Tony Hall talks about Chapel Hill Real Estate
What about someone who wants to live in Carrboro? That's sort of a nice place, has a different atmosphere..a little more funky....
Answer: A little more funky and very desirable, very convenient to the University. Some locations in Carrboro you can walk or ride a bike to campus, and also the bus route, which covers Chapel Hill also covers Carrboro.
What about those old mill houses in Carrboro? Are those expensive?
Answer: Per square foot, yes. They're very desirable because they are so close to the shops and the restaurants, and all that, and they're charming and there's just a limited supply.
Where are the bargains, then, in the outlying areas?
Answer: Farther away, considerably farther away, towards Alamance County west of Carrboro, the prices start dropping. South, once you get in to Chatham County you see the prices start to drop.
What about the area between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough?
Answer: Well, the values there are very high. That region is so desirable and the lot sizes are so big because there's not public water and public sewer and the zoning requires one or two acre minimum lot size so the land is not very different.
Has that land appreciated a lot recently?
Answer: Yes. It's appreciated very well. That region is so convenient. You get on 40 easily. A lot of people from Duke live there because maybe they want to be in Chapel Hill but convenient to Duke, right off Erwin Road for easy access.
If someone was going to buy real estate as an investment, some area that was going to boom, as it were, where would they look, do you think?
Good question, because yesterday I was just out with a new investment client. We looked at about 10 properties and there was not one particular property that stood out as the best choice. If you bought something downtown as a rental property, then your chance of finding good renters is strong because of the University where lots of students and faculty want to rent. Southern Village has seen very nice appreciation so some investors buy there.
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