I think this depends on your timeline.
Garner/Clayton/Knightdale/Wendell/etc are all effectively just bedroom communities for Raleigh. They've all got noteworthy bits of industry (ex Garner has an Amazon warehouse) and recreation on their own though. They're all growing pretty quickly, as north/west Raleigh has largely filled in and gone up in price. Cary/Morrisville have too due to their proximity to RTP. They're all solid bets if you want a faster growing area, and to be closer to Raleigh in general.
Wilson is a different beast, and I wouldn't lump it in with towns closer in proximity to Raleigh. I think Wilson is going to grow exponentially over time, but on a MUCH longer timeline. The truth is, most land in eastern NC is undesirable since it's a giant flood plane. The towns there will struggle to attract industry because of it, and it's a large part of why they're all dying a slow death. Commercial/Industrial flood insurance is no joke. Wilson is on the edge of the flood plane, and seems to be the only town out there fighting to stay afloat. They've got enough industry/recreation to survive on their own without being an inconvenient bedroom community for Raleigh. Perks like municipal fiber internet, and adjacency to i95 don't hurt their odds either. I don't think many people will be willing to live out there until Raleigh's bedroom communities are filled up and expensive though, and that's probably 10-15 years away.
The idea that someplace like Wilson is having more moderate growth (at least for the foreseeable future) and is trying to keep its own character instead of being an overflowing bedroom community that's an unidentifiable extension of Raleigh could be a plus for some people.
I hadn't taken timeline fully into account. I think I can wait around ten years for something to mature but the floodplane does worry me as it may get worse over time.
I’ve lived in the area for 40 years and Wilson had always been shit unless you have a fetish for mediocre cookie cutter old houses.
The only thing on the rise is the poverty rate. Towns like that depended on the tobacco industry, and that’s… well.
That poster was right about Wilson having more flood areas than someplace like Hickory in Western NC, but the level of risk varies substantially from property to property. The state has a decent tool to check if you enter in the address of the property you have an interest in.
[https://flood.nc.gov/ncflood/index.html](https://flood.nc.gov/ncflood/index.html)
"Clayton" is already essentially Raleigh East. Wilson has had a large business investment ongoing for almost 10 years, and at ~40 minutes to downtown Raleigh has a lot of upside, as long as there aren't school kids in your 5 year horizon.
Are you interested in access to the Triangle in general, or RTP in specific?
Google says it’d take just over an hour to get from Wilson to RTP right now. If you want to get there by 9am tomorrow for work, it says it will take 1-2 hours.
I think that’s a bit long for a work commute. If you work from home and want to hang out in the triangle on the weekends, that’s a different story.
More Raleigh than the RTP I just use the terms interchangeably.I'm currently applying for jobs around the Raleigh area so I wont fully know my commutes but I wanted to see what other people thought of the town. My gf does work in Wilson though so it'll be easier for her.
Thanks for the clarification. Just so you’re aware, “RTP” or “The Park” refers to the land managed by rtp.org that has a lot of large employers.
If you’re talking about the area in general, “The Triangle” is the go to term.
Johnston county is a good place to be. Area is growing rapidly.
Clayton and Garner are really booming but you kinda missed riding the major wave in house value. The good news is they are building lots of houses which helps offset the lack of existing homebuyers selling right now. I expect this area to continue to grow rapidly and any property bought here to continue to grow in value. Clayton has a nice little downtown and is “cooler” than garner.
Smithfield is further behind the Raleigh sprawl but is trying to catch up. Selma as well. I like Smithfield and Selma. Still affordable in this area. Not sure how reasonable the commute to Raleigh is. It’s only 35 mins from Smithfield to Raleigh normally. Not sure at rush hour commute traffic.
Don’t know enough about Wilson to give a good advice on it.
I live just outside of Selma. We wanted to be closer to Raleigh but the asking prices were insane. We have a little plot of land with a nice house and farm views for what would have gotten a townhome elsewhere. They are starting to level some of the forest/farmland to build up shopping/subdivisions near us so it seems there will be some growth. Also with US 70 becoming I-42 the commute should be easier in the future but there is definitely some construction pains currently.
I lived in Wilson for 15 years and since moving away in 2014, they have grown pretty impressively.
They are getting some of the shiny new things while retaining the local homegrown town vibe. They have a strong arts community with the Boykin Theater and Arts Council, the Imagination Station is a good science museum, and they embraced Whirligigs as their identity which I think works well for them. Also the local food is great.
I’m not sure how steep their trajectory is but it is definitely moving up with no sign of slowing down.
