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Cloverdale conjures up thoughts of very long home inspection reports. With that said, most houses from that era have their problems. It is a matter of being able to put the pencil to paper on repair costs versus current/future value. That is not an area where spending a lot of money on remodeling and repairs will pay for itself in the foreseeable future though IMO. If you find a house over there that you like, and a lot of the updating and system replacements have been done, then go for it.
Last edited by sacredgrooves; 07-26-2013 at 10:15 PM..
I have been looking a lot of places, but I have found a place in Cloverdale that I really like and my realtor seems to think we should look elsewhere but won't explain why.
I have been looking a lot of places, but I have found a place in Cloverdale that I really like and my realtor seems to think we should look elsewhere but won't explain why.
I suggest you ask your Realtor WHY she thinks you should look elsewhere?
Is it something she can't discuss due to Fair Housing? Is it that she doesn't like the neighborhood? Doesn't like Garner? Are the crime statistics high? Criminals are not a protected class! I'd want to know.
Cloverdale conjures up thoughts of very long home inspection reports. With that said, most houses from that era have their problems. It is a matter of being able to put the pencil to paper on repair costs versus current/future value. That is not an area where spending a lot of money on remodeling and repairs will pay for itself in the foreseeable future though IMO. If you find a house over there that you like, and a lot of the updating and system replacements have been done, then go for it.
This is very good advice as concerns Cloverdale. But if you have made up your mind that Cloverdale is the place you desire to live, make a offer. If your current realtor will not make the offer on your behalf, then get another agent.
One other thought. Park your car in Cloverdale on a weekend and take a walk through the development. Talk with owners as you walk. You can learn a lot this way. This may change your mind.
One other thought. Park your car in Cloverdale on a weekend and take a walk through the development. Talk with owners as you walk. You can learn a lot this way. This may change your mind.
Agreed. Late Saturday night you may see things you don't like.
Otherwise, if you like the neighborhood, I would insist that the agent present your offer. If she refuses, talk to the supervisor, and if that is not satisfactory, then look for someone else.
Cloverdale itself is just fine. Now someone with 250k to spend on a house will definitely turn their nose up at it, but people in your price range (myself, I'd imagine) can give you a better feel for it. We ended up buying in the neighborhood behind the Garner Performing Arts Center but did look in Cloverdale. The actual neighborhood was fine. We liked the varying house styles, people seemed friendly, the yards were bigger than newer houses. In fact the only reason we didn't buy in that neighborhood was the specific house we were interested in had some kind of structural issue. Here is my BUT. The neighborhood is fine BUT I think if you drive a couple miles down the road (towards Raleigh on W Garner Rd) you get into some seedy areas. I sometimes drive that way during the day but the few times I've done it at night have been a bit uncomfortable...no, not a race thing. I can expand in a PM if you like. So that's my honest take on it! I would highly recommend doing what we did... drive by at all times of day and night quite a few times to make sure you're comfortable. We have been in our house/neighborhood for over a year and LOVE IT. Got the house for a steal, too.
I have asked her why she thinks we should look elsewhere and she just does not respond...should I just get a different realtor?
Yeah, I don't know anything about the particulars of your situation, but on the surface of it, that would be my thought too. How can you work with someone on a fairly important decision if they won't give you a straight answer to a direct question about something directly relevant to the process? The realtor is working for you, right? Not the other way around. So what business has she got not answering a simple question? Unless there's something else uniquely special about this particular realtor, or you have some other kind of personal or family connection to her or something, I would have my doubts about continuing to do business with her.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sowk09
Cloverdale itself is just fine. Now someone with 250k to spend on a house will definitely turn their nose up at it, but people in your price range (myself, I'd imagine) can give you a better feel for it. We ended up buying in the neighborhood behind the Garner Performing Arts Center but did look in Cloverdale. The actual neighborhood was fine. We liked the varying house styles, people seemed friendly, the yards were bigger than newer houses. In fact the only reason we didn't buy in that neighborhood was the specific house we were interested in had some kind of structural issue. Here is my BUT. The neighborhood is fine BUT I think if you drive a couple miles down the road (towards Raleigh on W Garner Rd) you get into some seedy areas. I sometimes drive that way during the day but the few times I've done it at night have been a bit uncomfortable...no, not a race thing. I can expand in a PM if you like. So that's my honest take on it! I would highly recommend doing what we did... drive by at all times of day and night quite a few times to make sure you're comfortable. We have been in our house/neighborhood for over a year and LOVE IT. Got the house for a steal, too.
Yes, as was mentioned previously, about 3 to 3½ miles north of Cloverdale, Garner Road goes through perhaps the seediest area left in Raleigh these days: the southern part of the South Park neighborhood, which extends from MLK Boulevard south to Hoke Street, and from Wilimington Street east to Garner Road, or perhaps a few blocks further east. The intersection of Bragg Street and East Street has been particularly notorious over the years, and it is an area where it's still not uncommon to see more-or-less open drug dealing and prostitution, though personally I see quite a bit less there than maybe five or ten years ago. Still, it can be a fairly off-putting place, especially at night (although, if that is the "worst" neighborhood in Raleigh, that does sort of offer some perspective on how generally clean and quiet Raleigh is as a whole). But none of that really has any particular effect on Cloverdale that I can tell, and I don't see how it would have anything to do with one's buying decision there. After all, southern South Park is also within 3 to 3½ miles or less of a big chunk of the central part of Raleigh, including the main Downtown area, the Warehouse District, Glenwood South, Oakwood, Mordecai, and Cameron Village, and if one were to arbitrarily eliminate or downgrade all of those places simply because they're within a few miles of Bragg and East, they'd miss on many of the very best parts of the city. So I don't think that makes sense. I'm also curious about what made sowk09 a bit uncomfortable driving at night through the aforementioned seedy areas on Garner Road; perhaps you can PM me about it, too, sowk09? Different people have different comfort levels about all sorts of things, of course, but I can't see any objective reason to be uncomfortable about simply driving through. I've driven and bicycled along that stretch of Garner Road at all hours of the day and night many, many dozens and dozens and dozens of times over the past fifteen years or so, and see no objective need to feel uncomfortable. Yes, one does sometimes see people just sort of hanging around in those few blocks between Hoke and Bragg, as well as some police activity from time to time. But that doesn't have any effect on someone simply driving or biking past or waiting at a stoplight, minding their own business. I'm not suggesting that one ought to get out and wander around Bragg Street at night (although, actually, if you did, I bet you wouldn't actually be in nearly as much danger as people sometimes make it seem). But simply driving or riding or even walking down the street to get back and forth from Downtown Raleigh just isn't any big deal. Plus, even if a person did feel uncomfortable with that area, they could simply take one of the other routes into Raleigh, such as Highway 70, Hammond Road, or Creech/Sanderford Road. In any case, I don't think any of that has anything to do with whether or not to buy a house in the Cloverdale neighborhood of Garner, and I don't think that sowk09 was really saying that it does.
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