Moving to the Raleigh area...

aubreysmom1

Hi ladies! I know this question has been asked several times now, but I can't find the previous threads. We are possibly moving to the Raleigh area (from Wilmington) in the near future...but have no idea which part of Raleigh to move to! With DH's job, we can live pretty much anywhere in or around Raleigh, so we have lots of options...which is the problem, lol. Every time I started researching all the different towns on the outskirts of Raleigh, I get a headache! We would love somewhere not too big/not too small, affordable, and convenient to stores, parks, etc. I need some help!!!! Thanks! 

dbertagni

I would say it would depend on where your DH would work. Traffic can be horrible, and he was working in Cary, I wouldn't suggest living in Wake Forest, etc. Even though mapquest can show a 20 minute commute, add in traffic and it can be 45min-1 hour depending on where you are going/coming from. If you can narrow it down and tell us the city/location he will be working in that would help! I live in Wake Forest and I commuted to Cary, but I live in Northern Wake Forest so I am close to the highway, my husband works in RTP and we both had/have a 45min commute. I love Wake Forest, North Raleigh, Cary, Apex.

aubreysmom1

dbertagni:

I would say it would depend on where your DH would work. Traffic can be horrible, and he was working in Cary, I wouldn't suggest living in Wake Forest, etc. Even though mapquest can show a 20 minute commute, add in traffic and it can be 45min-1 hour depending on where you are going/coming from. If you can narrow it down and tell us the city/location he will be working in that would help! I live in Wake Forest and I commuted to Cary, but I live in Northern Wake Forest so I am close to the highway, my husband works in RTP and we both had/have a 45min commute. I love Wake Forest, North Raleigh, Cary, Apex.

Very true. I don't think I realize how big it truly is! He would be working in downtown Raleigh...right in the middle of everything! 

dbertagni

Garner, North Raleigh, Raleigh or Wake Forest would probably be good choices. I LOVE Wake Forest, they have good schools and it still has a small town feel even though it has everything you could ever want. It would probably be a 30-40min commute to downtown. On a non traffic day it takes me about 20 minutes. Some zip codes for you to search would be 27614, 27615 and 27587 I used FM REALTY to search when I was looking for a house.

BackthePack

I'd also add 27613 to Dbert's list - it's my parent's zip code in North Raleigh. My parents really like it & I liked growing up there. They live in the Stonehenge area, which has a local feel in a city with Stonehenge Market & Brannon Station (shopping areas) nearby. It's also only about 10min from Crabtree Valley Mall. Lake Lynn park is also very close by (we walk there). It would be about a 20-30 min commute to downtown.

If you want something close to your DH's work, then I'd look inside the beltline of Raleigh. Warning - that can be very pricey though. 

To cut down on commute, I'd look just in Raleigh versus most of the suburb cities (even though they are great places to live!).  Your DH is going to run into a bunch of traffic, which I personally hate (I've gotten spoiled now that we've moved away).

Good luck! 

akspriss

BackthePack:

I'd also add 27613 to Dbert's list - it's my parent's zip code in North Raleigh. My parents really like it & I liked growing up there. They live in the Stonehenge area, which has a local feel in a city with Stonehenge Market & Brannon Station (shopping areas) nearby. It's also only about 10min from Crabtree Valley Mall. Lake Lynn park is also very close by (we walk there). It would be about a 20-30 min commute to downtown.

If you want something close to your DH's work, then I'd look inside the beltline of Raleigh. Warning - that can be very pricey though. 

To cut down on commute, I'd look just in Raleigh versus most of the suburb cities (even though they are great places to live!).  Your DH is going to run into a bunch of traffic, which I personally hate (I've gotten spoiled now that we've moved away).

Good luck! 

 Everything she said!! I grew up in 27613 zip code in North Raleigh and would love to live in that zipcode now myself because its very centrally located and close to most towns and parts of the city. and now with 540 there u are close to durham, etc.

Rasz39

All the reasons you just mentioned are why I live in Garner. 10min outside of DT, parks, I;m close to White Oak shopping center and Lake Benson park. Heck -m our neighborhood has its own park...

It's anywhere from 35-75 minutes for me to get to where I work in RTP though. And Timber might become part of 540... so maybe not

dbertagni

Stonehenge is my absolute FAVORITE area but we were priced out of that area of N.Raleigh. It is an excellent location!

kaysi82

sure! buy my house!

Garner area

aubreysmom1

kaysi82:

sure! buy my house!

Garner area

Will you PM me more info?? 

Mrs.LLG

I live in 27615 in North Raleigh and LOVE LOVE LOVE my neighborhood (North Ridge). There are lots of kids, close to shopping, downtown, parks, etc. 

moobug

I live in Cary (27511) and commute to Downtown Raleigh every day. It takes me no more than 10-15 minutes on a bad day. Plus, we are minutes to Crossroads shopping center (Target, BB&B, Michael's, Home Depot, Old Navy, restaurants, etc...), multiple greenways, parks, and lakes. We love our area! We can get right onto 40, 440 and 64 in 5 minutes. We are also about 20-30 min. to Durham/Southpoint.

We also looked in N. Raleigh (loved Stonehenge, too) and I think we would have been equally happy if we had ended up buying there. But, found the house we loved and could afford and the commute was basically the same in Cary.

Hope this helped and didn't further confuse things. We were totally overwhelmed when we relocated (from D.C.) and ended up renting for 6mo. in N. Raleigh. We didn't have DD yet, though, so we probably would not do that now.

raceyrae

I live in Wake Forest and love it.  DH commutes to Research Triangle Park and it takes him on 25 min (we also live at the very north end of Wake County -- about 30 sec. from the Granville boarder). 

aubreysmom1

Thank you all SO much!

MelBee12

LOVE 27613.  I lived here when I first moved to Raleigh about 10 years ago and when we were shopping for our house this was my first choice area.  It takes me 20-25 minutes to get to east Raleigh (WakeMed where I work) and DH about 15 minutes to RTP.  We're convenient to I540, I40, 440, Crabtree, Brier Creek, the airport, RBC center and it's about 20 min to downtown taking Glenwood straight in.  Honestly, living here it feels like everywhere I'd want to be is within a 20 minute drive.  Crossroads, North Hills, Triangle Town, etc.  I could go on!!

BackthePack

MelBee12:

Honestly, living here it feels like everywhere I'd want to be is within a 20 minute drive.

This makes me LOL because it is my mom's FAMOUS line - she can be anywhere in the Raleigh area is 20 minutes!  

JennaNAaron

When we first moved here we rented in the 27613 area code.  It is convienent to everything, but we were renting in a not so great area.  We live in 27607 now...it's a Raleigh address, but inside Cary city limits (near the RBC center). We live about a mile off 40 and it's pretty convienent to downtown, and mega close to Wade Ave.  I work in Durham, so my commute home sucks, but other than that we love it over here.

ctnj

27609 and 27612 are slightly closer in and my favs.  some inside beltline, some out.  i also love stonehenge; HOWEVER i drive through creedmoor road on my commute home and noticed the traffic headed north has been awful for the past few weeks.