Impressions after my first visit to Raleigh/Duraham. (Charlotte, Cary: good credit, houses)

[joey2000]

Originally Posted by KCfromNC

FYI, a list broken down by metro region is available at Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas.

Thanks - Raleigh/Cary listed at 8.6%, which is right around the national average.

[needcaffeine]

Hey, I used to live in Ames, IA! 3.7%, very nice.

[I'minformed2]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

Any place you find in Upstate NY, Pennsylvania or New England that is cheaper then Raleigh, has absolutely no jobs whatsoever. My uncle lives in a small backwoods town in upstate New York. Sure, houses can be had for 25k, but the biggest source of income in the town is TANF.

You can also live in places like Buffalo, or Syracuse, which have colossal unemployment rates, and decaying inner cities and huge crime rates, but they have cheap houses!

The point is, they arent cheaper because they are diamonds in the rough like Raleigh once was, they are cheaper because nobody wants to live there.

Sorry but you are actually incorrect. Most of the Upstate NY metro areas and Pittsburgh actually have lower unemployment rates than Raleigh (only exception is Buffalo; no surprise there though)...and all of them are better off than Charlotte as of March 2009

Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas


Ithaca, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.7

Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 7.3
Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area 7.6

Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.3

Utica-Rome, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.3

Syracuse, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.5


Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.6








Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 9.2

Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area 11.4

[MelbaToast]

I am going to guess that any major metropolitan area and surrounding suburbs anywhere in the whole country is going to suffer from McMansion syndrome. I'm betting it's not just Raleigh, Durham, etc. And you certainly can't blame the Northeasterns for the syndrome either. The builders are trying to make the most money they can, right? The cities are the ones allowing it to happen too.

[saturnfan]

Originally Posted by MelbaToast

I am going to guess that any major metropolitan area and surrounding suburbs anywhere in the whole country is going to suffer from McMansion syndrome. I'm betting it's not just Raleigh, Durham, etc. And you certainly can't blame the Northeasterns for the syndrome either. The builders are trying to make the most money they can, right? The cities are the ones allowing it to happen too.

Very true.

[skaternum]

Originally Posted by Charlton Dude

Me thinks I stumped the OP, as he has been unable to answer the obvious question I asked and has chosen to stop posting in this thread. Maybe it is just taking a lot of time to figure out an answer that will cover both sides of the debate.

Or maybe he figures that after 18 pages, he's said pretty much all he can say. Perhaps the arguments are getting repetitive.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by joey2000

Really? So you personally checked them out?

Just check out the MLS listings, or Realtor.com. I suppose they are probably false advertising by the hundreds huh?

Originally Posted by joey2000

Yeah you can but I agree they are more common here.

Uh, no you cant. The only houses under 200k in Virginia Beach, of any size, are largely townhouses concentrated in the Lake Edward/Newtown area, which nobody with any other options would volunteer to live. In Norfolk, you can find some real gems in Park Place, Huntersville and Barraud Park.....let me jump on them. The same exact picture is all throughout Hampton Roads.

Originally Posted by joey2000

I also agree that they are nowhere near a beach or the other amenities that such houses in VA are near. Trade-offs and all that.

The beach has no value to me. I would not pay 50-100k more to live near a dirty ocean. This is not Miami, or the Carribean.

Originally Posted by joey2000

I've researched salary.com for accounting. I call BS. But hey if you can find such a job, more power to you.

Well, why dont you research actual job postings. On Sunday May 2nd, I found no less then 10 jobs starting at $20 an hour AT LEAST, for my skills, and ranged up to as high as $55k a year. My skills value tops out at about $18 an hour here, and I would not crack 45k without a CPA. If I get a minute when I get off from work, Ill post a few, save you the time.

Additionally, on May 2nd, the local Raleigh paper had over 40 NEW accounting jobs posted. On May 2nd, the Virginian Pilot had 1 NEW accounting job posted.

I like the odds.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by I'minformed2

Sorry but you are actually incorrect. Most of the Upstate NY metro areas and Pittsburgh actually have lower unemployment rates than Raleigh (only exception is Buffalo; no surprise there though)...and all of them are better off than Charlotte as of March 2009

Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas


Ithaca, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 5.7

Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 7.3
Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area 7.6

Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.3

Utica-Rome, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.3

Syracuse, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.5


Raleigh-Cary, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area 8.6








Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area 9.2

Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area 11.4

1. Who said anything about Charlotte? I thought this was about Raleigh.

2. How was Syracuse, or Pittsburgh doing 5 years ago in comparison to the rest of the country?

According to my data, Pittsburgh had about a 5.7% unemployment rate in 2004. The US? 5.53% Wake County, NC? 4.3%

Did you ever think for one minute the reason why the Northeast unemployment numbers are clearing up a little is that people are MOVING.

According to city data between 2000-2007


Albany- Lost 1.1% of its population
Buffalo- Lost 6% of its population
Binghampton- Lost 4.6% of its population
Rochester- lost 5.5% of its population
Rome- lost 2.2% of its population
Syracuse- lost 4.8% of its population
Utica- lost 3.3% of its population
Pittsburgh- lost 6.2% of its population

(by the way, Charlotte added a 20.9% increase, and Raleigh 30.6%)

Wow, it looks like Northeast Appalachia has found the perfect solution to unemployment......negative migration. If you wait long enough, and if the situation gets bleak enough, every one unemployed or underemployed who possibly has the means will move, and your numbers will improve!

However, they end up flooding Charlotte and Raleigh, and growing the population much faster then the economy can handle, causing big blips in the unemployment rates.

I actually find it amazing how well Raleigh has kept up with its growth without heavy dependency on the federal government.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by MelbaToast

I am going to guess that any major metropolitan area and surrounding suburbs anywhere in the whole country is going to suffer from McMansion syndrome. I'm betting it's not just Raleigh, Durham, etc. And you certainly can't blame the Northeasterns for the syndrome either. The builders are trying to make the most money they can, right? The cities are the ones allowing it to happen too.

You're right. This whole country has a McMansion/strip mall problem. It's only more evident in faster growing areas like Raleigh, Phoenix, Vegas, Atlanta, etc.. But since money has been cheap for at least the last decade (up until recently), and metro areas have a hard time growing 2 - 3% a year except for "out" (we don't grow "up" like Canadian, European and Asian cities), what exactly do people expect to see? We're a country where "making it" means owning a brick two story house with a 3 car garage, on a 1/3 acre wooded cul-de-sac lot, within a quick drive to Whole Foods, an IKEA and a lifestyle center. It doesn't matter if that means owning that lifestyle on Interest Only loans, $20,000 in credit card debt, and upside down auto financing.

In many other countries, the suburbs are the ghettos and reaching economic prosperity is to move into a flat or high-rise in the urban center.

[Charlton Dude]

Originally Posted by magellan

We're a country where "making it" means owning a brick two story house, on a 1/3 acre wooded cul-de-sac lot, within a quick drive to Whole Foods, an IKEA and a lifestyle center.

Sounds good to me. What's wrong with that?