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We are relocating this summer to this area from the Northeast and visited the week before last. We drove through Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, spending time in the downtown and residential areas. Nothing felt quite "right" until we drove into Apex. We immediately felt relieved and excited to see a community that seems to have everything we are looking for. The downtown area is sweet, there is lots of green space, a nice mix of new development and well kept older neighborhoods and best of all, we met a lovely realtor who was willing to give us the grand tour and explanation of how the town operates. I thought I was going to meet with a realtor who frequents this forum, as he lead to to believe he would do so, but when it came down to it he completely blew me off. Thankfully, not all real estate agents do business in this way! We are quite excited now about our transition from the Northeast and look forward to becoming part of the Apex community.
We are a NE family considering making the move to Apex. Would you share your realtor's info with me? We're looking for someone who will be honest with us as I have a very specific idea of where I'd like to move. Thanks!
Apex is a gem within the triangle area. The only suburban town that still really holds that small town charm. Wake Forest is a close second but it is pretty far out; whereas "the peak of good living" is centrally located within the Triangle.
J.M.M: how long have you lived there? I'm originally from Mass; moved to Southern NH 9 years ago. Was a Danvers girl for many years! Glad you are enjoying Apex!
Apex is a gem within the triangle area. The only suburban town that still really holds that small town charm. Wake Forest is a close second but it is pretty far out; whereas "the peak of good living" is centrally located within the Triangle.
Certainly Wake Forest is much further away from more of the Triangle than Apex but I don't know that I'd call Apex centrally located. That honor, in my opinion, goes to Morrisville. That said, Apex is now more accessible to the core of the Triangle with the opening of the Western Wake toll road. The only problem there is that it's going to cost you to get there.
We moved from Apex to Wake Forest 3 years ago and do not regret it for one minute. Everyone has their own opinion, but here are the positives and negatives for both from someone who has actually lived in both:
Apex:
Positives:
-New 540 loop will make traffic much easier even though I've heard the the cost is pretty high to drive on it.
-Most of the buildings are new and nice and Lowes, TJ Maxx, and Movie theatre are usually only a 5 minute drive away.
-The American Tobacco trail runs near it
-Jordan Lake is near
- The small downtown area has some neat shops/restaurants
The Negative:
-The trains are a huge issue if you live near them. These are very active train tracks. When the economy was good, you would get 3 an hour. When the economy went bad, we would get a train every 2 hours. When the economy gets good again, you will get a ton of trains again and they blow the horn through the whole town.
-In the winter, when the leaves fall, we could see the steam rising from the nuclear power plant in New Hill. Kind of creepy seeing that from your backyard.
- There are bad areas in every town, but it just so happens that in Apex, we lived near a bad area. By the time we left, I did not feel safe there. We did have things happen in our neighborhood and it became laughable every time we saw blue lights in our neighborhood because it was a common occurrence. I'm not saying all of Apex is like this, we just happened to live near one bad street that caused A LOT of problems.
-We never got to know a lot of people in Apex, it was very "sprawl" like. It felt spread out without a central community feel.
-They have greenways, but are not very scenic compared to other green spaces and greenways in the county.
Wake Forest:
Positives:
-We feel like it's not too far out. It takes us 25 min to get to downtown Raleigh and we have tons of restaurants, movies, etc right in town just like we had in Apex. It only takes 15 min to get to a major mall.
-I feel super safe here. Such a relief just to feel safe.
- Tons of beautiful outdoor green space and greenways. We are 8 min from the 28 mile greenway trail that goes beside the neuse river. We have beautiful parks. Smaller greenways in WF are beautiful in that they cross creeks and waterfalls...yes...small waterfalls. Falls lake has some awesome trails and can make you feel like your are in the mountains. I think Wake Forest is really beautiful compared to other counties because of all the rolling hills, creeks, streams, lakes, and the huge effort from the town to preserve those areas.
-The downtown area is a real central location and historic. It's several streets and has lots to offer. We frequent downtown and there are tons of events in downtown WF. The farmers market on Saturdays is awesome. The new brewery, hipster bowling lane, restaurants, shops, coffee shops, art lessons, gallery, etc.
- We have meet tons of people here and feel it's a throw back to the nostalgic small towns of the past. We see people we know in the grocery store, the gym, downtown WF, on greenways and the like. There is a real sense of small town community here. No, it's not locals either. Most everyone I know here came from somewhere else.
-schools are great
-Our dentist, vet, hairdresser, car repair shop, pharmacy, grocery store, and gym are all on one street and we really like all of them and are all 3 min from our home.
Negatives:
-Capital blvd has bad traffic during rush hour. There are ways around it. We have found alternate routes so we don't have to drive on it.
-It takes me 10 min rather than 5 min to get to target and Lowe's. No big deal though.
-The town is really growing, nothing wrong with that...but I hope it keeps it's small town charm.
-The home prices are rising. It used be cheaper to move to WF and it still is, but the gap is starting to close. I hope the growth doesn't make it less affordable to live here.
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