My visit to Raleigh, NC and pics of homes (Charlotte: hardwood floors, HOA)

[Njrover0216]

Well I finally made it down to Raleigh to see what the hype was all about. unfortunately we were only there for 2 days and saw nothing but houses. I do not think we even made it anywhere close to downtown. So the WOW factor most people get visiting a new place just was not there. But I am keeping an open mind due to the fact all we saw were roads and houses. We are planning another trip down in May, I will definitely be spending more time site seeing.

First off, the area is very clean for being a city. I loved the abundance of green when driving through Morrisville, Cary, Apex and Holly Springs. I can see why this is everyones favorite spot. However, Cary has A LOT of old homes and the new ones seem to be on small lots. Which is not what I am looking for. I had ruled out all of the towns above before I had even got there. I want more for my money, and unfortunately I would like to buy under 220K with more land then I can afford in those areas. I also ruled out Holly Springs due to the landfill they are putting in in 5 years. I am from NY and landfills can be smelled for miles, therefore no matter where you live in Holly Springs you are going to smell the landfill every now and then. I did not want to take a gamble on buying a home there, then not being able to sell it if I really did not like the area.

So, that lead me to contact a realtor, who might I add I love! She showed us houses and areas for 2 days, knowing that we may not even move there. She brought my husband to an interview he had with the RPD, because we were not sure how to get there...she was just wonderful. Anyhow we started in Knightdale and she showed us one home there. It was the Churchhill community from Centex. The homes were around 220K. The homes were nice, but were on VERY VERY small lots, which was not what we were looking for. Knightdale community looked nice and this development was somewhat close to 540. I had ruled out Knightdale because of the posts here about graffitti and the noise issue??? I definitely did not see any graffitti and the noise was average to any town outside of a city. But again we only went to this development which is off of Old Fiason Rd.


Next we went down to Clayton. We looked at a lot of developments there. We looked at Lee Forest, Plantation Point, Cobblestone Pointe and another one in Clayton which was down the road from Lee Forest, which we hated that is why I do not remember the name. Lee Forest was closer the main highways still in a country setting. I liked this one, but the development looked secluded and there was not many houses in the development. I am looking for a large development. Then we went to Plantation Point, which I loved. It has several small developments wrapped up into one large one, the prices were around 220K, with a decent size lot. It is kind of out of the way if you work in Raleigh, because you have to drive all the way back to 42 then all the way to 70. It really seemed out of the way.

What we thought of Clayton? Isn't there more then a few run down shops and Walmart? That was all I really saw in Clayton was whatever was located on 70, which half of it is run down shops(near the train tracks) and the other was newly developed shops with a few places to eat. Is this place just developing and will it get nicer. I definitely did not get the WOW effect when I drove through Clayton like I did with Cary. I did go to the superwalmart, which is what I always do when looking at the area, you can get a feel of who lives there...you know? I loved the Superwalmart, the people were friendly, well dressed, clean...so I think all in all Clayton could be a prospect.

Then we went and looked at one home in Garner. I liked the development, but again I forgot the name because I did not like the area I had to drive thru to get to the community. It was sort of over near Benson Rd.

Then we looked at a community called Dayton Woods in South Raleigh, sort of near Lake Wheeler. This was a our favorite, large lots just under an acre with beautiful homes! The area around it was nice. Only about a 10 minute drive to the shops and resteraunts, which living in Maryland takes about that long to get anywhere anyhow. I need to find out more information on the area and school districts. Another plus is they have an HOA, but they do not charge for it. Also no water bill because it is on well/septic and the taxes on the homes were around 1300 a year because it is out of the city limits. The home we looked at was 209K, I have attached pics below.The last two pics are of the home in Dayton Woods with just under an acre lot. They had hardwood floors, garden tubs, stand up showers, deck, porch in front...the list goes on and on. The one I took the picture of below is on the market for 209K!!!

Next time we come down we are going to look at Rolesville, Fuquay(which my realtor does not seemed to be fond of), and more of the South Raleigh area we looked at before.

