no idea how far apart things are. I will google map them of course, but that’s different that knowing the traffics patterns and what not. Thanks again!

 

[Thirty4]

Can anyone else lend a hand here? I would really like a fair amount of advice to make an educated decision. Thank you!

 

[jbjones85]

I'll type something more detailed up later this evening.

 

[jbjones85]

forgot my more detailed reply.

Best area in Raleigh is really subjective depending on your price range, if you have kids (or plan to), and what you value (being close to things or more land), spec house or something with more character, ext. You mentioned schools and day car so I am assuming kids are in the equation (I do not have any so the parts about schools are going to be second hand information).

I have been in the area since 2009 and have seen it grow quite a bit (move here from Charlotte and prefer Raleigh 10000x). I have lived in the Northern part of raleigh most of the time between 440 and 540 on a map. Originally on the eastern side (Capital Blvd) and now on the western side (Glenwood/70). I prefer the western side but both have everything you would need. I work off of Glenwood/70 so that is a huge part of it, My commute is 10 minutes, MAX, I do not have to deal with any of the major highways.

While traffic in the area is now awful (I spend time Boston, NY, and Philly so I guess it is relative) if you are coming from a more rural area the 8 and 5 rushes will be spent in bumper to bumper on the major routes. I do not anticipate this getting better with time so I would plan accordingly if a job has not yet been secured.

I am in the Leesville school district (27613 zip code) which I have heard are some of the better ones (public at least).

If you have specific questions let me know.

 

[nc-grayson]

I don't live in either of the cities, but visit them and have been regularly for years for work and family. I sell for the largest private home builder in the state and I can tell you that both areas are booming in regards to growth and real estate and industry.

I guess a reasonable question to ask back to you is what's prompting this move? Why are you considering relocating and what kind of lifestyle are you desiring to have in this move? Nobody moves across the country just for fun - what's your goal?

 

[Thirty4]

forgot my more detailed reply.

Best area in Raleigh is really subjective depending on your price range, if you have kids (or plan to), and what you value (being close to things or more land), spec house or something with more character, ext. You mentioned schools and day car so I am assuming kids are in the equation (I do not have any so the parts about schools are going to be second hand information).

I have been in the area since 2009 and have seen it grow quite a bit (move here from Charlotte and prefer Raleigh 10000x). I have lived in the Northern part of raleigh most of the time between 440 and 540 on a map. Originally on the eastern side (Capital Blvd) and now on the western side (Glenwood/70). I prefer the western side but both have everything you would need. I work off of Glenwood/70 so that is a huge part of it, My commute is 10 minutes, MAX, I do not have to deal with any of the major highways.

While traffic in the area is now awful (I spend time Boston, NY, and Philly so I guess it is relative) if you are coming from a more rural area the 8 and 5 rushes will be spent in bumper to bumper on the major routes. I do not anticipate this getting better with time so I would plan accordingly if a job has not yet been secured.

I am in the Leesville school district (27613 zip code) which I have heard are some of the better ones (public at least).

If you have specific questions let me know.

Josh - thank you. That type of information really helps! Coming from Chicago, I would hope that traffic is much more tolerable than here. I will definitely hit you up with some more detailed questions. Schools are definitely important and access to parks and what not are also high on the list. Bike paths, nature trails, food stores, hardware stores, etc, are important as well. Close proximity hospitals are key as well. I don't want to have to drive too far in the event of an allergic reaction that needs better care than what I can do. I will think of some more area specific questions and get back to you. Thanks

 

[Thirty4]

I don't live in either of the cities, but visit them and have been regularly for years for work and family. I sell for the largest private home builder in the state and I can tell you that both areas are booming in regards to growth and real estate and industry.

I guess a reasonable question to ask back to you is what's prompting this move? Why are you considering relocating and what kind of lifestyle are you desiring to have in this move? Nobody moves across the country just for fun - what's your goal?

This would be a work relocation and I do like the outdoors, but would value the home location more and would tolerate a smaller decent commute to nature versus long commutes to stores and what not. I love the charm of older homes, but dislike the maintenance of most of them, so would likely gravitate towards a newer home. Or at least a home that has been refurbished well. I would definitely consider brand new as well and would like a decent sized lot. By decent I mean something large enough for the kids and dogs, but nothing huge by any means. What I would like to avoid is a subdivision that is great, but not location friendly. Like I said, I do tend to fall for the new/newer homes, but don’t want to have to drive to parks or common areas. Or, have to drive the kids all the time to friends houses because they would always have to cross a major street to get there. Hope that makes sense in some way.

