Posted on 01/29/2008 5:07:49 AM PST by LuLuLuLu
We're 80% sure that Mr. LuLu will be transferred to NC within the next 6 months, so I'm looking for all the information I can find.
Any property still affordable in the area? We both like something away from the madding crowds, with a small amount of land -- an acre or two.
We'll be moving from SW Ohio, and other than the NC BBQ, I know nothing about the state.
Mods, feel free to move this if I've put it in the wrong place.
Thanks to all!
I have lived in Raleigh my entire life (51 years) (my parents are from Ohio). It is a great place to live.
There are expensive places to live and places that are more reasonably priced. Depending on how much you want to spend, there are areas with and acre or two for reasonable prices.
There is plenty of traffic.
I lived in NC most of my life. Raleigh is a nightmare. People who live there are pretty used to it. But the traffic is pretty shocking to outsiders. The weather can be pretty nasty compared to the Triad. But you are pretty close to fun water which is a big plus. The closer you live to the ocean, the happier you will be.
But I hope you like HOT weather.
I work in RTP. The drive use to take 35 minutes, now more like an hour....traffic sucks....too many Yankees and folks from Kalifornica.
Cary is overcrowded and traffic is worse. Kids? If so, plan on having them change schools every year even if they are in year round schools to balance that diversity thing (schools compete for poor kids getting free federal tax dollars for lunches, etc. Wake County's school board operates much like the GAmbino family from New York.
Local New TV station website. - WRAL.com - to poke around on.
Besides, you'll love that the Dems control the legislature and the governor's office and they like growing the state budget at 1.5 times the actual economic growth of the state.
You like Hispanics? We got plenty of them too and they are posted on TV 505% of the time as the perps involved / arrested for crime. Like overvalued property taxes? You will love Wake, Durham, and Orange counties then......it takes a village, ya know?
It’s nice here, compared to a lot of other places. We have many FReepers in Rollie and Durm (or “Nifongville,” as they like to say ...)
Bat_Chemist, can we get a North Carolina ping?
2004 Pine Bark Lane
Clayton, NC 27520
MLS ID# 978691
This place is located just down the street from us. It’s the nicest house in the neighborhood. Clayton is a small town southeast of Raleigh and is very nice. The Forest Park subdivision is about 3 miles outside of Clayton with 7 to 15 year old houses in the $250,000 to $500,000 range.
If you know the BBQ. . .THAT'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW!!!
I forgot to ask
Habla espanol?
What I mean is. . .everything you will need to know about North Carolina is indelibly linked to BBQ. If you find where the BBQ is. . .you will find everything else that is good in NC. .such as: Bass Fishing, Nascar, College Basketball, Springtime, fiddler’s conventions, mountain honey, etc. Stick your nose into the air.. .sniff, sniff.. . .follow the BBQ! follow the BBQ!!
Welcome to the state!
If you are working in Rawlee, I would suggest looking for homes in Johnston County. Someone mentioned Clayton, which is a good place to look. Other places in Johnston County are nice as well and not far from downtown. Depends on where, exactly, you are working. If you are working in RTP, you may want to look northeast of the city, towards Wilson County. Highway 264 has been opened up to 4 lanes and the new link to RTP around the north side has opened up, making that commute real easy.
If you are in RTP, you may also want to look at Person County or (as a LAST resort) the Chapel Hill area. Be forewarned that Chapel Hill is THE most liberal part of the entire state and does some stuff that you could only dream of if you were from Berkeley. Still, it is a nice area and home prices aren’t too bad.
Personally, I would steer clear of Nifongville (Durham). Another liberal bastion, with some real racial issues and more crime than you can imagine at times. I have always found Derm to be dirty, but that may just be me.
Hope this helps. Might want to check out the NC forums for some help as well.
Oh yeah, when you say you are “familiar” with BBQ, you need to make sure you know what you are talking about. The state has three distinct “styles” of Q. Eastern style, which is most prevalent from about Chapel Hill eastward, is a pulled-pork version with a sauce you can put on yourself of vinegar and red pepper. It is usually served with corn sticks and brunswick stew. Lexington style is popular from Chapel Hill to about Hickory and is a chopped style of pork with a sauce added to the meat which is vinegar based with more ketchup or tomato sauce added. Sauce is thin and leans more towards the “sweet” side. It is usually served with coleslaw and is often put on a bun with the slaw. The other crap in the western part of the state and around Charlotte is not fit for consumption. It is a heavier tomato based pulled or chopped pile of slop. Meat is drenched in the sauce. Usually swimming in it actually. I can’t tell you what they serve with it because after trying it one time, I never ordered it anywhere again. I would steer clear of it at all costs.
Even though I live in the Piedmont area (Lexington style), I prefer the eastern style of Q. I can season as I like and the pork seems to have better flavor. Just beware that you NEVER, EVER get into a discussion about Q, religion or politics with a life-long NC native without having some knowledge of their views first on all of these subjects first. Also, NEVER pick one style over another if you think you are in one of those crossover areas, because you will likely tick off someone who loves that style. Best to just say you are a yankee and are trying every style of Q to better appreciate the finer points of all of them Once you have eaten it for 5-10 years, you will get back to them as to which is “best” IN YOUR OPINION. :)
Fastest growing region in what, for the moment, is fastest growing state in the nation.
