I left AZ 2 1/2yrs ago for N.C.I am coming back! (Phoenix: condos, brokers)

[YAZ]

I've had a couple of vacations in NC; it was really nice. I s'pose a week here and there wouldn't be enough to decide if I wanted to live there or not.....

Any place can be "cool" when you're on vacation.

Had a blast in Cancun, but I wouldn't dream of moving there though.

I'm sure many of us here in AZ have hosted friends & family from different areas of the U.S., and have seen their excitement about being here. But we deal with the daily grind here year in and year out.


Like anywhere, it ain't all peaches & cream.

[samdan]

Originally Posted by PhxBarb

WHEW!! Thank Goodness we didn't go ! A couple years ago my daughter and I visited NC and fell in love with it. We planned to move there and I even applied for a job there. ( didn't get it, a blessing in disguise). So one thing or another came up, mostly activities we enjoy doing here, and we never went !! Love it here, heat and all, good and bad !

Some love it,but it's not for us,it depends on what you like,me personally I like things to be new,some would say all the old buildings here in N.C. is history, culture,that turning an old factory into apartments is charming,for me it's old,dreary,and decaying,I guess it all depends on what you like,jobs are hard to come by,but that wasn't a factor for me.Here are some pics of downtown Raleigh,like I said some see beauty,I see old,and depressing:Pictures of The Depot Area of Downtown Raleigh

[cmist]

Well, NC is a huge state and couldn't be evaluated as a whole anymore than someone who moves to someplace like Nogales, AZ and says they hate the whole state and moves back to NC saying how awful it is here. There are definitely some little weird towns in NC, but I found the major population centers very similar in style to Phoenix. Same chains, same corporate architecture and I'm bummed to admit that they do seem to be growing in the same manner as all American cities are. Thats not something I expect to escape no matter where I move at this point.

For me the key words in the OP are the fact that they moved with the notion that the "grass is greener" or because they thought it was a "hot spot". Of course no place is "better" for everyone and a locale declared a "hot spot" by some publication isn't going to solve all your problems. You have to understand what makes YOU tick. Don't expect that you can "deal" with something you hate for long periods of time just because you read that someday its going to make you rich or expect that you will just "get used to it".

For me, I actually love NC. I love that the capital is only a couple hours from the coast on one side, and a few hours from mountains in the other direction for snow, skiing, sledding. Think of a couple hours in Phx, unless you head north, you end up going from Apache Junction to Buckeye, or maybe from Phx to Tucson. I actually enjoyed the city of Raleigh itself too because its much smaller than Phoenix with all the same amenities. Coming from here it was actually comical to hear people describe a place 20 minutes from the core as "way out there". They have NO idea what far is yet.

NC is still high on my list of where I'd like to move no matter what bad reports come out of there from people who moved for different reasons.

[cmist]

Originally Posted by samdan

Some love it,but it's not for us,it depends on what you like,me personally I like things to be new,some would say all the old buildings here in N.C. is history, culture,that turning an old factory into apartments is charming,for me it's old,dreary,and decaying,I guess it all depends on what you like,jobs are hard to come by,but that wasn't a factor for me.Here are some pics of downtown Raleigh,like I said some see beauty,I see old,and depressing:Pictures of The Depot Area of Downtown Raleigh

I could go down to central phx and take photos that look just as bleak. They convert old warehouses to lofts and condos here too.

The shopping plazas there look IDENTICAL to Phoenix... if you didn't see the trees, greenery and billowy clouds in the sky you would think it was here.

Think about it... a Target is a Target and a Walmart is a Walmart. If you compare new neighborhoods out there to new neighborhoods out here, the style is different but it still shows like a manicured suburbia.

In any case, I kinda like the older things in both Phx and Raleigh so I don't find the photos depressing or bleak, but to show those photos as an example of what Raleigh is like as a whole would be like me going down to some crumbling warehouse district in Phoenix and posting photos that claim it all looks like that.

My gosh, am I the Fcorrales of NC??? lol

[roadpony]

Like cmist said, NC is a very diverse state, so please don't assume that samdan's experience will be the same for everyone. So much depends on where you are in NC and what your interests, needs and expectations are. That's pretty universal no matter where you are.

[samdan]

Originally Posted by cmist

I could go down to central phx and take photos that look just as bleak. They convert old warehouses to lofts and condos here too.

The shopping plazas there look IDENTICAL to Phoenix... if you didn't see the trees, greenery and billowy clouds in the sky you would think it was here.

Think about it... a Target is a Target and a Walmart is a Walmart. If you compare new neighborhoods out there to new neighborhoods out here, the style is different but it still shows like a manicured suburbia.

In any case, I kinda like the older things in both Phx and Raleigh so I don't find the photos depressing or bleak, but to show those photos as an example of what Raleigh is like as a whole would be like me going down to some crumbling warehouse district in Phoenix and posting photos that claim it all looks like that.

My gosh, am I the Fcorrales of NC??? lol

sorry I disagree,these are the hot,desirable areas that the photo's depict,these are not the bad area's.This is what Raleigh looks like,I live here.Like I said it depends on what your preferance is.This is not a crumbling distric,this is what is considered the hot,new part!Raleigh is small,90% of the buildings in downtown look like this,if you like it fine.

[samdan]

Originally Posted by roadpony

Like cmist said, NC is a very diverse state, so please don't assume that samdan's experience will be the same for everyone. So much depends on where you are in NC and what your interests, needs and expectations are. That's pretty universal no matter where you are.

Your correct,again,some like it. I don't and tried to explain why.I live in a very desirable area just north of Raleigh called Wake Forest,so I'm quite blessed,in case you thought I was struggling here,and thats why I dislike it.

[cmist]

Originally Posted by samdan

sorry I disagree,these are the hot,desirable areas that the photo's depict,these are not the bad area's.This is what Raleigh looks like,I live here.Like I said it depends on what your preferance is.This is not a crumbling distric,this is what is considered the hot,new part!Raleigh is small,90% of the buildings in downtown look like this,if you like it fine.

I have seen those areas in Raleigh and I also stayed in Wake Forest. I still say its just like here though. Each of the little suburbs has their own downtown.

The little core of Wake Forest near the baptist seminary is a bit of a druggie hood but its nothing like the newer homes up North on acreage. Plus they also have their cookie cutter areas like Heritage at Wake Forest. I always thought of that as kind of like the Anthem of Phoenix complete with golf course.

There are old crumbling areas of Phoenix that are "hot and desirable" for no other reason than they are close to downtown. Location, location, location as the saying goes. Those photos are probably downtown Cary, Apex, or some other place where prices are high because of proximity to the research triangle. Phoenix has the same type of thing where area values are related more to location than "newness".

Phoenix is bigger so maybe you can put more distance between yourself and what you find objectionable. Its true that in Phoenix you can buffer yourself so deep into suburbia that you never have to see the ugly and old, yet somehow expensive and desirable core of Phoenix.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by cmist

My gosh, am I the Fcorrales of NC??? lol

Nah, he uses facts and data instead of vacation memories to back up his posts.

[cmist]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Nah, he uses facts and data instead of vacation memories to back up his posts.

Not vacation memories, I have a brokers license out there, access to Triangle MLS to research the home sales data and I have family out there as well in both Greensboro and Raleigh.

I will have to dig up my own photos of the city I suppose... every city has an old expensive part so its not "vacation memories" that is pretty much fact.