Impressions after my first visit to Raleigh/Duraham. (Greensboro, Durham: transplants, condos)

[sliverbox]

I've been throwing around the idea of visiting Raleigh for a few years to see what the situation was there. I'm originally from the Knoxville, TN area and now live in California. So I'm pretty well-aware of Southern culture and the region it exists in.

My Wife and I spent three days driving around and looking at various neighborhoods and cities. To be frank, I was not exactly impressed with the area at all. My overall gut reaction is that the entire area is over-built with generic cookie-cutter Mcmansions, housing developments, strip malls, and trendy shopping districts. My least favorite area was Cary. This area was probably the grossest offender in the Mcmansion category. The houses we saw there were ENORMOUS. Think "The houswives of Orange County" and apply that image to the area. That's about what it looked like. That and the traffic was about as bad as it is out here in the Bay Area. There were lots of bimmers, Mercedes, Land Rovers, and Saabs driving around. Its obvious to me that Cary has basically become an extended bedroom community to New Jersy or Boston because half the people we met there were from those places. I almost got the impression that Cary was for those people up North who couldn't afford the wealthy lifestyle they wanted so they just moved down to NC where they could buy some vanilla Mcmansion for "only" 450k.

Raleigh was maybe a little better. There were rural and semi-suburban areas with older houses and less cookie cutter developments. But the downtown wasn't horribly impressive. While the burbs were shiny and new, the city itself was just so-so. We went to the NC history museum, which honestly was kind of hodge-podge and thrown together.

Chapel Hill was probably my favorite of the three major cities. But the problem with it was that the housing prices trended towards being overprices and definitely out of reach for our realistic budget. Perhaps we wern't looking in the right places, but it seemed that you couldn't touch much of anything for under 300k- save for condos and townhouses. Not sure how I would feel about living what is basically a giant college town with partying college students 24/7.

Durham was the least generic and most ethnically interesting of the cities. That said, I got the impression from visiting these cities that racial relations aren't exactly fantastic. Ethnic groups seemed really segregated. That and whenever we went to places that had other ethnic groups, we did not feel welcome there. I recall holding doors open for a African Americans on several occasions and it was as if I wasn't even there. Didn't even look at me period. You definitely got this feeling that there was some sort of racial tension in the air.

Out of all the cities, I liked the smaller towns inbetween. Unfortunately what I also found was that any small, quaint town with any character had also been "discovered" by people and in many cases any house that was the least bit interesting had a high price tag. Several small towns we went to had farmer's markets, nice resturaunts, and so on. But again, they tended to be pricey. As in 400-500k for a decent house.

About the only town that felt just about right for me was a small one outside the Triangle called Greensboro. It wasn't horribly exciting, large, or near anything geographically signifigant. But it seemed to have character and less generic homes were more reasonable.

So in summary, I kind of felt that the reasons that so many people that I read on here, from places like MA, NJ, NY and so on list as being reasons they want to move to Raleigh/Duraham have more or less evaporated. The area is not what I would call exactly a steal price wise nor culturally interesting. I'm sensitive to Southern culture since I am a Southerner, and to me much of what was a Southern city is long-gone. If you are a Northerner looking to escape the North, I don't believe you'll find the area to be all that different from where you're moving from simply because so many of you have moved down and brought the North with you, with all of its expense, problems, and so on. Give Raleigh another 5-10 years and it'll be very similiar to anywhere up North, along with all of its problems, expense, and enivitable corrupt government.

I appologize for sounding so incredibly nasty. But I tried to visit the area with an open mind and a degree of objective reasoning. But what I saw was sort of a disappointment.

[mdp_az]

I tend to agree with the majority of your post. The only thing I haven't noticed is seeming "invisible" to people of different ethnicities when holding the door, etc...

[senalj]

You think Greensboro is a small town? I went to school there and it didn't seem small to me. Greensboro, High Point and Winston Salem are part of the Triad, which is another area like the Triangle; one bigger city flanked by two smaller ones.

[Randomdude]

I still dont get the "cookie cutter" complaint.

I would certainly jump at the chance to live in one, if it meant having a house of my own at all.

[CHTransplant]

My recommendation is that you move to Greensboro.

[saturnfan]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

I've been throwing around the idea of visiting Raleigh for a few years to see what the situation was there. I'm originally from the Knoxville, TN area and now live in California. So I'm pretty well-aware of Southern culture and the region it exists in.

My Wife and I spent three days driving around and looking at various neighborhoods and cities. To be frank, I was not exactly impressed with the area at all. My overall gut reaction is that the entire area is over-built with generic cookie-cutter Mcmansions, housing developments, strip malls, and trendy shopping districts. My least favorite area was Cary. This area was probably the grossest offender in the Mcmansion category. The houses we saw there were ENORMOUS. Think "The houswives of Orange County" and apply that image to the area. That's about what it looked like. That and the traffic was about as bad as it is out here in the Bay Area. There were lots of bimmers, Mercedes, Land Rovers, and Saabs driving around. Its obvious to me that Cary has basically become an extended bedroom community to New Jersy or Boston because half the people we met there were from those places. I almost got the impression that Cary was for those people up North who couldn't afford the wealthy lifestyle they wanted so they just moved down to NC where they could buy some vanilla Mcmansion for "only" 450k.

