4/26/2010 11:14:48 PM

Well, I'm down here. I've been here for a few weeks now and haven't had any issues so far, the area is really nice and I've not been sketched out once, everything is amazingly convenient to my apartment and the commute is awesome...I've yet to see any major traffic on my route in the morning or evening. I was surprised to see how dead it is on Sundays though.

5/31/2010 6:15:20 PM

Bump

5/2/2011 5:37:29 PM

^ Thanks Cass.

Looks like I'll be moving to Fayetteville soon. Most of the info in this thread is nearly 6 years old. Anyone still in that area and can offer some advice, I'd greatly appreciate it. Wife and I will be going up to Fayetteville tomorrow, we'll be looking at some homes in Hope Mills, maybe Raeford, checking out downtown, etc.

Shoot me a PM if you have any neighborhood suggestions, knowledge of elementary schools, good places to eat/visit. We're looking in the $200,000 range on homes and there seem to be some solid choices for less than $100/sq ft in the Hope Mills area. Haymount homes are not enough bang for the buck even though I've heard the area is nice.



[Edited on May 3, 2011 at 11:24 AM. Reason : sd]

5/3/2011 11:23:31 AM

Where are you working? How old are your kids?

Depending on how far out you want to be from Fayetteville (and probably your job) the Eastover area is a decent option. Relatively cheap housing compared to places like Haymount and there are really great schools out there from elementary to the high school. (I'm a little biased since I'm from out that way but it's nice, honest)

I think Gray's Creek is probably your best bet school-wise if that's just too far out for you. There's quite a few brand new schools out that way.

I live on Ramsey street up near 295 and I would recommend King's Grant but those houses are a little more expensive than you're looking at.

5/3/2011 11:54:23 AM

I've been down there once or twice on bike tours- the downtown area was just coming back about 4 years ago and was nice and tree-lined. We camped out by the river, damn, that was cold.

It doesn't strike me as being any worse than East Durham in the area we biked through-convenience stores, pawn shops and people wandering around aimlessly. Typical southern poverty situation. Never were bothered by anybody. Shrug.

5/3/2011 11:56:09 AM

^^ Thanks for the input. I've heard the Grays Creeks schools are decent too. My daughter turns four this summer so she is still a year out from starting elementary school, but obviously we want to be in a good school zone.

I'll have to take a look at the Eastover area. My job is in the southwest area of Fayetteville. About half way between Fayetteville and Hope Mills as the crow flies.

5/3/2011 2:58:27 PM

first off, as a graduate of terry sanford (which would mean alma easom -> vanstory -> max abbott -> terry sanford) my opinions are going to be biased.

personally, i wouldn't live anywhere in fayetteville that wasn't in aforementioned school district, especially if i had kids. the convenience to everything (while still being well isolated from the sketchy parts of fayetteville) coupled with the nice, quiet, established neighborhoods, and arguably best public schools is hard to beat. if you were going to send your daughter to private school, those neighborhoods are also going to be the most convenient to the fayetteville academy, village christian academy, and st. patrick's, while also being very close to fayetteville christian as well. that would limit your neighborhoods to van story, haymount, huntington park and a few others. unfortunately, as you said, the bang for the buck in those neighborhoods is bad. however, there is a reason those houses are more expensive.

FWIW, every person i personally know who has recently bought or rented a house in fayetteville has done so in those neighborhoods (myself included). i don't know anyone who has regretted their decision and a few have even gone as far as saying "i can't believe i ever considered buying a house in ______"

let me know if you have any specific questions.

5/12/2011 10:40:15 AM

I, too, live in the Terry Sanford school district and I do know what you mean by bang for your buck, what you give up in size and newness of the homes there, you more than make up for it in proximity to restaurants, shopping, etc. as well as how well the property value will hold because it really is a much nicer area.

5/12/2011 10:52:22 AM

Terry Sanford grad here, as far as public schools go you are better off sticking w/ Terry Sanford, Jack Britt, or Gray's Creek (probably in that order).

Terry Sanford district offers the most to do, the most affluent neighborhoods, and the most central part of the city. Hope Mills is a miserable place to be IMO, just too crowded for my liking and getting bigger everyday w/ the military. I live in Haymount and love it. Yes the houses are smaller than Gray's Creek or Hope Mills, but it's the most sought out school district there is. Like Dub Caps said, TS district is close to the great private schools too.

