The The Layman's Guide to Buying Real Estate in Chapel Hill-
A Quick guide to get you started!

About Chapel Hill and Carrboro

So….you're thinking about moving to the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area? Are you relocating because of your job or did you read one of those articles that named the area one of the top 10 places to live in the US. I'm sure it is one of the top ten and close to it, but if too many more of these articles are written about it, it will become one of the worst places to live. It's like those travel articles "Visit the undiscovered secluded island that no one knows about"…. But after articles like that ..not for long.

Ten-fifteen-twenty years ago Carrboro and Chapel Hill were probably much nicer places to live. In the early part of that range, Carrboro was coming out of the dark age. A main street with a Western Auto and not much else and little mill houses that cost $25,000-$35,000(now you'll be hard pressed to find anything under $200,000. In the late 80's Weaver Street Market opened at the Carr Mill Mall and transformed a dying mall to a town center reminiscent of European and Central American towns.(Carrboro calls itself the "Paris of the Piedmont", but truthfully I think that label is a little grandiose for this place…for goodness sakes, it's a village-not a city!)

In the 70's and 80's Chapel Hill's main street(Franklin) was a collection of small individually owned shops and a great place to hang out for students and non-students. Now it looks like a who's who of American Franchises catering to the student population. West Franklin is more interesting with less franchises(but you have to ignore McDonald's, Aveda and Midas Mufflers.) and less students(and panhandlers- The Homeless Center is one block from the corner of Franklin and Columbia(the center of town), so you will be passing people who are asking for money.(I'm pretty sure that they didn't mention in the articles that we have panhandlers in Chapel Hill- as well our share of crimes-both violent crimes and burglary and theft).

I used to live on Long Island and witnessed the suburban sprawl that has turned Jericho Turnpike into a 50 mile long strip mall. Although we are not that bad, we are definitely getting worse.

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Layman's Guide to Buying Real Estate in Chapel Hill | Introduction | About Chapel Hill/Carrboro | Outskirts of Town | | Property Type | Case Studies 2 & 3 | Case Study 4 | | Case Study 5 | Making an Offer | Case Study 6 | | Case Study 7 | Taxes | Well & Septic | | Driving vs. Walking | Buses | Bicycles | | Agent vs FSBO | FAQ's |