Durham zip code breakdown (good/bad neighborhoods, schools, etc) Help! (Fayetteville: to rent, chapel)

[LACAMOM]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could give a run down of the following Durham zips, in terms of good or bad areas (naming neighborhoods), good or bad school districts, how close they are to downtown and any pluses or drawbacks of these particular areas. Any zips to definately stay away from?
I've been looking to Hope Valley area, which I know is 27707, but I see some great homes on the mls in other zips. Please help!!

27707
27713
27705
27712

Thanks!!!!!!!!:

[Machine Head]

Originally Posted by LACAMOM

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone could give a run down of the following Durham zips, in terms of good or bad areas (naming neighborhoods), good or bad school districts, how close they are to downtown and any pluses or drawbacks of these particular areas. Any zips to definately stay away from?
I've been looking to Hope Valley area, which I know is 27707, but I see some great homes on the mls in other zips. Please help!!

27707
27713
27705
27712

Thanks!!!!!!!!:

I can only speak from experiance as my wife and I just bought a house in Durham. We focused on the 27707 and 27713 zip codes. Didn't care to look into schools since we don't have children. Liked the fact that they were close to shopping @ Brier Creek and 15 minutes to work for me in RTP. The development of Brightleaf community + the school they are building there should continue to help that area appreciate.

[procfreq]

27713 is the zip for the Southpoint area. I don't know about the newer subdivisions there, but Woodcroft and Woodlake are a couple of the more established neighborhoods in that zip, just north of I40. It's not exactly "close" to downtown, but it's not like Durham is all that big--it's an easy commute. It takes me about 15 minutes to get to work at the medical center. Fantastic new retail in this area too; impossibly easy access to I40/the airport/RTP; close proximity to the American Tobacco Trail. It's a great location, IMO. Less urban (think cul de sacs vs grid system; 80s and new construction homes vs historic bungalows) and more suburban feel for sure, though, and may not suit everyone's taste in that regard. I'm not sure about schools, as my kiddo is too young for that yet.

What is your price range? Other needs?

[MrsSteel]

Just like Machine Head, we focused our house hunt on 27713 & 27707 (the southern bit) but only because we wanted to live near my husband's job. Luckily, the area is safe and gorgeous, too. Neighborhoods in these areas include Hope Valley (pricey but gorgeous!), Mary Dell, Hope Valley Farms, and many more. In the end we bought in Woodcroft. If you're interested, I posted lots of photos of Woodcroft in this thread: //www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...ft-durham.html

This does not mean that the only neighborhoods worth considering are in 27713 & 27707. I just don't know enough about the other areas to comment.

[danadana]

27705 is the zip code for the Pickett Road area of Durham. I use to rent over there. Pickett Road is about ten minutes away from Duke. There is a mix of beautiful older homes and a few new developments. IMO the area is just as quiet as Woodcroft. D.R. Horton is building a community called Carillon Forest off of Pickett Road. It looks nice from the outside but I didn't tour it. They start at 330K which was out of my price range.

[toot68]

I lived in 27705 for a long time, off of Mt Sinai, and I'm most familiar with the area west of 15-501. As mentioned above, some nice old neighborhoods along Pickett and Cornwallis, and some new cookie cutterville going in. Pretty big older neighborhood (20 years or so) Lochnora off Erwin, has lots of kids. Also a funky development called Solterra which has alot of passive solar homes, tucked in close together, with big community gardens. We thought it was interesting, but not quite what we were looking for.

The people I know in Lochnora like the elementary school, forest view, which is right across the street. There's a farm next to the school which has pick your own strawberries in the spring, and self serve farmers market in the summer fall with melons, squash, corn, peppers and tomatoes, and usually has pumpkins in the fall. There's also another neighborhood next to this farm off Kerley Rd, which has pretty nice homes. Duke Forest is just up the road, with entrances off of Mt Sinai, Erwin and Whitfield Rds.

All in all, it is a pretty nice area, with older neighborhoods having larger lots out in a rural setting. 3-4 miles from Duke, 6 miles to the heart of downtown Durham.

[coltank]

27712 is in North Durham. It's always been mostly Horse country, and there are some really beautiful neighborhoods. IT's very peaceful and quiet, and also very accessible. Only about 10-15 min. from downtown even in some of the furthest neighborhoods. Housing values are typically much better there as development has been slower, although there is a new Harris Teeter coming soon at Guess and Horton, and a large new shopping center with a Super Target coming at Roxboro and Infinity. Tons of Drug stores, restaurants, etc. Very close to the Hospitals, and the majority of doctor offices in the area.

[coltank]

Oh, in reference to the "bad areas", it's mostly confined to Northeast Central Durham. East of Fayetteville, South of Geer, West of Miami, and North of 147, with some slight variations. They were actually just talking on the news this morning about that area, and how the police are beginning to go door-to-door to speak with the residents about their concerns. I'm sure they are also hoping to catch some people with their guards down.

[Indigoblue]

We looked at houses districted to Jordan High School which is the best regarded high school in Durham, also in an area central to a lot of the Triangle (SW Durham - near RTP, airport, downtown Chapel Hill & Durham), and with incredible shopping It seemed to me that would all equal healthy appreciation in the future. Jordan High is mostly in 27707 and 27713.

[LACAMOM]

so helpful, thanks for all the advice