There's a lot of good things about living in Raleigh, North Carolina. But as the saying goes,
sometimes you gotta take the bad with the good.
Chris Morton, real estate broker with EXP Realty in Raleigh, North Carolina. And on today's video,
we're gonna tell you about all of the good news about living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the
corresponding bad news. Such as, good news! There are a lot of 24-hour gyms and over a hundred miles
of Greenway in the triangle. Bad news, if you get addicted to hush puppies and sweet tea you're
gonna need those gyms. So North Carolina is full of amazing, delicious delicacies,
and Raleigh is no stranger to these delicacies. We have Southern barbecue. We have Brunswick stew.
We have hush puppies. We have sweet tea, all kinds of things on and on and on. And no meal
is complete without a big giant slathering of butter. So as you can imagine, this leads to light
a few calories built up around the midsection, shall we say. So funny little side story, I just
got back from a family vacation in California and I was shocked by how tiny the portions were.
Well Tanner let me know these weren't tiny, these were normal people portions. And in North
Carolina, we have North Carolina portions. So, if you're new to North Carolina, new to Raleigh,
or you're coming this way, just be prepared that there's gonna be some things that you're
gonna get addicted to, looking at you Bojangles, that are gonna cause you to put on some pounds,
which is not good. Luckily we have, as I said, over a hundred miles of Greenway,
we have tons of gyms, lots of ways to get out and get fit. And 24-hour gyms, for those of us that
can't get to the gym until 2:00 AM, 3:00 AM. So there is a lot of opportunity. You just gotta be
careful because some of that opportunity may be wrapped around a hush puppy. So to combat that
hush puppy fried deliciousness, the good news is, pretty much anywhere
in the triangle you live, you're gonna be close to an access point to the Greenway,
which allows you to get on and do biking, hiking, walking, running, jogging. And we've said before,
we even saw a couple police officers on horseback on the trail. So pretty much anything you want to
do you can get on the trail and get your groove on. It's really a great opportunity to get out
and get some great exercise. And so moving on, good news! In the winter the ground is
sometimes coated with a lovely white sheen that is called snow. Bad news, in the spring the ground is
very oftentimes coated with a lovely yellow sheen called pollen. For those who don't like snow, the
good news is in the Raleigh area we get probably around four to five inches total per year.
Usually over two or three different snow storms, stormettes. They're usually melting in a few
hours. So if you're not really into snow, you can know that it's not gonna be around long.
If you are into snow, you at least can enjoy the beautiful sheen of whiteness on the ground. And
make a little teeny weeny little snowball and throw it at people. But you know, it's literally
like a penny that you'd be throwing at people. The flip of that is in the spring, we celebrate
the coming of the spring by having the coming of the pollen. So it's gonna coat every single thing.
Cars, animals, roads, everything. It'll be like dust bowls of yellowness floating around.
Do not bother washing your car during those two weeks because we see, we see newcomers do this
all the time. It'll start, pollen will happen, they'll run out to the car wash, wash their car.
And then as they drive off from the car wash, the yellow comes back again. It's pointless. So,
nobody who's been here for any amount of time washes their car during pollen season. Again,
the good news about pollen season, yeah you're gonna sneeze your head off probably like I do,
but the good news about pollen season is it marks the beginning of spring. We're finally
getting into some warm weather, and away from the miserable cold of winter. By the way, if you like
this video, we'd love you to hit the thumbs up button and like it a little bit more. And if you
haven't already done so, please subscribe below. It would really help us out a lot.
And so moving on, good news, there are and will be plenty of opportunities to make new friends,
go on dates, and possibly probably get married in the triangle really soon. The bad news,
we're expected to have over 3 million people in the Raleigh-Durham area by 2040, up from just a
little over 2 million today. This is just a crazy amount of growth that we're expecting to have.
We all need to get prepared for it. The good news is there is a lot of land still around Raleigh,
and Durham, and Chapel Hill. We're not landlocked by the ocean, or the mountains like San Francisco,
Los Angeles, and some of the other cities are. So we have the opportunity to grow, and grow,
and grow. The problem is you add an extra million people, it's gonna cause a lot of headaches with
traffic, transportation, just getting around, and just dealing with all those people.
So just know that the triangle is one of the fastest growing areas in the United States,
and just get prepared for all the growth. But again, the positive of it is you're gonna be
able to make a lot of friends, 'cause it's gonna be a lot of people here. And so now, good news!
There are a lot of basements in the triangle. Bad news, most of those basements are on the second or
third floor. So only about 6% of the homes in the triangle have basements. Whereas, about 25% of the
homes have either a second or third floor bonus room. So people come here from out of state and
they absolutely tell us, they must, must, must have a basement. So that we have to find them a
house with a basement, because they're used to having a basement back where they're from, and
they must have a basement. And we have to explain to them that we really don't have basements,
we have bonus rooms. Mostly because basements happen in the triangle, again only 6% of the time,
it's based on topography. So if your house is on a slopey hill in the back, they could very well
do a basement, or a very, very tall crawl space. They're not gonna dig out to create a basement
like they do in many, many other parts of the country. Builders just don't do that because it
just costs too much money. And as well, we're not, you're not gonna see very, very rarely,
I've never in 17 years of selling real estate ever seen a basement that wasn't a daylight basement.
Meaning the back wall was windows and at a sliding glass door or French doors. That sort of thing.
There's really no enclosed on four sides basement, sort of bunker, bomb shelter kind of thing in the
triangle. It just doesn't exist. So if you come and you want a basement, know that it's likely
your basement will be on the second or third floor, called a bonus room. It is a large room
where the family, and the friends, and whoever can congregate if they don't wanna congregate
downstairs in the living room or family room. The bonus room becomes sort of the TV watching,
media room center. Very similar to what you guys are gonna experience in your basements,
where you are now. So just know, good news, we do have basements. Bad news,
they're gonna require you to go up a flight of stairs instead of down a flight of stairs.
Good news, Raleigh and the surrounding area is very lush, very green, lots of plants and trees,
and all kinds of things that make nature beautiful. Bad news, Raleigh area gets over
10 inches more rain per year than the rest of the United States does on average. So there are a lot
of people that love rain. It's great for some people, I'm not a fan of getting wet, so that's
neither here nor there. Just know that things are rainy some times of the year here in North
Carolina, and especially in the triangle. Know that we get really, pretty severe thunderstorms
on occasion in the summer. Where it's like really hard driving rain. Know that that's gonna happen,
just be prepared for it. It's not the best thing to drive in. So take your time driving
in it. Understand that it's positive because we're gonna end up with beautiful grass, and
trees, and plants, and flowers, and stuff. But do know that we do get more than our share of
rain here. Good news! We have over 27 dog parks in the triangle which gives your four-legged Fido
plenty of opportunity to run, and play, and have a really good time off leash. Bad news, if you go to
one of those dog parks you might run into Winston. Yes, this is Winston. You might remember him from
the North Carolina/South Carolina video, when he was a little bit smaller. He's 50 pounds now.
High energy is not what you would define him as. He's, uh, spawn of the devil is more what
you would define him as. And he weighs a ton. So again, good news, there are lots of dog parks in
the triangle. It's great. Winston loves to go. He just isn't very friendly, or obedient, or pleasant
to be around, but he's working on it. We're really working on it. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed
this video. If you're thinking of making a move either into or out of the Raleigh area, my team
and I would love to be your real estate agents of choice. There's a link in the description below.
Please click it and we can get started. With that being said, we certainly appreciate you watching.
Please like and subscribe below, and we'll see you on the next one. Thanks a lot. Bye bye.