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August 04, 2008

Greystone & neighborhoods

This weekend J was in town and we visited Greystone as a potential wedding location.

It's a beautiful place. If you ever get the chance to stay there or visit, and love old Durham houses, I highly recommend it. It's the first place we've looked at where we got excited about the possibilities rather than being disappointed and crossing it off the list.

I don't know if we'll have the wedding there, but it's definitely a possibility.

We also visited some neighborhoods that I've uncovered in the last few weeks where we might like to live. While it would be great to stay close to downtown, the price per square foot around here can be really high by comparison, and we might not find the right place here.

It's kind of difficult to uncover these places if you're a devoted downtown dweller, as I am. It's like there's a whole other Durham that I didn't know was out there. A lot of it is very cookie-cutter and disappointing, but there are little pockets here and there that feel more laid back, have lots of trees and houses that don't all look the same.

Just in case someone reading this is in the same position, the places we like best are...

• Woodberry Forest
• Duke Forest (it's a neighborhood as well as a forest)
• Five Oaks (as planned subdivisions go, it's the most laid back)

We also walked the dog around Watts-Hillandale on Saturday. While the houses have lots of character-- and I know they have a good time there on Halloween-- the lots are small and the price per square foot is astronomical. Ah well.

On Sunday we started the Map Project (well, continued it with my participation). J ordered USGS maps of the area and made devices to store them properly and hold acetate overlays. We cut the acetate to fit (my sewing tools came in handy-- cutting wheel and self-healing mat) and started marking neighborhoods and other important features on the acetate overlays.

Busy, busy...

Posted by lisa at August 04, 2008 09:38 PM

Comments

I learned so much about Druham 'hoods during my house search. My advice is don't get your heart set on just one neighborhood unless you have plenty of time to wait for the perfect house to come up. I was really hoping for Northgate Park (and that's where the house I made the offer on but didn't get was), but I didn't have the time to wait for exactly what I wanted. But I got lucky, because I think the house I ended up buying is just about perfect for me, and I love it here.

I had a friend who lived in Five Oaks and she loved it. One thing about that area is that the way to 40 East is Farrington Rd., and it backs up something fierce in the mornings. There's a new development going in there so it's only going to get worse.

You should come take a look at my little area (it doesn't really have a name), which is north of MLK, south of University. There's a little swath between Cornwallis and Old Chapel Hill that's full of both ranches and contemporaries, with varying lot sizes. It's peaceful and shady, and it feels very homey here, plus it's still convenient to lots of stuff.

Posted by: lisa b on August 5, 2008 07:50 AM

with the market the way it is, i am guessing we'll have to do the same thing you did-- get my house under contract, then find whatever we can. so i am looking around all up in there. i'll have to do some driving around the area you described, i think i have done some but not much.

we are also wary of a place with an HOA, like five oaks. if the chicken ban is lifted, J wants to keep some laying hens, and we figure most HOA's will ban them.

Posted by: lisa on August 5, 2008 08:18 AM

I would love to have a few chickens too, but I don't think they're allowed in downtown Indy.

Posted by: Stephanie on August 5, 2008 09:23 AM

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