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It took my freinds who moved from MN 3 times at 1 week stays with 2 week intervals in between. They were familiar with the area and lived here once before for a few years before having to leave due to job transfer.
I would imagine it will be different for everyone depending on their circumstances and if they are familiar with NC at all.
Approximately how long did people coming in from different states stay in the Raleigh area to go house hunting on their first visit?
It depends on what you mean by that. . . .
My wife and I came here once for the weekend just to see if Raleigh was a nice place to relocate to. We drove around, had lunch with some old friends, and met with a realtor, who drove us around for an afternoon.
Once we did actually move here, which was a year later, we spent our first 9 months hunting for a house.
We came down from Illinois for one 2-day weekend and that was it. No kidding.
HOWEVER, I had spent months prior to that looking at things on the Internet and chatting via phone/email with our NC realtor. We came down in December and probably looked at 20 houses in 2 days--made an offer and got it accepted on the 2nd day. On a grad student salary, we weren't really able to schedule more/longer visits than that... but I'd say everything turned out wonderfully despite it all. We're in a great house in a great location. I'm kinda glad we did it so quickly instead of dragging it out unnecessarily.
We spent one week looking at Chapel Hill and Raleigh, having never been here before. By the end of the week, we knew which neighborhoods of Chapel Hill we wanted to be in so had the realtor email us new listings.
we're coming down next week for 2 days, just to see how NC fits us, and how we fit in NC. I envision us coming for another few days later this year to look in more detail.
We didn't come at all! We found a house on MLS, sent our family (who lives in Raleigh) to see it with our agent, and came to town for the closing. Crazy I know but we both grew up in the area and were very familiar with it.
Second time: we just finished a 3 week stay. Saw about 60 houses and made an offer for one. Now we are in the negotiation period. We are heading back to FL tomorrow and handle this process by phone.
To get the feel of the area and pick the location, It take us 2 week. We spend close to 6 hr each day just driving anound the area and see houses.
We rented for 6 months and couldn't imagine doing it any other way (everyone is different and have to do what feels right for them). During that time, we spent every weekend looking at areas and subdivisions on our own. Once we decided on an area, we found a realtor local to the area we wanted and then found our house. We also did extensive (borderline obsessive) research online. I'd print out MLS homes and mapquest them so we could see if the areas/homes looked good in person as much as the did on paper.
Some folks prefer to find a house and move in right away. Whatever you decide, good luck!!!
Lauren
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They were familiar with the area and lived here once before for a few years before having to leave due to job transfer.
