Heritage Garden

Heritage Garden is a 240-unit apartment community inside Heritage, close enough to the village center that the bakery, the pizza place and Heritage High are all within a walk. It opened in 2008, which makes it one of the older rental options in Wake Forest and one of the cheaper ones. Rent runs roughly $1,350 to $2,000 a month, and there is a pool and a fitness center on site. What you are paying for is the address. Not many rentals in town put you inside a neighborhood where the shops and the schools are already on foot.

Where it is

Heritage covers a lot of ground, and Heritage Garden sits at the village center end of it, the part with the shops and the restaurants. That walk is short, and it is the reason to live here. Everything past Heritage is a drive. US-1, which carries the Capital Boulevard name through this area, is the road south toward Raleigh, and downtown Wake Forest is a short drive in the other direction. Heritage Golf Club sits inside the same development, so the course is a neighbor rather than a trip.

What to know if you're moving here

Rent is the argument for this address, and the age of the buildings is the thing to check against it. Ask what has been updated in the unit you are shown before you sign.

• There is no HOA and no assessment, since nothing here is for sale.
• The $1,350 to $2,000 rent covers the pool, the fitness center and the upkeep.
• The 2008 buildings are not new, so ask what has been replaced in the kitchen and when the HVAC was last worked on.
• The payoff is the rent, which sits below what the newer complexes in town ask.
• Schools are the Heritage schools at all three levels, Heritage Elementary, Heritage Middle and Heritage High, and the high school is close enough to walk to.
• The drawback is that the walking stops at the edge of the development, and anything outside the village center means the car.

What to do if you're visiting

The village center is the reason to come, and none of it needs much of a plan. Park once, walk the shops and the restaurants, and you have seen the part of Heritage that people mean when they talk about it.

• The evening end of the day belongs to Blackbird Brewery, which anchors it.
• The other end of the day is covered by Courtney's New York Bagels & Deli.
• With kids along, Jeremiah's Italian Ice is the stop you will end up making whether you planned on it or not.
• If you came for a round, Heritage Golf Club takes care of the morning.
• An hour covers the village center on a weekday, longer if you sit down somewhere.