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My husband and I are currently in the process of deciding whether or not to move to NJ (princeton/cranbury) or NC (raliegh/durham) and we are butting heads. I want Jersey and he votes North Carolina... for obvious reasons.
One of my biggest questions is, where will my house appreciate the fastest/most? My gut says NJ because there is a demand based on location to major cities and the unique older communities. My fear is that, purchasing a home in NC, initially is great or us, but the re-sale vaue won't be as appealing. (Because there are so many new homes popping up all over, why would someone want my 5+yr old home when they can start with a new one?)
We are also at a very transitional time in our lives now that we have been married for sometime and the idea of children are constantly coming up in coversation. (both of our parents are in NY).
My husband and I are currently in the process of deciding whether or not to move to NJ (princeton/cranbury) or NC (raliegh/durham) and we are butting heads. I want Jersey and he votes North Carolina... for obvious reasons.
One of my biggest questions is, where will my house appreciate the fastest/most? My gut says NJ because there is a demand based on location to major cities and the unique older communities. My fear is that, purchasing a home in NC, initially is great or us, but the re-sale vaue won't be as appealing. (Because there are so many new homes popping up all over, why would someone want my 5+yr old home when they can start with a new one?)
We are also at a very transitional time in our lives now that we have been married for sometime and the idea of children are constantly coming up in coversation. (both of our parents are in NY).
Any thoughts???
I will give you my thoughts on the matter because it crosses my mind occasionally.
At first glance it may seem that the house in NJ is going to appreciate more than the house in NC, but take a step back. NC is growing tremendously. Industries are flocking to the South, NC included. A buddy of mine just moved down to NC because GE is opening up a plant, and Raleigh Durham has always been a hotbed of development.
As for purchasing a home, they got a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath colonial, brand new for something like $270k- something like that would cost easily twice as much in the Princeton area. You are right about new construction though, so although this may be counterintuitive- don't buy new construction. Find an established neighborhood (close to small town) that offers something unique. Look for the updated bungelow, etc. You might get less house for your $, but 20 years from now you will have something unique, rather than 20 year old "new" construction. That is the problem with new construction, it is only as new as the next development going up.
As for the conversation on education, I might get some flak for this, but I would go with NC. Sure, the school districts might not be as good as ones in NJ (not sure) but if you pick your area well they will have no problems and, here is the kicker... they will have access to a superb public university system. Not to knock NJIT or Rutgers, but your child will be paying in state tuition (less $$$) and measured against in-state admissions (less stringent) in one of the best state college programs in the country- The UNCs (Chapel Hill), NC State, Clemson; there are plenty of great choices down there.
Location: Jersey City.... some of the time, anyway.
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NC Property Values
I have been in Durham NC for the last 8 years (as well as living here for a few years in the 80s), and am moving back to NE Jersey as soon as I close some ongoing business. My reasons are mostly business related, but I miss it a lot as well. While I am initially looking to rent in NJ, I am really not in a position to speak to the property issues there. However, I can offer a thumbnail on Durham and environs.
First off, although Raleigh and Durham are often used in the same mouthful of syllables, they are _very_ different cities that are about 30 miles apart separated mostly by scrub pine and interstate highways. Raleigh is by far the more upscale and cosmopolitan in the general opinion, but is also considerably more expensive.
I am much more familiar with Durham. Climate is (mostly) great. You cannot get decent pizza or baked goods (especially bagels). Cost of living is really quite low, especially if you are looking to cut costs and be creative. Lots of funky off beat neighborhoods with beautiful older homes, to rent or to buy. Downside is, there is an abundance (glut even) of homes for sale, both older and newer. You can probably find some great bargains, but only if you are not looking to sell any time soon. A lot of reasons for this related to the recent history, but I suspect things would get pretty boring if I were to go into any detail on this. Raleigh may be somewhat different, but the degree of overbuilding in the overall area was nothing short of staggering.
Feel free to ask me any further Durham (&environs) questions).