The neighborhoods are older, but more established and honestly just more attractive than your basic development type neighborhoods that you would find in Hope Mills or Gray's Creek. Haymount and Vanstory are right in between all the commercial areas and downtown but you get more of a residential lifestyle vs. coming out of your neighborhood into chaos like you would in Hope Mills.

Quote :

"Haymount homes are not enough bang for the buck even though I've heard the area is nice. "

You are right in that you won't get a bigger house for the money, but it is the most sought out neighborhood of young families. The prices are higher per sq foot for a reason and that is location location location. It's a very public neighborhood in that people cut through it often, but it's still safe enough to take walks, bike rides, etc....i love walking my dogs through the neighborhood and go to the neighborhood park, etc.

One plus side to my house from an investor's perspective is that I have a nice & updated home and it will sell so quickly whenever I decide to sell it. Young military families salivate at nicer Haymount homes...so I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of profit I can make.

PM me w/ any questions you have...I have been in Fayetteville since I was 6 years old and now live here again w/ my own family and have no regrets.



[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 11:40 AM. Reason : df]

5/12/2011 11:37:25 AM

bottom line, if you want a house that is guaranteed to sell one day...TS district is no. 1...especially Haymount, Vanstory, Huntington Park, Mirror Lake neighborhoods

Quote :

"My job is in the southwest area of Fayetteville. About half way between Fayetteville and Hope Mills as the crow flies."

Take a look at Mirror Lake...it's right off of McPherson Church Road...less than half a mile from Raeford Road....a quick shoot to Hope Mills from there. If you got a question on where it is shoot me a PM.

[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 11:51 AM. Reason : df]

5/12/2011 11:42:46 AM

Lifelong Haymount/Terry Sanford snob here...

Basically all of what they said, but with more of an attitude.

5/12/2011 12:01:52 PM

^^do you mean murray hill?

5/12/2011 12:55:02 PM

^Yes, I'm sorry...Murray Hill not Mirror Lake...Mirror Lake is a street in Vanstory....blonde moment

5/12/2011 1:16:56 PM

Thanks to all the recent posts. I'll talk with my wife about this. She is really down for a new house and wants more sq footage, but I'm more indifferent. I won't technically be in the market until I get my home sold here in SC so it'll give me time to learn Fayetteville and visit more neighborhoods.

So Terry Sanford is really better than Jack Britt? What I've been told is Britt>Sanford>Grays Creek>everything else.

5/12/2011 3:04:10 PM

The Terry Sanford area is the most desirable area. Homes hold their value, neighborhoods are established and nicer. It's within a 10 min drive of everything in town and it's somewhat insulated from most of the parts of town that give Fayettenam it's name.

It's arguable which actual high school is better, although some people say Jack Britt is because it's quite a bit newer.

5/12/2011 3:15:26 PM

Most of the replies have been from people that went there

It's a good school but I'm not sure it's the best. I think it was the best school when people 25-30 years old were in high school so we just always think of it that way. And I'm not sure Gray's Creek HS has that great of a rep just yet - it's mostly their elementary schools.

But generally, I think the 3 best high schools in the area are Jack Britt, Terry Sanford, Cape Fear.

[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 3:47 PM. Reason : .]

5/12/2011 3:18:15 PM

jack britt is a much newer/nicer school, but terry sanford is probably a better one. i don't think it's a coincidence that most of the people who grew up in fayetteville and are posting in this thread are terry sanford graduates. (the lack of jack britt people could be attributed to the newness of the school though) regardless, as mentioned numerous times in the thread, the neighborhoods feeding into terry sanford are much much more desirable.

this next part is going to show pretty extreme bias and i'm going to make broad generalizations and assumptions so take it with a grain of salt

while fayetteville is far from a mecca of affluency, as a general rule just about every desirable/higher end neighborhood in fayetteville feeds into terry sanford (with some exceptions obviously). as a result, on average, the kids going to these schools are going to come from families who are better off financially than those at other schools. terry sanford probably has more extremes both ways than jack britt though which is probably has less deviation

/bias

if you go back and read the thread, the haymount area is probably the most consistent recommendation.

[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 3:58 PM. Reason : ]

5/12/2011 3:55:16 PM

^ true

FTS also has street cred now

5/12/2011 3:59:06 PM

I also grew up in Fayetteville and went to Terry Sanford, but I did not live in the nicer parts of town the other posters did. Looking on a map, Jack Britt and especially Grays Creek neighborhoods would put you in the Boonies. I wouldn't move back to Fayetteville, but if I did I would move into the FTS neighborhoods everyone else is saying.

