Jump to content

Tell me about Greensboro?

soontaree_d

By soontaree_d
in The NC Triad

Recommended Posts

soontaree_d Crossroads

soontaree_d

Posted
Posted

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Greensboro, NC. We would like to get some input about which section or development we should look into for single family home. We have kids in elementary school, so school will probably be the determinant factor. We now live in Northern VA area that offers excellent public schools (fairfax county to be exact). We are currently living in a very friendly suburb area with great schools and wonderful neighbours. But we can't stand the traffic and the hectic lifestyle here anymore. Luckily, we work from home so commuting is not an issue.

We first looked into Raleigh but rather found out about the overcrowded schools there. Then , we heard good things about Greensboro. I went to the Guildford County Public Schools website and see that Greenboro and Raleigh have a similar educational program. But we also heard that public schools in Greenboro are not very good. If you happen to live in Greenboro or know about living in Greenboro, please give us some advise. Your insight and information will be highly appreciated.

SD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 23
  • Created
  • Last Reply
wscruiser Unincorporated Area

wscruiser

Posted
Posted

Not to take anything away from Greensboro, but a couple of really nice areas you may want to investigate are the Kernersville and Lewisville/Clemmons areas.

Kernersville is located about half way between Greensboro and Winston Salem off of I-40. It is a growing bedroom community where folks that work in the Greensboro and Winston Salem areas live. It is a smaller town that is served by good schools, nice resturants and shopping areas, without all of the hustle of a large city. Its about a 15 minute drive to Greensboro, Winston Salem, High Point, or the Piedmont Triad International Airport.

The Lewisville/Clemmons area is located on the western side of Winston Salem off of I-40 and Highway 421 North. There are many fine housing developments located in these areas, and both are served by a good public school system, as well as many great private schools. You are only minutes from the main shopping areas of Winston Salem, and 15 minutes from the downtown Winston Salem and Old Salem areas. Its country living with the big city only minutes away. The Boone/Blowing Rock area of the NC mountains are only about an hours drive north from this area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

Posted
Posted

The qaulity of life in Greensboro is great. Its an excellent place to raise a family. The city has both small town and big city characteristics so you get the best of both worlds. There are alot of great things happening with downtown revitalization and the public school system is on the path to improving. If you are looking to live on the outskirts of Greensboro, Oak Ridge and Summerfield are very nice quiet suburban communities.

But being in Greensboro, you have quick access to the airport and I-40/I-85 interstates. Also its beneficial if you and your husband's job is in or near Greensboro. But if I had to decribe Greensboro, its a family and college town.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sax184 Hamlet

sax184

Posted
Posted

If the Fairfax County schools are your yardstick, the only public school system in the state that is in that ballpark in terms of quality is probably the Chapel Hill/Carrboro city schools. That doesn't mean the other major city systems aren't capable of doing a very good job, it's just that you're coming from an area with very high wealth coupled with a very high commitment to public education.

My sense is that crowding or not, the Wake County (Raleigh area) schools are better-performing than the Greensboro schools. Wake has particularly done a good job in keeping up the progress and scores of low-income children. In the Triad, you're likely to find some good schools in both the Greensboro and Forsyth County systems. Look carefully, and ask around.

If you step outside those two counties into Davidson County or other counties surrounding Guilford/Forsyth, quality drops off considerably.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
soontaree_d Crossroads

soontaree_d

Posted
  • Author
Posted
If the Fairfax County schools are your yardstick, the only public school system in the state that is in that ballpark in terms of quality is probably the Chapel Hill/Carrboro city schools. That doesn't mean the other major city systems aren't capable of doing a very good job, it's just that you're coming from an area with very high wealth coupled with a very high commitment to public education.

My sense is that crowding or not, the Wake County (Raleigh area) schools are better-performing than the Greensboro schools. Wake has particularly done a good job in keeping up the progress and scores of low-income children. In the Triad, you're likely to find some good schools in both the Greensboro and Forsyth County systems. Look carefully, and ask around.

If you step outside those two counties into Davidson County or other counties surrounding Guilford/Forsyth, quality drops off considerably.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
blburton Whistle-Stop

blburton

Posted
Posted

I've heard a lot about Northwest Guilford High (Summerfield, Oak Ridge, far NW GSO, etc) and Grimsley High (Irving Park, College Park, Fisher Park, historically affluent and neighborhoods north and northwest of downtown, etc). There's also Greensboro Day and a few other good private schools in that area of the county/city. Summerfield and Oak Ridge aren't like Cary and Apex (Raleigh burbs) in that they have continued to remain rural and rustic in nature, put provide a demographic probably consistent with Fairfax Co (avg HH income 80-90K/yr). Cary and Apex are textbook examples of burbs (house on top of house, horrible rush hour traffic, fields, forests, and old neighborhoods demolished for unsightly, awkwardly placed, overpriced condos/apts).

