Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

If i could live anywhere in the US it would be Wilmington, NC

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

... only if you're a retiree. Fact.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

You have to understand what that means in the USA and with the cost of gas being high, driving 50-75-100 miles to work and back is no longer a realistic regular proposition anymore. It can cost quite a bit each day and it all adds up.
If you're going to be paid oodles, then it might not matter to you.

People here used to think nothing of driving great distances for stuff and NC is one of those states that has several large towns spread across the whole state, plus smaller towns in between.
This means that it takes a long time to get to stuff and people are often hurrying everywhere.
People here are as nice as you can find, but once they get into a car, they are somehow under the impression that they are the only person on the road and most people don't seem to have discovered the indicator levers either - watch out is what I would advise until you get used to 'em.

When I was looking to buy a used car here (which are expensive in NC, thanks to the cut-throat new car market), dealers/adverts would make sales statements such as "has only got 117,000 miles" and the car is say 3-4 years old. This is a common occurrence.

If you're from an area that has short-ish commuting distances, you may be in for a shock here.

For what its worth, Raleigh is a very safe town and has an international airport, but its too far from Reidsville (2 hours).
Winston-Salem / Greensboro / Burlington are your most likely choices, or small towns near to them to give you the best of both worlds.

Good luck with your search.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

I don't know why your hi-tech employer bothers with Reidsville?

Have you heard of The Research Triangle Park (RTP for short)?

It is wedged between Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill (hence the triangle name), is the largest research center in the world and is awash with hi-tech companies and growing all the time. The post office can't keep up with the new road names there!

Check it out!!

http://www.rtp.org/main

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

You have got to be joking, surely??

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

This is soooo spot on. I reckon if I put a crystal ball on my dashboard and gazed into it I would have a better chance of figuring out where and when the car in front is going to make a turn. ;)

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

Those are the biggest deterrents for me.

Like you say, the west coast is a whole different world, a world in which they are so out of touch with true reality and common sense - their nonsense politics are quite laughable but they are, sadly, also economically destructive.

Best to avoid in my book.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

You might not think it's realistic to drive those kind of distances like that but many people do because homes are more reasonably priced (than desirable Raleigh inner beltline neighborhoods, for example) and houses are bigger. In addition, property taxes may be lower. My spouse works in RTP and he works with folks who live in Garner and Holly Springs.

Many parts of the US are like that. I think that's how we got Dallas-Fort Worth and even Cary's getting swallowed up by Raleigh.

I blame all those relocated Yankees who live in Wake!:lol:

Perhaps you gave up too easily? I've heard about friends and acquaintances who've bought used cars with low mileages.

[/QUOTE]

If you live in Raleigh, a commute to RTP, for example, would be long. On the other hand if you live in Durham, in particular South or SW Durham, the commute to RTP is considerably shorter.

... and if you're driving to RTP on Highway 70 or even I-40, you should find an alternate route.

BTW, Raleigh is a city, at least in the US.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

Did you read the OP's first sentence? He's likely to be transfered to the US office based in Reidsville. There may be very good reasons why the office is located in a podunk town.

You forgot to mention the many pharma and biotech companies in RTP and recently, a USCIS office there.:thumbup:

RTP is in the Triangle but it is actually physically located in Durham and Wake counties. RTP is big but it's none of it is located in Chapel Hill in Orange County.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

If we're doing "by the ways", then don't you mean Cary?

There's no indication in my post that I gave up easily or that I didn't find a car with low mileage. Stop making pesky assumptions!


Technically yes this is true. However, it will feel like a town if you've come from a larger city, which is a nice thing I suppose.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

I hate to break it to you but the Yankees are dispersed throughout Wake in large number. Note the concentration of shops that sells bagels.:)


<<snip>>




I found that the sooner I dispensed with comparisons to the UK, especially London (where I'm from originally), the quicker I shook off culture shock.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

..errmm.. yes, as reflected in my answer and my question in my answer.

I am not a spokesperson for RTP and those other industries are outside the OP's area of expertise.

Thanks for splitting that unnecessary hair for everyone NCP. I am sure we can now all sleep well tonight.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

This brings up an interesting point. When considering where to live, you would be better off thinking of the US as being more like Europe than a country like the UK. The country is large, and the politics diverse. In the South, you have people fighting to teach 'creationism' as science; on the West Coast, you have gay marriage. In Texas, you have extremely liberal gun laws; in San Francisco, it's practically illegal to own a gun. There is a tremendous range of attitudes, and if you look around, you can find a place that suits your mood.

I personally prefer the liberal nature of the West Coast (not to mention the near-perfect weather, wealth of jobs, etc) but the poster here prefers the conservative South. To each his own.

To the specific comment: "a world in which they are so out of touch with true reality and common sense - their nonsense politics are quite laughable but they are, sadly, also economically destructive" - I don't believe the people here are lacking in common sense at all. Marriage is a right that everyone should have; protecting the environment - an idea that has been popular in California for decades - is now mainstream. Even Arnie (our Republican Governor Schwartzeneger) just said that Bush is all wrong on the environment and that Obama has the right idea. California was against the Iraq war from the start, another idea that is now mainstream. California has the biggest economy in the US and is responsible for 13% of US GDP; if it were an independent country (oh how I wish...!), it would be the 8th largest economy in the world. You can tout your quaint little RTP all you like, but the Bay Area/Silicon Valley gave birth to Google, Yahoo, HP, Intel, National Semiconductor, AMD, You Tube, e-bay, Symantec, McAfee, Apple, Cisco, .... I can't keep typing them all ... and the west coast overall is the home of Microsoft, Amazon, and many more. If California were some failing backwater I'd accept the criticisms you level against it, but it's the powerhouse of the US economy.

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

Oh please, stop with this 6-year old level of lecturing about rights, fairness and "protecting the environment", a slogan that has been driven into the ground for decades, yet nothing worthwhile has yet been achieved on a scale that makes any real difference.

Yeah, Arnie's been a great contribution to your state.

This is exactly what I mean about west coast people being so out of touch with reality. They really are up they own a**es

They should get out more and see what is going on in the real world.

For getting your ying-yang, your chakra and your center into more balance, I would recommend that you should listen to Michael Savage a bit (4-7pm PT) - then you'll know how degenerate your beloved west coast society has become and what is needed to put it right.

http://www.knew910.com/pages/listenlive.html

Re: North Carolina - A place to live?
 

I hate to break it to you but you are more assimilated into the Southern American culture than you think. The above is a viewpoint that your typical southern conservative white male would have towards the west coast. Especially if you use Hollywood as your measuring stick. The West is very progressive. It stems from history where those who settled out there had a much more adventurous attitude than those who settled on the East coast. The East coast might have it's own progressive attitudes but it's the West that has it in spades. This opinion formed from being a natural born citizen of the US for 31 years and not listening to one person to form my opinion about the values and mores of West coast politics and culture. Just because they are on the radio doesn't qualify them as an expert anyway. That's unless they have a resume to back it up. See also, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc...