I am relocating due to my job to Raleigh, NC from Dallas come either June or July of this year.

Does anybody have any advise of where to look for housing, things to know moving from Texas, etc....? Any help would be appreciated.

*the bbq sucks
*beaches are an hour and a half away
*you will feel the hurricanes really good in raleigh - 80+ mile an hour winds with flooding
*the northern side of raleigh (540 area) was booming when i left durham a year ago
*garner would be a good place to look for housing if you work downtown or south of it as well. good schools
*cary is a very nice area with really good schools and it's right off the belt
*nc drivers are mostly stupid - especially on fridays
*if it snows, the state shuts down
*if you prefer rubberized shrimp - aka boiled - they don't do that. it's fried
*winters are mild. will see some 30's but mostly 40's
*bball is king and you will learn to either like or hate all of unc, duke and state
*tons of transplants for other parts of the country (i'd say more than half the population is not originally from nc)
*raleigh-durham-chapel hill all have lots to do and cool stuff to see
*it's about 30mins or so away depending on which part you move to but the durham life and science museum is a great place for kids - probably best in the area
*the red clay ground sucks balls and will stain the hell out of your clothing so remember that when doing yard work - raleigh is in the sandhills but still has it
*local A&M club is active and does game watching in either raleigh or right off 501 in durham (carolina ale house usually)
*bbq sucks...wait i said that already
*back to the bbq tho on a serious note: it is vinegar based pulled pork. best bbq in the state is just outside of chapel hill at larry & sons. kinda pricey for bbq there but worth it compared to the other garbage. also, the bbq in the state is 3 different kinds. lexington style is the most popular and around in that area. very heavy on the vinegar. eastern bbq which is also heavy in that area is pretty heavy on the vinegar as well. smithfield bbq is one of the bigger chains and is eastern style
*hot dogs are different too in case you like them. combo = dog & cheese. cheese dog is a block of cheese. all the way is slaw, chili & onions
*southpointe in rtp on 40 heading towards durham, cary townecenter and crabtree mall are the high end shopping areas
*outlet shopping is 45 mins away in smithfield on I-95 off 40. follow 40 east to 95 and go north
*raleigh has a big soccer thing there if you have kids. it is up there with charlotte as far as interest and competition.


i lived in durham for over 20 years so hopefully this will help out a little.

ps. durham's rep as being mostly bad is somewhat true. if you go to durham, brightleaf square is the place to go. nice trendy shops and good eats.

chapel hill: franklin st near campus and towards carrboro (they run together)

btw. wrightsville beach, atlantic beach, topsail and emerald isle are the popular beaches to go to. carolina beach is also popular but it's not as nice. all are within hour 1/2-2hrs away.

boone is the popular mountains area (blowing rock and grandfather mountain nearby). skiing is boone and west virginia (4-5 hrs away). snowshoe is the biggie in wv but about 6-7 hrs from raleigh. boone is like 3 hrs (40 west to 421 just on the other side of winston)

k 1 more thing and i'm done:

wake, durham and orange (chapel hill) counties all have high property taxes for the area.

housing is cheap. you can get a really nice house for 160k and nice apartments run 800-1200 if you are going for that for short term

they do a car tax in nc due at the end of jan every year and inspections are done yearly

golf is everywhere. southern pines (pinehurst) is like 30 mins or so from raleigh

don't get duped into stopping at south of the border in sc on the way to myrtle beach either



[This message has been edited by surf (edited 2/20/2012 9:55a).]

Surf, does the BBQ really suck????



j/k.


What I don't understand is that mustard based sauce in SC. Have a good friend in Columbia and he took us there for yellow BBQ. Kinda strange.

Funny thing is, if you are good smoking Brisket you will make a lot of friends. Once they have some mesquite smoked brisket, they almost don't want to go back to the pig. That is assuming you are good at it!

i am originally (and finally back up in the area) from the midwest and never took to the pork stuff down there. beef is so much better

Thanks for all of the information. I have heard about the BBQ and I am not looking forward to that part. That is weird about the hot dogs, luckily I am not a huge hot dog person. We are thinking about Cary and Garner (good thing you mentioned them)area.

I am planning on taking a visit next month. Do you have a realtor that you would recommend?

cary is going to be more expensive than garner but is closer to all the major shopping malls and stuff. cary is like 20 mins from the airport as well. i don't know of any realtors out that way that i could recommend. i did have a pretty bad experience with keller williams when i was selling my house and will never refer them to anyone if that helps

I have a crew here in Raleigh that meets pretty regular for beer and dominoes. Raleigh can be a lot of fun, look up the local group and come join us.

