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I am moving within a few months to the Triangle area. Rec'd a job offer in Durham and am going to take it. I'm flying down next week to finalize and look at the area. As I look on-line for apts on craigslist, etc., I am a little confused and hope someone can help. In New England (I'm from there), I've lived in a few states and usually 80% of apts are in neighborhoods with single-family houses as well as rentals. The rentals are either 2 or 3 family, or there are some smaller buildings that have just apts - maybe 10 units.
Looking on-line, I get the impression that in the Triangle area all or most of the apts are in large complexes set apart from the main street grid.
Am I getting the wrong impression from my on-line searches? I'd really like to live in a building with just a few units on a regular suburban or urban street. A place where i can go out the door and walk to a coffee shop, or where i can hear regular traffic and street noise. I'm used to living in Providence so I like the noisy city environment.
Of course, as a female living alone I want to be safe, too - who doesn't! But I assume that Durham, like Providence, has it's share of crime mostly in certain areas. You have to be cautious anywhere, but just know the neighborhoods to avoid at certain hours. Thanks for any help - I appreciate it.
I am moving within a few months to the Triangle area. Rec'd a job offer in Durham and am going to take it. I'm flying down next week to finalize and look at the area. As I look on-line for apts on craigslist, etc., I am a little confused and hope someone can help. In New England (I'm from there), I've lived in a few states and usually 80% of apts are in neighborhoods with single-family houses as well as rentals. The rentals are either 2 or 3 family, or there are some smaller buildings that have just apts - maybe 10 units.
Looking on-line, I get the impression that in the Triangle area all or most of the apts are in large complexes set apart from the main street grid.
Am I getting the wrong impression from my on-line searches? I'd really like to live in a building with just a few units on a regular suburban or urban street. A place where i can go out the door and walk to a coffee shop, or where i can hear regular traffic and street noise. I'm used to living in Providence so I like the noisy city environment.
Of course, as a female living alone I want to be safe, too - who doesn't! But I assume that Durham, like Providence, has it's share of crime mostly in certain areas. You have to be cautious anywhere, but just know the neighborhoods to avoid at certain hours. Thanks for any help - I appreciate it.
Not totally so.
North Hills in Raleigh is in a mixed residential/retail grid with nearby single family. Brier Creek also has apartments near retail.
I hated multi-family rental units when I lived in NJ. They creep me out! I would focus on downtown Durham or a location you like instead of the type of housing offered. The multi-family dwellings are few and far between here and are usually lower-income type of places. Brier Creek would be beyond cookie cutter for your tastes.
There are many different types of rental in Durham that would fit your likes and needs I think. Downtown will have many rentals, some in higher end complexes that are not the mega complexes and therefore smaller and more unique. You will most likely find many room rentals or the like due to all the college kids that share a house. All this also depends on where you will work and how much commuting you would like to do. You could easily find a complex in Brier Creek, near Southpoint, or a few scattered others where it is a large complex but you can walk across the street to a Target, various shopping, book stores, and coffee. My suggestion would be utilize someone who knows the area, even a rental agent, or get out and see much of Durham. It's a great area!
I agree with mocharoman! I lived in three family houses in NJ and was not fond of them at all.
We do have a few of them here. I have seen them mostly in the Downtown area and close to Duke's East Campus. You are correct to know that you will not find them from out of state searches. They aren't on the major apartment sites and are usually MUCH older than what you'll see online. You will definitely need some contacts on the ground to get contact information from these places.
The kind of units you are describing exist without having to go into multi-families. In Durham at least, you will see some duplexes; these can be very nice, kind of nice or not nice, it depends on the neighborhood and the price level. You won't see triple-deckers, but you will see quadplexes, usually wood, vinyl or brick sided with parallel layouts top and bottom. Often these are low-priced, and often not well-maintained.
I would strongly recommend the neighborhoods around downtown and Duke as places that meet your neighborhood-with-walkable-shopping goals. We live in Trinity Park and are five minutes' walk from restaurants, bars and coffee shops; ten minutes' walk to movies, the Y, the farmers' market and a Whole Foods. Plus the Bulls baseball, broadway shows, a mid-market mall, etc. in walk/bike distance.
