Looking to relocate from out of state. What outlying towns/neighborhoods should I consider? (Charlotte: transplants)

[psilense]

I am looking at relocating to the Raleigh area. I plan to teach in one of the Title I schools in the area.

I will visit eventually, but I was hoping to get some local recommendations. Here's a bit of what I am looking for.

-historic homes for sale or for rent (for sale less than 50k)
-downtown type are nearby to have coffee, walk around etc
-friendly people
-place not exclusively occupied by families (at least a mix of grad students, young professionals)
-bike/pedestrian friendly if possible, but will happily commute for the right place

One of the reasons I am moving to NC is the quintessential southern charm. I like to be around hospitable people in unique areas.

Any suggestions?

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Originally Posted by psilense

I am looking at relocating to the Raleigh area. I plan to teach in one of the Title I schools in the area.

I will visit eventually, but I was hoping to get some local recommendations. Here's a bit of what I am looking for.

-historic homes for sale or for rent (for sale less than 50k)
-downtown type are nearby to have coffee, walk around etc
-friendly people
-place not exclusively occupied by families (at least a mix of grad students, young professionals)
-bike/pedestrian friendly if possible, but will happily commute for the right place

One of the reasons I am moving to NC is the quintessential southern charm. I like to be around hospitable people in unique areas.

Any suggestions?

For historic homes I would look to downtown Raleigh or Durham. You could probably rent a smaller historic home for $1,000+. I don't want to be a downer, but you aren't going to find a historic home for sale for $50K. If you do find something in that range it would likely need $150K-$300K in work to make it inhabitable.

[DanielleNC]

Did you mean $500,000? If you meant $50,000 then are are going to be looking at foreclosures that need fixing up. There's one in downtown Mebane which is a nice "southern" town for $40,000. You could look for teaching jobs anywhere from Durham, Orange, Alamance, and Guilford counties within commuting distance. Did you already have a job around Raleigh? That would be too far of a commute. If you don't already have a job, I'm sure you are aware of teachers having a hard time findin a job right?

If you meant $500,000 you should have a decent selection of homes to choose from, even in Raleigh.

[toot68]

Outlying areas to check include Hillsborough and Pittsboro. Don't know if you'll find a historic house for 50K in either, but each has the schools, professionals and downtown you are looking for and are bikable.

There's several areas in durham that will give you exactly what you are looking for. Numerous historic properties in your price range...they'll be in transitional neighborhoods and/or will need alot of work, but there are definitely some beautiful 10-40's era bungalows on the MLS in East Durham, and a smattering of them in other parts of town. Not a small town downtown, but downtown durham has got alot going for it right now.

[psilense]

Originally Posted by DanielleNC

Did you mean $500,000? If you meant $50,000 then are are going to be looking at foreclosures that need fixing up. There's one in downtown Mebane which is a nice "southern" town for $40,000. You could look for teaching jobs anywhere from Durham, Orange, Alamance, and Guilford counties within commuting distance. Did you already have a job around Raleigh? That would be too far of a commute. If you don't already have a job, I'm sure you are aware of teachers having a hard time findin a job right?

If you meant $500,000 you should have a decent selection of homes to choose from, even in Raleigh.

I did mean $50K. I have looked around and found some things. I had in mind a little bungalo style fixer upper. Even if it's a ways out of town.

I know teachers are having a tough time getting placed. I am not moving for about 18 months, so I am hoping time is on my side. My program doesn't have summer classes so I plan to come up and volunteer in some of the summer programs in Elementary schools so that I can meet people and maybe get a foot in the door. I also graduate in a fall term so I will come after Christmas and try to substitute teach/volunteer/tutor to make my face known. There is also a program that contracts with schools to put first year teachers in Title I schools. I won't come up without a job, but I feel pretty good about my chances if I go through everything I mentioned.

Thanks Everyone for all the input. It made me look a little closer at the Alamance county area.

[Francois]

Originally Posted by psilense

I am looking at relocating to the Raleigh area. I plan to teach in one of the Title I schools in the area.

I will visit eventually, but I was hoping to get some local recommendations. Here's a bit of what I am looking for.

-historic homes for sale or for rent (for sale less than 50k)
-downtown type are nearby to have coffee, walk around etc
-friendly people
-place not exclusively occupied by families (at least a mix of grad students, young professionals)
-bike/pedestrian friendly if possible, but will happily commute for the right place

One of the reasons I am moving to NC is the quintessential southern charm. I like to be around hospitable people in unique areas.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: Somehow I didn't see any previous responses when I posted. Many of my points are already addressed, especially the 50K. And I thought the OP meant teaching college, not high school.

