Any surprises? (Raleigh, Greensboro, Cary: real estate, to rent, health insurance)

[BeadLady]

I'm new to posting in this forum however I have been reading it for weeks now. I have learned so much about the Raleigh area in such a short time from all of you and I thank you for that. Anyway, my husband and I are seriously considering moving to the Raleigh area and will be visiting next week to take a look at all the surrounding areas. We currently live in Northern VA.

My main question is this: For anyone new to the Raleigh area or anyone for that matter, were there any "surprise" expenses that you did not plan for? For example, are the taxes (real estate/property/any others I might not know about) in NC a lot higher than expected, is car insurance way more expensive in NC, is health insurance more expensive, etc? We are trying to think of all scenarios and not get blind-sided once we are down there. In other words, we really want to cover our bases during our research phase and try to find out as much as we can now to help us determine salaries and a mortgage.

[shaylahc]

Our biggest surprise was the cost of groceries. I do think they're pretty high here. The other surprise was the sting of paying for cars. We pay an annual property tax on cars, plus the fees for registering them and having them inspected every year is a lot more than it was in Ohio.

[leighbhe]

It is hard for me to compare, because I have not lived in northern va, my sister has and now lives in DC and she thinks our area in the triangle is cheap by comparison.

So, health care, I honestly think it depends on the company you work for and the number of people you are trying to cover. Working for the state of nc, you get free health coverage for yourself (minimal payment for a spouse) but that doesn't include dental and eye. My spouse works for IBM and we have cigna. He has been there for about 9 years and the health coverage has gotten much worse over the years. We now pay a 20 percent co-pay and have a 1000 deductible on emergency room/hospitalization. Honestly, I don't know how much we pay out of pocket, because it is deducted before I see it!!!!

Insurance: we have our house and cars lumped together. We have three cars, two with full insurance, one with just liability, plus the house and we pay 1900 a year

Taxes: In north carolina the taxes are assessed every 8 years, with a vertical assessment that can happen every 4 years. Your property tax is based on the tax value of your house (not what you paid for your house), and is different depending on the county, as well as if you are in the city or not. We are in wake county, but do not have city tax and we pay .68 per 100
Your vehicle tax is based on the blue book value of your car. This is from the DMV site:
A licensed motor vehicle with a value of $8,500. The property is not located in a municipality but is in a Fire District.
Wake County rate = .604 Fire District rate = .10 Combined Rate = .704
(No vehicle fee is charged if the property is not in a municipality)

*Property value divided by 100: $8,500/100 = $85
*
$85 x .704 = $59.84 estimated annual tax

I never felt like our car tax was anything huge.

Groceries: We spend about 450 a month for a family of 4 (two little ones) and we shop at regular grocery stores.

We have propane to heat our house (3700 square feet) and we do the budgeted payments, 160 a month for 10 months. Our electric bill runs about 175 a month, and 300 a month for july and august.

Gas, in wake forest, is 2.55 a gallon, and in raleigh is 2.77 a gallon.

That is all I can think of right now!!!!!

Leigh

[BeadLady]

Thank you so much Leigh. You have provided excellent information and that is exactly the kind of information we are looking for. I know what we pay here so to have some form of comparison on all that stuff you listed is HUGE.

Thanks again!!!

Carolyn

[leighbhe]

Glad to help, if you think of other specifics, you can email me or send me a pm.

You will find that property taxes in the city (let's say wake forest, which is north of raleigh) are something around 1.1 per 100. Cary, apex, morrisville, raleigh, will all vary for the city portion of the tax.

Anyhow, let me know if you have more questions.

Leigh

[Weis02]

Just to add if you live in a sub-division that has an HOA, there is a fee for that too.

which varies from sub-division to sub-division.

[Cassie]

Originally Posted by BeadLady

My main question is this: For anyone new to the Raleigh area or anyone for that matter, were there any "surprise" expenses that you did not plan for? For example, are the taxes (real estate/property/any others I might not know about) in NC a lot higher than expected, is car insurance way more expensive in NC, is health insurance more expensive, etc? We are trying to think of all scenarios and not get blind-sided once we are down there. In other words, we really want to cover our bases during our research phase and try to find out as much as we can now to help us determine salaries and a mortgage.

I moved back to NC from northern VA. Here is my opinion and experience.

Property taxes work the same way they do in VA. If you live in an incorporated town or city within a county you pay both county and city taxes. The amount per $100.00 varies by area. There would be an additional tax if you live within a city or town limits. Expect those taxes to go up in the future. The area is booming with growth and there is no "proffer system" for new development like there was in VA. By law real estate reassessments here must be done at a minimum of every 8 years. Some counties do them every 4 years. I think I read that Wake County was planning to reassess every four years. Our homeowner's insurance is more expensive than in northern VA. Auto insurance is 6.00 dollars a year difference. Health insurance may be considerably more expensive- as I and others from different areas have found. This could depend on either yours or your husband's job and the type of insurance your employer carries. Food is more expensive. Not a huge difference but enough to notice it. I know I'm forgetting some of the different taxes, but overall, we found them more not less. Your housing may cost less here and your personal property taxes may be less for a while, (ours recently went up) but that was about it for us. Salaries may also be less, depending upon your fields. We live in an area that is less expensive than Wake, btw.

I strongly suggest that if you decide to move to the area to rent for awhile before buying to give you time to decide if it's really where you want to be. I view the Wake county area as an "out of the fire and back into the fire" scenario within about 3-5 years, (with the exception of the huge increase in housing equity that northern VA experienced) which is one of the reasons we didn't move there. Feel free to e-mail me privately if you'd like. Just click on my forum user name and there's a drop down box to send an email.

