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I've been searching the forum for a couple of days and have been unable to find the answer to my question, so I decided to start a thread. I'm interested in renting a townhouse near Duke. I will begin grad school there in the fall. I'm having a difficult time finding places. Does anyone know of any resources? I've already looked at the Duke Housing site, and some of the larger property owners like Bob Schmitz, Trinity, Apple Realty. Is my best bet to just get in the car and drive around looking for 'for rent' signs? Anyone know of any websites? Also, I'm very interested in the Walden Pond and Crystal Pines neighborhoods, so if anyone has any specific observations, comments, likes/dislikes about those, I'd love to hear! THANKS!
I've been searching the forum for a couple of days and have been unable to find the answer to my question, so I decided to start a thread. I'm interested in renting a townhouse near Duke. I will begin grad school there in the fall. I'm having a difficult time finding places. Does anyone know of any resources? I've already looked at the Duke Housing site, and some of the larger property owners like Bob Schmitz, Trinity, Apple Realty. Is my best bet to just get in the car and drive around looking for 'for rent' signs? Anyone know of any websites? Also, I'm very interested in the Walden Pond and Crystal Pines neighborhoods, so if anyone has any specific observations, comments, likes/dislikes about those, I'd love to hear! THANKS!
In terms of property management companies: I haven't had first-hand experience, but from what I've heard, I'd gravitate *strongly* towards Apple Realty. I'd feel more comfortable discussing others like Guy Solie/Trinity Properties and the like over PM. Apple has a very good relationship with neighborhood associations and a history of being good neighbors in the areas where they own property.
Walden Pond and Crystal Pines are both "OK" -- not dangerous areas to my knowledge, but smaller/inexpensive townhouses, some owner-occupied, many owned as investment properties. Not places you're going to build great lifetime bonds with neighbors necessarily or get deeply involved in the life of your neighborhood. Have not spent much time in Crystal Pines but it's in a fine part of northwest Durham, near shopping and a quick commute to campus. Walden Pond is in a bit of a noisy location of Morreene Road -- I might look further down Morreene in the American Village area. Or, south on 15-501 to Cornwallis Rd -- there are some townhouse condo areas there that can be a good rental opportunity, in a quieter area.
The Duke Housing Office surveys are like gold... some of the only unbiased, reliable info you will find on renting property in Durham. Trust it highly.
While I was visiting there from Michigan last week I stayed in a condo/townhouse in South Durham -Southpoint area. I noticed a Realtor (Louise Beck) had a "For Rent" sign in the front yard of a condo/townhouse just a couple of doors down. If it's no longer listed, she might have other properties....
I believe the subdivision I stayed in is called 'Woodlands at Chancellor's Ridge'. The subdivision is nice and relatively new, located in the Southpoint area of Durham right off of NC751 (I-40 Exit 274). It's VERY convenient to Super Target, shopping strips and Southpoint Mall. Seemed like a good prime location for living in Durham.
If you come for a visit, make sure to pick up one of those big fat apartment rental books at the local grocery store. My Harris Teeter always has those--right next to the books with homes for sale. They're free... Anyway, for a brief time, my husband and I were considering moving to a rental property in south Durham, and I found that booklet to be VERY useful. It listed all properties in the area and had a very handy grid for each indicating all of the amenities available in the development along with the various unit sizes (and prices for most too).
We're here for post-grad work at Duke and both commute to campus daily from south Durham. Don't feel like you need to limit yourself to locations right around campus. If you have a car, it's a pretty easy commute from almost anywhere in Durham... and there are some very nice, new rental communities in the south part of town.
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