Does anyone have any suggestion or comments on other developments? We are looking for a development with a larger yard. My goal is to be able to put a pool and fence off a small area for my dogs, so I guess .3 acres or more. I would like it in a nice area, which decent schools. To be completely honest, and I know I am going to hear something negative from someone about this but I would like a school in which all the students speak English! Also I would like there to be a higher percentage of white children. My experience is if you put your child in a school where they are the minority children get bullied and supressed. Thanks in advance, enjoy the pics.I do not know how to put the pics right in the post so I had to attach the files.

[bull136]

Originally Posted by Njrover0216

Well I finally made it down to Raleigh to see what the hype was all about. unfortunately we were only there for 2 days and saw nothing but houses. I do not think we even made it anywhere close to downtown. So the WOW factor most people get visiting a new place just was not there. But I am keeping an open mind due to the fact all we saw were roads and houses. We are planning another trip down in May, I will definitely be spending more time site seeing.

First off, the area is very clean for being a city. I loved the abundance of green when driving through Morrisville, Cary, Apex and Holly Springs. I can see why this is everyones favorite spot. However, Cary has A LOT of old homes and the new ones seem to be on small lots. Which is not what I am looking for. I had ruled out all of the towns above before I had even got there. I want more for my money, and unfortunately I would like to buy under 220K with more land then I can afford in those areas. I also ruled out Holly Springs due to the landfill they are putting in in 5 years. I am from NY and landfills can be smelled for miles, therefore no matter where you live in Holly Springs you are going to smell the landfill every now and then. I did not want to take a gamble on buying a home there, then not being able to sell it if I really did not like the area.

So, that lead me to contact a realtor, who might I add I love! She showed us houses and areas for 2 days, knowing that we may not even move there. She brought my husband to an interview he had with the RPD, because we were not sure how to get there...she was just wonderful. Anyhow we started in Knightdale and she showed us one home there. It was the Churchhill community from Centex. The homes were around 220K. The homes were nice, but were on VERY VERY small lots, which was not what we were looking for. Knightdale community looked nice and this development was somewhat close to 540. I had ruled out Knightdale because of the posts here about graffitti and the noise issue??? I definitely did not see any graffitti and the noise was average to any town outside of a city. But again we only went to this development which is off of Old Fiason Rd.


Next we went down to Clayton. We looked at a lot of developments there. We looked at Lee Forest, Plantation Point, Cobblestone Pointe and another one in Clayton which was down the road from Lee Forest, which we hated that is why I do not remember the name. Lee Forest was closer the main highways still in a country setting. I liked this one, but the development looked secluded and there was not many houses in the development. I am looking for a large development. Then we went to Plantation Point, which I loved. It has several small developments wrapped up into one large one, the prices were around 220K, with a decent size lot. It is kind of out of the way if you work in Raleigh, because you have to drive all the way back to 42 then all the way to 70. It really seemed out of the way.

What we thought of Clayton? Isn't there more then a few run down shops and Walmart? That was all I really saw in Clayton was whatever was located on 70, which half of it is run down shops(near the train tracks) and the other was newly developed shops with a few places to eat. Is this place just developing and will it get nicer. I definitely did not get the WOW effect when I drove through Clayton like I did with Cary. I did go to the superwalmart, which is what I always do when looking at the area, you can get a feel of who lives there...you know? I loved the Superwalmart, the people were friendly, well dressed, clean...so I think all in all Clayton could be a prospect.

Then we went and looked at one home in Garner. I liked the development, but again I forgot the name because I did not like the area I had to drive thru to get to the community. It was sort of over near Benson Rd.

