I'm looking to relocate to NC for my business expanding. Never been before and I need to start picking out places to live before I've even seen the state.

Can anyone give me an inside look into the best/worst places to live? I'm looking to spend $180-$250k on a new house and don't want to waste my time looking into "bad" areas. I don't mind a 20 minute commute either.

My Company is Fidelity Investments and I think we are located in the "Triangle'

 

The "Triangle" is a general term for the area surrounding the 3 cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. If you want a commute of 20 minutes or less you'll need to live pretty close to work you work given the traffic around here.

 

I've lived in Raleigh and the surrounding areas for the past 14 years. Initially moved from Canada when I was 10, so that would make me 24. Spent the last 5 years in Boone for college though, but I'm back in the Triangle now. jobs.fidelity.com states that they are actually in Raleigh and not one of the suburbs. I think $180-250k is quite a reasonable price to work with, especially since you don't really mind a 20 minute drive. These would be my suggestions in terms of where to look at:

Things of interest: Price, Location, Smaller lots (generally speaking)
-Raleigh
-Cary

Things of interest: 5-15 minutes to Raleigh, still very reasonably pricing for acreage and sizes of houses, upcoming boom with the 540 beltline coming in and a massive surge of commercial development
-Garner
-Knightdale
-Apex

Those are personally my choices of acceptable suburbs. My parents have lived in Raleigh, Knightdale and now they are farther out on the same highway as Knightdale in a town called Zebulon. It's all personal preference really. Do you want your money to go a long way in terms of the size of the lot and potentially the size of your house, or are you looking for location?

Personally, after moving back to Raleigh, I live in Garner. The actually county is Wake County and I am using a image off of google (http://images.ibsys.com/ral/images/w...ar_640x480.jpg)
to think of the possibilities. I am 1 mile from Hwy 70 and Interestate 40, which makes getting to the beltline of Raleigh maybe 5 minutes. I like this because it's quiet, closer to my work in Clayton, and getting into Raleigh isn't far at all, as compared to say Zebulon, Fuquay-Varina, etc.

Currently, I am renting until November but I have been looking into purchasing a house for my next residence. My parents kept their house in Knightdale as a rental property and that is my main option now. I never knew that Raleigh and the surrounding areas had such expensive homes until I started looking at real estate. You'll see some subdivisions that literally say, "From the 400's to 3 million" I'm like WTF how do you go from 400k to 3 million?!

IMO, Raleigh is a homely city. It's very comfortable but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of stuff to do. We are about 3 hours from the mountains and depending on what side of Raleigh, 2-2 1/2 hours from the beach.

If there are anymore questions about random stuff, feel free to PM me. For some reason I couldn't log into my other account so I just made this one as my main.

I have a '06 6M/T and my roommate has a '03 350Z Touring

 

Hey Machine Head. I am a mortgage broker and former g35 owner here in Raleigh.

Just stumbled onto your thread! LOL

If you want me to put you in contact with a really good agent just give me a call in the office at 800-585-9821.

Anthony Holt

http://www.anthony-holt.com

And if your looking for a lunch spot don't ask AMP he only eats at one place!

 

Hey guys, thanks for the heads up I reallt needed it. The wife and I are flying out next month to "check things out". This isn't the first time I have heard Cary and Gardner suggested. It really helps us use our visting time more efficently.

As for houses I'm not too concerned with size or lot size. I actually prefer to have the smallest house in the richest neighborhood. I know it's hot down thier so room for my own pool or a community pool o ar nearby lake would be great.

Anything that's a "Must do" on my next visit?

 

I just moved from Raleigh to Charlotte last summer after living there for about 3 years. If you are working in Raleigh, live in Raleigh or surrounding areas east of Durham... you don't want to deal with the traffic. Cary is nice, but very expensive. 200K might get you a townhouse. You can definitely get a decent house in Raleigh for 200k and much more in Garner and Knightdale. Also, check out Morriseville by the airport. Nice area, but also getting expensive. Raleigh is a nice city but not really much to do. They are rebuilding downtown and erecting several condos and lofts which might interest you as well. Raleigh talks bigger than what it really is. If you love college basketball it can't be beat as NC State, Chapel Hill and Duke are all right down the street. Good Luck!

 

check out the clayton area too for a house.

 

What no love for Durham?

Thats ok. I like to have Durham be RTPs best kept secret.