5/12/2011 4:02:33 PM

Quote :

"FTS also has street cred now"

who dat who dat.

[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 4:03 PM. Reason : ]

5/12/2011 4:02:42 PM

^JERMAINE! Love that kid...was always cracking me up in HS (a lot of people don't know that he was an outstanding student...i think graduated from St. John's w/ honors)...anyways...as to what DUB was saying ...Terry Sanford is the most central public high school in town. That means you have the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor...IIRC we were probably 50% white (most of that being middle class or higher), 40% black (unfortunately a large portion of this is very low income to none at all), 10% other when i was there in 2000 to 2004.

Jack Britt and Gray's Creek are probably 60 to 70 % white or higher and are your typical lower middle class to middle class/alot of country folk.

JB and GC are very good high schools, but i'd argue that TS's best students are > JB or GC's best students.

The whole test score average that people will dig up is very hard to judge b'c of the demographic of TS vs. the others. I was very prepared for college (considering i went to public school) by going to TS.



and the neighborhoods are just so much better...go get your Square footage if you need it, but selling a house one day could be a little bit tougher (albeit fayetteville has one of the best housing markets in the country due to Ft. Bragg...so it's all relative)

[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 4:26 PM. Reason : df]

5/12/2011 4:22:26 PM

one other thing to think about is not just the HS...the elementary schools in the TS district are excellent...so if you decide to come to that district..make sure you get your daughter in at Alma Easom, which feeds to Vanstory Hills, into Max Abbott Middle to FTS (Fayettevile Terry Sanford).

Alma Easom and FTS are in older buildings but they're doing a ton of work to both of them right now.

5/12/2011 4:30:23 PM

The main reason terry sanford includes a mix of affluent and poorer areas is because they purposely included several areas which are not anywhere near the school geographically to diversify the school. The Jack Ford area and Murchison road area are two examples. Funny enough, it is probably the most diverse school in the county because of that.

When people think of the terry sanford area, though, they think of haymount, kingsford, murray and stratford hills, vanstory, skye drive area, etc.

5/12/2011 4:31:48 PM

Quote :

"Most of the replies have been from people that went there "

cause fts grads are the brightest fayetteville has to offer! i want to say my graduating class was like top 5 in the state in terms of sending people to ncsu and unc.

5/12/2011 4:32:05 PM

Quote :

"The main reason terry sanford includes a mix of affluent and poorer areas is because they purposely included several areas which are not anywhere near the school geographically to diversify the school. The Jack Ford area and Murchison road area are two examples. Funny enough, it is probably the most diverse school in the county because of that. "

exactly.

it's kind of silly because the classes themselves really weren't very diverse aside from PE and electives. if you took a lot of honors/AP classes and/or were in global studies, you pretty much had class with the same 100 or so people.

5/12/2011 4:37:57 PM

^this...but probably more like 150 to 200

5/12/2011 5:04:02 PM

For those of you that live in Fayetteville now, what are some other elementary schools you know are good and which ones are "oh fuck no, I'll quit my job and home school my kid first"? With my company, I highly doubt my kid(s) will go to high school in Fayetteville so I am more worried about elementary schools right now.

I recognize the resale value being in the TS area will be much better, but ultimately it may not be what works for us plus my company gives us a strong relocation package which protects my home value from too much loss (if I purchase in a lesser school district than TS). Again I am not purchasing right away and will have a chance to scout areas after I start working in June. I really do appreciate all of the comments.



[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 5:12 PM. Reason : sd]

5/12/2011 5:11:59 PM

Lifelong resident here....Alma Easom in the Haymount area is the best for K-1 or Glendale K-2. My Mom teaches at Glendale. Small class size. Kind of a community school.

5/12/2011 7:25:11 PM

glendale acres feeds into ashley elementary which feeds into max abbott which feeds into terry sanford.

glendale -> ashley would open up the clairway neighborhood which would probably be right after vanstory/haymount in terms of desirability.

5/12/2011 7:58:47 PM

if i didn't live in TS district...I'd try for Gray's Creek...i know the principal of gray's creek elementary and he is a hell of a guy.

glendale is a good school route too

[Edited on May 12, 2011 at 9:22 PM. Reason : sdf]

5/12/2011 9:22:14 PM

One of my sons goes to Glendale Acres now. Have no complaints whatsoever. It is a choice school too, so even if you don't live in the district, if you apply early enough they keep some slots open so that anyone can go.