Then we looked at a community called Dayton Woods in South Raleigh, sort of near Lake Wheeler. This was a our favorite, large lots just under an acre with beautiful homes! The area around it was nice. Only about a 10 minute drive to the shops and resteraunts, which living in Maryland takes about that long to get anywhere anyhow. I need to find out more information on the area and school districts. Another plus is they have an HOA, but they do not charge for it. Also no water bill because it is on well/septic and the taxes on the homes were around 1300 a year because it is out of the city limits. The home we looked at was 209K, I have attached pics below.The last two pics are of the home in Dayton Woods with just under an acre lot. They had hardwood floors, garden tubs, stand up showers, deck, porch in front...the list goes on and on. The one I took the picture of below is on the market for 209K!!!

Next time we come down we are going to look at Rolesville, Fuquay(which my realtor does not seemed to be fond of), and more of the South Raleigh area we looked at before.

Does anyone have any suggestion or comments on other developments? We are looking for a development with a larger yard. My goal is to be able to put a pool and fence off a small area for my dogs, so I guess .3 acres or more. I would like it in a nice area, which decent schools. To be completely honest, and I know I am going to hear something negative from someone about this but I would like a school in which all the students speak English! Also I would like there to be a higher percentage of white children. My experience is if you put your child in a school where they are the minority children get bullied and supressed. Thanks in advance, enjoy the pics.I do not know how to put the pics right in the post so I had to attach the files.

We are also going there in a few weeks to try to find a home and we would like to first narrow down an area did you look at north raleigh or wake forest. and what did you think of apex? robert

[Njrover0216]

I did not look at N Raleigh or Wake Forest as of yet. I heard very good things about both, however I can not afford a nice home with land in a good community in those areas. Unfortunately my husband has chosen to be a police officer, who are underpaid for their services. We are leaving Maryland with about 100K to put down on a home. So we are trying to find something under 220K. The places I looked at above are what I have found so far. I did drive through Apex and it looks just like Cary. They are small towns, decent areas. Apex looks like it is starting to get crowded just like Cary. You really need to list what you want, how much you are willing to spend and go from there. But let me tell you overall Raleigh looks very nice and you can find decent prices in nice areas other then those places if that is your situation. I live close to DC and Baltimore, I have lived in Charlotte, my husband grew up in NYC...Raleigh is the nicest city I have been to. I think us northerners can not believe that a city can be nice like this. When we read the posts from the local Raleigh people about noise, traffic, etc...some have nothing to compare it to. I drove at 5:00 around 40, 440, 64..and not once did I hit stop and go traffic. We were moving at a decent speed, so I do not see where the traffic is so bad there...LOL. Plus I looked at a home close to 540, to see what this noise level people were speaking of...trust me, do not go by these boards. These boards are GREAT for advice and opinions, I love this board, however keep an open mind and look at every place! Good luck with your search. If you are in need of a realtor to show you around, PM me and I will give you the info on the lady that showed us around. She is very down to earth and not pushy, I forgot she was even a realtor. She gave us soo much information squeezed into 2 days. She did not try to price us out of our range and she showed us top of the line. There are soo many new homes and stuff going on down there I recommend you finding an easy going realtor like her to show you around a bit. I do not like realtors...LOL, they seem to pushy and some do not listen to what you are saying. However, we told her what we wanted and that we didn't even know if we were going to be buying, but she drove around with us, around our schedule and took excellent care of us. Good luck with everything, where are you coming from?

[tigerlily]

Home schooling might be an option for NJRover. Then contacts with minority children might be limited.

"Another plus is they have an HOA, but they do not charge for it." What happens if you break a rule in an HOA that doesn't charge dues? Where do they get the money to sue if don't adhere to rules?

[Njrover0216]

I am not saying that I do not want minorities in the school. I would just like it to be 50/50, you people are all making me out to sound bad. I would not like my child to be the minority is what I am saying. Other people sit here and post about scores and all that, look up the demographics, that is their polite way of asking about schools. School scores coincide with the demographics.People need to learn how to read a post. And not just pick posts apart. My question was about developments and good schools. I do not know where the money comes from. All they said is there are no HOA dues, however there are going to be rules as far as lawns go. I am unfamiliar with HOA's because we do not need them where I live now.