Bowling Green

Bowling Green sits between Heritage and downtown on half-acre lots, under trees that have had a couple of decades to grow in. There are about 180 houses, built between 1995 and 2002, priced from $375k to $525k. The HOA is $250 a year and there is no pool. These are late-1990s houses on generous land, and the neighborhood has aged into the trees around it. The selling point is the position. From here almost everything in town is a five-minute drive, which is the whole argument for buying an older subdivision this far inside the edge of Wake Forest.

Where it is

The neighborhood comes off Forestville Road, between the Heritage area and downtown Wake Forest, and that middle position is the point. The stores and restaurants on the Heritage side are about five minutes away, and downtown is roughly the same in the other direction. Everything starts on Forestville Road, so the only real variable in a trip is how long it takes to turn onto it in the morning. Nothing fronts a highway and no traffic cuts through the streets, which is the usual trade for having to drive out to the main road for a gallon of milk.

What to know if you're moving here

Half-acre lots are the headline, and the mature trees that came with them are part of the deal in both directions. The rest of what you are judging is what earlier owners did to a late-1990s house.

• Mature trees generate leaves every fall, and a tree service after any storm that takes a limb down.
• The HOA is $250 a year and covers common areas, and there is no pool, so swimming in August means a membership somewhere else.
• Schools are Forest Pines Drive Elementary, Wake Forest Middle and Wake Forest High.
• The 1995 to 2002 build window means the original roof and the original HVAC are either long replaced or long overdue.
• Floor plans tend to predate the open-plan era, so expect more walls than a new build has.
• Some owners have opened theirs up, and that difference is most of what the $375k to $525k spread is measuring.

What to do if you're visiting

There is nothing to tour inside the subdivision itself. What makes the location work for residents also makes it easy on a visitor, since the Heritage side is five minutes one way and downtown is five the other.

• For lunch, Charlie's Kabob Grill – Wake Forest is worth the short drive.
• When nobody can agree, Chick-Fil-A at Heritage Village is the reliable answer.
• A round at Heritage Golf Club fills a morning.
• On a hot afternoon, Jeremiah's Italian Ice is the standard stop with children.
• Downtown handles the rest of a day if the Heritage side is not what you came for.