Durham has changed quite a bit, a lot of people with young families have been buying homes downtown. You will be absolutely shocked in a good way of what Durham is today compared to 2001.
Hillandale-Watts is a neighborhood in Durham that’s become trendy amongst professionals with families.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention @ATLtoRDU33 is married to a realtor.
You’ll also need to purchase a Tobacco Road Players card. 
For the Triad folks - I’ve got an early morning time at Tanglewood’s Championship course on Friday (8:30am). If you’d like a quick walking 18 to kick off the weekend feel free to join.
thats got to be some kind of walk huh?
Echo everything Dave said. You’ll be fine in N. Raleigh/Brier Creek area as far as schools go. Adjusting to a county wide school district will be weird coming from the NE, but you’ll get used to it. You’ll also save a ton of money vs. Boston but I’m sure you’ll already know that. I don’t really have anything ugly to say about the triangle. Some complain about the sprawl I guess, but it’s the southeast so whatever. You can also golf year round and we have a good crew that usually has a few rounds going every weekend.
Also Dook sucks so welcome back to that hype 
The last time I was down there was winter of 2018. I couldn’t believe what it looked like driving around downtown Durham on one afternoon.
If we moved there, I think we would rent for a little while before figuring out where to buy a place. The other part is that my wife would also have to find a new job which would factor into the commuting part. She works in pharmaceuticals so she would likely work somewhere around RTP.
Traffic N Raleigh to RTP kind of sucks at rush hour but it’s nothing like Boston.
Just don’t move to Wake Forest. Commuting from there sucks to anywhere in the Triangle. I’d give Durham a hard look, it’s easy to get pretty much anywhere (especially RTP and Brier Creek) and the costs are very good compared to Chapel Hill and some of the Raleigh suburbs.
Hillsborough is a low key destination to check out as well. Small town 10 minutes from downtown Durham and 20 minutes from Brier Creek or RTP.
Anything on the west or north side of Durham will be very easy to commute from once the East End Connector is finished in the next year or so.
I’ll take hearing that if I don’t have to hear all the time about how the Patriots are so awesome. 
I think these are great options. And if you are in the midst of your wife searching for a job, the renting thing is a good idea. When we moved down over 5 years ago, we weren’t sure where I would be working. We rented in Brier Creek (between Raleigh and Durham, by the airport) for 6 months until we knew where I would be working and we got a better feel for each town. It worked out great!
One other thing to consider is proximity to the Sandhills. I’m convinced at this point that it’s going to be where you play half your golf. All winter when the Triangle courses are soaked, the Sandhills courses are in great shape. In the spring while Triangle courses are coming around, Sandhills courses are peaking.
Durham county schools are still not great though. He’ll need to consider private school if he lives in Durham.
I’m starting to see a trend… All major life decisions can (and should) definitely revolve around golf and ability to engage in it as easily and frequently as possible.
To try to add some sort of value, though wouldn’t trust me over others, East Chapel Hill HS is very good (UNC professors kids), Green Hope in Cary also good. I’m going to stop there as I just remembered you said 6yo so HS not super relevant…
I know it’s not popular to say on here, but I have to figure out how much time I’ll have to play golf at first. My schedule would be a bit weird because I’d have more weekday time than weekend time.
Re: Durham, the schools are my big concern, especially trying to get our son into a school on short notice after having him in an awesome public school up here.
sounds like the ideal situation to have in order to play more golf!
weekday golf > weekend golf
My 2 cents - lived there prior 8 years before moving to smaller-market Greensboro area. Did that commute from North Raleigh past Brier Creek area to RTP area during that time - travel time increased immensely during that time. Easy 15-20 minutes for 10 miles or so in AM, turned into hour around rush hour. Doesn’t compare to Boston but it is not absent of traffic.
Excellent education options everywhere you turn, both public and private.
Echoing some other points - if you have the luxury to feel it out and rent in Brier Creek area do it. I did the same for a spell in an apt complex hugging BCCC and played a 3 hole stretch quite often.
Too many great neighborhood options to choose from with a quick decision.
Traffic is right. I live in CH and used to commute to North Raleigh about 5 yrs ago. Was supposed to be the “opposite” commute and was definitely clearer and more reliable. Still commute to raleigh and has only gotten worse…and might be a touch lighter than out of Raleigh to the park, but still not great.
Respectfully to the Durham faithful on here, if you’re going to send kids to public schools I’d avoid Durham.
https://www.zillow.com/durham-nc/schools/#/durham-nc/schools/gsRating=1
Commutes really aren’t that bad from any number of directions when comparing to other cities. However, as mentioned by others there is some traffic in almost any direction.
So pick somewhere that is good for your family long term, jobs can change anyways.
Played there first time last weekend with a friend from Charlotte. (Live in Raleigh) Fun course, I’d go back, however not knowing the course meant a lot of blind shots. In good shape though for what I guess is a massive muni?
Have fun!
It’s become my go-to course in Winston. As @Fore20 alluded to walking up 9 and 18 can be a bit tough on the legs but for the value and proximity to my house in Winston it’s hard to beat. Not a very #woke design but there are some interesting holes where you have some tough decisions to make on the tee - especially after they renovated the bunkers and ripped a bunch of trees out.