Downtown Asheville has probably more rooftop bars and public spaces than Charlotte and Raleigh combined. Even their Art Museum has a rooftop cafe. Asheville from above. Join us on the tour of downtown March 15. [
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Tempting but weâre going a month later for several days. Making up a wedding that was rescheduled from the day the flooding peaked. Excited to be back, and happy to spend our Gucci money supporting all the local businesses.
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Donât forget Mount Trashmore / Green Lakes County Park (reclaimed landfill site in North Wake).
Views from the top are impressive.
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This isnât a visual representation, but a written example illustrating that in a city like Houston with no zoning and theoretically unlimited supply, a house may not be considered an investment.
Letâs consider one of the many 1,200 square foot houses built in the mid-2000s, currently listed at around $200,000 and likely to sell in the high $180,000 range in Texas.
Suppose you bought this house new at $100 per square foot, totaling $120,000, and made a $12,000 down payment, leaving you with a $108,000 mortgage. This mortgage would have a $580 monthly payment, assuming an average 5% interest rate for most of the ownership period. During this time, you likely faced annual property taxes ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 and annual homeowners insurance costs between $600 and $1,900.
Assuming you sold the house this year after having owned this home for the past 20 years, for a price of $187,000. After paying 6% in selling costs, you would net $176,000. With a remaining principal loan balance of $67,400, you might consider your profit to be $108,000. However, over this period, you would have paid approximately $55,000 in property taxes, $18,000 in insurance, and over $98,500 in loan interest. Deducting these holding costs from your sale proceeds, you would be negative $63,500 (you also paid down the loan balance $40,600 over this time frame). This âcash flowâ is not particularly concerning, though, because you effectively reduced your housing cost to an average of $5,000 per year or $420 per month, over the past 20 years, excluding benefits from the mortgage interest deduction. At your purchase in early 2000âs, you put up $12,000 to get this opportunity as the down payment. My simplified analysis also ignores things like the maintenance, PMI on the mortgage, and capital expenditure.
The main point of this example is to demonstrate that rising home prices (appreciation) driven by limited supply are the key factors that make suburban real estate investment viable. However, we are approaching a point where average home prices are reaching an affordability ceiling, and the outcome remains uncertain.
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Sorry, was this supposed to be about a mountain for downtown?
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Oh look, they are building a 5 over None building in Cary! Sorry, I couldnât resist.
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The one on E Chatham will have retail if that is what you were referring to.
The top one was supposed to have an office building with ground floor retail closer to the street. Do you have any idea if thatâs still happening? Canât tell if theyâre waiting to finish the apartment construction, or if itâs on hold/cancelled.
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I see that completion date is 2026, but construction has not yet started. It would have to start really soon to make that happen.
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No. I am referring to the construction type. A five over one building is the sort of thing you see in downtown Raleigh meaning type 5 (wood frame) over type 1 (non-combustible). In the case of this building, itâs just type 5. I was just making a little play on words.
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Do you ever wish Raleigh had like a China Town or Little Italy or some other cultural spot? Boston food tour North End March 11 2025âŚ
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I think our downtown is a little small for that kind of thing, but Glenwood South is certainly trying with their Little Italeigh attempts
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Wilmington, DEâs downtown is smaller than DTR but has a great Little Italy for its size. Only picture I took is of the sign, but their LI spans a few blocks:
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See - it doesnât have to be big to add a little flavor to the place. Just a little something extraâŚ
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OMG the pastries in Bostonâs North End are delicious! Yum, yum, yum.
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I mean Iâm all for it. This area just wasnât traditionally home to all of the immigrants that some northern cities were. But we have a lot of transplants from up there, so the customer base is here Iâm sure. Just not maybe in that traditional format of âLittle xxxxâ neighborhoods.
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The only thing missing are actual Italian-Americans, who have been living here for multiple generations. It canât be replicated.
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At least the Triangle is filled with Italian restaurants.
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Cary/ Morrisville could certainly have a designated Little India but unfortunately I think patrons will have to drive from each business to the next
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