Raleigh was maybe a little better. There were rural and semi-suburban areas with older houses and less cookie cutter developments. But the downtown wasn't horribly impressive. While the burbs were shiny and new, the city itself was just so-so. We went to the NC history museum, which honestly was kind of hodge-podge and thrown together.

Chapel Hill was probably my favorite of the three major cities. But the problem with it was that the housing prices trended towards being overprices and definitely out of reach for our realistic budget. Perhaps we wern't looking in the right places, but it seemed that you couldn't touch much of anything for under 300k- save for condos and townhouses. Not sure how I would feel about living what is basically a giant college town with partying college students 24/7.

Durham was the least generic and most ethnically interesting of the cities. That said, I got the impression from visiting these cities that racial relations aren't exactly fantastic. Ethnic groups seemed really segregated. That and whenever we went to places that had other ethnic groups, we did not feel welcome there. I recall holding doors open for a African Americans on several occasions and it was as if I wasn't even there. Didn't even look at me period. You definitely got this feeling that there was some sort of racial tension in the air.

Out of all the cities, I liked the smaller towns inbetween. Unfortunately what I also found was that any small, quaint town with any character had also been "discovered" by people and in many cases any house that was the least bit interesting had a high price tag. Several small towns we went to had farmer's markets, nice resturaunts, and so on. But again, they tended to be pricey. As in 400-500k for a decent house.

About the only town that felt just about right for me was a small one outside the Triangle called Greensboro. It wasn't horribly exciting, large, or near anything geographically signifigant. But it seemed to have character and less generic homes were more reasonable.

So in summary, I kind of felt that the reasons that so many people that I read on here, from places like MA, NJ, NY and so on list as being reasons they want to move to Raleigh/Duraham have more or less evaporated. The area is not what I would call exactly a steal price wise nor culturally interesting. I'm sensitive to Southern culture since I am a Southerner, and to me much of what was a Southern city is long-gone. If you are a Northerner looking to escape the North, I don't believe you'll find the area to be all that different from where you're moving from simply because so many of you have moved down and brought the North with you, with all of its expense, problems, and so on. Give Raleigh another 5-10 years and it'll be very similiar to anywhere up North, along with all of its problems, expense, and enivitable corrupt government.

I appologize for sounding so incredibly nasty. But I tried to visit the area with an open mind and a degree of objective reasoning. But what I saw was sort of a disappointment.

Hey, I've lived here 21 years, coming from New Orleans.

You are so right about the McMansions, SUV's, and plastic suburban society.

The yuppie transplants constantly call my diverse area in North Raleigh (Capital Boulevard) crime-ridden and ugly.

I call it real people in a real area without HOA's that tell you what color you can paint your mailbox.

You summed it up so well!

I like my part of Raleigh but detest the McMansion crowd and the rudeness they have brought to a lovely area.

Guess I won't be seeing you down here anytime soon.

Best regards.

[daveraleigh]

Interesting take....although that much traveling in 3 days can't really give you a real feel for the area.
Let us know where you end up....it'll be interesting to see where you deem suitable.

[sliverbox]

I still dont get the "cookie cutter" complaint.

I guess what I meant by that was of my own personal preference. If your goal is only to just have a house- a box with four walls and a roof- and a garage to park your car, then yes- the area is absolutely chok-full of houses that reside behind brick facade entrances with names like: "Whispering pines", or something along those lines.

I think its clear to me that a lot of people just want a place to go and have kids, have a house, and so on. I know theres a lot of people from expensive regions of the country who only look at one thing- a house- and move to these areas which in turn become housing factories.

I'm just saying that if you tend to like more character, walkable neighborhoods, interesting architecture, then the region might not be best for you.

As far as Greensboro, I guess it really isn't that small. It reminded me a lot of Knoxville where I grew up. Similiar size and look.

[sliverbox]

Interesting take....although that much traveling in 3 days can't really give you a real feel for the area.
Let us know where you end up....it'll be interesting to see where you deem suitable.

So far we have been to Nashville and Austin. I think for younger people, Austin is probably a better fit. That and the overall cost of houses was a lot less than in Raleigh. You could find pretty decent houses in Austin for 100k or even less, and these were in interesting neighborhoods too. It gets hot as hell there though, so that could be a problem. Austin also had the Mcmansion bug, but they seemed to be all concentrated in a few areas like Round Rock, Bee cave, and so on. Austin also seemed a lot more creative and artistic than Raleigh, which only had little pockets of it here and there. I feel like Durham has more potential for being a creative city than Raleigh, which seems to have mostly families with kids.

Nashville is a pretty nice little boutique city. Yes- it too has Mcmansion-itus, but the city rapidly turns into rural landscape pretty quick. That and like Austin- the prices are lower than what we saw in Raleigh. But there isn't as much industry there, so that could explain a lot.

[NC_Paddler]

there you are.