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Currently, you'll find 9 properties with half an acre or more for sale in Wake Forest or Youngsville for your price point.
But, again, who knows what will happen by the time you're ready to move in a few years? I'm assuming the prices will go up, especially since many Northeast boomers will be ready to grab their Social Security and move away from the snow in a few years...to join the ones who are already here.
Older home is fine since I do most of the work myself but would never want a handy man special again!!
More work than building new from scratch!
More worried about my wife not being able to tolerate the summer heat.
That is something to consider. I can't tolerate the summer heat, and if I knew it was this bad, I probably would have moved elsewhere. Some people apparently adjust. I adjust by not going outside unless I have to. Fall, winter, and spring are all nice, though.
I'd suggest you visit for a week or two in the summer to see if you and your wife can tolerate the heat and humidity. I was able to adjust when I moved. Central AC helps a lot. I cannot tolerate the cold anymore though.
For what it's worth, right now it's 68F in Asheville, while it's 89F here in Raleigh.
Please re-read my post. NOT AS BAD FOR AS LONG so that means it will get cooler sooner in Asheville compared to the triangle. It is 62 here in Atlanta so what does that mean??
Please re-read my post. NOT AS BAD FOR AS LONG so that means it will get cooler sooner in Asheville compared to the triangle. It is 62 here in Atlanta so what does that mean??
Yes I understood that. That's why I said FWIW. It was an aside, not an insult. It was just a comparison of two cities he is considering as far as how different temps can be -- just a moment in time. I did not mean to upset you. And he's not considering Atlanta.
I'll add my DC .02 cents, FWIW. Being as though my family is from Tarboro, Rocky Mount and the Raleigh suburbs (Cary/Apex/Morrisville) and I visit quite often, I highly recommend moving to the Raleigh area. Looking at the cons, first, DC has spoiled me with free zoos and museums, and an abundance of them, so on hot days or days with absolutely nothing to do, I could browse these types of places...for free. Being from NY, you will be used to having more of a variety. For example, in NY, you may have 100 museums that you have to pay to enter. In DC, we've got 50 free museums. In Raleigh, you may have 25 (just a guess) different museums you have to pay to enter. The same goes for bars, pubs, malls, etc. You have the same in Raleigh, but smaller. Just as DC has the same as NY and San Fran, but smaller. An upside, is that things are on a smaller scale, but not unbearably slow. Traffic is way better than up north. There is a lot of things to do outdoors. They have outstanding school systems from Kindergarten to college, and you can find a nice batch of southern folk AND northern transplants mixed in together (I do believe the northern transplants are highly centralized in Cary). IMHO, I think the southern culture/mindset is better. So long as you don't come with the "I'm from NY City...I'm better than you" attitude, you will get along fine. I hated when NYers did it in DC, continually comparing what NY has to what DC doesn't have.
I think younger people have a harder time in the Raleigh area being as though everything is so dispersed and there really isn't a big "young scene" to gravitate to (just my observation). It could be harder on a kid in their teens than preteens to get used to as my co-worker just pulled her kid from NC State to go to UMD because she didn't like the social scene (could just be the kid, though). But, it is my opinion that, in 5 - 10 years, the way people have been migrating to the Raleigh-Durham area, there will be a nice, but still tolerable, setting to deal with. I have noticed that southern downtowns aren't utilized as nightspots like northern areas, but Raleigh seems to have been trying to build their downtown up - Fayette street I believe - and make it more of a social hangout. But I like hitting North Hills, Crabtree Valley, and going to Durham and hanging out around Southpoint (I'm 39).
DC was no cool retreat this year, either. But, the way I tend to deal with the heat is by getting my day started early. I like hitting the streets around 7 AM, and running around and getting in my outdoor time before the sun starts beaming at noon. By then, I've already "funned-out".
To wrap this up, I love Raleigh over DC any day and I am a born and raised Washingtonian. I'm slowing down, so I don't run the streets as much, anymore, plus I am already married, so I'm kinda shielded from the social scene aspect of it all. There's a lot of smart, highly educated people in Raleigh and I've found, surprisingly, their housing prices to be the same as DC suburb prices (for NY, you'll definitely come out on top), but my savings would come in not having to have my kids in private schools (elementary), a better quality of life, and possibly take financial advantage of investing in the next booming area. Not to mention, I get to cut down my commuting times to Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, OBX, and Savannah (I drive everywhere).
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ajsmith365
There's a lot of smart, highly educated people in Raleigh and I've found, surprisingly, their housing prices to be the same as DC suburb prices (for NY, you'll definitely come out on top), but my savings would come in not having to have my kids in private schools (elementary), a better quality of life, and possibly take financial advantage of investing in the next booming area. Not to mention, I get to cut down my commuting times to Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, OBX, and Savannah (I drive everywhere).
The housing prices are NOWHERE near the DC suburbs - not by a long shot! I lived in a 1950's ranch in a suburb 10 miles out of DC that sells for over $550K (Vienna). A newer-built home in NoVA runs minumum $600K even 20 miles out of the city - in my suburb, easily $800K plus. A small, old brick home in Arlington, 5 miles from the city would be a minimum of $750K (Arlington).
In Raleigh suburbs you can easily live in a home within 10 miles for $300K. There are people on this board asking about homes in the $250's all the time, and they are answered that they can find nice suburbs at that price. That price point is pretty much impossible in DC, except maybe 30 miles outside the city. In Chapel Hill, one of the highest priced areas, I bought a much larger and newer home for the same price as my old home in Vienna.
Housing prices are cheap here, if you are coming from most of the big Northeast cities - NY, DC, Boston, Philly, and Baltimore (in that order).
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