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Weather – I hope summer is pretty hot (80s – 90s for the highs most summer days?). Does it seem to be sunny most of the time? Pittsburgh is gloomy and rainy for what seems like at least 80% of the year. On top of that, frigid temps (below 30 degrees) for virtually 4 straight months is a bit obscene. Not to mention clearing several inches of snow off your car for sometimes 5 days in a row gets old. However, I am still absolutely in love with fall.
Housing – I look at a lot of real estate sites regularly and have noticed that there is a plethora of available homes for purchase within our projected budget of $110K - $160K for a 3+bed, 2+bath home which would be 15 years old or newer. Preferably this would be in a planned community with a pool and maybe some trails and parks. My question is: are there any of these planned communities that have regular community get-togethers/events? (Block parties/BBQs, Easter events, etc.) This is a big one for us as what is most important to us is raising a family, and we are super outgoing and friendly. We pretty much know what suburbs seem to be good ones for our needs and price range, but I’m not sure that a realtor could answer the question about the feel of life in the communities (like the aforementioned events). Being close to shopping (Target, malls, WalMart, etc. maybe within like 10-15 minutes) would be a plus.
I really don’t care about whether there is a true downtown area, and from reading the forums I can tell Raleigh really doesn’t have a big city feel, which is fine with me. Thanks for taking the time to read. I know I wrote a lot – feel free to respond with anything I may have not considered or with any suggestions!
*Side note: I am 27, and he is 24. For fun we like to go out to eat, bowl, mini-golf, and see movies.
Last edited by FutureMrsM; 07-31-2014 at 02:12 PM..
I'll start off by saying that the median home price in Raleigh is closer to 180k. In Cary, it's just above 200k.
That said, you're looking below median, so as long as your expectations are below average, you should be fine.
Median income in Raleigh is just below 60k for a household. Median in Cary is closer to 70k for a household.
Again, those are median. Just to give you some quick perspective.
Most of our neighborhoods around here are HOA (since you want something 15 years or less old, that would pretty much be ALL as long as you're within an incorporated city/town). Most HOA neighborhoods of any size have pools, amenities, people do gather in some of them, etc.
We have all the stuff you like to do for fun. No issue there.
Weather... pretty much what you think.
Jobs.
That is going to be your biggest issue. Find some before you move. You just never know how it will go with jobs. Unless you have enough saved for the two of you to live here for a year or more renting an apartment until you both find jobs, I would not move here without jobs.
Sports: Not a fan. We have hockey, college sports, and Durham Bulls baseball. Will that do?
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I have to laugh at your comment about the "below average homes" (not in a negative manner). That price range in Pittsburgh will get you OLD, DECREPIT, TINY homes where we'll have to worry about fixing or replacing the foundation, insulation, roofing, etc. I guess your idea of below average far exceeds my best expectation for what we can buy in Pittsburgh. Based on a search on realtor.com (input of 3+ beds, 2+ baths, 0-20 years old, 10-mile radius from Raleigh, and up to $145K), I came back with 586 results! 451 results with a 5-mile radius. I think that same search in Pittsburgh resulted in 6 houses, NONE of which would be in a planned community. It seems prices of housing (purchase of single family homes) has been steadily dropping for about 7 years.
We do know we'd never consider moving before we had jobs.
Very warm in the summer, although we've been experiencing temps in the low 80s this week, and while delightful, definitely not the norm for July. We do have a very nice fall, in my opinion, it just happens later than in the north. But I like that because it means Thanksgiving isn't gray and dead.
Most people I meet it seems are sports enthusiasts, and there is definitely enough of that to go around. Mainly college sports, though. I am not a sports person, so not the best person to ask!
Lots to do here and I find Raleigh's downtown quite accessible and enjoyable. My husband and I are in our early 30s, and are never at a loss for what to do.
Housing is kinda all over the place. The prices you are seeing are not the average, as RedZin pointed out, but also coming from the north I know how appealing it is! Definitely try and secure jobs first, maybe rent a while until you get to know the area and where you want to be.
Weather – I hope summer is pretty hot (80s – 90s for the highs most summer days?). Does it seem to be sunny most of the time? Pittsburgh is gloomy and rainy for what seems like at least 80% of the year. On top of that, frigid temps (below 30 degrees) for virtually 4 straight months is a bit obscene. Not to mention clearing several inches of snow off your car for sometimes 5 days in a row gets old. However, I am still absolutely in love with fall.
