Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We're considering a move to the Triangle area and are wondering, due to real estate listings we've seen, why no one seems to have a basement? Where do you all go when there's a tornado? Are there public shelters, or do homes have "safe rooms"? Or is there little or no tornado risk in the area?
It's because of the water table, you don't have to go down far to hit water. Everything here is walkout basements. We came from the midwest so we thought finding a basement would be easy and affordable haha. Ended up going the bonus room on the 3rd floor route. There are plenty of homes with basements available though.
Older homes all have basements, so I don't think soil or water have anything to do with it.
I think builders were able to sell homes WITHOUT basements, and so they did.
When I was looking 20 years ago, I wanted a basement and was told by my real estate agent: "Basements are dark, dank, awful places with bugs and mold -- you don't want one of those! Thank goodness new homes don't have them!"
I bought a house with a walkout basement. (Thank goodness.)
Having moved here from NJ, we too were looking for a house with a basement. We were told it was tough to build basements because of the type of soil and it would be very expensive to add a basement. You see a lot of walk out basements. When there are tornado warnings you are advised to seek shelter in an interior room of the house with no windows. Our room to go to would be the pantry closet in the kitchen.
We have a high water table and lots of red clay. Digging a basement would be very costly. Lots that are sloped on the sides make for good walkout basements.
However, when it comes times to sell, appraisers in this area do not give basements much value. I've seen buyers pay $40,000 for an unfinished basement (cost to build) and when it is time to re sell, the value drops to $10,000. If you must have a basement, they are around but keep in mind they aren't as desirable in this area as other areas.
We don't need to keep our pipes from freezing so having a basement for that purpose isn't necessary.
I grew up with a basement. It WAS wet and smelly. I'm not a fan of basements.
However, I have been in very nice homes with very nice basements. Many people will use a dehumidifier. If you are buying a home with a basement, you should test for radon.
And we moved here last year with a demand of NO BASEMENT. Nor did we want an upstairs. We are retired, with old knees and hips,and wanted a ranch with no stairs.
We have a basement. There are plenty of basements in the area.
A quick search of a real estate listing site shows 354 listings of homes with basements within 20 miles of North Raleigh.
Certainly basements in the area exist. However, i am guessing you have lived your entire life in the area? Coming from MA, I was shocked when within my price range there was only a handful of homes with basements. I'm sure there are homes in MA without basements, but I honestly cannot remember a single house I ever visited that did not have a basement. Almost all houses in MA have them, while almost all homes in NC do not. With in 20 miles of Raleigh is a huge area with probably thousands of homes, the fact only 354 have basements show how rare basements really are
And we moved here last year with a demand of NO BASEMENT. Nor did we want an upstairs. We are retired, with old knees and hips,and wanted a ranch with no stairs.
Hard to find, but we did.
Why would you demand no basement? I personally love basements, but I can understand if you don't want to climb stairs. Still, you could simply ignore and never enter the basement and it would be equivalent to a crawl space. I just cannot figure the logic of being opposed to a basement when the argument is I don't want to climb stairs. Also, ranches with no upstairs or basements are pretty easy to find in the area.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Basements
