Garner / Clayton? (Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest: for sale, HOA, buying a house)

[pugluvr]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking at the different posts on the Raleigh area and has some questions. Hubby and I will be coming up there in the summer time to check out the area. I've been doing some searching on the internet and Garner and Clayton seem to be growing areas. Is this right? Also, since you all know the area well...are there any other areas we should check out? We are looking for a town where we could get a new house on about an acre to 2 acres of land and spend no more then $275,000. We don't want to be out in the middle of no where. We would like to still be close to shopping, grocery store, mall, Target, church, etc. I'm an admin asst and my husband is in finance but looking to get out of that field. We don't have any children so schools are not an issue. We do have 2 pugs that are our children so a dog friendly area would be nice....off-leash dog parks, etc. Any other areas you suggest we look at?

Also, is the Raleigh area (Garner, Clayton) hilly and how is the population? We currently live in Florida near Tampa. We are close to the beaches and we are in the most populated county of Florida. We have almost a million people in our county so that gives you an idea as to how well we can handle traffic. I've been watching the weather up in that area as well so I kind of have a feel for that.

Any feedback would truly be appreciated. Sorry so long and winded...just trying to put all of what we are looking for in the post.

[ferrickhead28]

You can't go wrong with either one actually.
They are both sooooo close, like right next to each other. I found the pricing in Clayton to be alot cheaper. Garner has the most shopping centers, Clayton has a Walmart and on the outside of Clayton is Smithfield where the outlet center is.

Not sure about off-leash parks, I know of a couple in Raleigh. There are two PetSmarts in Garner, both on the same road. I believe both cities mark even as far as population goes, not as overly populated as Raleigh. Actually, with that price range, you could probably find something just as decent in Raleigh too. Definately worth looking at.

The beach is about a two hour straight drive on I-40.
Traffic is horrible.
Head to the mountains!
(joke from prior post!)

You really cant go wrong with the area. I think you will love it here!

GOOD LUCK!

[carolinatrendsetter]

Yep. You really will have to come and look at both towns thorougly. But you should have no problem finding a great community to suit your needs.

[pugluvr]

I'm reading a lot about Cary too....any input on that? Similar to Clayton and Garner or no?

[ferrickhead28]

Let's see.
I've lived in Raleigh for about 30 years now. Cary has always been referred to as the "upper" section of NC. Houses are more pricey, homeowner associations and just general rules of the city (ie: two dog maximum, no yard sales signs, etc) are pretty strict. Not that Im saying there is anything wrong with that, but I'm a three dog person and I love yard sales.
The houses are beautiful, nice city, great shopping.

Clayton & Garner used to hold the rep of "country". ie: Johnston county. I was hesistant about moving to Clayton at first because the first sign of a tractor slowly moving down on a two way road would send me off the edge. But, it has really built itself up and has become the new "Wake Forest". (Wake Forest used to be a small city with one stop light...builders took on the opportunity to build there, alot of people rushed to buy houses because they were nice & inexpensive and now the houses are selling 2-3 times as much now). Now, Clayton is being noticed for building nice housing communities for cheap. One realtor I talked to was telling us that once I-540 extends out to Clayton, the prices of houses will go up, so if we were smart, buy now. (Then again, that might have been a sales pitch, although it did kind of make sense)

A couple of places to check out in Clayton:
Riverwood. Its like its own community. They have their own church, arts center, gym (with indoor & outdoor pool), post office, restaurant, small shops, etc. Very nice community, reasonable priced!
www.riverwoodlife.com

Flowers Plantation. Very nice houses!! I didnt tour it, I got floorplans but it wasn't what I was looking for. Definately worth looking at though.
www.flowersplantation.com

Down the road from flowers is a centex community, I liked it. Lots were a bit small but I loved the floor plans.
www.centex.com

Cobblestone Village:
I'm currently buying a house here through Anderson homes. Its one main road, you first drive through Anderson homes, then you come into the KB homes. Anderson's standards were KB's upgrades. Beautiful houses, lots of yard (depending on the lot you choose) and it looks like KB is extending pretty far back so its going to be an overall really nice neighborhood.

There's also a really nice neighborhood with houses built in the late 90's that we checked out called Ellingsworth I think. Its behind West Clayton Elementary, really cute place to live. We drove through it and everyone waved to us. Really nice!

I'm sure someone will pipe up and speak for Garner. Garner & Clayton are side by side so you really have some great shopping. Not to mention the Carolina Premimum Outlet center for some great deals is right next to Clayton.
www.premiumoutlets.com

There are also some really cute houses for sale on www.craigslist.org right now in the area to give you a general idea.

