Durham/Chapel Hill

[Marcone]

So thought I'd throw a feeler out there to anyone who will be moving to the Durham/Chapel Hill area and see how everyone's coming along in finding a place to live. It seems there's a lot of gated communities, apartment complexes, etc which isn't something I'm too excited about. What I am excited about, moving from Boston to Durham/Chapel Hill, is some of the prices I'm seeing. Anyway, thought I'd ask and maybe get a conversation going. In what I'm sure is a common grad school phenomenon, I'm assuming I know less about this right now than everyone else...

[sacklunch]

Marcone,

I know we spoke over PM, but I thought I would share. I'm also excited, moving from Boston, looking at the price of housing. However, like you said, there appears to be a lot of lame apartments/gated communities rather than actual houses. Perhaps we are spoiled by Boston?? Anyways, I posted a couple weeks back in the City section of the forum and got some decent advice about what part of town one should live in, ect. I have also heard some of the surrounding areas are suspect (crime) and the 'best' parts of town are the ones farther away from Duke. Old West Durham and Trinity Park area seem to be pretty nice and are fairly close to campus (within a mile or two). I'd like to be able to walk to class, if possible, and keep my car just for weekend errands.

[sacklunch]

Also, I posted a 'wanted' add on craigslist for Durham and have already got half a dozen options with other (Duke) students.

*edit* Also, I contacted the Divinity school and added my name to the list for seeking roommates. I doubt this matters to you, but others might find it useful.

Edited April 23, 2012 by jdmhotness

[Guest]

Hey Marcone,

I was just there visiting and checking this out. I will say that there seems to be quite a few rougher parts of Durham in particular that you may want to be wary of as you look for a place to live. Right off of the campus of Duke on the west side, for instance, the apartments weren't very desirous in my opinion. Suffice it to say, stay very diligent in your search because online descriptions can be misleading as to the overall quality of the place.

On a positive note, the places on the east, north, and south sides of campus seem a lot nicer and not too much more expensive. Also, I hear Chapel Hill is much nicer than Durham overall. This is changing quickly though as Durham has improved drastically in the last ten years, from what I hear.