Clevellend-Holloway Neighborhood (or surrounding) for buying a house around 300-350k

[cheese_cakes]

Originally Posted by TarHeelNick

You can get into a 3/2 in Walltown for around the $250s if you're ok with doing some updates and the high potential of street parking or a shared driveway. For something with a better parking situation and the renovations already done; you're looking at closer to $300k. In both of these scenarios you're looking at a pretty small 3/2. 1100 sqft or thereabouts.

A follow up question. Is it possible to have a 3/2 or 2/2 that doesn't need much work, has a big lot, private parking and is walkable/bikeble to downrown withing 250k or is that asking too much?

[TarHeelNick]

Originally Posted by cheese_cakes

A follow up question. Is it possible to have a 3/2 or 2/2 that doesn't need much work, has a big lot, private parking and is walkable/bikeble to downrown withing 250k or is that asking too much?

Lyon Park is a neighborhood just southeast of downtown and just north of Forest Hills that would be close to matching all of that but most of the homes there in that price range have a deed restriction until 2024 (built by Habitat For Humanity). Must be owner occupied; buyer must make less than 80% of average income for Durham County (that puts single buyers at a range of $45k-$52k last time I checked for a buyer of mine).

There have been several come on the market this year; a few eventually sold; a few expired because the deed restriction disqualified investors and most of the owner-occupant buyers looking were over the income threshold.

If your income falls within that range and you qualify; those are some of the best deals in Durham if you hold out for the deed restriction to expire. When those homes (largely built in the 2000s so more modern) can be sold at market-rate by their current owners; said owner are likely going to be in an excellent equity position.

And again; Cleveland-Holloway and other neighborhoods just east of downtown will have quite a few "flips" that would meet your criteria but you would definitely be in more of a transitional neighborhood. Also; while most flips look very pretty inside and out; it isn't exactly uncommon for flippers to cut corners so you could get some unexpected surprises in an inspection that could make the home less "done" than it previously appeared. This is probably the more realistic scenario to get what you are looking for. Just go into it not assuming that a flipped house that looks nice and new inside is going to be completely sound.

[Tyberli]

Originally Posted by cheese_cakes

A follow up question. Is it possible to have a 3/2 or 2/2 that doesn't need much work, has a big lot, private parking and is walkable/bikeble to downrown withing 250k or is that asking too much?

Within 250k would be tight, but within 350k as per your original post, sure. I bought new construction (teardown and total rebuild) 4 bed/2.5 bath, large fenced backyard and driveway, for a bit more than that in spring 2018. My neighbors across the way bought their no-driveway fixer upper around the same time for considerably less, but they've put a lot of sweat equity.

In terms of safety, you can get data from the police record or crime stats; that's better than any anecdotal info you'd get here. For what its worth, I don't feel unsafe and haven't heard gunshots or anything, but on the other hand, my NextDoor is full of people outraged because someone approached their front door in a hoodie. So YMMV.

Getting to know your neighbors as a post-college adult, is largely on you. Wave, say hi, introduce yourself, ask them over for game night. I think the Trinity Park and Watts-Hillandale area have neighborhood associations which organize activities like progressive dinners or trick-or-treating, and Walltown has a community center that hosts events from time to time, but most of the day-to-day interactions with your neighbors are on you.

I asked a question on here in early 2018 about Durham neighborhoods and got some really good advice about where to look for my asks, which were pretty similar to yours.

Good luck!