We moved from the Bay area in CA to NC and recently purchased a home in North Durham which is close to Duke. House prices are resonable certainly compared to prices of homes in CA. I know there are couple of homes for sale in our subdivision, Autumn Ridge and there is another subdivision we looked at up the street which is called Ashfield place and had a few new homes for sale. All the best in your search. NC is different from CA but I do like it here. I used to live in Los Angeles myself.