Creedmoor Questions (Raleigh, Wake Forest, Franklin: real estate, rentals, insurance)

[Retail Queen]

I'm trying to get some information on areas North of Raleigh (540). We are getting ready to purchase our first home and I don't want to make a huge mistake. I know that our real estate agent can't tell us the down and dirty truth, so I'm hoping someone here can. If you are afraid to offend someone with what you have to say, just send me a private message. I want the truth and I will not be offended.

Anyway, we like Wake Forest, but it is a little out of our price range. We are looking to stay below $185,000. Trust me we are actually approved for $400,000 house based on what we make, but we find that to be a ridiculous amount to spend on a home when there are much better things we can think of to do with our money. That being said, we have taken a good look at Youngsville, and I like that area. Nice and country. Exactly what I want. We are wondering though about Creedmoor. The prices are really low there but the houses seem to be pretty nice. And it is still "country" like we are looking for. Now I know all of the real estate agents are going to say "it is cheap because of demand... blah blah, I know that. I want to know if it is a safe area or not, and what might be a potential problem with moving there.

What we are looking for is land, a decent sized house in a fairly rural area, but one where we could easily access the highway to get to work/shopping when needed. If there is any other place up that way that I'm not aware of, could you please give me the info on that as well. We've gone as far up as Franklinton, but that is a little too far from work. So someplace between North Raleigh and Franklinton. I have a map, but it isn't very helpful.

Thanks everyone! You rock.

[ALT-X]

Why are you limiting yourself to a $185,000 home when you say you've been approved for $400,000 based on your income? You can find plenty of nice homes with everything you want in Raleigh, Wake Forest and other areas not as far out in the $250-$300k range and still be well under $400k. If you really aren't planning on having kids you should be able to easily afford to spend more than 185k. 185k is not going to get you close enough to RTP and north raleigh and still give you all the things you say you're looking for...

Maybe you have other concerns/problems you didn't disclose but I definitely wouldn't limit myself to $185k when I could afford THAT much more... Too big of a disparity, what you get at the two price points are completely different...

[Retail Queen]

Well, I guess you and I just have different ideas of what is important in life. No biggie.

I just don't want to pay a mortgage out every month of more than $1200. I think it is ridiculous. I would like to take my money and use it to go on nice vacations to Europe, and Islands and buy nice clothes and spoil my dog quite frankly. I've mentioned in another thread that I just don't want to be house poor. We don't believe in having debt so we don't owe anyone money (except hubby has a little bit out in student loans still, but that is almost paid off) I paid for college in cash because I worked the entire time. I guess I just have no desire to live the so called "American Dream" if that means always being in debt and never having money to do anything. There isn't anything I didn't disclose to you. Our broker said you can buy a house in the $400,000.00 range. I said I don't want my mortgage to be more than $1200.00 and she said, well then you will be looking at houses around $185,000.

I don't really care that you disapprove and judge me based on how much my house is worth. That is pretty much what everyone else in this country does anyway. I think people who buy $400,000 houses right on top of each other next to golf courses are stupid, and I tell them to their face, even my boss. I guess cathedral ceilings (which are a huge waste of money but dumb people want them anyway) and granite counter tops are what makes the world go round these days.

Course I'll be laughing all the way to the bank when everyone realizes how much debt they are really in and how it has not really contributed to their quality of life at all. Money... or the size of your house, doesn't bring one happiness.

We've found many houses that are "perfect" for us in Youngsville actually.

[Bull City Rising]

I respect where you're coming from with house affordability and not living a life indebted by housing. We've got the same goals in terms of not being house-poor.

I would think, though, that if $1,200 is the amount you're willing to spend on a mortgage payment, even if you don't have a 20% down payment, you could do better than $185k... maybe very low $200s? Now if you want to roll your property tax and homeowner's insurance into that $1,200 figure, that's probably right. I assume you guys have run the numbers independently of the broker?

[Retail Queen]

Originally Posted by Bull City Rising

I respect where you're coming from with house affordability and not living a life indebted by housing. We've got the same goals in terms of not being house-poor.

I would think, though, that if $1,200 is the amount you're willing to spend on a mortgage payment, even if you don't have a 20% down payment, you could do better than $185k... maybe very low $200s? Now if you want to roll your property tax and homeowner's insurance into that $1,200 figure, that's probably right. I assume you guys have run the numbers independently of the broker?

Yes, I have run the numbers. You are right if we did have anything for a down payment, but we are trying to do this with little or nothing down. Where do people actually come up with 20% downpayments these days anyway? It used to be someone's parents would loan them the money, but neither my parents nor my hubby's parents have that kind of money. Ha! They can barely afford to live themselves. We are pretty much a few years out of college trying to buy our first house. And for the first few years of working we didn't make a lot of money (you know how kids take any jobs not realizing what they could have done.)

Like I said we have no debt, not even car loans, and we are going to have a little over $10,000 at settlement, but I know better than to use all of that at settlement. I would just like to keep some money in the bank just in case.

It also used to be that renting was cheaper than buying so one could rent for a few years and save up a good lump of money to use for a down payment, but that simply isn't the case anymore. At least now where we are from. rentals cost more than purchasing a house up there. It was almost impossible to get ahead. That is one of the many reasons we moved here. But like I said I wanted to buy a house 3 years ago and move here and hubby wasn't ready yet.

