CarrboroWeb- Carrboro and Chapel Hill, North Carolina- Layman's Guide to Real Estate- About The Chapel Hill/Carrboro Area

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

About Chapel Hill & Carrboro Continued

I remember the first time I drove into Chapel Hill from the north in 1975. As I got onto 15-501 and drove into Chapel Hill I couldn't help notice a forest lined highway(reminiscent of I-85 in rural Virginai) with only one building(the Coca Cola plant) and one traffic light… a blinking light(I'm not sure why it was there- maybe warning us that this was going to be the future home of Wal-mart, Best Buy, Office Max and Home Depot!- which it is- in 2005.) Thirty years later, 15-501 is a miniature Jericho Turnpike, where the strip malls and commercial buildings line the highway like a welcoming committee to what is fast becoming one of the most expensive places to buy a home in NC(and a lot of the US!).

I think part of the problem is that town governments, no matter how progressive, like the idea of increasing their tax revenue- more shops and more people means more money to spend on town infrastructure. Personally, I would prefer less revenue if it meant less people and less shops….but I think we're riding the fast train to large population growth!

Traffic is increasingly becoming a problem here and I have made the choice of where I wanted to live partially based on traffic patterns. Before I moved to Chapel Hill I lived on the island of Green Turtle Cay in the underdeveloped Abaco islands of the Northern Bahamas. When you live on an island 2 miles long, ½ mile wide with less than 30 cars you develop a low tolerance for traffic, as I have.

Instead of trying to describe all the ins and outs of buying a house, I'll discuss the considerations I had when purchasing my house how I determined where I would live and how I would find my house. Once I've gong through that I can tie up any loose ends, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what you need to think about when purchasing a house in Chapel Hill.

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