Congrats on the job transfer! We're planning to move from the same area of Fairfax County. The prices in Raleigh are AMAZING compared to our houses here... it's the main reason for our desire to move! Anyway, just check out realtor.com for Raleigh area houses to give yourself an idea; you'll find PAGES of houses under $500k. Seriously, the same type of home we'd consider around here (a newer garage townhome like are all around here) would be around $400k (or often more!) here, and in Raleigh will be under $200k. As far as where to live, where would your husband's job be located? That would probably have a lot to do with having a commute under 20 min, although I think that shouldn't be that hard. Our favorite area in Raleigh when we visited was part of"North Raleigh," near Crabtree mall and Umstead State park. That area reminded us most to what we love around here; shopping & nice looking neighborhoods. Cary is also supposed to be a nice area, but I think we missed the nice parts of it and only hit the more rural areas. We're visiting again this weekend, so we'll see about that. I'd definitely recommend visiting the area to see where you like... it's not a far drive (Yahoo maps says 5 1/2 hours - unfortunately when we visited before, Independence Air was still in service so we flew for around $125 for both of us roundtrip; I miss those days! - this time we can't get such a good deal with airlines so we're driving). Best wishes in your search! This forum is a GREAT place for advice!!

Wakefield and Heritage are in Wake Forest NC. Coming from I85 , Wake Forest is the last place before pulling into Raleigh. Both of these neighborhoods have several different communities within their community, varing in price ranges. These are 2 of the newest upscale communities and primarily geared towards families. There is a new bypass now that will take you towards the RDU airport and RTP area with out having to come into Raleigh. As the last post suggested, it kinda depends on where your husbands job will be.

Good Luck

I moved here 3 years ago from Arlington. Just my opinion, but after you are used to the ameneties of the "city", I'd stay away from Heritage/Wake Forest area. Anything you want to do for entertainment, doctors, shopping, etc. you have to go to Raleigh for. There's lots of building going on, but it's all the chain stuff. Wake Forest, unfortunately, has lost a little of its charm.

Let me know if you want the name of a great relo realtor. it's a friend from college. He's been here about 15 years.

North Raleigh has some fabulous neighborhood and nothing in Raleigh is more than 20 minutes away from anything else. EVen if you work in RTP, I get there in about 20 minutes form my home in NR. We live in Summerfield North and we love it...it's an older, established neighborhood with decend lots and lots of trees, but the home were built in the 70s-80s, so you may need to update a bit if it hasn't been done already.....great community though...

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