Raleigh Real Estate

June 14, 2007 12:36 PM

My fiance and I just returned from Raleigh. We went to check out the culture, climate, shopping, food, etc. in hopes of possibly living there. We were so impressed that we are thinking of buying some real estate there as an investment. My gut tells me this is a good move, but I would like to be a little more objective about the decision. How do I go about performing due-diligence on real estate markets? Forbes ranked Raleigh #2 for the best place to do business this year. I want more information than that. Are there good websites were people talk about this kind of stuff? Is there a Morningstar for real estate? How can I get the skinny on a market without talking to a biased real-estate agent? Anyone want to chime in about real estate in the Triangle?
posted by jasondigitized to Work & Money (4 answers total)

Talk to a North Carolina agent that does NOT live in Raleigh, maybe?

Or talk to a mortgage broker or appraiser?
posted by konolia at 1:19 PM on June 14, 2007

zillow.com should give you some ideas if you have any idea about neighborhoods you'd want to live in. Nice town, btw. All things being equal, I'd move back.
posted by phrits at 3:01 PM on June 14, 2007

The Triangle is awesome.

A business contact of mine said 3,000 people are moving into Wake County per month. Be prepared! However, the people I knew who bought in Raleigh and Garner paid seemingly reasonable prices. On the other hand, they made their purchases 3 or 4 years ago.

Good luck!
posted by princesspathos at 4:35 PM on June 14, 2007

Glad you liked the Triangle. I don't know much about real estate, but just FYI, Zillow.com is really inaccurate when it comes to my neighborhood--pretty much all the info (details about the houses, recent sale prices, etc.) is wrong.

I would think nearly anything near the center of the Triangle area would be a great investment, but I've been told that areas like Apex are rising in value sharply.
posted by statolith at 6:10 PM on June 14, 2007