The Raleigh-Cary MSA is our capital and one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.   In fact, in 2007, we became the 50th largest city in the US.  Thousands of people relocate to the Triangle each year and we are regularly touted as the Best Place to Live by Money Magazine.  Just this year Forbes ranked the Triangle as the best city in the nation for Business and Careers. Durham, NC was recently rated in the Top 100 cities for young people in the US.  Even Oprah featured the Triangle as the #4 city in America for Single Woman Above 35.  Additional Triangle accolades can be found here.  I'm an avid outdoor person and we have gorgeous parks, lakes, trails, and bike paths throughout the area.   The Triangle area is home to many large corporations in Research Triangle Park such as Cisco Systems, IBM, Glaxo, Red Hat, and John Deere.  Fidelity Investments will be relocating over 1,000 employees to the area during the 2007-2008 timeframe.  

Apex- Apex is a suburban town in the Triangle bordering Cary to the north and northeast, Raleigh to the east, and Holly Springs to the south.   Apex 's motto is "The Peak of Good Living".   The Peak  was named for its location as the highest point on the Chatham Rail Line between the state capital of Raleigh and the coal fields of nearby Chatham County.  Popular neighborhoods in Apex include Charleston Village,  Scotts Mill, Walden Creek,  Whitehall Manor, and Shepard's Vineyard.

Chapel Hill  , located in Orange County, is the perfect college town: ivy-covered buildings and stone walls, majestic oaks and hallowed halls. You'll be as enchanted as you are busy with the myriad of things to do, from football Saturdays to Shakespeare plays.   Settled in the late 1700s, Chapel Hill is home to the country's first state university. There's no question that the University of North Carolina brands the town as an intellectual haven.  Professors, scientists and students crowd the streets and mull theory and practice at coffee shops aromatically laced with scones and cappuccinos. Not to be left out, business and corporate types, along with artists, writers, retirees and homemakers, intermingle and create a cosmopolitan scene as likely to ring with French or Spanish as English. 

Durham  Of the three major cities in the Triangle, Durham perhaps is the one that carries the most paradoxical images. The city has its origins in tobacco and textiles, yet today it's home to some of the most acclaimed medical institutions and high-tech businesses in the Triangle - indeed, the nation.  The southern half of Durham County, near RTP, has experienced a fast-paced bonanza of new construction in both the residential and commercial arenas. Within the last few years, the N.C. 751/Hope Valley Road corridor between University Drive and Jordan Lake has experienced tremendous growth, with new-home communities springing up seemingly overnight. On I-40 between N.C. 751 and the Fayetteville Road interchanges, development is booming with offices, hotels and even a huge mall - The Streets at Southpoint - which opened in 2002. The mall is anchored by Macy's, Hudson Belk, Sears, JCPenney and Nordstrom. Easy access to The Streets at Southpoint via I-40 draws shoppers from other Triangle cities.   Click here for a a Video Tour of Durham. 

Holly Springs is a town in Wake County. As of the 2006 census, the town population was over 15,000, gaining the title of "The fastest growing town in The Carolinas"  Now with a brand new High School,  Holly Springs High School, built off of Cass Holt Road, Holly Springs has new room for growth.  New neighborhoods are to be built near the school, and a strip-mall is being built because of it. Many of the students that attend Holly Springs High School live in the super neighborhood complex of Sunset Ridge , a now thriving home subdivision that has spawned its own private water park, a restaurant, and a whole host of other small businesses. The entire area of Holly Springs has grown tremendously between the years of 2004 and 2006. The town has received a new strip mall with an Ale House style restaurant, a Mexican Restaurant, a Lowe's Foods, a Dollar Tree, and several other fast food chains including Quizno's, and a Chinese food chain. In another area of town, off a main road (Holly Springs Road), a Harris Teeter strip-mall was built with other restaurants and stores opening. A new strip mall featuring a Wal-Mart Super Center is also being constructed off Highway 55.  New growth has expanded the population, and growth yet to come will enlarge it even more. Holly Springs is one of the few municipalities that provide team sports directly by the town for residents including football, baseball (served by four professional fields), basketball and recreational soccer. There is also a non-profit challenge soccer league called the Holly Springs Futbol Club. The 2006 Championship win by the UNC Women's Soccer team sports home grown talent in Ariel Harris. Holly Springs is truly one of the "fastest growing towns in North Carolina".