Let us know if you have any more questions, always happy to help!
Heather

PS - If you want any clayton pics of anything specific, let me know. I should be out in the AM on Saturday.

[lovemaine]

Originally Posted by pugluvr

Hi everyone,

I've been looking at the different posts on the Raleigh area and has some questions. Hubby and I will be coming up there in the summer time to check out the area. I've been doing some searching on the internet and Garner and Clayton seem to be growing areas. Is this right? Also, since you all know the area well...are there any other areas we should check out? We are looking for a town where we could get a new house on about an acre to 2 acres of land and spend no more then $275,000. We don't want to be out in the middle of no where. We would like to still be close to shopping, grocery store, mall, Target, church, etc. I'm an admin asst and my husband is in finance but looking to get out of that field. We don't have any children so schools are not an issue. We do have 2 pugs that are our children so a dog friendly area would be nice....off-leash dog parks, etc. Any other areas you suggest we look at?

Also, is the Raleigh area (Garner, Clayton) hilly and how is the population? We currently live in Florida near Tampa. We are close to the beaches and we are in the most populated county of Florida. We have almost a million people in our county so that gives you an idea as to how well we can handle traffic. I've been watching the weather up in that area as well so I kind of have a feel for that.

Any feedback would truly be appreciated. Sorry so long and winded...just trying to put all of what we are looking for in the post.

Hi pugluvr,

We have a pug too! We take him to the Millbrook Dog Park at 1905 Spring Forest Rd. in Raleigh. (There is actually a pug meet-up the first Sat. of each month. It's hilarious to see all those pugs together. Last month there were about 20 puggies there.) We live in Holly Springs, which is about 35 min. from Millbrook. I know there are a few dog parks in Cary which charge a yearly fee. Holly Springs officials had considered a dog park here, but I haven't heard any more about it.

[bta]

Originally Posted by ferrickhead28

general rules of the city (ie: two dog maximum, no yard sales signs, etc) are pretty strict. Not that Im saying there is anything wrong with that, but I'm a three dog person and I love yard sales.

Actually, it's been posted before on this forum that Cary no longer limits the number of pets you may own. Also, yard sales are allowed by Cary (without needing a special permit or anything). Just checked my HOA docs, and they're allowed in our S/D as well.

[ferrickhead28]

That is awesome!!! So glad Cary changed the rules, I'm surprised I missed the post discussing it.
Thanks for the correction!

Pugs? First Saturday? I am so there.
Pathetically, I want a pug soooo bad, but I have to stop adopting animals at this time, lol.
I think my dogs & I will have to make a point to stop by, seeing all those pugs would be adorable!

BTW, that is the best dog park I have ever been to. Lots of free open space for the dogs to run and a "small dog park" section as well.

I would take my dogs to the dogpark, then up the road to PetSmart for doggie day camp, grooming or just some treat shopping. They love it!

Okay, totally got off of subject there.

[pugluvr]

Hey, when it comes to pugs...it's ok to get off subject a little bit!!

I'm happy to hear that there is a pug meetup up there. I started one down here and there was us and 3 other members. It has since grown to around 30 pugs. So, the meetups is one thing that we look forward to.

Thank you so much to everyone that responded. I'll have to check out the dog park when we go and in the mean time, I'm going to check out all the areas that ferrickhead28 suggested. I've lived in Florida my entire life. Never moved far away like this so it's hard to know where to even begin to look. I started off with Raleigh because I heard that they have one of the best job markets. Then checked cities around there and started researching. I think we will check out the 3 mentioned when we come up there to visit. We just don't want to miss out on any other areas. We just want a little bit of land at an affordable price. And still be close to shopping and such. We'll never have land here in Florida....or the seasons, etc.

I hope I can join the pug meetups some day soon!! THanks again for all the advice and if anyone has any more...I'm all ears...I'd love to hear all that anyone has to offer!!

[sspekks]

We just moved here from Jax Fl about 2 months ago. When you get here you will realize how strange the town lines are. We have a Raleigh address but are actually closer to Clayton or Garner. I guess they call it the 40/42 Cleveland area. It takes a good interstate drive to get into Raleigh for us. But anyways....We love it here so much. I have found things to do in both towns. I take an art class in Garner (and Cary) and my daughter goes to preschool in Clayton. They both seem to be great places but I think Clayton would be the better of the 2 if I had to choose. Good Luck and I hope you enjoy it as much as we have. We are so happy to be out of FL!!! oh and as for the dogs we recently found Benson Lake Park and there are trails and a big field. They have to be on a leash but our Basset had a great time cause there were tons of dogs out there.