In our neighborhood or others like it, you will find some good duplex options. There are also some beautiful old (early 20th c.) brick and stonework apartment buildings that went up to cater to students at the college that became Duke University. These units will have plenty of historic charm, with the good (and occasional bad) that goes with that.
Students will often rent these units and in these contexts will often be great neighbors. Students get more notoriety for renting large, 5-6 bedroom houses and making them into party-places. Less of that happens than used to, but it still occasionally happens (there was one incident last night on Gregson St. according to my neighborhood listserv....)
Also in neighborhoods like ours you will find folks renting garage-apartments. Older, smaller (400-ish sf) apartments will go in the $750-950 range. My neighbor and I both have new (< 5 y/o) garage-apartments, ours just completed, both by same builder with top of line finishes. His is renting for more than $1,000 per month; we will be asking $1,200/mo. when we get around to putting it on market.
There are also complexes -- West Village, Golden Belt, the Addison, American Tobacco to get units with more historic charm/conversion; and brand-new construction complexes, all recently complete or under construction -- Station Nine, Circle Ninth Street, and others underway -- near the urban core but with modern amenities. These will start in the $1250 range and go up past $2,000.
Wow thank you all so much. This information is very helpful. Ive looked at the places mentioned above and they're gorgeous. I confess I didn't realize that rents ran so high. While I'm so thankful to have been offered a job in this bad market, the salary isn't too great, so I can't pay more than $800 to $900 total per month. I see that it is doable in the area, but that I can't afford one of those gorgeous loft apts. Apartment living is such a crap shoot. I'm very quiet. I've lived in complexes next to students who were so quiet I never heard them, and I've lived next to people in their 50s who were so noisy and drunk and everything else I practically had to call the police. So - you never know. I hate that!!!
Wow thank you all so much. This information is very helpful. Ive looked at the places mentioned above and they're gorgeous. I confess I didn't realize that rents ran so high. While I'm so thankful to have been offered a job in this bad market, the salary isn't too great, so I can't pay more than $800 to $900 total per month. I see that it is doable in the area, but that I can't afford one of those gorgeous loft apts. Apartment living is such a crap shoot. I'm very quiet. I've lived in complexes next to students who were so quiet I never heard them, and I've lived next to people in their 50s who were so noisy and drunk and everything else I practically had to call the police. So - you never know. I hate that!!!
I feel your pain. I'm Community Watch captain at Northridge Crossings in Raleigh, which fits your budget and is ultra safe.
However, you must expect some noise in multi-family living and, as you said, some residents are much quieter than others.
Wow thank you all so much. This information is very helpful. Ive looked at the places mentioned above and they're gorgeous. I confess I didn't realize that rents ran so high. While I'm so thankful to have been offered a job in this bad market, the salary isn't too great, so I can't pay more than $800 to $900 total per month. I see that it is doable in the area, but that I can't afford one of those gorgeous loft apts. Apartment living is such a crap shoot. I'm very quiet. I've lived in complexes next to students who were so quiet I never heard them, and I've lived next to people in their 50s who were so noisy and drunk and everything else I practically had to call the police. So - you never know. I hate that!!!
You can definitely do $800 a month if you meter your expectations.
For example, one cheaper complex is University Commons on Duke University Rd. They're recently renovated, but still a complex with 100 or so units. On the plus side, though, it's right in the middle of the Burch Avenue and West End neighborhoods. Also, they're less than 1/2 mile from Brightleaf Square, 3/4 mile from Duke Med Ctr, and 1 mile from Five Points/Downtown Durham's City Center district. Lots of grad students from Duke, particularly international students. So you'll be around students but not necessarily rowdy ones.
Rent for a one bedroom starts at around $750, so near your budget, but at least it won't break it!
Also, my father-in-law lives on a Bob Schmitz property at the corner of Ruffin and Green. He pays $725 a month for a 2 bedroom and does just fine. The place dates from the 1940's or so, so the kitchen is small. But it works, and he loves his neighbors. Bob Schmitz has other affordable rentals too, just view them in person as YMMV.
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