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

Posted
Posted
Thank you for your reply! You made good points about the schools in Raleigh. We went to Raleigh about 3 times in the last 6 months. I visited 3 elementary schools and I am very impressed with the curriculum and the magnet programs. But, every school there has mobile units to accomodate the overcrowding. Kids outside of the beltline tend to change schools every year because the school district rezone the boundary every year. For me, it is a nightmare for kids having to change school every/every other year. But one thing I have to say, the people in NC are so nice. My family is originally from Florida but I am very impressed with the people in NC. My sister in law lives in Raleigh for about 30 years and I love all of her friends. Also, the housing in Raleigh, I think, is way overpriced, especially inside the beltline. I am going to drive down to Greensboro next month and spend a couple days there to get the feeling. Thanks again for you input.

I am going to drive down to Greensboro next month to survey the area. I will certainly check ou Oak Ridge and Summerfield. Any ideas about the high schools. I saw 7 high schools in Greensboro made it to the top 300, quite impressive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sax184 Hamlet

sax184

Posted
Posted
Thank you for your reply! You made good points about the schools in Raleigh. We went to Raleigh about 3 times in the last 6 months. I visited 3 elementary schools and I am very impressed with the curriculum and the magnet programs. But, every school there has mobile units to accomodate the overcrowding. Kids outside of the beltline tend to change schools every year because the school district rezone the boundary every year. For me, it is a nightmare for kids having to change school every/every other year. But one thing I have to say, the people in NC are so nice. My family is originally from Florida but I am very impressed with the people in NC. My sister in law lives in Raleigh for about 30 years and I love all of her friends. Also, the housing in Raleigh, I think, is way overpriced, especially inside the beltline. I am going to drive down to Greensboro next month and spend a couple days there to get the feeling. Thanks again for you input.

I am going to drive down to Greensboro next month to survey the area. I will certainly check ou Oak Ridge and Summerfield. Any ideas about the high schools. I saw 7 high schools in Greensboro made it to the top 300, quite impressive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
soontaree_d Crossroads

soontaree_d

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Thank you very much for all the responses! It helps me to get some direction.

Driving to and from work is not an issue for us because we work from home. I have looked at Greensboro CityGuide website and think Greensboro might be a good place for us. School is important but living quality is also important. It is getting so expensive in Northern VA. Any idea how the magnet schools work in Greenboro? Guildford County School website is not very clear on how the magnet schools work. I also found out that Grimsley is ranked 70 something out of the top 1,000 best High School nation wide. Quite impressive! We probably can afford a house around 400,000. For house hunting, is there a particular section/pocket that I should avoid/look at?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
soontaree_d Crossroads

soontaree_d

Posted
  • Author
Posted
The qaulity of life in Greensboro is great. Its an excellent place to raise a family. The city has both small town and big city characteristics so you get the best of both worlds. There are alot of great things happening with downtown revitalization and the public school system is on the path to improving. If you are looking to live on the outskirts of Greensboro, Oak Ridge and Summerfield are very nice quiet suburban communities.

But being in Greensboro, you have quick access to the airport and I-40/I-85 interstates. Also its beneficial if you and your husband's job is in or near Greensboro. But if I had to decribe Greensboro, its a family and college town.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cityboi Metropolitan Area

cityboi

Posted
Posted
Any suggestions on housing inside Greensboro. Are houses inside Greensboro a lot more expensive than the outskirts? Are they mainly historic home or there are new development popping up? As Triad grows, I think it might be a good idea to live in Greensboro, rather than the outskirts.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
sax184 Hamlet

sax184

Posted
Posted

Most of the new stuff being built on the fringe of Greensboro and Winston is crap with a 20-year design life. Check out the West End, Buena Vista, and Ardmore in Winston-Salem, and some of the GSO neighborhoods close to downtown.

You'll find older, quality-built houses with character in those neighborhoods.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
soontaree_d Crossroads

soontaree_d

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Most of the new stuff being built on the fringe of Greensboro and Winston is crap with a 20-year design life. Check out the West End, Buena Vista, and Ardmore in Winston-Salem, and some of the GSO neighborhoods close to downtown.

You'll find older, quality-built houses with character in those neighborhoods.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jasoniman24 Whistle-Stop

jasoniman24

Posted
Posted
Most of the new stuff being built on the fringe of Greensboro and Winston is crap with a 20-year design life. Check out the West End, Buena Vista, and Ardmore in Winston-Salem, and some of the GSO neighborhoods close to downtown.

You'll find older, quality-built houses with character in those neighborhoods.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sax184 Hamlet

sax184

Posted
Posted

Indeed, not my pictures.

I notice that those calling me negative did not challenge the notion that most of the construction on the urban fringes of our metro areas is of a significantly lower quality and design life than construction completed between, say 1900 and 1940, the period of time inner-ring communities around our downtowns sprang up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.