But yeah, I was calculating the PITI not just the loan amount. I'm considering houses up to $200,000 only because I know that I'm not going to pay list price, and I watch the market very carefully. My dad was big into reading about real estate, too bad he isn't around to help me with this anymore. Plus, we aren't asking for much. We just want 1/2 acre and a garage (or over an acre without a garage). Nothing else is really important. Actually, I figure the cheaper the better because then I will have extra money to go out and make things the way I want them.

[NYer]

Originally Posted by Retail Queen

Well, I guess you and I just have different ideas of what is important in life. No biggie.

...
I don't really care that you disapprove and judge me based on how much my house is worth. ...We've found many houses that are "perfect" for us in Youngsville actually.

Hmmm, maybe you were not being judged per se... maybe the PP wanted you to look at spending more so you could get a neighborhood that would be a better fit.

I think you have to find the town first & the house second.
After a while the houses all seem to look the same.
But, if you will be unhappy with your community then no amount of land or granite will make you happy.

We could have bought a farm on a big acreage outside Wake County but we chose Wake Forest for the reasons Desdemona stated. If we will have trouble fitting in, what good is living in Tara?

[LoveCreedmoor]

Retail Queen, don't overlook Creedmoor based on what one person says. Go to the "Fonville Morisey" realtor website and type "Golden Pond" in the subdivision sections and take a look at all the wonderful homes there or you can type the zip code 27522 to get all the homes in the zip area. Crime is very low in Creedmoor and the city is on the rise with a progressive city management team. I am not a realtor and I am a former northener (40 years). Been in NC the last 14 and you won't find nicer people than you will in Creedmoor. Stop by and see.

[Boatdrinks]

Originally Posted by Retail Queen

I don't really care that you disapprove and judge me based on how much my house is worth. That is pretty much what everyone else in this country does anyway. I think people who buy $400,000 houses right on top of each other next to golf courses are stupid, and I tell them to their face, even my boss. I guess cathedral ceilings (which are a huge waste of money but dumb people want them anyway) and granite counter tops are what makes the world go round these days.

Course I'll be laughing all the way to the bank when everyone realizes how much debt they are really in and how it has not really contributed to their quality of life at all. Money... or the size of your house, doesn't bring one happiness.

We've found many houses that are "perfect" for us in Youngsville actually.

See, for most people, money and the size of their house does bring happiness. Money enables people to live comfortably and do things they enjoy - what's wrong with that? Isn't that the whole reason you don't want to buy an expensive house - so you can have more money to do what you want????

Likewise, many of those "stupid" people who buy those 400k houses on the golf course that you despise so much were, in fact, approved, for much higher amounts. But, in much the same way you're doing, they decided not to buy a 700k house and bought a 400k house instead so they can still live comfortably. You're assuming that all those people are overextended and I disagree. Yes, many might be. But many people in Youngsville living in 185k houses are too.

And for many of us, it's very important to have a house large enough for our kids, dogs, and assorted possessions. We'd like to have room to spread out and watch TV with our family, play board games with our kids, build forts with our kids in our cathedral ceilinged living room....why do you view that as wrong and judge people for that? For many of us, spending time at home with our family and kids is the MOST important thing to us, and we'd like to do that in somewhere other then a tiny house in the middle of nowhere. I have no desire to have a ton of land and a tiny house - I don't want to spend my weekends maintaining an acre of land and we'd like to be close to restaurants, stores, etc.

We all have different priorities in life. Yours is a small house in the country, mine is a larger house where I can spend time with my family, close enough to the city that we can go out without driving an hour. I have no problem with people having different priorities. You do have a problem with it, and you're judging people in the same way that you're accusing people of judging you. To tell someone that they're "stupid" and "dumb" b/c they want to live in a house that you personally wouldn't want to live in is incredibly rude, and I contend that tellling it to your boss is pretty darn "stupid" as well.

Enjoy Youngsville.

[OmegaBaby]

Originally Posted by Boatdrinks

See, for most people, money and the size of their house does bring happiness. Money enables people to live comfortably and do things they enjoy - what's wrong with that? Isn't that the whole reason you don't want to buy an expensive house - so you can have more money to do what you want????

Likewise, many of those "stupid" people who buy those 400k houses on the golf course that you despise so much were, in fact, approved, for much higher amounts. But, in much the same way you're doing, they decided not to buy a 700k house and bought a 400k house instead so they can still live comfortably. You're assuming that all those people are overextended and I disagree. Yes, many might be. But many people in Youngsville living in 185k houses are too.

And for many of us, it's very important to have a house large enough for our kids, dogs, and assorted possessions. We'd like to have room to spread out and watch TV with our family, play board games with our kids, build forts with our kids in our cathedral ceilinged living room....why do you view that as wrong and judge people for that? For many of us, spending time at home with our family and kids is the MOST important thing to us, and we'd like to do that in somewhere other then a tiny house in the middle of nowhere. I have no desire to have a ton of land and a tiny house - I don't want to spend my weekends maintaining an acre of land and we'd like to be close to restaurants, stores, etc.

We all have different priorities in life. Yours is a small house in the country, mine is a larger house where I can spend time with my family, close enough to the city that we can go out without driving an hour. I have no problem with people having different priorities. You do have a problem with it, and you're judging people in the same way that you're accusing people of judging you. To tell someone that they're "stupid" and "dumb" b/c they want to live in a house that you personally wouldn't want to live in is incredibly rude, and I contend that tellling it to your boss is pretty darn "stupid" as well.

Enjoy Youngsville.

Excellent post! I don't think I could have said it better myself!

[nclover]

Took the words right out of my mouth!