on today's video we're going to tell you all about the best and worst parts
of all of the suburbs in and around raleigh north carolina and we'll do it all up next
hi this is chris morton real estate broker with exp realty in raleigh north carolina on today's
video we're going to detail all of the best parts and worst parts of the suburbs around raleigh
north carolina we hope this is going to be a handy guide for you if you've just recently moved to
raleigh and not sure where you want to buy a house or if you're out of town and contemplating moving
to raleigh we hope this is going to give you an easy understandable pros and cons list for each
of the suburbs and so in no particular order let's begin with cary north carolina so cary is amazing
amazing suburb of raleigh especially because it is close to everything it is extremely centrally
located has a really great international food scene has tons of green space parks and places
for you to go if you like to be outside and is very well organized and very well planned
pretty easy to get from point a to point b the negatives of cary north carolina it completely
lacks the southern charm that you're going to find in some of the other suburbs and in raleigh it's
mostly built out there's not a whole lot of new construction going on it's very expensive to buy
a house in cary north carolina especially relative to some of the other suburbs and because it's so
centrally located and has so much going for it it is a very very very competitive housing market
homes and carry sell within hours sell for 25 to 100 000 or more over asking price and very very
often houses that are on the market in cary are resulting in multiple offers and a bidding war
next up we have wake forest north carolina the positives of wake forest it's growing with
lots of expansion it is one of the most popular suburbs wake forest is really beautiful it's
located near and on falls lake so there's lots of great opportunity for boating hiking swimming
all of those sort of things it has an amazing historic downtown very very charming definitely
worth your time if you are living in wake forest or just coming for a visit definitely check out
downtown wake forest and there's still plenty of opportunities for new construction in wake forest
the negatives of wake forest traffic and commute times are getting worse and worse it's getting
very populated and so therefore you're getting a lot of a lot of cars on the road during rush
hour another negative home prices have increased quite a bit in wake forest over the last few years
it's fairly distant from research triangle park as most of the new construction that's happening
is happening to the north and to the east of wake forest it therefore is very difficult
up to an hour drive to get from wake forest to research triangle park and unfortunately
roads are not designed very well this is not like carry where everything was completely well
laid out wake forest started as a tiny little community and has grown and grown and grown
and the growth has resulted in a lot of really wonky roads next up is morrisville north
carolina so the pros of morrisville is location location location it's super close to the airport
it's super close to research triangle park and has tons of international restaurants it's a
great place to live if you're not a big fan of long commutes the negative of morrisville
it unfortunately has no downtown no charm none of that southern charm we talked about earlier
and there's not much new construction going on right now price is starting on at about 450 000
and going up from there on new construction currently another negative of morrisville it
has a lot of warehouses and industrial buildings especially closer to the airport and speaking of
airport the biggest negative of morrisville is you're getting a lot of airplane noise next up
we have apex north carolina so apex's pros are that they there's an amazing downtown in apex
it's right on 540 so therefore it has really easy access to the airport research triangle park and
just about all of the triangle apex also has a lot of new construction going on so there's lots
of opportunities to buy new construction as well as resell and apex is super duper close to cary
so you're going to get all of the amenities that carry has to offer for just a fairly
short drive in fact it's very difficult to know when carry ends and apex begins and vice versa
they're that close there are some negatives of apex unfortunately it is quite a drive to raleigh
home prices have increased quite a lot due to the fact that cary is getting somewhat built out
so all of the construction is going towards apex which is causing prices to rise and rise
as demand rises and the newer parts of apex that the building is going on are in the south and the
west so that means much longer drive times to get to 540 or to the rest of the triangle from
those newer communities next up we have the suburb of holly springs north carolina and so
there are lots of positives of holly springs has a really really nice downtown very very vibrant
and especially on weekends you can see there's a lot of stuff to do taking clients through
holly springs to get from one town to the next or one neighborhood to the next and they were blown
away with all of the really cool things going on in holly springs another positive of holly springs
it's very close to carrie and apex so if you have a favorite restaurant looking at you apex wings
it's super easy if you live in holly springs to get to apex super easy to get to carry and all the
restaurants all the grocery stores and all of that that's going on in cary and there's also a lot of
new construction opportunities going on in holly springs in addition to all the restyles
