Tell me about the Fayetteville, NC/Ft. Bragg/Pope AFB area!

[tgray99]

Hi ladies, we just found out that DH is going to be stationed at Ft. Bragg this summer and we'll be moving there from Houston. I'd like to know about the area, where are the nice places to live, ghetto areas to avoid, where to look to get info on teacher certification (I'm about 3/4 of the way done with a TX teacher cert), etc. I have no urge to live on post, I'd like some separation so what are the towns around there? What part of the state is it in.

Basically, sell me on NC!

Thanks!

[Camdynlyn]

I used to work right outside of Ft. Bragg. The little town was called Spout Springs, although it was considered Sanford. The Bragg area gets a bad wrap but like with any other place, you have to know where to live.

I would suggest giving Mel7dog a PM (she just had a baby this past week so she may take a while to get back to you) because she just moved from there. She was stationed at Bragg (Air Force) and her Hubby was in Virginia and they just moved to Camp Legeune in Jacksonville, NC. She had a house in Sanford (area code 27332). Her house was right in the neighborhood beside my school (Highland Elementary). There are MANY neighborhoods right there and quite honestly, those are the ones I would try to stick with if you are going to live off base. There are many military families there (there is another division called Carolina Lakes which is a golf course community. Here are some websites about that area: http://www.carolinalakes.com/ and http://www.carolina-lakes.com/

I had friends who lived in the Peachtree Crossing Subdivision and I believe the majority of it is military. I'm not sure what you housing pay is but there are some really decent houses for around $150k there. (http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListings.asp?locallnk=yes&frm=byzip&mnbed=0&mnbath=0&mnprice=150000&mxprice=225000&js=off&pgnum=1&lnksrc=&fid=so&stype=&mnsqft=&mls=xmls&areaid=27332&poe=realtor&zp=27332&sbint=&vtsort=&sorttype=&typ=1&x=55&y=5)

As for Teaching certification, you would have to contact a school that had reciprocity with NC from TX to see what courses would transfer. My suggestion would be to call someone at our Dept. of Public Instruction (919-807-3300 ) to get them to help you get the right track. You would probably go to Fayetteville State or even to Campbell University or NC State to finish up.

Please let me know if I can help you with anything else. I taught in Harnett County and have lived in Fayetteville. I'm not an expert (wasn't there long) but could maybe find some realtors that can help.

[tgray99]

Thanks, Camdynlyn! I appreciate your help. I'll give Mel a shout in a week or two.