Regards,

Cassie

[beittels]

Cassie, I was shocked to hear some of what you've said above. My wife and I are also from Northern VA... we currently reside in Gainesville, VA where the realestate market has now crashed. So we are now in process of selling our $300K townhome and getting out of dodge. Our new home is to be in the Northern part of Raleigh and we're sure hoping to get into a single family home of 2500 sf or above. Some of what you've said above sort of scares me. I was hoping that a move to Raleigh would bring us less congestion, less chaos, fewer bottlenecks, cheaper prices on housing as well as food and general lifestyle expenses. From what you say, sounds like most, if not all of our expenses will go up, not down. Food you say is more expensive than NOVA? I'm also self employed and have to purchase my own health ins... so you think thjat's probably a lot higher there in Raleigh than in NOVA? I wonder why that is? any clues as to what may be causing that phenominon? Do you regret having gone to Raleigh in the first place? If so, where would you have gone now in retrospect?

[Cassie]

Hey Neighbor,

We lived just up the road from you in Fauquier. Beautiful Fauquier near the village of Orlean. I know Gainesville like the back of my hand. Sure do miss my hairstylist, Marion, at Jolie Laide off Linton Hall Road. What a bottleneck Gainesville has become, huh? I don't live in Wake county, which is where Raleigh is. We moved back to NC 7 months ago. Got out just before the market crashed. We live in the Triad area near Greensboro and many things are less expensive here than in the Raleigh area. It's very difficult for me to advise anyone where to move in NC, in fact I flat out won't tell someone where they should move. I'm not the one who has to walk in their shoes after they do.

However, we sold our 4 br 3 bath 2500 square ft. house on 2 acres for considerably more than you're selling your townhouse and we chose not to move to the RDU area. You should be able to get into a 2,500 sq. foot house in your price range there. For us that wasn't the problem with moving there. Yeah, lotsa people move to N.C. thinking it will be less expensive.

Too long to post to the forum, but I will send you a private e-mail.

Regards,

Cassie

Originally Posted by beittels

Cassie, I was shocked to hear some of what you've said above. My wife and I are also from Northern VA... we currently reside in Gainesville, VA where the realestate market has now crashed. So we are now in process of selling our $300K townhome and getting out of dodge. Our new home is to be in the Northern part of Raleigh and we're sure hoping to get into a single family home of 2500 sf or above. Some of what you've said above sort of scares me. I was hoping that a move to Raleigh would bring us less congestion, less chaos, fewer bottlenecks, cheaper prices on housing as well as food and general lifestyle expenses. From what you say, sounds like most, if not all of our expenses will go up, not down. Food you say is more expensive than NOVA? I'm also self employed and have to purchase my own health ins... so you think thjat's probably a lot higher there in Raleigh than in NOVA? I wonder why that is? any clues as to what may be causing that phenominon? Do you regret having gone to Raleigh in the first place? If so, where would you have gone now in retrospect?

[beittels]

Cassie, thanks for messaging back. Hoping to hear more from you soon either here in the forum or in PM. Nice to find someone else that's so familiar with our area and the stress it brings us on a daily basis. We live right off Catharpin Road over on the Haymarket side of town (but our address is considered Gainesville). We're in Crossroads (if you have heard of this) which is mix of towns and singles built in the late 90's and early 2000's.

Honestly though, regardless of how many people are moving to NC, the fact of the matter for us, no matter how bleak Raleigh's future might be, is that we CAN afford to buy a single family home there and settle down a little. The problem here is that there is no way on God's green earth that we can afford a single family house., The prices start in the mid 500's (for very small singles), and mid 600's for nice sized (3000 sf or above) places. And, of course, those are just starter numbers. By the time you finish off the rec room and add the powder room on the lower level you're up to your eyeballs in money and expenses. So moving laterally here in Gainesville is out of the ? for us. So now it's just a matter of finding a compromise that we can deal with. We know for a fact that traffic in Raleigh is nowhere near what we have experienced here. In fact Raleigh's traffic and congestion pales in comparison to any Northeast city or to LA.

My brother lives over in Thomasville and he too claims that he would never want to live in Raleigh. As for ,my wife and I... we are urbanites at heart. We want to be close to as many of the amenities and cultural activities (symphony, ballet, museums, concert pavilions, resturants, markets etc...) as we can afford, and yet not break the bank. See, for us, if we had the money, we'd move down to Alexandria or better yet somewhere even closer to the District so that we could be right next to the cultural activities we enjoy so much. But we can't afford to do that here in this area. The house prices are simply too high. And we have gotten ourselves into a position here in Gainesville where getting out to events in DC or closer to the city brings us the worst anxiety and pain when we realize that we'll have to sit through several hours of 66 traffic going down and coming back out.

So, again, I guess from our standpoint, this is a compromise. We realize it may not be perfect, but it's sort of the next stepping stone for us. Perhaps after a few years in Raleigh, we'll be ready to move to a place like Greensboro/Highoint/Thoimasville.... or we may even turn our attention to the burbs of Charleston, SC (where my in laws live). But for now, we know we are simply too attached toi the idea of city life. And we don't wanty to live so far away from that city life to place us right back into the same bind we're in now. That would be counterproductive to say the least.

I look forward to more o your opinions on the area soon. You seem like one of the best people for advice right now since you know where we're coming from.

Thanks Stefan