Manuwa, I can share you housing costs based on the places I visited. Cary housing prices has gone up quite significantly in the last 2 years. It used to be cheap but it's not cheap anymore, however, it's still affordable. New construction town homes are anywhere in the range of $300-$450k and single family new homes around > ~$400k.. you can get cheaper for lil older homes. Schools are pretty good for kids.

I don't know much about Texas housing so I can't compare.. from what I've heard Dallas area is getting little expensive but places like Austin would be cheaper than Raleigh - Cary.