Best subdivisions and neighborhoods outside of Raleigh?

Question

Hi all,
My family and I are considering a move to the Raleigh/Durham area in the next year. We are aware that the traffic in the more central areas of the city are fairly busy and are hoping to find a subdivision that offers a quiet, neighborhood with more upscale homes. (Price range from $450k to $560K) If you live in the general area, what subdivisions would you consider? We're willing to do a bit of a commute. Thanks!

Answer 1

I think you have some misconceptions of the Raleigh-Durham area. Traffic in the city cores is actually LESS than it is in-between the cities/towns. The largest center of employment is Research Triangle Park, which is midway from Raleigh and Durham. Therefore the roads leading out or into each city are usually busier than the streets in the immediate urban cores. Plus, the closer you are to the center of town, the more you'll be able to skip cars altogether and walk to places....which is always a plus for a family.

Areas in your price range that I'd look at:
Raleigh: Cameron Park, Boylan Heights, Brooklyn, Glenwood South, Five Points/Hayes Barton, Oberlin, University Park, Mordecai, Oakwood/Oakdale, Budleigh, Sunset Hills, Ridgewood, Anderson Heights, Longview.
Durham: Trinity Park, Old West Durham, Northgate, Watts-Hillandale, Walltown, Morehead Hill, Forest Hills, Hope Valley.

Answer 2

Traffic within Raleigh is NOT busy unless you're commuting between Raleigh and Durham. I'd recommend staying as far away from Durham as possible.

I lived in Mordecai, it was the historical district in downtown Raleigh. Really pretty, the houses were going for the mid 400's. Less than a mile from the beltline.
You could try Cary, lots of people are moving there. I think there's more redneck money there, and there are some pretty shady parts of town, so you really have to be careful there too.
You can take a look at realtor.com to see what's out there. Pretty much any subdivision that has houses in your price range are going to be decent.
I'd stay in Raleigh if I were you. I loved every minute I lived there. It's such a wonderful place!

Answer 3

Not sure if it applies to you but this is how we moved.

We called the police and talked to them about the local high schools (we had one in HS and one about to start). They gave us alot of info about which ones had gang problems. We picked the best one and asked about the area within that schools district.

Within that zone they told us about which areas had problems with dealers in parks, and a mobile home parks that had a gang, and certain streets that had many accidents (avoid houses that have you pulling in or out of such streets into your driveway). They also pointed out main thru-fair streets that had fire and police using it often with sirens going.

They were very helpful