Artsy Couple w/kids looking for the perfect Southern city-what is your opinion? (Charlotte: real estate, chapel)

[SallyOlive]

We lived in Athens,GA for years and found the town nice, but a bit too small to really work for us. We are looking for a place that has successful vintage stores,vegetarian restaurants & grocery stores ( co-ops),a lively music & art scene & a rural area within 30 miles of the main town....the more eccentric the better!

Its also important that the town be gay friendly ( not so much the small towns outside of the city, just the main town for sure)- I realize the South may not have the same support for this as NY city, but we found Athens,GA quite comfortable & open minded.

We are looking to buy an older house to be restored-ideally on an acre or more within 30 miles of the main town~ideally the house would in at least partially livable, but modest condition would be no more than $65K for an early 1900s house around 2400 sqft.We found places like this in small towns outside of Athens, so are looking to buy a similar type of house elsewhere.

We have been looking at :Raleigh,NC/Charlotte,NC/Greenville,SC.....anyone have any other cities in mind that might work? Oh, and we did visit Asheville and despite everyone saying it would be perfect, we did not care for it.Any ideas?

Thanks so much for your help!

[leighbhe]

I believe the triangle area would be nice, and I would suggest the chapel hill / carrboro area which seems to have the more artistic vibe (I grew up in chapel hill), although it is quite pricey for housing. 30 minutes outside of chapel hill is honestly, looking in orange county (which will encompass hillsborough, as the main town, but just looking in the county will also help).

Now, the issue is this, chapel hill/carrboro are small towns and really the "big city" is raleigh......so I don't know how to advise you in that way.

Honestly, I am not sure you will finding housing that you are looking for in that price range, but you may.

Leigh

[alice_61]

I think your housing budget would be tough in this area. There are homes in that price range but few older homes are that large.

[piedmont]

You might look outside of Hillsborough, NC (triangle area). Areas north of Hillsborough like Cedar Grove, Yanceyville, or other towns in Caswell county might have the real estate prices you're seeking (if you are a fixer upper type). These places are 10-40 minutes from Hillsborough. Hillsborough is the county seat of Orange County (Chapel Hill is in this county) and is fairly laid back place with a number of writers and other artists in the community. It is not so "posh" as Asheville has become. A new Weaver Street Market (food coop) is scheduled to open in Hillsborough in 2008.

If your budget were at least 150k and preferably closer to 200k, you would have some choices in this area. For 65k, you are talking about a not great condition trailer on an acre or possibly a mill house in town that needs complete rennovation.

[SallyOlive]

If your budget were at least 150k and preferably closer to 200k, you would have some choices in this area. For 65k, you are talking about a not great condition trailer on an acre or possibly a mill house in town that needs complete rennovation.[/quote]


I will check out the areas you mentioned. Also, the house can be fairly run down- I restored my last 2 homes that no one had lived in for over 20 years, so,basically if there is a good roof on at least one section , I consider it something of interest...I am looking for a complete renovation in most folks opinion

[dcgrl]

You could try Durham. You won't find the acre lot unless you head to the outskirts of the city, but there's a fair amount of urban pioneering going on in a neighborhood called Cleveland-Holloway. Homes are available in your price range, but they need work. This isn't the safest part of Durham, but people (artsy newcomers like yourselves and long-standing old-timers) are really building a community here.
Here are a few links:
Cleveland Holloway Wiki | Main / HomePage browse (http://www.clevelandholloway.org/pmwiki.php - broken link)
Cleveland Holloway Neighborhood


You'll find the culture and the attitude you're looking for in Durham...

[piedmont]

Yes, Durham is a good idea, too. Downtown/east Durham is very affordable and in need of folks to invest in it/put down roots. I think Durham is especially gay friendly out of the triangle cities. There is crime, but you can look up these stats and compare it to other places you know.

West Hillsborough (west of Hill street) is also a good place to explore if you are looking for a small mill house (as in less than 900 sq ft) to renovate. Hillsborough remains very divided by race, like many places. The west side is predominantly African American (and some American Indian), with mix of poor, working class and middle class folks.

[IdaClaire]

I second the Caswell County idea. We have a friend who is single and a teacher, so you can imagine her housing budget is somewhat limited. She bought a beautiful old farmhouse in the Cedar Grove area north of Hillsborough, just north of the county line, and I'm imagining she paid under 100K for it. It needed a good deal of restoration and loving care, and she's worked on it bit by bit and it's gorgeous.

I also think the area between Pittsboro and Siler City in Chatham County might be worth a glance. Pittsboro has become quite crunchy, and last year when we took the farm tours of Orange/Chatham County, we visited many sustainable organic farms in that area. I think the closer you get to Siler City, the more affordable the housing.

We live about 10-15 minutes west of Carrboro, and our neighborhood is quite crunchy and natural, but the costs out here are probably higher than what you're looking for, most likely because of the proximity to Carrboro.

[Dire Wolf]

Check out MLS listing 956385. (I used Raleigh Durham Apex Cary Chapel Hill North Carolina Real Estate Fonville Morisey Realty). Don't know where that is exactly. There are not many listings meeting your criteria. Most of the listings are trailers.

[welovedurham]

Look at Pittsboro. I think it fits your bill on several counts.