Janice Franklin has lived in Fayetteville all her life, but now she is ready for a change and wants to move her family to another town. The problem is she cannot find anyone to buy her home. It has been on the market for a year and a half.
"I've advertised it myself, and I've had it listed with two different realtors," she says. "They've done a really good job of advertising it and showing it, but nothing is selling around here. It's very frustrating."
Franklin is not the only person with trouble selling her house on the market. Several homes at her Haymont neighborhood have 'For Sale' signs posted in the front yards. Some of them have been there for as long as two years.
The slowing pace of Fayetteville newcomers is just one reason why Cumberland County's growth stalled in the 1990's.
Some Cumberland County Commissioners blame the slow growth on a lack of a public water system and high taxes, but others say people simply just do not want to live here.
"Kind of the old saying, "Fayietnam." I don't know if it will ever lose that image," Franklin says.
Some county leaders fear that if the downward trend continues, Cumberland County will lose out on needed state and federal money.
While Cumberland County's growth slips, Harnett County is on the upswing. Last year, more than 600 new homes were built in the county. Holly Springs grew the fastest in the state, with a population boom of 500 percent.
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