Just recently my wife and I spent some time in Europe, visiting old friends from Durham now stationed in Paris and then on to Turin, Italy to visit with another Durham resident who was visiting her mother there, before heading out on our own to spend some time driving through much of Northern Italy as we visited Cremona, Florence, Sienna, and finally Rome before heading home.
Comparing International Homes Prices To Durham's
Given my penchant for real estate as well as an innate curiosity/nosiness, I couldn’t help but look at and consider real estate prices in a variety of towns and cities we stopped in along the way. Doing so I was reminded of just how relative real estate values and prices are and how overall the values here in North Carolina specifically Chapel Hill, Durham, Hillsborough, Raleigh and the surrounding areas are still incredibly cheap for what we have to offer.
The prices I noted in Europe were honestly mind boggling (relative to what things cost here). In Paris and Rome $1000 per square foot bought you a decent (but not spectacular) location and the overall interior finish was hardly what I would have expected.
Even out in the countryside of northern Italy, the properties I saw being offered for sale started anywhere from $300 – $500 per square foot and when I commented to friends living there about my sticker shock I was told that in most instances the people living in these homes had either inherited them through their family or had likely purchased them many decades past.
This was a poignant reminder that value is definitely in the eye of the beholder and only through careful consideration and understanding a market on a truly “local” level can a home buyer make an informed decision.
When I first arrived here 8.5 years ago from Vermont I expected to be able to buy an awesome house for $150,000 – $200,000, it took me seeing all of 3 homes in Chapel Hill, NC to realize how unrealistic my expectations were. Not having young school age children, and actually wanting a larger city like atmosphere, I quickly switched my focus to Durham where even there I ultimately upped my price point to get the location, square footage, lot size and overall quality of construction I was looking for.
If you’re interested – I ended up buying an older brick home in Duke Forest Neighborhood, just a mile or so from Duke Universities West Campus and 5 minutes or so from downtown. I love the convenience it offers me to countless art venues, restaurants, shopping, medical facilities, Chapel Hill etc. and while it was more than I was hoping to spend, it was more than worth it to me and I’ve no regrets. With more than twenty years of experience as a full time Realtor, I understand full well why the first three rules of real estate have and will continue to be, “Location, Location, Location.”
The Sticker Shock Of Homebuying
My sticker shock in Europe reminded me of how many of my buyer clients feel when first looking for real estate in the area. If their coming from the mid-west or central part of the country they typically feel like our prices are high, while those coming in from the East or West coast areas tend to feel like our prices are incredibly inexpensive. It simply a matter of relative perspective and a reminder to me to be certain to take the time to really explain the pros and cons of the many unique areas that make up the area know as “the Triangle” here in North Carolina.
Posted by Larry Tollen on
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