Durham Homes For Sale | Durham Real Estate
If you think Toronto is the only place to go for excellent universities, health care, research, good real estate investments, and cultural diversity, you're dead wrong. There are other places that offer these types of opportunity with the added bonuses of a warmer climate and not being so vastly huge in size. If this revelation comes as a relief to you, stop looking at Etobicoke houses and read on. This website was designed by Durham, North Carolina real estate agents to help you see the myriad of benefits that come from living in their beautiful city.
Durham, North Carolina: The City of Medicine
Durham is the county seat of Durham County, NC although the city itself occupies small slices of other counties. Located approximately 20 miles from the state capitol in Raleigh, Durham is one of three anchor cities (along with Raleigh and Chapel Hill) of the Piedmont Triangle region of the state. With a population of 217,000, it is the fifth largest city in the state of North Carolina. Its nickname, "The City of Medicine" comes from its association with medical research.
Durham, NC's history goes back to 1853, when steam powered wood-burning locomotives were still traveling through the state via the North Carolina railroad. Since the locomotives could only go about 30 miles without stopping to refuel, a re-supply depot was needed between Raleigh and Hillsborough. Traveling physician Bartlett Durham donated the land necessary to build the depot, so the town takes its name from him.
Durham, North Carolina was a major player in the tobacco industry during the Civil War, and later in the textile industry as well. By the mid 1900s both tobacco and textiles had fallen by the wayside and Durham's economy was saved by the establishment of Research Triangle Park. The park focuses primarily on medical and high-tech research and development and along with Duke University's medical program gives the city its nickname. Duke University itself employs nearly 40,000 people and almost 50,000 work in Triangle Park at facilities belonging to IBM, GlaxoSmithKline, General Electric, and the Centers for Disease Control, among others.
Durham, North Carolina has a long and distinguished African American cultural heritage. The Hayti community near downtown had some of the first African-American owned businesses in the state, and Martin Luther King Jr. helped to organize protests in Durham during the Civil Rights Movement. Today that heritage is preserved in the Hayti Heritage Center. Other things to do in Durham include hiking, visiting tobacco museums, and attending sporting events.
The State of Housing in Durham, NC
Durham, North Carolina, like a lot of cities in the United States, has gone through several periods of urban renewal. Currently, Durham is in a renewal phase that has continued since the global downturn in manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s. Interest among residents in preserving the city's unique history has led to a movement to restore, rebuild, and preserve historic structures, especially in the downtown area.
This in turn has inspired developers to revamp old buildings into apartments and build entirely new complexes and neighborhoods to take advantage of the beautiful new facades. Consequently, a wide range of home styles can be found in Durham, NC from restored historic houses to brand new condos and suburban family homes.
The cost of living in Durham, NC is considered to be less than the national average, and real estate prices are more of the same. They aren't so cheap as to be undesirable, but they are much less expensive than in major urban centers like Toronto, which is excellent for the large student population in the city who need to secure adequate housing on their meager student loans. The average home or townhouse in Durham costs approximately $210,000 and renters can expect to pay somewhere in the vicinity of $700 per month for their apartments.
Contact a Durham, NC Real Estate Agent
Do Durham, NC's opportunities appeal to you? If so, you may want some more information. If that's the case, click over to our contact page to get in touch with a real estate agent who can help. All our agents are residents of Durham themselves and have extensive knowledge of the city and surrounding area. Our files are filled with real estate listings, so no matter what type of property or neighborhood you're looking for we're sure to have something that will appeal to you. Give us a call and find out what it is. You may find you didn't even know you wanted it until you saw it!