Relocating to Durham/chapel Hill area, need advice!

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2011

The Woodcroft area, or the 27713 zip code is a good place. This area is considered South Durham and is close to Southpoint Mall. Your kids would go to Jordan High School, which has always been a good school. If you want to live near the country and don't mind a 30 minute commute, the 27712 area code is in North Durham and the schools are pretty good there. Your kids would go to either Riverside High or Northern High, both acceptable.

Chapel Hill is a very nice place to live, but the housing market is tough right now. Expect to spend your entire bank account on buying a house! If you are renting, there are a few good places to rent, but they will be expensive since it is a college town.

When are you wanting to move? I may have a few places in South Durham for you to look at if you are interested, as my hubby and I have just finished with our house shopping and have seen a surprising amount of nice houses that have rent-to-own options.

Tarheelborn · Jan 25, 2011

I live in and grew up in Chapel Hill, It was a great place to grow up and the schools are fantastic. Like canesdukegirl said though, its expensive. I'd agree that woodcroft is the best option in Durham. Have you looked at surrounding areas like Apex, Cary, or Morrisville?

porterwoman · Jan 25, 2011

I would personally be really cautious about moving into Wake County right now simply because of all the redistricting & policy changes that have been going on in the school system there--if you search "wake county schools" you can read some pretty interesting stuff. I've personally had a very positive experience with living in Durham & with the Durham Public School system. Ditto south Durham, which is convenient to UNC, Duke, and even Rex & Wakemed, to some extent. The triangle is a great place to live & to raise kids.

weluv3 · Feb 1, 2011

Is Durham higher in crime compared to the suburbs? Will be visiting NC in March this year to look around to find a place to relocate from California! We have 3 kids, 8 months, 4 years and 7...so schools are important as well as neighborhoods/crime, etc.

Looking at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest. I do have a nursing degree to start out there as I only have my CNA and by the time we move I will be looking to apply to either an accelerated BSN program or reg Bachelors or associates. I guess I'll either have to attend a private school to avoid the out of state tuition charge or wait a year to gain in state residency status.

SDALPN · Feb 7, 2011

Durham has a high crime rate. That city is on the news daily about shootings. Raleigh is much safer and cleaner too. Durham is nasty and looks very run down in most areas. Chapel Hill is nice, but expensive. Same with Cary. Wake County (Raleigh is in Wake County) is having some school board problems, but the schools are much better than Durham schools are. I have worked in both school systems with patients and fear for my life when I'm in the Durham schools. I have been told for my safety not to wear red or blue scrubs while in the Durham schools because they are gang colors. Creedmoor is a small town about 20 min from Durham and Raleigh. Its rural, clean, safe. Fuquay, Holly Springs, Apex are not too far either. They are growing quickly and still good little cities. Zebulon and Knightdale are just east of Raleigh and are decent places. But they are a little further from Duke and UNC. Wake Forest is growing quickly and is about 20 min north of Raleigh. Its a bit of a commute to Duke/UNC. And the roads/traffic aren't able to handle the number of people moving to WF. Its a nice area. But until the roads widen going to Raleigh the traffic is going to stay really bad there. Hillsborough is just outside of Durham and so is Roxboro. They are both on the rough side. They look run down and typically lower incomes live in those areas. Most any place surrounding Durham and including Durham will be like that. There are a handful of good neighborhoods in Durham. But to get to those neighborhoods you have to go through some bad ones usually. Durham is trying to do better with their culture and arts. But I never feel like going to those places because I could be risking my life.

Just check out some of the local news websites to get a feel for the crime and schools in the area. That will tell you quite a bit of what you want to know. WRAL is a local news channel with a good website. Do a search for Durham shootings and do a search for schools and see what you think.

weluv3 · Feb 7, 2011

Thank you very much!!! Sounds like south central LA.... Yikes!