5/12/2011 10:30:05 PM

For options other than Terry Sanford district - District 7 (Wade) and Eastover Central are both great elementary schools.

Again, they're both pretty much opposite of where you're looking but they have really good reps. I personally don't like the Hope Mills area as much as some people and if I had kids, I'd at least consider the Eastover area for the schools if I couldn't find a house in town that I liked in my price range.

5/12/2011 10:58:54 PM

^i think the cape fear (eastover,stedman, etc) district is decent...don't know much about the elementary schools unfortunately. Only drawback to this area is that your daughter will talk like a redneck as she gets older

check out the baywood golf club (near eastover) neighborhood...fairly good sized homes over there w/ a lot of young families



[Edited on May 13, 2011 at 8:34 AM. Reason : f]

5/13/2011 8:33:07 AM

i still say suck it up and buy a house in vanstory, haymount, murray hill, huntington park, or clairway and be done with it. after living in fayetteville for 6 months you will be glad you did and will laugh at yourself for considering living anywhere else.

Also, here is an rough google map that lays out where everything is in relation to each other. i don't know the raeford and hope mill city limits so I simply marked the center of each town.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=203181326292179811138.0004a3299cd14988de74d&ll=35.004409,-78.970413&spn=0.271657,0.553436&t=h&z=12

let me know if you have any questions.

5/13/2011 11:51:54 AM

FWIW I'm being shown 4 houses in about 20 minutes. All of which are in the FTS District.

5/13/2011 1:15:10 PM

i forgot about glendale acres, westwood, and tallywood neighborhoods so i added them to the map. i actually grew up in tallywood which is a quiet little neighborhood next to van story/murray hill. however, there are very very few children that live there so the other areas would probably be better.

I'd rank the areas as follows

1a. Vanstory
1b. Haymount (depending on where in haymount, some areas are better than others)
2. Huntington Park (woodlands is probably going to be too expensive)
3. Clairway
4. Glendale Acres
5. Tallywood (because it's mostly old people)

Decent gap

6. Westwood

I also added buckhead, kingsford, and the neighborhood lining the golf course. they are marked with $ as houses there are going to be way more expensive than $200k. Also, Kingsford & Buckhead back up to the highway which is sort of fail anyway.

I also added these schools:
St. Patrick's Catholic School
Village Christian Academy
Fayetteville Christian School
Fayetteville Academy

Let me know if you want me to add anything!

[Edited on May 13, 2011 at 3:03 PM. Reason : ]

5/13/2011 2:47:34 PM

Galberry farms is said to be a great school. I have client's with kids attending there. That would put them in line to go to grey's creek down the road. The grey's creek area is really growing. One of the nice things about grey's creek and haymount as compared to the other area's is a lower military population. The military you get in those areas tend to be more established/affluent officers.

I live in Hope Mills near Southview (my daughter will not be attending public school unless we move). There are some very nice established areas in grey's creek with reasonable prices. Just stay within a few miles of the golf course. I have a few clients that live in that area and really like it. You are only ten mins from downtown and 10 mins from the mall area with immediate access to I-95. With the completion of the george owen freeway in the next year or so, a commute to SW f'ville will not be too bad....considering I commute to Wilmington, any commute in fayetteville is good.

5/13/2011 2:56:04 PM

^i just added galberry farms, grey's creek middle, and grey's creek highschool to the map.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=h&msa=0&msid=203181326292179811138.0004a3299cd14988de74d&ll=35.004409,-78.971443&spn=0.263501,0.553436&z=12

5/13/2011 3:01:34 PM

Any updates?

5/23/2011 11:04:40 AM

^ I appreciate that map you made. I'm starting my new job in a couple weeks and will be looking to rent somewhere near by work. No decision on a house or where we'll purchase. Sucks that shopping in Fayetteville seems pretty limited to one area (Skibo). Any other areas where there are decent grocery stores (i.e. not Food Lion or Super Wal Mart)?

5/23/2011 1:40:46 PM

Where's your work? My sister might be renting her townhouse (built in 2007), which is across the street from Methodist U


NM, I see your post above about being between fayetteville and hope mills.

