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It may depend where your school is located. The north side of Sanford could be a 35 mile commute (or 45 minutes) from Cary. From the south side of Sanford, it would be longer. My in-laws commute daily from Sanford to Durham because there are so few well-paid jobs in Sanford.
Sanford is not a "bad" town, but it is a hick town in the sense that many people are insulated and not interested in changing. Racism is less of an issue than anger at the number of illegal immigrants in the area. There has been a large growth in the Hispanic population in recent years, and I can't say how much is "illegal".
There seem to be 4-5 nice apartment complexes on the north side of Sanford, with 1-BRs starting in the $500/month range. Some of my sister-in-law's adult kids live in apartments, and they seem to find life good in Sanford.
I live in the county where I teach, but on the opposite side from where the school is. I occassionally run into parents (they are buying the beer and wine) but hardly ever students.
When I taught in another county, closer to Raleigh, I had a 5 minute drive to school ans 30 minutes to Raleigh. Though I am not 24 something, my wife and I made it to Raleigh once a month or so.
Alright, it's official, I will be moving down to the area next week. It will definitely help once I'm there to get a better idea of the areas and whether I think I'll stay in Sanford or branch out a little. Either way, does anyone have any recommendations for apartments? I'll take any advice! I'd like to spend less than $700 for a 1 BR. I've found a few in Sanford (Falls Creek, The Oaks, High Ridge) so far but still have to start looking elsewhere. Any advice about apartments in other areas or just the areas themselves? If I decide to go out of Sanford, where do you think would be best for me? Apex? Holly Springs? Cary? Pittsboro? Fuquay-Varina?....... From searching other Citydata forums, it looks like Pitttsboro is an even smaller town than Sanford..... Apex/Holly Springs is suburban and families.... Cary is a much bigger city w/ more nightlife, younger people, etc...... FV looks smaller too and maybe family-oriented too? I'm just going off of "hearsay" from this site... but it would help to have even more opinions! Thanks
check out the Woodland Heights apartments there in a small town called Tramway just a few miles outside of Sanford. I know of a couple other young teachers that live there.
Alright, it's official, I will be moving down to the area next week. It will definitely help once I'm there to get a better idea of the areas and whether I think I'll stay in Sanford or branch out a little. Either way, does anyone have any recommendations for apartments? I'll take any advice! I'd like to spend less than $700 for a 1 BR. I've found a few in Sanford (Falls Creek, The Oaks, High Ridge) so far but still have to start looking elsewhere. Any advice about apartments in other areas or just the areas themselves? If I decide to go out of Sanford, where do you think would be best for me? Apex? Holly Springs? Cary? Pittsboro? Fuquay-Varina?....... From searching other Citydata forums, it looks like Pitttsboro is an even smaller town than Sanford..... Apex/Holly Springs is suburban and families.... Cary is a much bigger city w/ more nightlife, younger people, etc...... FV looks smaller too and maybe family-oriented too? I'm just going off of "hearsay" from this site... but it would help to have even more opinions! Thanks
Maybe it's just me but I can't recall ever seeing the words Cary, nightlife and young people in the same sentence. I always thought being married and having 2.2 children was a requirement for residency..
I am only looking at apartmentfinder dot com, but I'd rank the ones in Sanford as: 1. Falls Creek at Westlake, 2. The Oaks 3. High Ridge. I'd avoid Mallard Cove (maybe too quiet for your taste) and Candlewood (older and few amenities). Falls Creek seems the largest and newest, and the location on Spring Lane is near the nicest shopping, and near a sports bar/steakhouse that seemed like a hangout. Falls Creek also has a pool, exercise room, clubhouse and a laundromat, all places to meet people. The Oaks also has tennis and basketball courts.
Outside of Sanford, it is harder to find places in your price range, but The Park Apartments in Cary, Beechridge and Lake Cameron in Apex seemed nice. I couldn't find anything in Pittsboro or Holly Springs, but maybe local sources have ads. I mentioned Pittsboro because it's on the route to Chapel Hill where UNC is.
I commuted from Cary to Sanford for over two years. It was not a bad drive. I lived off Cary Pkwy. and US 1 took me right into Sanford. People in Sanford are very friendly but I could not imagine living there. I would get an apartment right off US 1 in either Cary/Apex and commute.
Maybe it's just me but I can't recall ever seeing the words Cary, nightlife and young people in the same sentence. I always thought being married and having 2.2 children was a requirement for residency..
You'd be surprised. There are many single professionals who live in Cary especially the area off US 1/Cary Pkwy/Tryon Rd. There are many sports bars there as well. It is because of the proximity of Tryon Rd. to NC State.
Maybe it's just me but I can't recall ever seeing the words Cary, nightlife and young people in the same sentence. I always thought being married and having 2.2 children was a requirement for residency..
HAH Kyle, but yes, you forgot something else for required Cary residency: Income over 200K; and Lowe's brown yard trash bags (because it's against city ordinance to leave grass clippings in the yard in many parts of that city - so don't forget that bagger on your mower - it's a necessity- and put those grass clippings by the side of the street promptly or you'll be paying a ticket!).
Lindsay Just other things you'll want to research when you move - city ordinances/HOAs, stuff like that.... I know in Riverwood, a s/d in Clayton that I rented a house in for over 2 years, you can't even park any type of boat or camper in your own driveway or store it on your big .22 acre yard....I've lived as a single female with responsibilities (single mom lol) in the Wake County/Johnston County area since 1998 (except for almost 2 years in GA) and would N-O-T classify this area as an area with swinging nightlife, etc. unless you are interested in hanging around a bunch of college-aged kids (several local colleges in Raleigh, thus, nightlife in Raleigh is primarily college-aged kids hanging out downtown at night). I guess there are sports bars here, but that somehow doesn't equate to real nightlife in my mind. Real nightlife is in Hot-lanta GA, about 7 hours down the road lolll
Best of luck teaching....hopefully, you'll get a few years of experience under your belt, some excellent recommendations, then go to a state who takes pride in paying their teachers a little bit more than $30,000 a year....it's a hard job. Use it as a stepping stone, or (if you haven't already) immediately start on your Masters so in a few years, you can receive a pay increase.....
Last edited by bleighorr; 08-27-2011 at 10:11 AM..
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