Durham: A great city to grow with
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10/4/2018
I've lived in Durham since 2013, originally working at a technology company in the Research Triangle Park. I now have my own consulting company and find that Durham is also a great place to maintain a home office/traveling sales career.
I bought a 4 bed, 2.5 bath house in a golf course neighborhood at the bottom of the market for $197k and it now has a comparative value of $250k. The market is hot right now, but if Apple or Amazon move it, prices will rocket.
My son entered ECU when we moved into the area and he's now employed nearby in the medical field. My spouse commutes to downtown Raleigh and spends 45 minutes each way. When I commuted, my drive to the far south of RTP was 20 minutes with traffic.
The public schools are average, but that hasn't affected my family. If I had school age children, I'd consider Wake County or Orange County Schools. There are charter options around the city, including a science and math academy operated by the state.
Durham Technical Community College is relatively small for our city, but Wake Tech is accessible to Durham residents and has a broad array of vocational, technical, and academic programs. My spouse is upgrading her career by taking an engineering associates degree program at night.
RDU airport is excellent with multiple airlines serving it. There are international flights to London and Paris, as well as flights to most airport hubs and major East Coast cities. Charlotte is a 2.5 hour drive and Atlanta can be reached in 6 hours by car. Amtrak provides a state funded train to Charlotte a few times per day, as well as an interstate train.
Durham has limited mass transit options. Buses do run each day, but the number of routes are limited and are focused on low income communities. There are interstate bus options, including Megabus and Greyhound.
Durham has a good foodie scene, but you'll need to dig around to find the best options. There are plenty of food trucks, including taco trucks on many corners nearby in East Durham. The microbrew scene in Durham is very good with Fullsteam and Ponysaurus leading the way. There are cideries and artisanal distilleries popping up all the time.
Culturally, the Triangle lags a bit. DPAC is an excellent venue and brings in music and theater acts every week. I'm not young enough to know about the local club scene, but I'm assured that nearby Chapel Hill and Raleigh provide many options.
Sports are centered around the three major universities, Duke, NCSU, and UNC-CH. But the Durham Bulls are one of the best AAA baseball teams in America and have a great venue to relax, drink a premise brewed beer, and watch quality baseball. The Hurricanes are the NHL option and RDU has a pro soccer team that may be getting upgraded to the MLS soon. Golf is everywhere, Durham Parks has many programs for families.
My small family has done well here. There are good employment options that promise to get much better. It's a good time to buy into the real estate market with much new inventory, but don't expect to wait too long. I'm glad we moved here from New England and I can see myself staying for retirement.
Raoul | Durham, NC