ARCHIVE Moving to Durham
BLAB Members' thoughts on living in Durham, NC
Last updated
BLAB Members' thoughts on living in Durham, NC
Last updated
Written specifically for COVID times.
Places on the internet that are great for looking for a house or apartment or for finding roommates:
Durham neighborhoods have email listservs that you can sign up to receive. Good for posting about housing needs and also for losing hours to scrolling through messages from oddball neighbors.
You can also find a house or apartment directly from a property management company. Some options:
Personal recommendation from Charlotte: "They have a lot of well-maintained historic houses in the neighborhoods listed above. They always promptly respond to maintenance requests and you can be confident moving into one of their properties sight-unseen because they thoroughly clean and repaint everything between tenants."
There are also plenty of apartment complexes where you can rent a 1, 2, or 3 bedroom apartment. Some options:
University Ridge: on a bus route that would take you to campus
Lofts at Lakeview: kinda expensive but nice; walking/biking distance
University Apartments: lots of Duke students; walking/biking distance
Forest Pointe Apartments: biking distance, buses available
These circles are some neighborhoods to check out. They all have different vibes.
Blue "circle" (Watts-Hillandale/Walltown/Trinity Park/Old West): close to 9th street shopping/dining area, which is like a cute little village. Neighborhoods are family-oriented, with lots of single family homes, many of which are available to rent. Easy to find a house to split with roommates; sometimes possible to find an apartment/in-law suite. Easy to bike, walk, or ride a bus to campus.
Top right orange circle (Northgate park): Lovely historic neighborhood. Quiet neighborhood feel with a big park with a walking path and dog parks. Easy to get downtown; biking distance to campus. Mostly single family homes to be rented alone or with roommates.
Green circle (Old North/Golden Belt/East Durham): An urban feel. A mix of houses and apartments. Walking distance to downtown and all of the fun eating/entertainment. Farmer's market is in Durham Central Park. Can take a bus or bike to campus.
Lower orange circle (Lakewood/Burch Ave/Morehead Hill/Forest Hills): Lakewood and surrounding areas have a funky hip urban vibe. Get coffee and churros at Cocoa Cinnamon and then stop by the Durham Co-op grocery. Forest Hills is a pretty old neighborhood with nice houses. Fun urban neighborhoods border NC Central, with both houses and apartments available to rent.
There are also lots of nice places outside of these circles! Reach out to lab members for more information and recommendations.
Biking around Durham is relatively easy and safe
Register as a full time bike commuter, and you can get two free parking passes per month for times that you need to drive to campus.
Duke parking is a bit of a mess, but the parking website and calling the parking office can be helpful.
There are yearly and monthly passes available for a variety of lots on and off campus. Nearby lots are not usually available to new Duke University students, staff, or postdocs (medical center employees only or full/waitlist). Some of the lots that might be available are:
Science Drive garage
Mill Lot (at Erwin Mills apartments--take a free bus from the lot to campus, or it's an easy walk)
The Chapel Drive and Duke University road lots are closest to Reuben-Cooke, but there's a waitlist. You can add up to two lots to your waitlist on the parking portal.
You can park in the Allen Lot right next to RC after 5pm and on the weekends with a free after hours permit - https://parking.duke.edu/parking/annual-permits/after-hours-permit-night-permit
Public Transit
GoTriangle, GoDurham, GoRaleigh, and Chapel Hill Transit
Chapel Hill transit is free, but it mostly doesn't run on Sundays
The GoPass allows you to ride on all of these services. It is free to students. Eligible faculty, staff, visiting scholars, emeriti, temporary employees, and contract employees pay $25/year.
Durham has an accessible transport option for eligible riders - DurhamACCESS - you need to fill out a form and request a van, however, trusted sources indicate that they are unreliable, and will make you late.
Duke Transit busses and vans
From 5:00pm - 6:45am, when/where Duke Transit is not in service, Duke Vans provides free, on-demand transportation for students and employees. Rides are available to and from most Duke facilities that are open during these hours.
Download the Rider (TransLoc) app to track these busses live
Download the LiveSafe app to track these buses live, to request Safe Ride Home, and other features of being safe
Harris Teeter: affordable with student discount, very close to East and West Campus, good produce, lots of options, 24 hrs
Whole Foods: pricier, right next to East Campus, friendly service, good quality products, smaller, not 24 hrs
Food Lion: very affordable, driving distance from campus, open until 11pm.
Lots of banks do not have brick-and-mortar establishments in Durham.
There's a Wells Fargo on Main St. that will help international students open bank accounts.
Bank of America has a branch in the Northgate mall and also works internationally.
AT&T knows how to create accounts for people from outside the US.
Sprint and Verizon can't give you anything unless you have a social security number and a credit history.
Spectrum: You can rent a modem from them, but it's cheaper in the long run to buy your own.
AT&T
Google Fiber (limited access; depends on where you live)