that are out there the negatives of holly springs unfortunately there's not a lot to do
so you are going to have to drive to apex and mostly carry it is a far distance away
from raleigh and durham so you're gonna have a good bit of drive time involved in that
and there's not a lot of really cool independent restaurants in holly springs you're going to be
mainly going to the chain restaurants next up we have youngsville north carolina so youngsville has
a lot of pros going for it it has a very charming although small downtown area definitely worth
driving through if you are planning on moving to youngsville and checking out what's there as well
homes are fairly inexpensive when compared to the rest of the triangle you are definitely going to
find some value in youngsville and there is some new construction going on in youngsville quite a
bit of it actually and youngsville is extremely close to wake forest you have about a 10 to 15
minute drive to get into wake forest with all of the restaurants all the shopping grocery stores
on and on that you're going to find in wake forest the negative of youngsville it's pretty much far
from everything except wake forest so you're going to expect a lot of drive time especially if you
were to work in like research triangle park it's even worse than if you were living in wake forest
and as i mentioned before the downtown is really charming and cute unfortunately it's really small
not a lot to do there great place to go but don't expect you're going to spend your entire day
or evening hanging out and enjoying the nightlife of youngsville there's just not any of it
and unfortunately there's very little shopping grocery stores in youngsville you're gonna have
to drive to wake forest so be prepared for a little bit of drive time in youngsville next
up we have knightdale north carolina so knightdale is very close to raleigh you have the opportunity
to go into raleigh especially downtown raleigh and enjoy the nightlife shopping restaurants et cetera
that you're going to find there as well getting to just about any part of raleigh north raleigh
or the area around midtown where north hills is and costco is super super easy drive homes are
also fairly inexpensive in night especially compared to the rest of the triangle lots of
growth is happening in the nato area some new construction going on you're going to get some
good value for your money and would be definitely a good option if you're looking for a home on
a budget as well one of the big big positives of knightdale is prime barbecue so this is a barbecue
place that we have gone to many times we're doing a series on best barbecue in the triangle and i
can tell you ahead of time prime is going to be very close to the top of that list definitely a
destination that i would recommend you go to if you are in knightdale so the negatives of
knightdale unfortunately it lacks a downtown of its own it's a small little area it is growing
we expect that there's going to be more of a vibrant downtown happening soon there's talk
that there's going to be a food hall in knightdale so that's in that downtown area that's definitely
going to help and it's near prime so plus plus equals yay unfortunately also knightdale lacks
character there's not a lot of charm about it especially southern charm hard to tell
where you are based on what you see because there's gonna be a lot of chain restaurants
a lot of chains big box stores that sort of thing next up we have garner north carolina and garner
has a lot of pros of its own it's very very close to raleigh you can be in raleigh within 8
10 15 minutes from your home in garner which is very very cool and it's affordable compared to
a lot of the other suburbs around raleigh and eventually interstate 540 will be going around
garner making it super convenient to get from garner to research stronghold park airport
et cetera et cetera the negatives of garner unfortunately there's not a lot to do there
to get your nightlife restaurant fix on you're probably going to have to go to downtown raleigh
so it's a little bit of a drive again 10-15 minutes so it's not like you've got to drive
an hour but sometimes it's more convenient to drive three minutes than 23 minutes it's lacking
in character and that southern charm we talked about downtown is basically one single street
not a lot going on it's cute but not like this vibrant downtown like you would see in some
of the other suburbs and unfortunately like knightdale it has a lot of chain restaurants
chain shopping all of that sort of thing not a lot of independent opportunities to go out dining or
go shopping next up we have fuquay-varina north carolina and yes it's pronounced fuquay-varina
we get a lot of people messing that up mixing that up so fuquay-varina was the
merger of two little towns fuqua and varina so it has two downtowns the fuquay downtown
is my favorite super cool and in fact it's one of my favorite downtowns in the entire triangle
super charming great restaurants vicious fishes is there so if i ever am out showing property to
any clients coming into town they get to go see what vicious fishes is about have not had a bad
meal there love the place as well they have coffee shops stick boy cinnamon buns at the
stick boy bakery on and on and on really really cool downtowns fuquay-varina also has a lot of
new construction opportunities and it's probably one of the biggest growing areas of the triangle
you can get a lot of value for your money although prices range from fairly inexpensive
to all the way up to seven hundred thousand dollars eight hundred thousand dollars if you
wanted to so another positive of fuqua-varina is it's less likely to get snow if you're anti-snow
than some of the northern parts of the triangle so you are not having to worry about being stuck home