10-4. I will do that once I get there and settled in.

Again, thanks for all of the information.

The BBQ is OK, as long as you don't let them drown it in sauce (which, of course, is true of most BBQ everywhere). Anyway, the best BBQ in the area is Clyde Cooper's in downtown Raleigh. http://clydecoopersbbq.com/

And Clyde's is cash only.

If you are ever going through Asheville, try http://www.12bones.com/.

Just FYI, most NC wine is crap and don't let the North Carolinians tell you otherwise. Also, the liquor stores are state-owned and you usually can't find stuff that is out of the ordinary.


However, they do have several really good breweries around, though. Highland, Duck-Rabbit and Foothills are my favorites and are usually available all over the state. The number of microbreweries in NC is one very nice advantage that NC has over TX.

http://www.ncbeer.org/ncs-craft-breweries/

single? family?

looking for a house? looking to live the "city life" or more "suburban"?

not that anyone has mentioned it, but the bbq sucks here ;-)

and i just saw that you were looking in cary/garner.

cary is more expensive...i'd say like addison/plano in terms of housing. apex is right there too and a little "higher" for the general area. garner is cheaper...basically more working class.

surf mentioned taxes...real estate taxes generally run around 1% of home value, so not too bad (compared to texas), but you are going to pay state income taxes. state sales tax is the same as texas and gas tax is the highest in the Southeast by a very wide margin.

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*the bbq sucks

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I love food, but this should not be a big deal. Outside of Texas and the deep South, food is not really worshipped. It's nice to have some good eating options, but it should have very little influence on deciding where to live.

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Just FYI, most NC wine is crap

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Does Texas have good wine?

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The number of microbreweries in NC is one very nice advantage that NC has over TX.

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I've never been to NC, but I've heard good things from friends that live there & have seen a ton of pics. I would think NC would be nicer than TX in most categories. What else is nicer in TX than NC besides food? I would think NC would have much nicer scenery, mountains, beaches, weather, golf, activites, etc.

The people in texas are much nicer than the north carolina. and it may sound wierd, but the transplants in NC (there are a TON of yankees) are actually much nicer (on the whole) than the natives.

and weather is a wash unless you're comparing raleigh to houston/college station. if you're from DFW, it's going to be slightly cooler but a MUCH higher humidity level.

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and weather is a wash unless you're comparing raleigh to houston/college station. if you're from DFW, it's going to be slightly cooler but a MUCH higher humidity level.

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I had no idea that humidity was that bad in NC, so I looked it up. Looks like Raleigh and Dallas have the same humidity average (AM & PM average), so I guess the weather is not that much worse in Dallas. Raleigh is only 7 degrees cooler on average. I thought only FL/LA could get close to the extreme humidity of TX.

The rest of Texas, apart from BFE West/North TX, are a different story as Austin, San Antonio, and south have about the worst weather imaginable.

http://www.cityrating.com/relativehumidity.asp

I am married, but do not have any kids. We are just wanting in a nice area with good schools if we buy a house for resale value.

We are hoping to take a trip out there sometime in March. Just need to get ahold of a realtor before hand.

don't discount living in raleigh, but south of the belt line too. there's some great houses and neighborhoods just off Tryon Rd but between garner and cary.

Pine hurst... Go to Elliot's!

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don't get duped into stopping at south of the border in sc on the way to myrtle beach either

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best advice on this thread. i was duped.

Any advice for a newly married couple (29 & 30) with no kids? We currently live in downtown Chicago, so hopefully looking for something akin to city-life. Which areas of the Triangle should we focus in on?

TYIA!

same areas. chapel hill and the rtp area mainly. probably somewhere around 540 too

durham is probably the last place i would recommend but right at south pointe is not bad

I live near downtown Raleigh and work there too. I'm a bit bias, but Five Points is a nice neighbourhood.

I'm in Greenville, NC and agree with most of what has been said on this thread (except I didn't get duped into South of the Border so I can't comment )

The drivers can be awful, at least here, and everyone drive 10mph less than the speed limit. And if it rains, you might as well just stay home.

Agreed with sentiments on BBQ. Luckily I have a smoker and can make my own.

Beaches are nice, the Outer Banks (Nags Head) and Emerald Isle are much better than anywhere I ever went in Texas. Probably closer to 2 hours from Raleigh/Durham area.

Weather is nice and summers usually slightly cooler than TX.