One in every five persons new to the state since 2000.
Road infrastructure from Raleigh to Charlotte, having halfway completed a twenty year Road building plan, is short of demand by almost precisely the amount skimmed off Gasoline and Road Taxes since 1989 by nearly invisible General Assembly dominated by ancient Democrat Oligarchy.
Public schools in Wake County public schools trying to maintain quality and failing for number of reasons, not the least of which is state and local government social engineering to "maintain diversity," together with problems inherent to the usual collaterals native to liberal experimentalism. PRIVATE SCHOOL and public Charter School infrastructure is exceptional, and exceptionally well positioned politically since Democrat Oligarchy is timid, more concerned with risk of rocking the boat (and growing Republican voting base at last reaching "competitiveness"). Home Schoolers well-organized.
Faith Community exceptional for comparable demographics.
All-Powerful State Legislature ("General Assembly," 120 House and 50 Senators) is hidden within present day news reporting dominated by National, International and then Local News, with sorry neglect of Raleigh's state government.
Highest tax burden of any state in the Southeast, for some higher than Massachusetts of New York State. (You've been warned.)
Same Democrat Oligarchy, however, tends to phase in regulatory burdens beginning in cities, now the largest part of NC population for the first time in centuries. Look to work in zoned suburbs and to commute by car from surrounding "rural" counties.
The farther away you end us from the cities, the better your quality of life will be. The commute will be the price.
Don't be afraid of the natives. There are very distinct native populations, despite your hearing what may seem the same southern accent... but all are friendly except for the most remote. Might seem "distant" but they are just cautious. They warm up quickly and are raised to say Yes Sir and Yes Ma'am and do not take kindly to being corrected by "outsiders" with regards to anything touching upon their culture, tastes, manner of living, etc. In this, they are sensitive above Texans, for example. Don't make the mistake of feeling shunned or frightened into hoarding up in the bland exurbias, but go a step further, just over the countylines, and thus avoid relaxing.
Start at your workplace, or preferred workplace, and move down the two-way path of least resistance, from areas as surrounded by concrete as any city in New Jersey, and find someplace at the other end where you can hear the wind blowing through the "long leaf pines" and the birds. You won't regret it, though the drive be long.
Oh, and smile and say nothing pro or con about strongly held views regarding various Universities. The rivalries are intense and passionately held, although seemingly irrational. Oligarchy used these divisions as a distraction from watching, too closely, it's usually petty grafts.
All in all, you'll find the people friendly and honest, very hard working, though victimized by that Oligarchy which, wisely, has married its rewards and punishments system to the pseudo-intelligensia, largely hold up on the campuses of the overly funded and independent University system.
Much more... so much more I could tell you. You'll be welcome but come prepared to offer labor and ideas and participation in keeping the state from becoming "the New Jersey of the South." Complaining we already have plenty of.
Though the accents seem different to the newcomers ear, we've become completely used to the accents from beyond in a state almost entirely formed by people who have moved here from elsewhere.
I'll be glad to engage in Q and A regarding NC matters large and small by Private Reply.
Now THAT was a classic post!!!
It is a beautiful place to live where the strains of growth are thought to be terrible by those who've not lived in places like Northern Virginia, South Miami or North Central Texas, etc., over the past 30 years. They may seem little problem for you if you've been through this before, but to my neighbors who still consider me to be non-native, though I am a true Southron and even part Cherokee, I have only lived here for twenty years. LOL. Write back with questions, specific inquiries. You've already got friends, plenty of fine people, hereabouts that you'll wonder all your life how you got along without.
God be with you, and drive carefully.
LOL!
That is absolutely spot on.
I’m glad I live over in Rocky Mount sometimes (though we have our own share of problems).
Only thing that comes from the western part of NC that’s any count is the taters, beans, corn and cabbage. They don’t know squat about Q. I’m without a doubt a whole hog real oak/hickory coals smoked Eastern pork BBQ man.....no plate except to hold a piece of bread and some slaw....I like mine pulled straight from the pig on the cooker....no chop. There’s an Eastern vinegar based baste sauce and then the finishing sauce which is a little sweeter.
505%=50%
Great post.
You say to never get in an argument about NC BBQ but you mischarecterized eastern versus western! Eastern is what is swimming in sauce.
the real dividing line on BBQ is what is cooked using gas versus coals.
I live in Apex and work in RTP. My brother builds houses in the Pittsboro/Holly Springs area. Freepmail me if you want any info about this area.
Please tell me you are not an OSU fan! ;-)
Just stay away from North Raleigh.... (My commute from there is already getting slow!!!) :0)
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Actually, if you’re working in the Park (RTP), North Raleigh is a very nice place to be. Upscale living, slightly better public schools, some VERY good private schools, and a lake thats about bone dry!
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Traffic is getting worst everyday unfortunately, but I make my 17 mile commute in 22 minutes most mornings.
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