Info. on Garner and Clayton??? (Raleigh, Durham: real estate, chapel, houses)

[lovemaine]

After doing research online, I was interested to hear from anyone familiar with Garner and/or Clayton. Are they decent areas? I believe that Clayton is actually in Johnston County. Are the schools as good as Wake County's are supposed to be? Any info. on either one of these towns would be greatly appreciated! We're relocating to NC in April. Thank you very much!

[fwjoy]

Johnson County is one of the fastest growing counties in NC but it is still rural. Garner is very close to Raleigh and offers much more for children. It all depends on what you are looking for. Let me know if I can help you in the area. I live in Lillington which is the county seat for Harnett County (the sixth fastest growing county.

[lovemaine]

Thank you FW! Can you tell me if Garner is similar to Apex? Are there some nice neighborhoods there or in Clayton? There seems to be a lot of new construction in both towns, and it's very affordable. I appreciate any information you can give me! Thanks!

[aurabella]

I live in Garner (Wake county side) and absolutely love it. I grew up in Fuquay Varina and hate to see the way the town has grown, nothing but chain restaurants replacing beautiful historic homes. I lived in Cary for awhile and that got tiring really quick, too much traffic and too many rules. Looked into Apex, seemed to be going in the same direction as Cary, and traffic stinks there too. Clayton schools are bad, constantly moving kids around, no parks and it is very congested. I like Garner because it is quiet, yet close to the city, tons of parks and rec areas, good real estate prices with houses on decent size lots, and it really seems to be growing. I've been looking at real estate prices since I moved here 4 years ago and I have to say that I've noticed a sudden rise in prices lately, but they are still low. It may have to do with th enew shopping center and theater that is opening soon. Also have a Rex Wellness Center. I looked at moving to Clayton, but I think we are staying here for now.

[mycatsnip]

if you want good schools, Chapel Hill has the nation's highest SATs at about 1350 avg. Not too long ago Clayton and Garner were tobacco fields or other such agriculture. If you think paying 60K for 1/4 or less an acre for land that only a few years ago cost $5k for an acre, go ahead and buy it. One major consideration is the lengthening commuting time - a coworker says it takes over a half hour to get downtown from Clayton. Plus as communities on the agriculture fringe, you need to consider not only pulbic schools etc., but fire and public safety, as well as migrant crop camps.

[mycatsnip]

There is a alot of "starter" homes in both areas, but Apex has a much better location relative to resources within the triangle and will likely see much better appreciation in value - did you know that Raleigh/Durham ranks 200/210 in housing appreciation at less than 2% per year. Certain areas appreciate rapidly, others don't, - those of us who live here know why; be very careful not to make any generalizations from superficial data - call the UNC School of Capitalizism and ask about income disparity and stratification of wealth within the RDU area.