Both responses have been helpful, thank you! I agree I think that if we do end up in NC, we will need to be in a older /small town area. Which I am fearful are hard to find. An suggetions?
I am also nervous about the stigma of being a transplant "yankee" and being in the bible belt... Should I be? When I was most recently there I did not get that feeling...but maybe that's because I was only passing through.
I just don't know how to eliminate one over the other, because I love the culure and personality of NJ but the cost of NC is so appealing and I am afraid that is the only reason why I am considering it a possibility.
i think if you ask this question on the raleigh board the majority would say raleigh is a better investment.
me? i'm not sure - princeton being sandwiched between philly and NY certainly helps. what i could say is that you're not going to see any large appreciation in either place anytime soon, unfortunately.
diogenesNY, would you say that even with all of the new growth taking place in NC, that the buisness end of things will always be a slight step behind there?
Do you mind if I ask what you did and did not like about that area? A short version of your pros and cons of the area?
Something to consider- the house in NJ may appreciate "more", but so will the other homes in NJ, so you're not really getting ahead unless your plan is to buy in NJ, bank on 5 years+ of appreciation, and then split to a lower-cost area. We moved to NJ in 1999, and when we sold in 2007, our house that we bought for $110k sold for $320k. Now, this sounds like a huge windfall, but at the same time, every other house in NJ had appreciated as well, so when we looked to trade up, we would have been looking at spending $500-600k for what we wanted. Even with dumping roughly $150k in equity into the new house, we still would have had 2-3 times the mortgage we previously had.
The same thing will likely happen in GA where we are now, and in NC where you're considering. Homes here were appreciating at a slower rate than in NJ (but they were still appreciating), so if we had bought here in 1999 and sold in 2007, we'd be in a similar boat. Right now most parts of NJ, and NC aren't seeing much, if any, appreciation, but that may change if the economy improves.
WRt the whole resale/new situation, in areas like NC and GA where there's a large amount of new construction, it can sometimes be tough to sell a resale while the builder is still in that subdivision, but many of the popular subdivisions retain their value and don't have problems with resale after they're built out- there are always buyers who want to move into an established community, and into a house that already has a fence, window treatments, interior decorating, etc.
Both responses have been helpful, thank you! I agree I think that if we do end up in NC, we will need to be in a older /small town area. Which I am fearful are hard to find. An suggetions?
I am also nervous about the stigma of being a transplant "yankee" and being in the bible belt... Should I be? When I was most recently there I did not get that feeling...but maybe that's because I was only passing through.
I just don't know how to eliminate one over the other, because I love the culure and personality of NJ but the cost of NC is so appealing and I am afraid that is the only reason why I am considering it a possibility.
Do not be worried about this one iota. I was born in NY, but was raised and schooled in VA and neither myself or my parents had any feeling we were being labelled 'damn yankees.' Everyone is extremely friendly, hate to say it, but much more so than NJ.
The factors that go into home values can be fairly complex, but I think a good way to look at it is that, while the land underneath your home should appreciate, your house itself will depreciate. Therefore, you might want to consider how much of the price of your house is based on the structure itself, and how much is based on location. My parents just bought a new house on the outskirts of Charlotte - land is cheap, and once builders start building again, they're likely to face competition from new developments even further out. (However, they're also on a golf course, which should make their lot worth more than one in a typical exurban development, but I digress.)
I think NJ's density and scarcity of land makes it a better bet in the long term, but if you can find neighborhoods in North Carolina that are unique - near a nice downtown area or in a great school system, perhaps - then I think your investment is a lot more likely to appreciate, or at least not depreciate severely.
One more thing regarding NC - I mentioned my parents just moved there (they moved from CA): the vast majority of folks in their neighborhood are from outside of North Carolina. A lot, actually, from Maryland, PA and NJ. If you find a place like that (and I imagine there are quite a few), then you're probably in good shape. I can't speak to the more established neighborhoods.
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NC Property Values
