I live in Wake county (SW of Raleigh) and its growing by leaps and bounds and shows no sign of stopping. We are already planning on GTFO the area as soon as I retire (maybe 7-10) yrs, sooner if possible.

Home prices are insane...guy down the street just got double what he paid for his new home built in 2015.

Apple moving 3000 jobs into the area within three years. Other tech sector companies (IBM, Lenovo, NetApp, Sysco, RedHat) as well as lots of biotech and pharma, more are moving in almost daily. Get a subscription to the Triangle Business Journal and you will know what I am talking about.

Were looking to NW part of the state (Ashe and Allegheny counties area) and already have property there we plan to build on. Super quiet, nice people, out of the way, beautiful.

Pros of RTP: as you said, NHL, college sports - UNC, NC State, Durham Technical College name rhymes with "puke" , some really fine restaurants, museums, etc. Access to a fairly busy airport that is easy to get in and out of. The weather is fairly temperate but you still get four seasons. Cost of living is not insane, not counting housing.

Cons...rapid growth, lib/woke/douches and millenials abound, not that many good gun ranges. Current housing market insane. Traffic is not that bad where I live but its getting worse every year. The cities of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill have periodically awful traffic.

PM me if you have more specific questions.

I've been in the area for about 20 years now and I like it. I live in Franklin County, which I consider to be much better than Wake County which is getting bluer all the time. I'd look at Franklin and Johnston counties.

All the areas around Raleigh are exploding right now. The closest "major" area to me is Wake Forest which is about a 30 minute drive and new homes are popping up everywhere around me. A lot a few doors down from me went on the market last week with a 24 hour deadline to submit offers. It sold well above asking.

There's lots to do outdoors. It's a few hours from the beach and few hours from the mountains. There are several lakes nearby (Falls, Jordan, Mayo, Kerr, Gaston, Hyco).

Lots of golf.

Raleigh and it's outlying towns have a good selection of restaurants.

College basketball always gets interesting in these parts. The Canes games are fun or so I hear (not a hockey fan). I enjoy the occasional minor league baseball game at the mudcats stadium.

There are a couple good outdoor places to shoot (Warrenton and Louisburg) that I know of. I shoot on private land, so I don't have experience at these places, but I have friends that are members. Perry's Gun Shop in Wendell (eastern wake county) is awesome.

Everything turns yellow this time of year due to pine pollen (it's just starting).

The heat and humidity in August can get pretty brutal, but the winters are fairly mild.

If you're interested in a private lake/golf community check out Lake Royale. We get lots of people that retire here, mostly from up north.



I don't visit Durham unless I have to for work.

I lived in RDU for a spell. You’ll have a number of reminders of NY there. Totally transplanted. Retirement would cost less in SC…

Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City (tri cities) Tenn is the place to retire.

if you want to be in the 'RDU area' -- politically speaking -- look for real estate in Johnston County.

one county to the east of Wake and still reasonably 'conservative / rural' but all that is in flux like a lot of places. plus its that much closer to the coast if you like going to the beach... also -- the last leg of the 540 loop (the south connector) will get finished pretty soon which will help with traffic somewhat coming from the east into the RDU metro area. IIRC it had the highest percentage voters for Trump in the entire state in 2016.

from wikipedia: Carter's unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1980 is the last time that a Democrat has managed even 40 percent of the county's vote.

https://www.ncdot.gov/projects...0/Pages/default.aspx

i lived in Joco for a long time and it was okay. the Sheriff is a long-term 'R' and decently pro 2A. my old zip was vicinity of 27529. some of those properties are wake county (avoid) but some are johnston county (lower taxes).

https://www.johnstonnc.com/she...t.cfm?page_desc=meet

no way in hell would i live in Durham or Chapel Hill. hard-core libs well-entrenched in those areas.

basically -- (like most places) the more rural you stay in NC -- you will like it pretty well. your real estate dollar will go further too.

like i said -- i lived there for years so ask away any specific questions. lived in several places in NC -- so I know western NC and also the Fay. / Ft Bragg area also.

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someone mentioned Eden and Reidsville, I grew up in Rockingham County and still own property there, currently live in Greensboro and wish I didn't.

Raleigh would be similar I think, inside the city is no go if you have a choice. buying acreage 25-50 miles outside any of the major NC cities is like going into a different world and can be very nice.

Live in the area - moved here about a decade ago, and we're really happy here.

