Reassure Me about moving to SE/Downtown Raleigh

[miamiblue]

I do not live in this area, but have kept an eye on it because it interests me for when I am ready to buy a house.

I went on the downtown home tour this year and visited a few houses between Person and Bloodworth right by Shaw University. This neighborhood was built in 1996 and originally sold to lower income families, from what I understand. Houses there now seem to sell in the $150+ range, depending on condition. It is kind of on the "fringe", with some run-down older houses nearby on surrounding streets. My friends and I were pleasantly surprised with the neighborhood. The homeowners we met were all young professionals and one young family. They all loved the neighborhood, some even shared back yards with neighbors to create a larger space for everyone, and its proximity to downtown cannot be beat. There was a real sense of community in this neighborhood, and I was impressed. Many people would consider this a "sketchy" area, but I think of it more as a hidden gem.

I think the SE downtown district varies widely street by street in some areas at this point. As long as homeowners are willing to move in, fix up an old house and contribute something positive to the community, things can only continue to get better here.

I wish you the best of luck and happiness in your new home!

[sassybride10]

I hate to be saying this, because I live in SE Raleigh, and do not need my home value decreasing anymore than already, BUT
We are deperate to get out of there: Murder, Drug Houses, Low Income families with convicted sex offenders living there, and this is only a starting point. A Cab driver was murdered for no reason just a month or two ago, a 20 year old boy murdered just last week, and just in June, another teenager killed while sitting on top of the hood of his car, multiple drive by shootings, I could go on and on.
I wish I were making up even a little bit of this: Im not! I have a large home in the 27610 area code and I would happily move into a one bedroom apartment to get away from that area right now.
Please think long and hard about your decision. These are not neighborhoods your kids can just play outside, or you can just hang out in the outdoors when the weather permits.

[RaleighLass]

Originally Posted by sassybride10

I hate to be saying this, because I live in SE Raleigh, and do not need my home value decreasing anymore than already, BUT
We are deperate to get out of there: Murder, Drug Houses, Low Income families with convicted sex offenders living there, and this is only a starting point. A Cab driver was murdered for no reason just a month or two ago, a 20 year old boy murdered just last week, and just in June, another teenager killed while sitting on top of the hood of his car, multiple drive by shootings, I could go on and on.
I wish I were making up even a little bit of this: Im not! I have a large home in the 27610 area code and I would happily move into a one bedroom apartment to get away from that area right now.
Please think long and hard about your decision. These are not neighborhoods your kids can just play outside, or you can just hang out in the outdoors when the weather permits.

I feel terrible for you and your desperate situation and hope you are able to move to a place you are more comfortable in.
Can you pls clarify (w/out sharing your street or subdiv) which part of the zip code you mean? It's a large and diverse zip encompassing urban and suburban (countryside) areas, with homes selling for approx. $80k-$400k. Are you saying you live in downtown (proper), near the southern end of d/t, or, mid way between, or even the southern end near Garner?

I believe the original poster was referring to downtown proper; wasn't sure if you meant that area or you picked up on their SE Ral reference and were commenting on that instead?

I wish you luck and a speedy sale of your home!

[Ramsey315]

Thanks so much for all the feedback everyone! Since I last posted I have met many people who live in newly flipped houses near downtown proper technically around Oakwood, Jones and west of Tarboro. The neighborhood is very active, we meet for barbecues and are able to voice any problems anyone is experiencing. Many contractors are quickly flipping houses in the area. One was just demolished down our street and another 2 sold close to us since I last posted. All bought by urban professionals, families and local artists in the downtown scene. Martin Street to my knowledge seems to be the worst closest to downtown proper because of the strip mall area that becomes a sketchy hangout at night.

I see alot of what people are talking about with a family living next to us about always having new people over, but so far everyone has been welcoming and friendly. It does take getting used to the high foot traffic of that area due to buses. I have spoken to many contractors who have been selling houses for years in the areas and some who lived there several years ago and say it was once very bad. The area is changing fast! Atleast the one closest to downtown. We made offers on other houses and were always in mutiple offer bids for every historic downtown home we tried to buy. People are very interested in the area. I acknowledge that things are going to be different from what would be in the comfort zones of many. We are up for the challenge. Thanks everyone for all your honesty.

[Nitasmom]

Originally Posted by sassybride10

I hate to be saying this, because I live in SE Raleigh, and do not need my home value decreasing anymore than already, BUT
We are deperate to get out of there: Murder, Drug Houses, Low Income families with convicted sex offenders living there, and this is only a starting point. A Cab driver was murdered for no reason just a month or two ago, a 20 year old boy murdered just last week, and just in June, another teenager killed while sitting on top of the hood of his car, multiple drive by shootings, I could go on and on.
I wish I were making up even a little bit of this: Im not! I have a large home in the 27610 area code and I would happily move into a one bedroom apartment to get away from that area right now.
Please think long and hard about your decision. These are not neighborhoods your kids can just play outside, or you can just hang out in the outdoors when the weather permits.

The 27610 zip code covers a lot of ground in Downtown Raleigh and I agree if you go south of MLK Blvd up to South Saunders look out (I remember reading about all of these crimes) I do think that the areas north of MLK and then south of MLK are totally different even if they do share a zip code... often 150,000 differences. You can buy a home for less then 40k if you go south and over 185k if you go north just across the 5 lanes of traffic. This won't be forever but until redevelopment money gets into that South Downtown area of MLK it is going to be pretty rough.

That being said if you drive through there and look house by house there are several hidden gems that once the neighborhood does become popular they will make beautiful homes.

The East Downtown Raleigh area near Hargett, Martin and Davie even a little further north like Jones and Lane are all streets much further along and have homes priced over 200k that is a far cry from shacks. I ride my bike at night along these streets I bring my daughter out to play, we entertain on our front porch rain or shine rather then inside and I see a lot of other young professionals doing the same things and loving all the diversity the neighborhoods downtown have to offer.

[Ramsey315]

A house just sold near our downtown proper area for 435 K two blocks from our new house. I agree that there are HUGE differences between streets even, so comparing the entire area code is just ridiculous. The area of Oak "hood" as realtors refer to it just next to Oakwood is very up and coming. In my neighborhood there are children playing outside all the time, it's very obvious when the school is out. There is such diversity in the people who walk up and down the street everyday. Young professionals walking home from work downtown, bikers, female dog walkers, and no seems scared at all. We even walk home from first friday and downtown eating and drinking. It's amazing to have a historic house with character in such a cultural place with things going on all the time. Downtown is changing slowly but surely.