What are you gonna be doing? (I'm just curious since I lived there all my life until college)

[Edited on May 23, 2011 at 2:31 PM. Reason : ]

5/23/2011 2:28:28 PM

^^Harris Teeter on Raeford Rd ...that's the nicest in town...the nicest Food Lion is on Morganton Rd/Mcpherson Church Rd. Intersection...that's where I shop.

Skibo sucks so much...but I find that I'm able to avoid it unless needing to go to Target, the mall, or Panera/Chicfila...every now and then I'll go to another store over there but there are mom and pops places all throughout other parts of town

Continue w/ the questions and we'll surely help you out



[Edited on May 23, 2011 at 2:59 PM. Reason : df]

5/23/2011 2:49:28 PM

the only grocery stores in fayetteville are the harris teeter on raeford rd (which is going to be the nicest), a few food lions, walmarts, and an IGA or two. there are no longer any krogers or bi-lo's in fayetteville. there might be a kroger in hope mills.

just a heads up, the wal-mart on skibo is an absolute clusterfuck. the parking lot is almost always completely full no matter what time you go and they never have enough registers open. they recently had to start closing from midnight to 6 am due to the number of police calls they had. (it used to be open 24 hours)

"According to Fayetteville police, officers were called to the Skibo Road store 2,782 times between Jan. 1, 2009, and Nov. 30, 2010. That works out to an average of nearly four times a day in the 23-month period."

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2010/12/22/1055626?sac=Local

that being said, i still bought my groceries there yesterday. (at ~2 pm)

[Edited on May 23, 2011 at 3:08 PM. Reason : ]

5/23/2011 3:04:51 PM

the best Walmart is on Ramsey Street near Methodist University or the one out towards Raeford...the one on Ramsey is very nice and usually calm.

[Edited on May 23, 2011 at 3:11 PM. Reason : df]

5/23/2011 3:10:54 PM

Thanks for the grocery store info. Sucks that there are not more options but with all the military folks, I assume they're going to be shopping on base so maybe it limits the demand for nicer grocery stores. Is the Target a Super Target?

Also

Quote :

"What are you gonna be doing? (I'm just curious since I lived there all my life until college) "

I'll actually be managing a small recycling plant, primarily paper recycling. If you know of any places that need an outlet for unneeded paper, I can help. It needs to be a fairly significant amount for us to truly work out a partnership though.


Also LOL at this article I saw on Fay Observer:

http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/05/23/1096166?sac=Local



[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 10:59 AM. Reason : l;]

5/24/2011 10:53:49 AM

^my biz just started w/ the city for recycling our paper...

also...the Target is not a Super Target, but they are redoing it as we speak to increase the grocery store department...i remember reading this in the paper a while back

we need a super target...i'm sure we'll get one soon...as well as a costco IMO.

I've also heard Whole Foods or Fresh Market being tossed around the last few years.

And yes...cambridge arms apt's are ghetto



[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 11:05 AM. Reason : sdf]

5/24/2011 11:00:11 AM

^ I liked the how the Mexicans beat the shit out of the robbers and left them there for the cops to find. LOL at street justice.

Do you guys know of any info on apartments? There are a lot of options and I am looking for one close to work (Mid Pines Rd). I've done some research and found a few that have decent reveiws in my price range. My company is giving me a lump sum to use so I'm trying to keep it less than $700/month to make the lump sum stretch out in case I'm living in the apartment for a while. Some places in the area are just expensive in my opinion for a 1 BD/1BA.

5/24/2011 12:01:26 PM

Lake Clair is a nice, older complex that would be worth checking out. It's a bit pricey and I'm not a fan of their management but it's a good complex in a good location.

Village gate looked pretty good when I checked it out a while back.

Both complexes look to be about 2-3 miles from mid pines rd

For whatever reason, apartments in Fayetteville seem to cost a bit more than their Raleigh equivilants, at least the ones you would actually want to live in.

5/24/2011 2:48:42 PM

Yeah I would listen to Dub Caps...he lived in an apartment w/in the last year and has done the research...Fayetteville doesn't have alot of apartments, YET, so the demand is probably a little higher aka price is up. They're building a lot of new ones around Ft Bragg.

Lake Clair is in a safer location than some others...just dont go live at Cambridge arms lol

Ps...at least you don't work directly in Hope Mills...your traffic will be annoying but not awful...your office is really close to Dubcaps and Bigt716 lol

[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 2:53 PM. Reason : sdf]

5/24/2011 2:51:22 PM