Tell me about North Carolina

When I lived in Louisville, I drove 40 miles each way....it's not a bad way to end a day of work and get rid of some of the tension....but gas can get expensive. I wouldn't mind 20-25 min drive to be honest.

Is your buddy a XO at which level? BDE, BN, CO? I loved being a XO and I love being in the Army, but now I get to support the entire military here in theater....

 

I think he is at BN but I will have to look. He just took the job and stayed at my vacation place in Raleigh for a few weeks while he made the transition. So let me get some info from him. (I took a lot of pride as a Marine to AGAIN be helping out my Army brothers. )

 

BMWMANIAC

It all depends on what you are looking for in a house. If it is a new "track" built house, you should be able to find all you want at $80 per square foot (including the land). If it is more of a upper scale community, then I would look at Southern Pines. Seeing the Army is getting ready to cut 100,000 troops, you should be able to get a REALLY good deal (foreclosure) on a house if you take your time. I would just rent in Fayetteville until you get a good feel of the real estate market. Fayetteville is right next to HWY 95.

 

Good point about the Army cutting troop levels...Bragg is a major Army post, so I'll definitely be on the look out. I'm just looking for a relatively new house, with at least a 2 car garage, in the 180-200k range....I don't know how long I'll be here, but access to 95 just to help me quickly get up and down the coast....

 

Personally, I would not buy. Rapid expansion of real estate (which is what happened in Fayetteville and Jacksonville NC) followed by rapid contraction due to military cuts may result in years until the market recovers. Many military markets turn into a dump during contraction periods due to un-kept houses, foreclosures and businesses that close. I have been in Jacksonville for over twenty years and have experienced it several times.

 

Right now, I'm trying to decide 3 x courses of action:

1) Sell my house in Louisville, place 20% downpayment on house in NC, and invest the rest
2) Attempt to rent my house in Louisville, and place 20% downpayment on house in NC (less money in Savings and will probably not stay beyond 5 years, so most likely resell)
3) Sell my house, buy my next house for the same amount....idea of no mortage payment is nice

 

Great lifestyle here in NC. I have been here in research triangle area for 20 years. Housing in the most desiranle areas is expensive, but just a few miles outside the cities it gets rural and more affordable quickly.

Very big car culture here. Come on down.

 

where the research triangle

 

Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill

 

Just damn, c'mon on already. I bet the wifey could put on one hell of a pig pickin'!

 

Interesting to follow this thread...I'm just the opposite; born & raised in NC, have burning desire to move to Cali coast (SD or orange county)

I know Cali is a morally & financially bankrupt state, but the weather, beaches & mountains (together, not 5 hours apart) and car culture are calling my name.

Lived in Charlotte for 30 years, Winston-Salem & Asheville each for 2 years and last 16 in suburban Atlanta.
Prefer Atlanta/ N Ga. over anywhere I've lived in NC.
I know its the wrong decision logically to move to Cali, maybe I'll just retire to Amelia Island and rent summers in N San Diego county. I guess we always want what we don't have, and see only the "Good" things in a new place

Best of luck with your move.

Bill

 

See post #53, second paragraph - don't think that's an issue for Petey
You are so right, the humidity will be a huge adjustment - but as some of you guys have mentioned the beach (OBX) is relatively close....and what beach it is - plenty of great fishing (surf and fly) and water sports.

Another thought is the Tidewater/Va Beach area - fair amount of tech (not like TriPark) and affordable homes with lots of space if you don't mind a bit of a drive.

 

Okay. I'm lost after reading that paragraph . Cary is definitely not Mayberry.
Nude club shakes up Cary's staid image :: WRAL.com

Just to be clear Cary is an acronym Containment Area for Relocated Yankees .

 

Doh, sorry, should have also mentioned the third paragraph as well - short version of what I meant was that, though I don't personally know Pete, he strikes me as very conservative (in a refreshing way). And as such, would welcome the somewhat more conservative lifestyle of the Carolinas.

Full nekkid in Cary, wow

 

Not having read this whole thread I don't know if its been mentioned but after taking a year of investigating the entire state, along with SC, we decided on Wilmington as our primary home and a cabin in the Mountains near Asheville. That's the best way to do NC since you can't have 1-4 in one home. NC is inexpensive by comparison and 750k gets you both.

Winston Salem is a beautiful city with a lot to offer and almost gets you 1-4 in 1.

 

Any updates on this home search?
We own a house in hendersonville as well as in charleston.
I would look at Greenville and also the triangle as well as Winston- Salem.
No on Columbia, sc. Too damn hot.
Asheville is beautiful but there are a lot of hippies there. In downtown the tourists are dressed better than the locals.

 

Why is Columbia any hotter then any other part of Nc/Sc

 

Because you don't get the benefits of elevation that come with some where like Greenville and you are far enough away from the coast that you don't get the sea breeze. Honestly, anywhere West of I-95 until you start getting into the Greenville area is an oven in the summer. I lived in Charleston but worked in Orangeburg (about 20 miles West of I-95) and there was a pretty dramatic difference in how hot it felt.

 

That doesnt seem true when you look at the temperature differences between Wilmington Charlotte. wilmington is always warmer

 

Wilmington is on the Gulf Stream. It will deff be warmer.

 

Ahhh that explains it

 

If you look at the area around Columbia you will see lots of swamps and as it's in the Sandhills area of the state it gets very hot and humid (ask the recruits at Fort Jackson). When I first moved to the States in 1978 I lived in Sanford NC which is also in the Sandhills areas -- so called because millions of years ago the ocean used to stretch up to that part of the east coast. It was extremely hot and humid in the summer -- almost unbearable to someone from the UK.
I now live in Lewisville -- just west of Winston-Salem and I wouldn't live anywhere else -- Winston has a small town feel and big city activities (we have a thriving movie industry and a school of the arts). Wake Forest University is one of the best in the country and the Wake Forest Baptist School of Medicine has some of the finest doctors and facilities in the country.
We are about three and a half hours from the beach and the mountains. Because of the proximity of the Appalachian mountains (their foothills are only an hour west) we get cooler and less humid weather than say the eastern part of the state. I used to live and work in a body shop near the coast and it was horrible in the summer -- the only place to live is right on the water to get the cooling ocean breezes but it's expensive and hurricanes are definitely an issue there. Charlotte is an hour or so away and has great amenities.
My motto -- born in England but Southern by the grace of God.
Just my two cents worth and I've travelled to or worked in most of the States.
Alan

 

What brings a subject of the Union Jack to Nc ? I've been entertaining Charlotte or Charleston ...

 

To construct a facility to manufacture CV joints for the Ford Escort (back in 78) in Sanford and then a second plant in Mebane (near Greensboro). Sort of forgot to go home.
Charleston is a great city, my wife and I have been there many times. Charlotte is more metropolitan though and probably offers more job opportunities.
Alan