Any Raleigh area MMMers?

[bowies]

H and I are starting to scope out the area for a possible summer 2016 move. We are both in IT/software, H in development and me in project/portfolio management. What is the job market like? Traffic? We've heard that Wake County is where we need to be for schools - how accurate is that? Is quality childcare easily found and is it affordable? Anything else you can tell us?

Thanks!

[Cicero]

I'm in the area but not in Wake County. Traffic around Raleigh is bad for the area but pretty normal for that size of a metro area. Where to live is probably dependent on where you'll be working. Public schools in Orange County are great too and people like to talk smack about Durham but there are some really good schools there, you just need to know how to navigate the system.

I can't really comment on childcare costs since we use daycare up by where we work in a different state. There are definitely other Triangle MMMers on here. @oceansbride (I am certain I just butchered that)

[itsme]

Cary seems to be a up and coming area. It's not far from Raleigh.

[greencrayon]

Apr 22, 2015 12:13:21 GMT -5 itsme said:

Cary seems to be a up and coming area. It's not far from Raleigh.

This is what I hear as well. I live in the Triad, and I hear coworkers all the time talk about relocating to Cary. 

[bowies]

$1500-1600 for infant care? Oh Jesus.

[itsme]

Apr 22, 2015 12:51:01 GMT -5 greencrayon said:

Apr 22, 2015 12:13:21 GMT -5 itsme said:

Cary seems to be a up and coming area. It's not far from Raleigh.

This is what I hear as well. I live in the Triad, and I hear coworkers all the time talk about relocating to Cary. 

My grandparents live there and we visit occasionally.  I was there about two weeks ago and the area has built up a lot since I was there two years before.  It has a lot of new houses, shopping, and restaurants.  I went for a run along their greenways (trails) and it was pretty cool.  The greenways aren't all connected yet but according to the city website all that is proposed and in the works.  I really liked the area.  It seems to be the $$ area though. 

[greencrayon]

Apr 22, 2015 13:19:59 GMT -5 bowies said:

$1500-1600 for infant care? Oh Jesus.

The cost of living is higher there than it is here. Daycare here is $900/month ish.

[lb2006]

I'm in the CLT area too - but my sister/bil live in Holly Springs & love it there. They both work in downtown Raleigh

[lb2006]

The American Tobacco Trail is AMAZING

[bowies]

Apr 22, 2015 17:54:35 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

I'm in the CLT area too - but my sister/bil live in Holly Springs & love it there. They both work in downtown Raleigh

Do you know how long their commute is?

[lb2006]

Apr 22, 2015 18:32:16 GMT -5 bowies said:

Apr 22, 2015 17:54:35 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

I'm in the CLT area too - but my sister/bil live in Holly Springs & love it there. They both work in downtown Raleigh

Do you know how long their commute is?

about 30 minutes

[bowies]

Apr 22, 2015 18:38:55 GMT -5 lb2006 said:

Apr 22, 2015 18:32:16 GMT -5 bowies said:

Do you know how long their commute is?

about 30 minutes

Oh that's not bad! I'll add it to the list of places to check out when we visit.

[lb2006]

they love their neighborhood & it is in a great location. Lots of kids in the neighborhood too If you want the name of it, just PM me.

[stategirl08]

Lurker on the app. We live in west Raleigh near the wake/Durham county line.

If you want to live near Raleigh, Holly Springs, Apex, and Cary are good options 30 minutes out of Raleigh. Cary is growing fast and has lots of housing options and food and entertainment.

[oceanstbride]

I live in Durham county, right next to RTP and we really like it. Ditto Cicero that there are some better Durham Public schools than others which typically tend to be in neighborhoods with very involved parents. I've heard great things about Orange and Wake County schools generally. As for childcare, we pay $1350/ month for a toddler. When I looked for infant care, it ranged from $1300 to $1600ish. I found childcare to be very difficult to find in terms of available spots for infants and younger toddlers so be prepared to find lots of wait lists depending on how old your DC is.

In terms is traffic, the major highways can be very busy. My H started working in Raleigh a few months ago and it takes him anywhere between 35 and 50 minutes to get home to SW Durham, where it takes about 25 minutes to get home from there on the weekends.

Overall, we really like it here. Where we live is a good mix of suburbs, shopping, close to downtown and "culture", good restaurants, and trails. Easy to do weekend trips to the beach or mountains and super easy to travel in/out of RDU.

[curbsideprophet]

I live in the Triad right now. I did live in Durham for a year while I was in graduate school (the other year I spent on the coast). I will ask DH if he knows anything about the job market. He was commuting to Durham for a bit but he since switched to a job closer to where we live. He might still have some insight though.

I really enjoy living in NC. Where would you be moving from?

[stategirl08]

Apr 22, 2015 21:04:52 GMT -5 @fivedogs said:

Apr 22, 2015 19:46:43 GMT -5 stategirl08 said:

Lurker on the app. We live in west Raleigh near the wake/Durham county line.

If you want to live near Raleigh, Holly Springs, Apex, and Cary are good options 30 minutes out of Raleigh. Cary is growing fast and has lots of housing options and food and entertainment.

I'm up by Falls Lake near the Durham line, and we used to live by the vet school.      

We live in Brier Creek!

[bowies]

Apr 22, 2015 21:05:40 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

I really enjoy living in NC. Where would you be moving from?

We'd be moving from coastal Virginia, about 3 hours away. We're trying to position ourselves closer to family (though not extremely close) while also being in a tech industry town.

[Cicero]

I'm not sure how old your kiddo(s) is/are, but I will throw this out there: the preschool and pre-k that most popular in Durham because it has a reputation for well preparing kids for Kindergarten is under $300 a month. They have an attached parents morning out for younger kids and it's something like $140 a month for two days a week.

[bowies]

Apr 24, 2015 8:51:23 GMT -5 Cicero said:

I'm not sure how old your kiddo(s) is/are, but I will throw this out there: the preschool and pre-k that most popular in Durham because it has a reputation for well preparing kids for Kindergarten is under $300 a month. They have an attached parents morning out for younger kids and it's something like $140 a month for two days a week.

Good to know, thank you!  If we move when we say we will, DS will be 2 and we will possibly have a brand-new baby. Ideally H would like to find something that would allow him to telework for a time so we can move when the house sells, but I don't know how realistic that is.