while everyone in wake forest roxboro youngsville are dealing with a few inches
of snow and eventually i-540 is going to come through fuquay-varina which is going to make it
way more convenient to get from fuquay-varina to research a park airport all of that sort of thing
the negatives of fuquay-varina because of all this growth i'm talking about traffic can get a
little congested during rush hour it is far from a lot of parts of the triangle you're going to have
to do a lot of driving currently until interstate 540 gets through to get to research triangle park
or chapel hill durham all of that and because fuqua wavering in it is so far from the other
parts of the triangle you unfortunately feel a little disconnected like you're on an island to
yourself and lastly about fuquay because it's up and coming and growing parts of it are very much
out in the country so it has a very rural feel for some people that's a positive for others that's a
negative next up let's talk about clayton north carolina so clayton's a great suburb of raleigh
it has a really really cool downtown with lots of new shopping centers opening up it has a really
affordable area you can get a lot of home for your money in clayton it's also less likely to get snow
as it is on the eastern side of the triangle it's also very peaceful and very rural that may be a
positive or a negative depending on your lifestyle and what you're expecting on the negative side
it's far from research triangle park it could take you anywhere between 45 minutes and an hour
to get from clayton to rtp it doesn't have very much in the way of hiking outdoor activities
lakes that sort of thing and not much to do outside of the downtown area of clayton
unfortunately and another negative because there's not much going on other than in downtown clayton
if you're buying a new construction home you're probably buying something that's 10 or 15 minutes
drive time from your home to the downtown next up we have wendell north carolina so wendell
has one of the best downtowns in the triangle very very cool lots of restaurants
lots of shopping really nice and most of it is an independence it is very close to raleigh as
well it's very close to knightdale where you're going to find all of those big box shopping so
if you need to get to target walmart you're maybe 10 minutes away from window
another positive of wendell is wendell falls it's a mega neighborhood mega development
with homes of all different sizes and shapes you can get a home starting with a 325 000 townhome
currently all the way up to a 750 thousand dollar larger detached home but overall wendell is a very
affordable place to live the negatives of wendell it feels a lot further from raleigh than it is
again you jump on the interstate and you can be in downtown raleigh in about 10 or 15 minutes but
just geographically on a map and just from where you are when you're living in window it feels like
you're kind of on that island to yourself like similar to what you're going to have
in fuquay-varina another negative of wendell it doesn't have a lot of shopping and it doesn't have
a lot of grocery stores there's a brand brand new publix grocery store that just opened in window
falls but that's about the extent of it which means you're going to have to drive to knightdale
if you're not a fan of publix and unfortunately based on where it's located geographically
wendell is pretty far drive to research triangle park and the airport next up is zebulon north
carolina so one of the positives of zebulon is it is probably one of the most affordable
suburbs in which you can go buy a home another positive of zebulon it's rural and therefore has
a much slower pace than a lot of other places in the triangle and that can also be a con
if you are looking for a fast-paced go-go-go lifestyle zebulon has a small town feel and
a lot of southern charm going for it but zebulon also has some negatives it is really far from
just about everything if you need to get to the research triangle park or anywhere in that area
very quickly you probably do not want to think about moving to zebulon and unfortunately because
it's small and rural it's also a little bit boring next up we have the suburb of rolesville north
carolina yes it's spelled rolesville but all of us locals call it roseville so be prepared so
what are the positives of rolesville well number one it's super close to raleigh and wake forest
really great opportunities to zip over to wake forest or something or zip over to raleigh it's
pretty much attached around heritage subdivision it's pretty much attached to wake forest just to
give you an idea how close it is there is a lot of new construction going on in rolesville and
there's lots of opportunity for new construction to happen development to happen shopping to happen
the negatives of rolesville is there's only one main way highway 401 to get in and out so you can
imagine with all the growth going on you're going to see some bottlenecks rush hour traffic has now
become a thing in this town another negative it is really far from research triangle park
not recommended to live in rolesville if you're planning on working around research triangle and
unfortunately there's not a lot of character or things to do in rolesville you're gonna pretty
much have to go to raleigh or most likely go to wake forest to go to a restaurant or shopping or
anything like that so there you have it that was an overview of most of the main suburbs around
raleigh we hope it's been helpful please check out this playlist if you want to go in depth on
any of the suburbs we talked about please like and subscribe below we appreciate everyone watching
look forward to your comments and we'll see on the next one take care bye bye