Great educational facilities, very strong economy, great health care options and decent weather. We do have four seasons but the winter is both mild and mercifully short. The springs and falls are world class and are fairly long. Summers are, well, hot, but at least they're not Arizona hot or Florida hot.

If you are looking for mountains, snowy weather, or ocean it's got none of those things, but that's obvious from the map. You can get to them, if you have a mind to.

Population is growing as word gets out. Lots of new housing construction, as well as new offices and factories.

You will want to study the costs. It is not Silicon Valley expensive or NYC expensive, but neither is it cheap.

Like every area, there are urban centers that are, well, urban. With all that that implies. But there is a good road network and as a retiree you don't have to live in an urban center anyway.

A 60 mile radius from either Raleigh or Durham is a pretty big area. I suggest coming down here, renting a car and driving around but make a plan first.

If you're out in the 'country' traffic won't be much of a problem but there also may be very little to do depending on your interests and good restaurants, if you are in to that, will be non-existent. If you want to shoot be prepared to drive potentially a long distance.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
If you absolutely have to be in that area, head west about 30-40 miles to Mebane. Nice small town, puts you within reasonable distance of RTP and Greensboro via I-40 but lower cost of living and keeps you out of that bigger city hassle unless you choose to enter the fray.

Mebane is what I'd suggest too, if you really want to be close to the Triangle but not immersed in the sprawl and traffic. Much more small town vibe (unless that's changed in the 10 years since I've been gone).

Otherwise, I'd rather go (back) to Greensboro. Still easy drive to the Triangle, even closer to Winston-Salem. Convenient to Charlotte, too. And the piedmont region is just nicer, and GSO is the very outskirts of that.

quote:

Originally posted by cyberiad:
If you want to shoot be prepared to drive potentially a long distance.

Hey cyberiad, been a long time since I've seen you. Your posting caught my eye. I'm not sure what you mean about the long drive. There is an indoor rifle/pistol range near the airport (a little pricey) and one in southern wake county. There is at least one indoor pistol range on the south side of Raleigh. If you want to do competitions, there are places within an hour drive. Or at least that use to be true - haven't done any competitions in a while. Use to be easy to do rifle, action pistol and shotgun events within an hour of where I live in Cary. I'm a member of the Durham Wildlife Club. It's primarily a shotgun club. Has a pistol range. The 100' rifle range has been under construction for a LONG time. Rifles are limited to rimfire cartridges.

We've been in the Raleigh area for a about 25 years. I a bit shocked at some of the negative comments above. Traffic is all relative - we lived in Houston and Austin for a while and the worst traffic in Raleigh is nothing close - unless you're trying to commute in from Johnson County at rush hour.

One negative I agree with is the recent growth and the soaring house prices. Depending on where you live, the roads are really not ready for significant growth so traffic will be worse in the coming years... but not like Austin or Houston.

Thanks everyone for the information.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
If you absolutely have to be in that area, head west about 30-40 miles to Mebane. Nice small town, puts you within reasonable distance of RTP and Greensboro via I-40 but lower cost of living and keeps you out of that bigger city hassle unless you choose to enter the fray.

Not to mention much closer to Red Oak Brewery!

I like Red Oak but Mebane has Bright Penny Brewing Co now and they make great beer!

Do you plan on working? NC is much more business friendly than SC. Neither is anything like TX or FL, from that perspective, but NC doesn’t seem to consider small business owners chattel to use exploited for mega corps, the way SC does.

Both are very soft on crime. Rural NC is far more polite, than most of rural SC, but the farming areas in upstate SC are nice.

One of the biggest thing that chafes my behind about Durham is that it offers nothing to a resident except high taxes, crime and liberals.

I do not mind traffic, high taxes, etc.. if something is offered in return.

If you go to the outer areas such as Apex, Cary, Garner, etc.. they offers tons of restaurants, shops, grocery stores etc..

I do want to explore the Wake Forest, Zebulon and Knightsdale area to see what it has to offer.

I really like the Pittsboro area unfortunately development is hitting that area in leaps and bounds.

Mebane still has that small town vibe along with the fact that you can park and stroll around.

I'd move about 20 miles southwest to SC if it wasn't for the fact that my pension is tax-free in NC but not so much in SC.

I’d look in the Youngsville or Franklinton area. Far enough outside of the city to be small town but still relatively close to anything needed.

Sister and parents have been in Clayton/Garner for 20+ years. I REALLY don't care for the area and the things I dislike are getting worse. Have joked for years that if you want to take a piss it's a 45 minute drive. Roads and traffic suck.