I used to work in Morrisville and stayed at house up in Durham. My family stayed behind as I didn’t want to relocate, so I’d commute down there once or twice a month, but initially spent a lot of time there. I was up in Ohio, and didn’t want to relocate (worked out well for me) for various reasons, none of which had to do with the area.

Cary is probably the most Carmel-Valley like city. Actually Chapel Hill is supposed to be nice, I didn’t go down there very often, so I can’t really say for sure. Durham has some nice parts but was mostly kind of a dump. The home I stayed in was a 5600 Sq. Foot house of a guy who made a killing day trading and sold out and built a house (in the nick or time before the crash). The thing I hated was driving by the projects to get home.

In my mind not a bad place to relocate, though I’ll still choose to stay here and rent, unless I can move for the exact same salary. I don’t see that happening. Much like SD, you might want to consider living somewhat near where you work. Raleigh to me, was a little less southern, though I don’t have any hangups about the south. The traffic can be a pain. Other bedroom communities south of town are Apex and Forest Hills. North Raleigh as I recall had some nice areas.

North of town is a master-planned community called Wakefield Plantation, that seemed pretty nice, including it’s own schools. Also Wake Forest is just northeast of Wakefield Plantation. In case if my company was going to make me move, I was looking into a lot of new developments around Morrisville-Carpenter area due to the proximity to the office. I can’t recall the name of the place.