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My biggest worry about buying a home is the idea that we may not be there long. I plan to attend my program, then work in the Triangle area for a couple years until i have the confidence and money to start my own organization. That organization might take me multiple different places depending on a number of factors, one of which being how much we love the Triangle area. So it may be as short as a 4 year stay, or as long as a lifetime. It is so up in the air at this point that I don't nessisarily feel comfortable buying OR renting, but of course we must pick one. One point that is swaying me towards buying is the fact that a mortgage in our price range will be cheaper than the average rent. The kicker is that i would need to find a home in our price range to make it work. My husbad has remodeled homes in the past alongside a professional "flipper", but we are not comfortable buying a fixer upper because he will not be home for a chunk of the year and therefore may not get everything ready in time/not be there if something goes wrong with the home. However, we are not hoping for a full remodel to make a house "livable".
Homes have many hidden costs above just renting. New roof, HVAC, pests, appliance failure, list goes on.
While on paper it may be cheaper to buy, often times it's a wash when you factor in everything.
It's always smart to rent at least a year before purchasing unless you are very familiar with the area.
It really depends on location, as usual. Around here it's a pretty safe bet that housing will be a solid investment. Ups and downs of course, but long term likely a good investment.
A new 30 year roof is going to average around 25 dollars a month, maybe less. New HVAC maybe 80-100 a month? Just guessing.
Don't forget rent increases with inflation, while a mortgage stays the same. Only things that change are taxes and insurance, but renters pay that as well, second hand.
I think it's crazy not to invest in real estate. It's a long-term game though, so if you move every few years, it doesn't make sense.
My husband is a welder, and currently travels 6 months out of the year for shutdown work, working 12-14 hrs a day 7 days a week. We live off of this 6 months of income, and he volunteers at children's home the other 6 months of the year. I work part time at a montessori school and this plus my school discount allows my children to go to the same school for free. The plan for all our other expenses once we move is basically my hubby will continue to travel, but will also find a job in town the other 6 months out of the year instead of volunteering. I will not be working during the school year, but I have talked with a montessori school in Chapel Hill that would give us a discount for my daughter attending during the school year, if i work their as a head teacher during the summer programs. We have not yet visited the montessori though so we are not 100% sure if we will go this route. My son is getting financial aid to go to waldorph and I am receiving a private merit based scholarship to attend UNC. So most of our other monetary worries are announced for, i am strictly worried about housing.
We will be coming up for a visit at the end of August, and I was hoping to have a list of areas to check out while we are up there, since we will only be there for 3 days and therefore don't have a ton of time to do any in depth research.
I have looked at Mebane and Hillsborough before, but i was worried that they were a little too far away from UNC. From what i can tell from y'all, hillsborough is good but mebane night indeed be a little too far. I looked at Woodcroft and I love it! A couple rental townhomes there are in our price range so that's promising. The homes are a little big for our liking from what i can see online, we would prefer a smaller place to live if we were to buy. 900-1400 sqft would be perfect. Also like the central location. Are there any neighborhoods similar to Woodcroft?
Hope Valley Farms is similar to Woodcroft and those two developments are often used combined or interchangeably to refer to the mostly suburban/family oriented area of SW Durham near Chapel Hill. Townhomes there can be found for around the same prices as Woodcroft. HPV is about 10 years "newer" than Woodcroft for the most part.
Homes have many hidden costs above just renting. New roof, HVAC, pests, appliance failure, list goes on.
While on paper it may be cheaper to buy, often times it's a wash when you factor in everything.
It's always smart to rent at least a year before purchasing unless you are very familiar with the area.
If buying a SFH; yes. If buying a condo/townhome.....most of those issues with the exception of appliances are covered by your HOA. Yeah the HOA fees are higher but I bought a condo that is larger than the apartment I was renting in CH, in a better location in CH, and my mortgage payment + HOA fees are lower than the rent I was paying last year...and the rent there (Villages of Chapel Hill; actually in Carrboro ironically enough) was about to go up $100/month.
The neighborhood I'm in (Finely Forest) is largely populated by nursing/dental/MD students or residents who own their units. They are all within the OP's pricerange too. I bought mine (2 br 2 bath ground-level flat) for under $110k last year and the most expensive units in the neighborhood (3 bedroom/ 2 bath/2-story townhomes) are going now for the high 150s.
Free 10 minute bus-ride or a 5 minute drive to UNC; easy access to Southpoint/Hope Valley area of Durham and the rest of the Triangle via I-40.
I had originally thought OP was looking for SFH only but if open to condo/townhomes....their options are plentiful even within CH.
If buying a SFH; yes. If buying a condo/townhome.....most of those issues with the exception of appliances are covered by your HOA. Yeah the HOA fees are higher but I bought a condo that is larger than the apartment I was renting in CH, in a better location in CH, and my mortgage payment + HOA fees are lower than the rent I was paying last year...and the rent there (Villages of Chapel Hill; actually in Carrboro ironically enough) was about to go up $100/month.
Hey! I will be attending the UNC school of medicine. Have you already moved to the Triangle yourself? Where did you move from, and has the transition been easy? We were supposed to move this past spring, but we had a surprise pregnancy that was high risk this past year ave decided not to put the extra stress of moving on our family. We are both very excited and nervous about the change of scenery; my husband has lived in Mobile his entire life, as have I (except for 4 years in Iowa for my bachelor's).
I work in CH and live in raleigh. It really depends on time of day for traffic and commute. If I go in before 7 I can do it in well under 30 mins same with leaving by 4 most days. However if you will be commuting during Norma hours that's a different story as 40 and 540 can be a mess. I'd also add carrboro to your radar and maybe Pittsboro too. Hillsborough is growing in popularity and may be more affordable.
In my group we have people commuting from creedmoor and Greensboro as welll but I wouldn't advise that.
Hey! I will be attending the UNC school of medicine. Have you already moved to the Triangle yourself? Where did you move from, and has the transition been easy? We were supposed to move this past spring, but we had a surprise pregnancy that was high risk this past year ave decided not to put the extra stress of moving on our family. We are both very excited and nervous about the change of scenery; my husband has lived in Mobile his entire life, as have I (except for 4 years in Iowa for my bachelor's).
We moved from Georgia 2 years ago. I've actually been a postdoc this entire time, but my department moved to hire me out of the postdoc, effective once it ends.
It was a pretty easy transition for me and my wife, mainly because we've moved around a lot in our marriage (MD -> GA -> NC). The most difficult part was what to do with our kids, but my parents kept them in VA for a couple of weeks while we packed and moved. Adjusting to living here was very easy since, because we have family here and had visited many times, we knew what to expect. I would say that the hardest thing to get used to -- as annabanana said -- was the rush hour traffic patterns: which routes to avoid at all costs, how far is too far, and where the alternate routes are. Since y'all are planning to live closer to Chapel Hill, you won't run into the problems we (read: I) had.
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