Murphy72675

We will be moving from Saint Louis to the Raleigh/Durham area in the upcoming weeks. We have visited the area and liked the houses that we found in the Northern Raleigh area and also in Cary. Both locations are ideal for our work. Any insight on the more ideal of the two areas from someone who is familiar with the area would be greatly appreciated (house appreciation, traffic, schools, etc). We currently do not have any children, but plan on beginning our family in the upcoming years. We are looking to spend somewhere between $200 to $250. We are also in need of a realtor. Any recommendations in this department would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

andy

I think you will be able to find more of a selection of NEW homes in the $200 - $250 range in Cary-it is a very up and coming suburb of Raleigh...

While I love NORTH Raleigh, I think the price range you are playing with is a little low for that area...at least for a single family home...

bonniebroad

Murphy72675, I live in North Raleigh, but almost bought in Cary. You really cannot go wrong in either place ... both terrific places to live and raise kids. I live in an older neighborhood of beautiful homes right near the Leesville School complex, and you can get a lovely home in a lovely neighborhood around here for $250,000. It's a great area to live, in general.

bonniebroad

P.S.: Just wanted to clarify what I said above ... you can get townhomes and single homes in North Raleigh in lovely neighborhoods for $250,000 or less but you do find tons of homes that are much more than that ... much, much more! Both areas can be very expensive!

Subway_Scoundrel

My suggestion, (and may not mean much since I am not much of a suburbanite) is, if it were me (again, being very self-centered here), I would move as close in as you can and find what you want. The reason I say that is, sometimes people move to these areas, and after a while, get tired of the "strip-center" lifestyle and find they stay at home and flick the remote in any spare time. The closer in to the city you get, the closer you are to arenas, stadiums, BTI center, resturants/nightlife district, somewhat urban lifestyle (above your local strip center, hospitals, downtown, etc. Just my opinion and all depends on what kind of lifestyle you want.

caniac

My vote would be the west side of Cary. Try these neighborhoods: McArthur Park, Wellsley, West Park, Park Village and Brookstone. The schools in this section of Cary are excellent. Good luck!

ewt

Well, it depends where you would be working. If you will be working in RTP, I would pick NW Raleigh (someone recommended Leesville Schools area, and that fits the bill). That way, you can either take 540 or take the actual streets (70 to Alexander to wherever in RTP- great shortcut). Traffic tends to be really heavy to and from Cary on both the freeway and the roads.

I think the quality and type of housing you can get in both areas is the same. You can definitely find houses in this price range as well. I find the RDU area to be pretty cheap. Whoever said that condos go for 250k is overstating it. Yes, you can find townhouses and condos for that price, but most seem to cost about 150k. You can definitely find a single family home for 200-250k.

ncgrrl

I agree with ewt that if you're working in RTP look at something near 540 or 70.

Also, if the job is in the park, look at Durham. The commute is better than most of Raleigh. However, if the job is in Raleigh, I wouldn't commute from Durham.

Schools in Wake County redistrict every year because of all the new people. New schools open up overcrowded and with trailers (why it's ok to live in a trailor, but not learn in one is beyond me) so maybe a neighborhood within walking distance of a school would be good.

shanharbi71

I used to live in Cary and loved it. I would highly recommend it. It is very clean, there are lots of things to do and there is easy access to both Raleigh and Durham, and Cary itself has a very low crime rate. Not to mention it is beautiful there when the seasons change. I'm a native Floridian, so this was a welcome change to me. N. Raleigh is good as well, but I would definitely avoid Durham as there seems to be a crime problem there.