Raleigh   When you drive through Raleigh, it's easy to see why the founding fathers nicknamed it "The City of Oaks." But the city's natural beauty is just one of many drawing cards that has transformed this once-sleepy southern town into one of the nation's most desired destinations for business, technology, culture and family life. In fact, Money Magazine named it the Best Place to Live in 2006 and Forbes Magazine named Raleigh the #1 Place for Job Growth in 2007.

The city of 320,000 residents boasts premier cultural centers, including the N.C. Museum of Art and the famed North Carolina Symphony. The museum houses paintings and sculptures representing more than 5,000 years of artistic heritage - from ancient Egypt to the present - as well as traveling exhibits, movies, lectures and workshops.

From events such as Artsplosure, Oktoberfest, the International Festival and the State Fair to the multitude of college and professional sports, there's a wide array of choices for the young and old, the mellow and bold. Falls Lake provides swimming, boating and fishing opportunities year-round, and Umstead Park offers miles of woodlands for hiking, picnics and nature outings. Alive After Five brings local musicians to the center of downtown each summer, where Raleigh's nightlife has seen a burst of new restaurants, clubs and even several authentic Irish pubs.

First Night Raleigh has become an annual family tradition for thousands of residents, who descend upon the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts and Lichtin Plaza each New Year's Eve to watch the giant acorn drop.

Some of Raleigh's most popular restaurants are located in the heart of downtown, from the upscale Second Empire - set in the historic Dodd-Hinsdale House - to Greenshield's Brewery and Pub, to Cooper's Barbecue, serving up sweet tea and delicious Carolina barbecue since 1928. The Angus Barn steak house on U.S. 70 near the airport and Char-Grill (hamburgers and fries) downtown are considered local landmarks, and newer restaurants offering savory fare of all types can be found in shopping plazas throughout North Raleigh.

Entertainment options range from an evening at Charlie Goodnight's Comedy Club, which draws top-name acts from around the country, to live jazz concerts at Yancey's Juke Joint. Country enthusiasts can two-step on down to the Long Branch off Wake Forest Road for live entertainment and dancing. And theater patrons shouldn't miss the annual production of Theatre in the Park's "A Christmas Carol," a comedic interpretation of the Dickens classic that has become a Raleigh holiday tradition, celebrating 32 years in 2006.

The 19,700-seat RBC Center, which is the home of N.C. State basketball and the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, creates plenty of excitement in Raleigh. Downtown, two additions next to the stately Memorial Auditorium have completed the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts complex. Exploris, a $40 million museum, uses interactive displays to explore other cultures - including an exhibit of a portion of the Berlin Wall. And the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences is in its gleaming new high-rise building, with looming dinosaur replicas peering out from a huge dinosaur dome visible from the street below.

You'll find plenty of comfortable neighborhoods in Raleigh. The Cotton Mill, located downtown off Capital Boulevard, is one of the hippest places to live, thanks to a renovation that turned this 130-year-old textile factory into 50 condominiums. Other condos and townhomes followed, including Park Devereux, 510 Glenwood, and Governor's Square. New additions in 2006 include Hudson, West, 222 Glenwood, and Dawson on Morgan to name the trendiest.

More condominiums are located near the lively collection of shops and restaurants known as City Market. Within walking distance are Moore Square (where the city's symbol, the giant acorn, resides) and the Moore Square Art District, where local artisans design and showcase their work at Artspace.

Wake Forest  When you mention Wake Forest, most people outside the Triangle think of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. But there's another Wake Forest well known to Triangle residents. This quaint town located on U.S. 1 just five miles north of Raleigh (15 miles north of downtown) is the actual birthplace of the university.  Wake Forest is a delightful combination of historic homes along tree-lined streets (Greek Revival, Queen Anne and bungalows), as well as communities such as Stony Bend, Riverstone, The Oaks at Waterfall Plantation and Heritage (#1 Selling New Homes Subdivision in the Triangle in 2006 w/229 closings).