Areas in North Carolina

[Jesse Mistretta]

so my question is to the people who live near I am which is wake county. I would like to know which areas I should stay away from and which areas are for the really wealthy or the middle class. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems that holly springs is a little more expensive than were let's say Fayetteville is, but Fayetteville has a lot of homes that I could afford. My price range is 150,000

[Chris Martin]

Lori has the right idea, buying older properties with good cash flow in growth-oriented, appreciating areas. Smaller homes can make great returns over time in HS and in Garner. Both are good demographically. Realize that the "standard" Garner and HS numbers you see from theoretically knowledgeable data sources are significantly skewed. See my post about for Garner opinions about perceived growth.

While Lori (and I) will see appreciation, it's because of scarcity of product. Here's the easiest ways I can drive home the point. Drive south on Avent Ferry Rd. Start at Hwy 55, but start paying attention after you pass the schools on your left. As you drive along, hopefully slowly or with a passender who can help with your 'test', count the number of new developments going in. No, you won't see signs. Too early for that. Count the number of bulldozers, clear cut tracts, new "improvements" (roads
without anything else (no houses yet...) and you'll get an idea of what 2005 looked like about 5 miles north. I stop at New Hill Rd, since I always turn right there to go to our storage unit.

Turn left to explore and see if the home building explosion continues. It may... and eventually you run into Fuquay, which went through a growth spell like HS several years ago, and continues today. It is still be going on.

So.

How many new houses going in (being built) are 1000 sq.ft? None. How many under $100K? None.

Lori and I are in, percent wise, a shrinking market with our <$100K houses. Well, probably >$100K now. Builders build at $250K+. But there is constant, and increasing, demand for reasonably priced rentals. Hence, our products become more valuable over time.

When growth eventually stops, our rent increases stop. But values increase due to scarcity of product (reasonable cost housing) and our 'rent floor' continues to rise as growth continues. It's the classic 'value proposition' model that REI celebrate in (primarily population) growth centric areas. Costal cities see this effect in scarcity of land. HS sees it in scarcity of entry level rental property.

My 2 cents.