[rosewater]

We are thinking about moving there, we are in SE PA now and dh found a job there. Our families are here, but we are thinking we might be ready for a change. I know my area well, but know nothing about the Raleigh area.

I have a lot of questions.

I don't know how to decide where to move outside of the city. East, West, North, South.....and why? Why move to one area over another?
I want a house that is $100,000 or less on at least an acre, if not more. How far out the city would I need to find that?
How far out of the city can you have chickens, sheep and goats?
How is public transportation into the city?
Are there CSA's around?
Is anyone here a member of the Healthy Food Choices Club, for raw milk and butter and pastured meat? Where are the drop offs for that?
Are there other ways to get raw milk and pastured meat around Raleigh? Where?
What about parenting groups for people who are unschooling, but not necesarily religious?
What about homebirth midwives? Are there any direct entry midwives (not RN midwives)?
I'm sure I have other questions, but I think I'll have to post them later when my brain remembers them.

ETA: I guess also things like farmer's markets, natural food stores, (small family owned HFS, or giants like Whole Foods or something like that. Or even a Trader Joe's. I"ll start googling too for this stuff, but I was wondering where all of these things are in compare to where people actually live and what life is like there.

 

[beanma]

I'm not in Raleigh. I'm in Chapel Hill, but I'll give you my 2¢ off the top of my head. That sounds like a really, really low housing price for this area with that much land. You might be able to find it, but we're not flooded with houses in that price bracket. My guess is that most houses in that price range would be fixer-uppers, or trailers, or really really far out, or in town in a questionable neighborhood. I think you could come closer to doing $150, but $100 might be doable, you'll just have to shop for awhile. Now is a good time to buy, though, so a low offer might be snapped up.

Plenty of HFS, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, farmer's mkts.

There are direct entry midwives, but they are not legal, but many women use them and have great stories. There is at least one CNM who attends homebirths in the area also, and several CNMs that do birth center or hospital births.

Great homeschooling/unschooling groups.

Plenty of pastured meat. Raw milk is doable, but trickier with buyer's clubs and "pet milk" supplies.

You can have chickens in the city of Raleigh and in fact there's a tour of backyard hen houses this weekend (or maybe it was last weekend). Not sure on goats and sheep, but I would imagine all that would be further out.

There are a lot of CSAs in Orange and Chatham counties and Durham as well. Last I checked Raleigh and Wake county didn't have as many, but probably are getting more. Durham and Chapel Hill/Carrboro were lumped together recently in Bon Apetit as "the foodiest small town in America" which is due to the many excellent restaurants using very high quality local foods. The Carrboro farmer's mkt is a fantastic small market with food produced w/in 50 miles of town. There's a big state run market in Raleigh and a market in Durham as well. There are also two or three other farmer's mkts in Chapel Hill and a couple in Hillsborough and Fearrington, too.

I'm not a Raleigh person so I can't give too much advice on which side of town to start looking for houses, but there's a lot of cool stuff happening on the western side of the triangle if you wanted to check us out. Durham has some wonderful bargains, but you gotta know where you're looking as sometimes you get what you pay for (or don't pay for).

ETA: I don't think public transportation going into Raleigh from outlying areas is going to be very good. There might be a city bus occasionally, but I'm not sure. Chapel Hill has free buses that run throughout town and some extension of the bus lines into the hinterlands, but it's not great. No metros or anything like that! They've been talking about light rail in the triangle for years, though, so maybe that'll really happen.

 

[circle vortex]

I saw the have the r- line
http://www.raleighnc.gov/portal/serv...irculator.html

 

[rosewater]

Thanks so much for this info!

 

[beanma]

I hope somebody in Raleigh or thereabouts will chime in with more specifics. I think that there are several MDC mamas over that way.

 

[birthpartner]

It is very unrealistic to expect to find that much land anywhere near Raleigh for that price. I can look on the MLS for you and see what comes up, but it will be a slim chance. I have done my share of renovations, and if you are willing to go that route, I might be able to pull up a foreclosure, but you would have to be flexible with your wish list. Feel free to PM me, I do live in Raleigh and have an acre lot myself.

Good luck!

 

[kattykay]

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Birthpartner. It will be almost impossible to find something like that in Wake, Durham, or Orange County. But you might have some luck in Franklin, Alamance, Johnston, Harnett, Granville, or Person Counties. Note that these are not really "in" the Triangle but people do commute in from there. Where exactly is your DH's job, what part of Raleigh?

These counties are quite rural (except parts of Johnston) and you will not find public transport or anything remotely like a Whole Foods. There is plenty of pastured meat. Raw milk is illegal so you'd have to get in the undergroud loop to find it (but if you live in a rural area, your neighbors are sure to point you in the right direction). Chickens are legal in most of the Triangle, but you'd have to be out of most cities' limits to have livestock.

Start hitting the MLS to see what is out there.
I like this real estate site because you can choose to search by acreage and city/county as well as many other things.
http://www.fmrealty.com/site/property/search.asp

Good luck!

 

[Marimami]

I have to agree that I think your housing price is a little unrealistic, even for some of the other counties outside of Wake/Durham/Orange. I live in Chatham County but in Chapel Hill. If I could see through the trees, I think we can see Orange county. My neighborhood is right on the border, as birds fly. As cars drive, it takes us about 20 min to get to downtown CH, less for Carrboro.

Our neighborhood is large but pretty rural and about 20 years old and all the lots are at least an acre, heavily wooded. The houses are all in the $250-350k range, all about 2000-3000+ sq. feet (not really much more than $100-150 per sq ft).

Just to give you an idea of pricing.

Holli