Rental Property Investor · Honolulu, HI · Member since 2019 · 12 posts · 6 votes
Greetings! I am transitioning out of the military and will be moving to North Carolina with my girlfriend in May. I’m really excited but we are having a difficult time narrowing down our focus on a specific area..
Is there any NC residents that can share their thoughts and insights on certain areas or pros and cons?
Rental Property Investor · Chapel Hill, NC · Member since 2017 · 144 posts · 89 votes
5y
Hi Zach - I live in the Triangle and invest in Winston Salem so I’ll chime in here. The Triangle is thriving, with top universities, corporate relocations, biotech, great restaurants, awesome airport, etc. Lots of young people moving to Raleigh especially, The Triad has a lower cost of living and is more of a manufacturing and distribution hub. Winston Salem specifically still has some good white collar jobs but the loss of its various corporate headquarters - most recently BB&T bank - through mergers means a lot of office vacancy and that will slow down downtown investment. There is no Starbucks downtown for example! I don’t know much about Charlotte. Good luck with your decision.
Rental Property Investor · Winston-Salem, NC · Member since 2019 · 63 posts · 73 votes
5y
Morning all,
Plenty of info already added to this topic so I'll keep it simple and give my vote for Winston-Salem as well. Florida born, moved here 7 years ago and love it. Best of luck wherever you end up.
I was born and raised in Winston-Salem, lived in the Raleigh area for 6 years and have lived in Winston (Winston-Salem), High Point, and now Oak Ridge since moving "home". NC is a great state to call home and as others have said there is great variety depending on preferences. I'm partial to the Triad area (Winston, High Point and Greensboro) as it is centrally located, tons of the perks of the "bigger" cities of Charlotte and Raleigh, with significantly less traffic. I am 1 hour and 45 mins from NC mountains and 3 1/2 from the NC coast.
My wife grew up in the area as well and is a RE agent, while I am in new home construction and invest. We'd be happy to share however we can to help as you plan your move. Best of luck!
Investor · Charlotte, NC · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 17 votes
5y
@Zachary Steidl, I'll speak to the Charlotte area since it seems a bit under-represented.
I transitioned out of the military several years ago and came here, and I have no experience in the triangle (so I'm biased!).
Charlotte is great--major airport, lots of sports/activities, drivable to a beach or mountain on a Friday afternoon, hot real estate market. The city itself is very nice, lots of options for outdoor activities, restaurants, shopping, etc. There's a diverse job market here that includes banking, manufacturing, healthcare, real estate, and others, which means the real estate market is perhaps a bit more resilient than some other places (not sure about the triangle area).
CLT has had constant population growth for quite a while, which means continual demand growth for housing. Within the city limits has some pretty expensive (and increasingly so) areas, some pockets of town and the suburbs (Concord, Huntersville, Belmont, etc) are far more affordable and offer better long term rental ROI. Within the city, I think you'll find strong appreciation and solid ROIs for flips/new-builds and short-term rentals.
I can help if you have any CLT-specific questions, feel free to DM me. I can speak reasonably intelligently on new construction, real estate prices, and short/long term rentals around here (been dabbling in all of the above).