Moving to NC!

[Anna Jordan]

Hey BP Community (North Carolina)

My husband and I are moving to NC next summer and we have a few questions for those of you that are already down there. Right now its up in the air between the Charlotte and Raleigh area and we were wondering which is better in regards to:

Cost of living

Crime

Housing

Jobs

Portfolio Lenders

Local banks- and how creative they are

Real estate investing clubs

etc., etc..

Right now we live in a small college town in VA, and the housing market is great for investors, so we would really like to do the same thing just in a bigger city.

Any input or advice that you can offer would be great!

[Michael Jobe]

Hey @Anna Jordan welcome to BP!

I'm a bit biased in my response, but I think Raleigh is the better of the two. I've been to Charlotte many times and absolutely loved every minute of it but I feel that the Triangle area in general just has more to offer. You've got a plethora of colleges like Duke, UNC, NC State, NCCU, Meredith, William Peace U, Fayetteville State, Shaw, and the list goes on. That, combined with all of the tech & medical industry biz here equals a well educated (and well paid) population with a relatively low cost of living in comparison to some of the larger metro areas throughout the U.S. You can drive 1.5 hours east and be at the beach or 1.5 hours to the west and be in the mountains. What's not to love about that?!

Forbes just recently ranked us  #1 on their list of The Best Places for Business & Careers (http://goo.gl/MCSO97) and we consistently rank in the top 10 on all of the other random lists that similar publications put out. We have several REIAs and a bunch of locals on this site as well so you'll have no problem connecting with other investors. There are several local banks that are willing to be creative with their financing; one that comes to mind is Paragon. I have a solid contact there for you if you'd like.

As for multifamily properties, I'll admit they're not as abundant as SFH, condos, or townhouses by any means. There are currently only 15 active duplex, triplex, or quad listings within Raleigh city limits. That's as of today about two minutes ago.

Let me know when you plan to come down and I'll be your tour guide!