North Carolina Mortgage Closing Costs - 2nd Lowest In U.S.

North Carolina is the second cheapest state for mortgage closing costs even though they are going up nationwide, according to a new survey from Bankrate Inc.

The Bankrate 2011 Closing Costs Survey shows that nationwide the average origination and title fees on a $200,000 mortgage are up 8.8 percent from a year ago for a total of $4,070.

In North Carolina, the total cost is $3,410, which includes $1,839 in title and closing costs, as well as $1,571 in origination fees. Origination fees include lender charges for services such as underwriting and processing. Only Arkansas, at $3,378, had a cheaper total.

New York is the most expensive state with total fees of $6,183, followed by Texas ($4,944) and Utah ($4,906).

Check out the Bankrate 2011 Closing Costs Survey here.

Source: North Carolina Mortgage Closing Costs - Lowest in USA

Forbes : Raleigh NC Top U.S. City For Young Professionals

Raleigh Ranked No. 2 USA City For Young Professionals

Forbes loves Raleigh, really!  Following a No. 1 ranking among the 50 Best Places for Business and Careers, and a No. 2 ranking on its list of the Next Big Boom Towns in the U.S., the magazine ranked the Raleigh region as No. 2 on it’s list of America’s Best Cities For Young Professionals.

Forbes wrote, “With an abundance of colleges and universities in the area such as University of North Carolina and Duke University, and Research Triangle, a major center for high-tech and biotech research, more than 42% of the local population touts BA degrees, making it the most educated of the cities we looked at.”

To determine the best cities for young professionals, which they define as adults aged from 24 to 34 who hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher, Forbes started with the 100 largest U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (cities and the suburbs surrounding them) as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Forbes assessed these cities based on seven factors, weighting them evenly:

1. Local unemployment rates
2. 2010 to 2012 job growth projections
3. Census Bureau data on the number of small businesses (defined as less than 500 employees) per capita
4. The number of large businesses
5. The median salaries for 24- to 34-year-old employed college graduates
6. Moody’s cost-of living index, to gauge how far those paychecks will go
7. The percentage of the population aged 25 and older with college degrees in the area

The college town turned boom town is garnering a lot of love, just another reason why we “love” calling Raleigh NC home!

Source: Raleigh Is Tops For Young Professionals

Raleigh NC Ranked #2 Next Big Boom Town

Raleigh NC Ranked No. 2 "Big Boom" Town In Next Decade According To Forbes

Raleigh NC has experienced the 2nd-highest overall population increase and the 3rd-highest job growth over the past two decades in the United States. It also ranked among those regions seeing the biggest jump in new immigrants and is the No. 1 city for families with young children. The area is a magnet for technology companies fleeing the more expensive, congested and highly regulated northeast corridor. Affordable housing & short commute times are no doubt highly attractive to recent college graduates and millennials looking to start families.

To determine the next boom towns in the U.S., Forbes took the 52 largest metro areas in the country (those with populations exceeding 1 million) and ranked them based on various data indicating past, present & future vitality.

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They started with job growth, not only looking at performance over the past decade but also focusing on growth in the past two years, to account for the possible long-term effects of the Great Recession. That accounted for roughly one-third of the score.

The other two-thirds were made up of a a broad range of demographic factors, all weighted equally. These included rates of family formation (percentage growth in children 5-17), growth in educated migration, population growth and, finally, a broad measurement of attractiveness to immigrants -- as places to settle, make money and start businesses.

Source: The Next Big Boom Towns in USA : Raleigh NC