Is the "50K" on your home sale price a misprint? You won't find anything for that, here, and certainly not in the Triangle area! If it was meant to be "500K", not such a problem

Note that the Triangle is a heavy-transplant area so the "Southern charm" has been diluted in many areas of this metro. If you were at Duke or UNC, you could look at Hillsborough, which is still pretty small-town though many faculty live there as well as a pocket of well-known Southern writers. That probably fits your bill better than anywhere else in the Triangle. If you were at NC State, the commute would wear on you and you'd want to look more south of Raleigh. However, most of the suburbs in that direction are among the least "Southern" places in NC, being heavy recent-transplant magnets (Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, etc). Clayton would not be a horrible commute and is still quite small-town (though it is now on the map for a big wave of NY transplants, apparently). Going a little farther, Smithfield is very much a "Mayberry, RFD" kind of small town, old downtown and still very Southern, but it's a longer commute into Raleigh. And, the growth will eventually creep to there, too.

Wanting somewhwere that is both close to the big universties AND retains a "small town Southern" vibe (let alone under 50K) is something of a paradox, though there are decent "compromises".

BTw, if you want a "Small town Southern" environment and can widen your job search, you should look into Davidson, NC, a very good school with no real "big cities" around it, or Charlottesville, VA, home of UVa. Virginia is more culturally Southern than NC despite being north of here, and Charlottesville is a quintessential "college town" that, doesn't have any big cities close by. Again, it's hard to be anywhere in the Triangle/Raleigh area without "urban influence" (traffic, etc) since it is a full-fledged urban MSA.

[psilense]

I would be teaching elementary school. Preferably in a small town. The triangle is just the general area I would like to be. I came up with the 50k number looking at the MLS online for houses in the area and it didn't seem unreasonable for small houses an hour to two hours out of Raleigh. I appreciate the feedback about the culture especially. I have a lot of flexibilty with moving, so I will certainly take it into consideration when I plan my visits. Thanks!

[RaleighLass]

Check out Louisburg, or Oxford, you might find a small fixer upper for that. You should also check out HUD's website for info on a teacher mortgage loan or home purchase program(?). It is similar to the one for Law Enforcement Ofcrs I think(?). If I am recalling correctly, it gives you first shot or some sort of priority in purchasing a foreclosure or home in the county.

Sorry for being so vague, I came across it about 3 yrs ago and sent it to my teacher friend to ck out, I only remember snippets of it.

Otherwise, as others have said, $50k won't get you much. Or it will be in a rough area.

[zthatzmanz28]

Where is your teaching position? That will dictate where you look for housing.

There are some great historic homes in Goldsboro that can be had for less than $75K and would need no more than $75K--$150K to restore.

There are also a few nice neighborhoods out Ash Street that have some "almost" historic homes for around $80K that would be move in and liveable as you complete updates..

$50K is a good price for a double wide modular outside Raleigh. Historic? Probably not...

[hmnd]

Originally Posted by psilense

I am looking at relocating to the Raleigh area. I plan to teach in one of the Title I schools in the area.

I will visit eventually, but I was hoping to get some local recommendations. Here's a bit of what I am looking for.

-historic homes for sale or for rent (for sale less than 50k)
-downtown type are nearby to have coffee, walk around etc
-friendly people
-place not exclusively occupied by families (at least a mix of grad students, young professionals)
-bike/pedestrian friendly if possible, but will happily commute for the right place

One of the reasons I am moving to NC is the quintessential southern charm. I like to be around hospitable people in unique areas.

Any suggestions?

Hey there. When we relocated here two years ago, we saw lots of historic homes for sale under and around 50k in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area. A lot of those homes were in terrible disrepair or were in neighborhoods thick with boarded up homes. The online pictures that show lovely restored historic homes don't show the blighted neighborhood. My husband and I are from large cities (Detroit, Boston) and have comfortably lived in some very marginal neighborhoods. Still, we could not go forward with some of these perfectly serviceable homes. The rate of random crime was too high and the hope for change was too dim even before the real estate crash. The prices are even lower now, but I know the neighborhood of one home we bid on has deteriorated significantly in two years. We're relieved our bid didn't pan out.

Don't be seduced by online real estate listings. You need to walk around the neighborhood to know what it really is like.