 

[jbjones85]

Josh - thank you. That type of information really helps! Coming from Chicago, I would hope that traffic is much more tolerable than here. I will definitely hit you up with some more detailed questions. Schools are definitely important and access to parks and what not are also high on the list. Bike paths, nature trails, food stores, hardware stores, etc, are important as well. Close proximity hospitals are key as well. I don't want to have to drive too far in the event of an allergic reaction that needs better care than what I can do. I will think of some more area specific questions and get back to you. Thanks

Makes sense. The good news is that (relatively speaking) no matter where you go (as long as it is not "way outside of 540" you are going to be within ~10-15 minutes of everything that you listed. Using my location as an example I have both a Lowes and Home Depot in 10 minutes, 2 hospitals (one well known one and one smaller one), about 15 grocery stores, 40 gas stations, a mall, ext. If you extend that to 15 minutes and there even more options.

 

[Thirty4]

Makes sense. The good news is that (relatively speaking) no matter where you go (as long as it is not "way outside of 540" you are going to be within ~10-15 minutes of everything that you listed. Using my location as an example I have both a Lowes and Home Depot in 10 minutes, 2 hospitals (one well known one and one smaller one), about 15 grocery stores, 40 gas stations, a mall, ext. If you extend that to 15 minutes and there even more options.

I am definitely going to have to check out your location as that is definitely something I would be interested in. Anything else like that would be good. I had someone tell me that they love Apex, but didn’t really describe why unfortunately, so that is something I want to check out as well.

 

[jbjones85]

I am definitely going to have to check out your location as that is definitely something I would be interested in. Anything else like that would be good. I had someone tell me that they love Apex, but didn’t really describe why unfortunately, so that is something I want to check out as well.

Apex is really nice, an "up and coming" area of sorts. it has grown quite a bit over the past 5 years. one my good friends and his family live there and they love it. For me it is too far from my Job (30+ minute ride) which was not something I was willing to commit to long term.

 

[e60ral]

I grew up in Durham and have been in Raleigh since college

it's hard to answer your question without an idea of where you will be working and what kind of budget you have for homes. There are lots of great places with good schools that might be too expensive for you, and there are great places with good schools and affordable houses that might be too much of a commute for you

I've lived in south durham, southwest raleigh, downtown raleigh, and i'm currently closing on a house in northwest raleigh and have family in downtown durham.

i used to do the downtown raleigh to RTP commute and just couldn't take it anymore, that's why we moved to northwest raleigh

if you are house shopping, know that houses in desirable locations will list on friday, have showings saturday, and want offers in by sunday. if a house has been on the market for longer than a week something is wrong with it. also expect that you will be in a multiple offer situation, and often against cash buyers. this depends a bit on what price range house you are looking at, but for a small home $15k over asking is normal. it's also not abnormal for people to pay more than homes can appraise and just pay the difference.

as far as the area in general it's really good, there is a reason so many people keep moving to the area. durham and raleigh are turning into really good food scenes and there is also plenty of good beer in the area. from the raleigh-durham area you can be in the mountains or beach in 2-3 hours (up to maybe 5-6 hours depending on how remote you want to get).

for shopping there are lots of shopping centers, and crabtree mall and southpoint malls are decent. most of the stores you would want can be found somewhere in the area and some more will be moving in in the next couple years. you will have all the necessary stores and more grocery and drug stores than you can imagine within a few minutes of you pretty much anywhere in the area.

traffic can be pretty bad, and considering raleigh is expected to double in size by 2030 it will only get worse. make sure you take commute times into consideration when you buy a house, in google maps change the arrival time to during rush hour and look at the high end of the time estimate. (for example my downtown raleigh to RTP commute is 20 minutes in normal traffic but takes over 1 hour in traffic)

schools are mixed, there are really good schools and really bad schools and it will just depend on where you buy a house. homes in desirable districts will obviously cost more. there are also good private schools in the area.

hospitals are really good; the area is served by Duke, WakeMed and UNC-Rex hospitals. you will never be far from an emergency room or urgent care and there are at least 3 level 1 trauma centers.

 

[Thirty4]

Excellent write up, sorry for the delay in the reply. I really appreciate the information and take all of that into context. I am on a pause from this search right now due to some life issues.....so thank you everyone for you input! It's really been helpful and I love that this community cares this much!!!