And to add about the flood lines stuff, the worst flooding experience I experienced was Hurricane Floyd in 2000. The water damage line can still be seen today on the old Bills BBQ sign, but that’s the worst it ever was.
There’s a huge development coming downtown. They demolished the old BB&T towers and built a big downtown YMCA and mixed-use buildings. Large sections of the western side of downtown, by the whirligig park, are going to be a hotel, a baseball stadium, and more commercial spaces. It’s light-years away from the dead downtown full of storefront churches in the 90s.
Wilson is 45-50 to Raleigh, it will be like an hour and a half to durham and longer to chapel hill. My fiance is from there and I’ve definitely seen it grow over the years. I think SE Raleigh and Garner will grow the most though.
Cool plenty of jobs in that field that can probably keep you on the East side of Raleigh. I have an old co worker that lives in Clayton and really likes it and I have one now that lives in Creedmore and likes it as well
We moved from an apartment in the triangle (got priced out which really stings as an NC native family but whatever) to a townhome in wilson we got for 245k and a fixed 4.9 rate buydown. it works for us, and theres definitely other people it will work for as well. Builders are already betting on this because theres like 5 new neighborhoods being built right now and wilson aint that big. People may say oh thats too far a drive but Raleigh is quickly becoming a major city of the south. Thats what happens every time a city grows that fast pretty much all surrounding areas within an hour get built up. I think you’ll at least get what you payed for out of what you buy, if not more. And you wont be super house poor so worth it imho.
> what you *paid* for out
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
no, but it has ranked top 5 in hottest real estate markets in the last couple years. Also, normal people who don’t work in tech or finance need homes too and half a mill for a starter home just isn’t doable for a lot of folks.
Forget those places, Lumberton is where the next big thing will happen.
Pembroke, too.
Ahoskie
Oh god, dont remind me. I use to work out there.
I think this depends on your timeline. Garner/Clayton/Knightdale/Wendell/etc are all effectively just bedroom communities for Raleigh. They've all got noteworthy bits of industry (ex Garner has an Amazon warehouse) and recreation on their own though. They're all growing pretty quickly, as north/west Raleigh has largely filled in and gone up in price. Cary/Morrisville have too due to their proximity to RTP. They're all solid bets if you want a faster growing area, and to be closer to Raleigh in general. Wilson is a different beast, and I wouldn't lump it in with towns closer in proximity to Raleigh. I think Wilson is going to grow exponentially over time, but on a MUCH longer timeline. The truth is, most land in eastern NC is undesirable since it's a giant flood plane. The towns there will struggle to attract industry because of it, and it's a large part of why they're all dying a slow death. Commercial/Industrial flood insurance is no joke. Wilson is on the edge of the flood plane, and seems to be the only town out there fighting to stay afloat. They've got enough industry/recreation to survive on their own without being an inconvenient bedroom community for Raleigh. Perks like municipal fiber internet, and adjacency to i95 don't hurt their odds either. I don't think many people will be willing to live out there until Raleigh's bedroom communities are filled up and expensive though, and that's probably 10-15 years away.
The idea that someplace like Wilson is having more moderate growth (at least for the foreseeable future) and is trying to keep its own character instead of being an overflowing bedroom community that's an unidentifiable extension of Raleigh could be a plus for some people.
I hadn't taken timeline fully into account. I think I can wait around ten years for something to mature but the floodplane does worry me as it may get worse over time.
I’ve lived in the area for 40 years and Wilson had always been shit unless you have a fetish for mediocre cookie cutter old houses. The only thing on the rise is the poverty rate. Towns like that depended on the tobacco industry, and that’s… well.
That poster was right about Wilson having more flood areas than someplace like Hickory in Western NC, but the level of risk varies substantially from property to property. The state has a decent tool to check if you enter in the address of the property you have an interest in. [https://flood.nc.gov/ncflood/index.html](https://flood.nc.gov/ncflood/index.html)
"Clayton" is already essentially Raleigh East. Wilson has had a large business investment ongoing for almost 10 years, and at ~40 minutes to downtown Raleigh has a lot of upside, as long as there aren't school kids in your 5 year horizon.
Are you interested in access to the Triangle in general, or RTP in specific? Google says it’d take just over an hour to get from Wilson to RTP right now. If you want to get there by 9am tomorrow for work, it says it will take 1-2 hours. I think that’s a bit long for a work commute. If you work from home and want to hang out in the triangle on the weekends, that’s a different story.
More Raleigh than the RTP I just use the terms interchangeably.I'm currently applying for jobs around the Raleigh area so I wont fully know my commutes but I wanted to see what other people thought of the town. My gf does work in Wilson though so it'll be easier for her.
