Patterson Woods

Patterson Woods is small, about 120 houses off Ligon Mill, and it kept its trees. The lots are wooded, which is the first thing you notice and the reason the neighborhood looks older than its 1999 to 2005 build years. There is a playground and there is no pool. Households who want to swim join Heritage or the YMCA, an arrangement this neighborhood has lived with since it was built. Prices run $400,000 to $550,000 and the HOA is $300 a year, both of which sit on the lower end for an established subdivision on this side of town. It is a quiet place with short streets, and people who move in tend to stay a long time.

Where it is

Ligon Mill is the road in, and daily life for this neighborhood happens on the Heritage side of town. The assigned middle and high schools and the golf course sit in that direction, and so does most of the shopping people here do in a normal week. Downtown Wake Forest is a separate drive when you want it, not something you pass on the way home. The subdivision is small and interior, which keeps through traffic off the streets. The swimming is somewhere else entirely, at Heritage or the YMCA, so add that drive to the week the same way you would add a school run.

What to know if you're moving here

Wooded lots are the appeal and the work. Shade keeps the houses cooler and the leaves keep coming, and mature trees near a roof eventually mean a bill for someone with a bucket truck.

• The HOA is $300 a year, which covers the common areas and the playground and not much beyond that.
• There is no pool, so budget separately if swimming matters, because neighbors here use a Heritage membership or the YMCA.
• Schools are Jones Dairy Elementary, Heritage Middle and Heritage High, and you should confirm the assignment with Wake County rather than trusting a listing.
• The 1999 to 2005 houses are the oldest in this price range, so original systems are past due and the floor plans are of their era.
• The candid drawback is the missing pool, because paying dues and then paying again to swim stings every June for a household with young children.

What to do if you're visiting

The visit happens on the Heritage side of town, since that is where daily life for this neighborhood goes. Start in the morning or stay for the evening, because both ends of the day are covered here.

• Start with a round or a meal at Heritage Golf Club, the anchor of this side of town.
• The evening goes to Blackbird Brewery, and the kitchen at Bird's Nest means you do not have to leave for dinner.
• Morning is simpler, since Courtney's New York Bagels & Deli handles breakfast at a counter where the line moves and people know each other.
• If you are looking at houses, drive the streets on a weekday afternoon when the playground is in use.
• A neighborhood this small shows you its character in about fifteen minutes.