I really don’t care about whether there is a true downtown area, and from reading the forums I can tell Raleigh really doesn’t have a big city feel, which is fine with me. Thanks for taking the time to read. I know I wrote a lot – feel free to respond with anything I may have not considered or with any suggestions!
*Side note: I am 27, and he is 24. For fun we like to go out to eat, bowl, mini-gold, and see movies.
Without going into the minutiae of where a certain school's lacrosse team plays (ie only looking at revenue sports), other venues are:
Baseball National Teams USA Baseball Complex (Cary, NC)
Minor League Baseball
Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham, NC) - home of the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays
Five County Stadium (Zebulon, NC) - home of the Carolina Mudcats, the Advanced-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians
NCAA Baseball Boshamer Stadium (Chapel Hill, NC) - home of the UNC Tar Heels
Doak Field (Raleigh, NC) - home of the NC State Wolfpack
Jack Coombs Field (Durham, NC) - home of the Duke Blue Devils
Basketball (Men's) Cameron Indoor Stadium (Durham, NC) - home of the Duke Blue Devils
Dean Smith Center (Chapel Hill, NC) - home of the UNC Tar Heels
PNC Arena (Raleigh, NC) - home of the NC State Wolfpack
Basketball (Women's) Cameron Indoor Stadium (Durham, NC) - home of the Duke Blue Devils
Carmichael Arena (Chapel Hill, NC) - home of the UNC Tar Heels
Reynolds Coliseum (Raleigh, NC) - home of the NC State Wolfpack
Football Carter-Finley Stadium (Raleigh, NC) - home of the NC State Wolfpack
Kenan Memorial Stadium (Chapel Hill, NC)- home of the UNC Tar Heels
Wallace Wade Stadium (Durham, NC)- home of the Duke Blue Devils
Hockey PNC Arena (Raleigh, NC) - home of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes
Racing Wake County Speedway (Garner, NC)
Soccer WakeMed Soccer Park (Cary, NC) - home of the Carolina Railhawks FC (NASL)
There are also numerous ice rinks that have various house leagues for hockey.
I have to laugh at your comment about the "below average homes" (not in a negative manner). That price range in Pittsburgh will get you OLD, DECREPIT, TINY homes where we'll have to worry about fixing or replacing the foundation, insulation, roofing, etc. I guess your idea of below average far exceeds my best expectation for what we can buy in Pittsburgh. Based on a search on realtor.com (input of 3+ beds, 2+ baths, 0-20 years old, 10-mile radius from Raleigh, and up to $145K), I came back with 586 results! 451 results with a 5-mile radius. I think that same search in Pittsburgh resulted in 6 houses, NONE of which would be in a planned community. It seems prices of housing (purchase of single family homes) has been steadily dropping for about 7 years.
We do know we'd never consider moving before we had jobs.
Thank you for the input!
Here in Raleigh the old decrepit homes that are priced thru the roof are inside the beltline (inside the city limits per se). Location, location, location. Many of us live out side of the city limits. I liken Raleigh to Atlanta with a group of tall bldgs downtown with MILES of Urban sprawl surrounding the center. Everybody has the "good" side of town and the other side of the tracks, so does Raleigh.
Foot note for you: Bill Cower lives here! I even went to NC State with him.
I have to laugh at your comment about the "below average homes" (not in a negative manner). That price range in Pittsburgh will get you OLD, DECREPIT, TINY homes where we'll have to worry about fixing or replacing the foundation, insulation, roofing, etc. I guess your idea of below average far exceeds my best expectation for what we can buy in Pittsburgh. Based on a search on realtor.com (input of 3+ beds, 2+ baths, 0-20 years old, 10-mile radius from Raleigh, and up to $145K), I came back with 586 results! 451 results with a 5-mile radius. I think that same search in Pittsburgh resulted in 6 houses, NONE of which would be in a planned community. It seems prices of housing (purchase of single family homes) has been steadily dropping for about 7 years.
We do know we'd never consider moving before we had jobs.
Thank you for the input!
Well, you'll have to cut out 2/3 of those because they'll wind up in not the most ideal neighborhoods.
But, yes... you can find a very affordable home down here if your expectations aren't running along the lines of new construction, top schools, granite counters and stainless steel throughout with hardwoods in every room and a .5 acre lot.
Home prices in our area are rising. I suspect this has to do with the desirability from the area from a jobs, retirement, and general transplantation standpoint.
I think you'd like it here if you can find jobs to suit you.
Best to you both!
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