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We are looking into NC- Raleigh area and surrounding areas as a possible relocation area. We had thought we were settled on CO, now have a job opportunity in So. Cal(where we are), but have friends and family going to NC! So.... hubby said last night that we should do some research there as well!!
So... we would like to have a 3 or 4 bed 2 bath house(tract home is fine). We have two small kids. I am a stay at home Mom. My husband works a lot of hours. We want to be somewhere where I can feel safe alone while at the park, shopping, just in general. We want to be able to spend under $175k. Is that do-able? In what area would you recommend I look?? Is the housing market a Buyer or Seller's market currently?
In the general Raleigh area, the average home price is right about $200k. That takes into consideration, all areas and all types of housing. There are many resale neighborhoods that are well in your price range. And that would be in areas that have great schools, community amenities and nearby shopping/theaters, etc. There are also brand new homes for that price range - it all depends on the type of area you are looking for. The general lot size within Raleigh/Cary/Morrisville is about .20 acre give or take. You can get more land and more house for the money the farther you go out. For example, if you go to a surrounding town you can find a brand new home, great square footage for that price. You are looking at a national tract builder in that range, for example, KB Homes, Beazer and Pulte.
WOW! That sounds too good to be true! But excitedly so it seems!! We have got to get ourselves out that way to look. It's just so expensive to do it...and with all the costs of living here...saving any money to do it is almost impossible!! We will though!! Thanks for the info!!
At $175,000 you are in a Seller's market, and will be for some time.
But, I think you would be able to get something in a great area.
Mike, You are right on target with that take. As a person who recently purchased their first home I know this first hand. Our price range was below the "average price" in the raleigh area ($165 range) and it was definitely a sellers market. Homes priced correctly at this price point in desireable areas were on the market for less than 2 weeks and sometime only a day or two. In our case we viewed the home we purchased the evening of the first day it was listed. We went back for a second look the very next day (to see the place in daylight) and discovered 6 other couples had also already viewed the home on the first day. When our agent pulled the comps for us to make the offer we learned that the past 3 homes (identical to ours) to sell in the neighborhood were on the market for 7,4,and 3 days respectively and sold for at least 98% of the list price. We used that info to make a succesful offer on the house.
I can not stress enough how important it is for people in our price range to be set up on some kind of automatic listing alert through their RE Agent. I am positive that if I had not received the automatic email the day that our future home went on the market we would have probably lost it to someone else. We were also fortunate that our agent had the insight to slightly tweek our desired square footage range in our automaitc search. We wanted something at least 1500 sq feet, but he set our profile at 1450 which resulted in this 1460 sq ft house showing up on our radar instead of it slipping past us. This tactic never occured to me. We gave up 40 sq ft, but found our dream house in a great location. Definitely worth it!
NRG,
I always set the parameters slightly outside what the Buyer asks for.
$$$ and square footage. High and low.
Too many errors in SF to ignore, and $$$ may be negotiable.
NRG,
I always set the parameters slightly outside what the Buyer asks for.
$$$ and square footage. High and low.
Too many errors in SF to ignore, and $$$ may be negotiable.
Agreed 100%
What if the house had been 1495 sq ft?? And truly, layout is so much more important than square footage alone.
That's great advice!! Thank you for that....when we get ready to buy I will definately do that!! Need to come look in person first though--sure we will love it!!!
WOW! That sounds too good to be true! But excitedly so it seems!! We have got to get ourselves out that way to look. It's just so expensive to do it...and with all the costs of living here...saving any money to do it is almost impossible!! We will though!! Thanks for the info!!
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And truly, layout is so much more important than square footage alone.
