Tell me about Research Triangle

I would also like information on this if anyone can help- also coming from DC area wanting to relocate to NC- Triangle area.

Any info on facilities and neighborhoods would be appreciated!

I live in North Durham, about ten minutes from Duke University.

You can get QUITE the house for $350K in this area! We have 2200 square feet on a third of an acre and paid less than half that (granted, the house was seconds from foreclosure, but even at full value it would have been about half that cost). It is in an established subdivision, barely within city limits in an area with a practically nonexistent crime level (please, do not believe everything you read about Durham; we're not all carrying concealed weapons for protection around here!). I'm not a big fan of most of the new construction around here myself (our house is ten years old).

If you have children, you will have to research schools for yourself and I'm not a nurse yet so I can't rate the facilities, but here in the RTP area we have Wake Med; UNC Hospitals; and the Duke University Health System which has three hospitals within itself, numerous clinics, and the VA hospital.

If you're coming from DC, you won't give the traffic a second thought. My sister went to UNC from 1981-1985, so I've seen the area GROW exponentially - I remember when I40 actually ended at Raleigh-Durham International, and you had to go 40 miles to Burlington to pick it up again. Now there are three loops to I40!

The airport is decent, with a daily direct flight to London so getting to Europe is not a big problem. Don't know if you like to travel. When we came back to the US after living abroad (and when I got out of the USAF), the airport is one reason I came back to this area (my husband is British).

We're about halfway between skiing and surfing, and sort of halfway between Disney World and NYC. You can get to DC in about 3.5 to 4 hours (my dad is in Arlington National Cemetery, so we go to DC regularly).

I think the weather's pretty good (sometimes I find myself wishing our winters were a bit colder!). We just really could use some rain right now!

We're not metropolitan DC but we're not backwards, either. College basketball is indeed a religion here (LOL), but with the ACC pretty much based right here in our front yards, who can blame us? (GO DEVILS!!)

Hope this helps a bit. Good luck with wherever you choose to move!

Hi Fraggle and Lynn, I spent a couple of years working at the National Naval Medical Ctr. outside DC before we moved here to NC 18 years ago (my husbands home State). I loved the DC area, so much to do, but I still remember how crazy the traffic was on the belt-way. When we moved down here it was a different world - much slower pace of life, but with the constant influx of new residents, the Raleigh/Durham area is bursting at the seams and the traffic on the beltline went from a decent commute into Raleigh to almost a parking lot during rush hour.

Fraggle, you asked about hospitals in the area and said you're in the ED. The best hospital in the area (in my opinion) is Wake Medical Center. My husband has worked there for 20 years - they are the only hospital in Raleigh with a Children's ED (that's where he works). All of the staff there specialize in Pediatrics and the entire Peds ED is decorated for the kids so they won't be scared - play rooms, computer games, a play therapist, movies, videos, etc. If your child had to go to the ED, this would be the place to take them.

It's a huge medical complex, incredibly beautiful (I think they spend most of their budget on decorating the place). They recently built a gigantic Rehab Center within the hospital - it has a mini-mall and all of the hallways are lined with "Cherry Wood" - beautiful... It's totally state of the art, large new heart center with a 4 star hotel like facility on the top floor for patients families to stay in. One of my Nursing Instructors said that compared to Wake Med, the small hospital we do Clinicals at is like something out of a 3rd World Country - she wasn't kidding.

I'm graduating in May and checked out all the salaries/benefits hospitals in the area had to offer and Wake is the highest paying and offers the largest shift/diff - last I heard it was $6.00 an hour for nights. It might be much lower than in DC, but around here it's great. I recently called a hospital at the Coast and their night shift/diff was $2/hr - so the 6 is very good for this area and you have to consider the lower cost of living.

I have never been to the hospitals at Duke or Chapel Hill - but they both have such fantastic reputations, I was imagining their facilities to be even more amazing than Wake. My husband is on the ED transport team - he goes to both quite often and I'm not sure which - but said one of them is a dump and nothing like you'd expect with all their fund raising, etc.

I said in another post that when I finish school, our plan is to hopefully move towards the Mountains because we want a couple of acres in the country. You wanted to know if you could find a cape/bungalow for $350,000 - absolutely. Actually, you can have my house for much less... We live in Clayton - used to be a small town on the outskirts of Raleigh -15 minute drive from WakeMed (Mayberry in every way), but lots of the farmers sold their land and all the wealthy golf course people moved in and built their "McMansions" just outside of town. Just my preference, but I hate new sub-divisions We're in the historic district - and if you like older homes (much better built than the new ones) in established neighborhoods within walking distance to the library, shops, post office, grocers, coffee shop, etc. you can find some very good deals because the golf course people don't want to live "in town", they buy homes that are literally - on the greens.

Just to give you a reference point for prices of homes in the area - ours is a 4bedroom, 116 year old 2 story Victorian Farm House -(no ghosts) , 2600 sq/ft, original hardwoods, new 4 season room, perennial gardens, etc. and we're putting it on the market for about $160. One of my sisters said we could get over $800 for it in Boston, but like I said - most buyers coming to the area want to live in new homes on a golf course. Even though it's much larger than many new homes, I'm not sure if we'll be able to sell it because most people moving to the area want new construction - so it will just take someone specifically interested in a Victorian Era home.

In our town and around the Raleigh area, most new homes go from $200 - to over a million. If you're willing to spend 350, you will definitely find a really nice new home. Sorry for the "Novel", I was trying to give you the scoop on the area. Let me know if you have anymore questions, I'll be happy to help in anyway. Take Care, Susan

Susan, I like the sound of that house you're putting on the market...Any chance you'd be willing to hold onto it for about another year until I'm ready to move to your area? Just kidding, of course.

Thanks for all of the great info on your area. I've been researching it for YEARS waiting for the time when I could get my family out of hell...I mean South Florida. Phooey on the weather, in my opinion it's too darn hot, and so many other negatives it would take me all day. On the upside, real estate values here are so out of control that when we sell we'll have a nice down payment for a house in NC.

Can't wait!