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About a year ago, my wife and I visited Raleigh after some friends who had attended grad school with me recommended it, knowing we were trying to move away from the high costs and frigid temperatures of Boston. Having lived in Charleston for a short while, we are looking for something with the same amount of culture, while not being as expensive and with better job opportunities. For her, it's an added perk that it's not quite as hot.
The area immediately felt like home; particularly North Raleigh south of the inner loop and even the more suburban area between 540 and 440. We're mostly city folks, but like having at least a little yard, and it seems that North Raleigh provides that. Having scoped out the new housing market (after living in multiple houses over 100 years old-- some with significant structural issues-- we're happy to pay a premium for new), we were interested in something around 2800 sq ft, and it seems like there are a few options out there. While the new construction is pricey down there comparatively, the fact it's an option is almost unimaginable after living in Boston for nearly ten years.
Anyways, the reason I bring this up is that some of the builders seem to be offering significant discounts for the same house in different areas. Using things like Trulia's affordability heat map, it appears that some of these areas aren't necessarily any poorer in terms of home value, so I'm curious as to what the reason is-- school district? For example, Beazer homes & M/I have homes priced in the 300-400s that in North Raleigh are north of 500. While we plan to rent when we move, I was curious as to some feedback about areas like off of TenTen Road & Holly Spring Road. We would be looking for someplace that has a lot of potential to grow (which seems to be the opposite of everyone else); while our kids are young, we won't be able to go out much, but I'd like to have the option in 10 years.
I'm a public accountant and my wife works in education. We've got 2 kids-- or at least will, the second due this October, so schools matter, but we're not pick about having to have the BEST school, by any means (as a former public school teacher, I know that what is modeled at home is often more important than the perfect school). We're excited for the great craft beer scene, affordable cost of housing, lack of traffic (comparatively), and great foodie scene (you guys have AMAZING Mexican food, by the way). It feels like N. Raleigh has a lot more to offer on that front, but we didn't spend much time in South Raleigh except a quick drive-through once, and it's clearly changing. I've seen a couple posts on here about the extension of 540, which seems like it should be a boon for this area. We're hoping to visit again this spring, and we're putting together a list of places to check out now that we're more serious and have a timeline.
Ten Ten and Holly Springs Rd is a bit far afield from North Raleigh...are you interested in that area to live? It is growing rapidly and it is actually not that far from a busy part of Cary and parts of Raleigh too.
North Raleigh was developed a bit longer over time vs. Cary/Apex which grew really fast over a short period of time. As a result, the density and infrastructure in north Raleigh tends to be a bit better. You can still get around really well all over north Raleigh. In fact, one of the reasons that often the same house/type might be a little more around north Raleigh (with which I'm lumping in the North Hills area...which is now considered just "midtown") is because the wedge between Creedmoor
Rd and Capital Blvd is one of most sought-after areas in the Wake County. You can still get a lot of house north of I-540, but if you don't want to be quite that far north, you'll want to have your "ducks in a row" and be decisive when looking for a used home. North Raleigh home market remains white hot...at least currently.
Anyways, the reason I bring this up is that some of the builders seem to be offering significant discounts for the same house in different areas. Using things like Trulia's affordability heat map, it appears that some of these areas aren't necessarily any poorer in terms of home value, so I'm curious as to what the reason is-- school district? For example, Beazer homes & M/I have homes priced in the 300-400s that in North Raleigh are north of 500.
I think there's a couple reasons why this might be the case. The first is that the land is more expensive in North Raleigh than some other areas like Apex, Holly Springs, or Fuquay Varina, and the higher land cost gets passed through to the cost of the home. The second is that even though a company might be building the same floor plan in two different neighborhoods, the more expensive home will have a higher level of detail/trim work within. The fancier crown molding, the coffered or trey ceilings, 10ft ceilings vs 9ft ceilings (or 9ft vs 8ft), tiled tubs/showers vs fiberglass kits, the brand/line of kitchen appliances, whether or not the crawl space is sealed, and on and on; those details can add up to tens of thousands of dollars difference and the higher priced homes in North Raleigh likely have more of those details standard.
"North Raleigh south of the inner loop" -> you mean Five Points? North Raleigh is north of 440
Correct. Still learning all of the names of the area. Sorry for the confusion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeJaquish
"Whatever the market will bear," and the builders invest a great deal of money in exploring market dynamics.
Renting first, then buying when one knows the area and agreeable locations is not a bad strategy.
Absolutely. We intend to rent first, but even renting, it will probably skew where we like, and the more research I do, the more I feel overwhelmed. Raleigh is growing and changing so much, we're trying to take the long view and find an area that we can grow with over the next 20 years or so. So I guess the question I really should have specifically asked is whether the South Raleigh area has the plans to develop into an area similar to North Raleigh over the next decade or two. I get that impression from the amount of developers building in the area, plus the highway expansion, but it's hard to tell from an outsider's perspective. The proximity to NCSU is huge for us, and it doesn't appear from here that the schools are materially worse in this area comparatively. We have no problem living somewhere that's 'up and coming', even if it's for 5+ years. I'd read on some older threads people moving out of some new neighborhoods in south raleigh because of graffiti on signs and stuff, but that stuff doesn't bother us-- it's really par for the course up here. As an accountant, North Raleigh seems to offer a lot more opportunity, but really, I won't have a problem finding work anyway, it's my wife that's more specialized and her employer options are quite limited.
I think there's a couple reasons why this might be the case. The first is that the land is more expensive in North Raleigh than some other areas like Apex, Holly Springs, or Fuquay Varina, and the higher land cost gets passed through to the cost of the home. The second is that even though a company might be building the same floor plan in two different neighborhoods, the more expensive home will have a higher level of detail/trim work within. The fancier crown molding, the coffered or trey ceilings, 10ft ceilings vs 9ft ceilings (or 9ft vs 8ft), tiled tubs/showers vs fiberglass kits, the brand/line of kitchen appliances, whether or not the crawl space is sealed, and on and on; those details can add up to tens of thousands of dollars difference and the higher priced homes in North Raleigh likely have more of those details standard.
One house in particular my wife and I loved, for example, was the Juniper model we saw in Pritchett Farm. In fact, that's the only reason we even saw South Raleigh, because we assumed that N. Raleigh was the best place for transplants like us. The construction quality, while not perfect, was miles above what we're used to up here (even in the suburbs of Boston, that house, new, with an hour+ commute to the city, would be nearly $1M-- and the quality would be worse). And while the land is probably cheaper, and there were a few things that they didn't do in that house they may have in N Raleigh, those differences don't explain a 100k difference in price. I'm assuming part of it is because people will pay a premium to live in the *best* neighborhood, I'm just trying to figure out if it's a legitimate justification or more of an ego thing.
What kind of budget do you have? New construction between 440 and 540 does happen, but it comes at a premium. Even worse inside of the beltline.
Our budget is to about 650k, but we'd like to stay around 400ish if possible. I know that there's plenty of used inventory, but after having reno'd our current home and dealing with the fact that older homes simply aren't designed for 'modern' floor plans, I'd prefer not to. Further, we're hoping to do solar and possibly geothermal, which is much easier to build into the mortgage than to do afterwards.
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