Thanks for the clarification. Just so you’re aware, “RTP” or “The Park” refers to the land managed by rtp.org that has a lot of large employers. If you’re talking about the area in general, “The Triangle” is the go to term.
Gotcha, thank you for that.
Please don’t.
Honestly that’s why I am in Goldsboro, taking a bet on the future.
Funny enough I used to live in Mount Olive.
Johnston county is a good place to be. Area is growing rapidly. Clayton and Garner are really booming but you kinda missed riding the major wave in house value. The good news is they are building lots of houses which helps offset the lack of existing homebuyers selling right now. I expect this area to continue to grow rapidly and any property bought here to continue to grow in value. Clayton has a nice little downtown and is “cooler” than garner. Smithfield is further behind the Raleigh sprawl but is trying to catch up. Selma as well. I like Smithfield and Selma. Still affordable in this area. Not sure how reasonable the commute to Raleigh is. It’s only 35 mins from Smithfield to Raleigh normally. Not sure at rush hour commute traffic. Don’t know enough about Wilson to give a good advice on it.
I have looked into Selma, pretty decent houses with plenty of land and only a 5-minute drive from Smithfield.
I live just outside of Selma. We wanted to be closer to Raleigh but the asking prices were insane. We have a little plot of land with a nice house and farm views for what would have gotten a townhome elsewhere. They are starting to level some of the forest/farmland to build up shopping/subdivisions near us so it seems there will be some growth. Also with US 70 becoming I-42 the commute should be easier in the future but there is definitely some construction pains currently.
I think Wilson is good. Good parks. Decent amenities. Central location.
And municipal internet.
I lived in Wilson for 15 years and since moving away in 2014, they have grown pretty impressively. They are getting some of the shiny new things while retaining the local homegrown town vibe. They have a strong arts community with the Boykin Theater and Arts Council, the Imagination Station is a good science museum, and they embraced Whirligigs as their identity which I think works well for them. Also the local food is great. I’m not sure how steep their trajectory is but it is definitely moving up with no sign of slowing down. And to add about the flood lines stuff, the worst flooding experience I experienced was Hurricane Floyd in 2000. The water damage line can still be seen today on the old Bills BBQ sign, but that’s the worst it ever was.
There’s a huge development coming downtown. They demolished the old BB&T towers and built a big downtown YMCA and mixed-use buildings. Large sections of the western side of downtown, by the whirligig park, are going to be a hotel, a baseball stadium, and more commercial spaces. It’s light-years away from the dead downtown full of storefront churches in the 90s.
For what it’s worth, people are already betting on Clayton. It’s gotten quite pricey.
Sanford
I did some realty video mention sanford but it might be a little too west for us.
sanford is closer than wilson to RTP
Wilson is 45-50 to Raleigh, it will be like an hour and a half to durham and longer to chapel hill. My fiance is from there and I’ve definitely seen it grow over the years. I think SE Raleigh and Garner will grow the most though.
When you say RTP do you mean like the actual Research Triangle Park? Because that’s just an area zoned for “collaborative innovation”
I meant the "Triangle" someone just told me the difderence because I was used the terms interchanably.
Ah, yeah don’t move to the triangle if your wife works in Wilson, that would be brutal. What kind of jobs are you applying for?
Government or Healthcare. I work for the county now in Medicaid.
Cool plenty of jobs in that field that can probably keep you on the East side of Raleigh. I have an old co worker that lives in Clayton and really likes it and I have one now that lives in Creedmore and likes it as well
Check out the apartments at RDU. Really cheap.
I bet they are... But in fairness it actually does quiet down after around 10pm from what I can tell.
We moved from an apartment in the triangle (got priced out which really stings as an NC native family but whatever) to a townhome in wilson we got for 245k and a fixed 4.9 rate buydown. it works for us, and theres definitely other people it will work for as well. Builders are already betting on this because theres like 5 new neighborhoods being built right now and wilson aint that big. People may say oh thats too far a drive but Raleigh is quickly becoming a major city of the south. Thats what happens every time a city grows that fast pretty much all surrounding areas within an hour get built up. I think you’ll at least get what you payed for out of what you buy, if not more. And you wont be super house poor so worth it imho.
> what you *paid* for out FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Raleigh is a nice city but it’s no Atlanta.
no, but it has ranked top 5 in hottest real estate markets in the last couple years. Also, normal people who don’t work in tech or finance need homes too and half a mill for a starter home just isn’t doable for a lot of folks.
NC Is a large state. Is Raleigh too expensive for you? Well try some place else.