Looking to move to N.C...suggestions...

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Timbo

Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
1,188
Location
Kill Devil Hills, NC USA.
I'm looking for opinions from anyone familiar with the N.C. coastal area that could suggest where we might start looking to buy a home.

My wife and I are starting to look for what we hope will be our retirement home. We're already semi-retired in that we left our corporate jobs in 2009. Since then we both have been persuing "part time" careers doing what we always wanted to do when we grew up...she doing personal fitness training, me woodworking, including pen turning of course. Our timeframe to move is anytime within the next 3 years.

Our new home must satisfy two criteria; 1: be near the ocean; 2) be not so remote that it will be difficult to practice our retirement careers. She needs a decent population nearby that would be interested in fitness training, I still need to do shows without having to travel hundreds of miles.

We both love the ocean, and the Outerbanks, and would like to settle near the water, but not on the barrier islands themselves. We perfer to be on the mainland, near enough to water to make it convenient to have a boat. Something on a canal would probably be perfect, although we would settle for something less than perfect.

I think the cost of living will be lower than here in the N.E. We're hoping to sell our large 4-bedroom home here, and buy a smaller house, with enough property to build a 2-story structure that has a shop on the 1st floor, and exercise studio above. Fortunately, the area we live in was not hit too hard by the housing bubble, we're hoping to do this with just the proceeds from the sale of our current home.

We don't know if this dream will come true, but we know it wont if we don't start trying to make it happen.

I was wondering If there was anyone with familiarity with the area that could suggest where we might start looking. I will also try to contact a realtor in the area who we might be able to work with.

Thanks.
 
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How far are you willing to be from the beach? The Wilmington area is very nice. But if you are willing to be further out, you can get a deal on land/housing.
 
Do you want to be on the Atlantic, or just on a body of water? There are several nice inland waterway cities and towns, including Washington, Oriental, New Bern, Bellhaven, Edenton, and Elizabeth City. All are on major rivers or sounds such as the Albemarle, Neuse, or Pamlico, and are within driving distance of the ocean. Beaufort (on the ocean) is also very nice, but pricey. They vary in flavor from small town to small city -- all have colonial history and a prominent boating community.

I hope that helps,
Eric
 
North Myrtle Beach, Kalabash, Wilmington, Nags Head all deserve a good look. There will likely never be a better time to aquire property there.
 
Hmmmmm

I'm looking for opinions from anyone familiar with the N.C. coastal area that could suggest where we might start looking to buy a home.

My wife and I are starting to look for what we hope will be our retirement home. We're already semi-retired in that we left our corporate jobs in 2009. Since then we both have been persuing "part time" careers doing what we always wanted to do when we grew up...she doing personal fitness training, me woodworking, including pen turning of course. Our timeframe to move is anytime within the next 3 years.

Our new home must satisfy two criteria; 1: be near the ocean; 2) be not so remote that it will be difficult to practice our retirement careers. She needs a decent population nearby that would be interested in fitness training, I still need to do shows without having to travel hundreds of miles.

We both love the ocean, and the Outerbanks, and would like to settle near the water, but not on the barrier islands themselves. We perfer to be on the mainland, near enough to water to make it convenient to have a boat. Something on a canal would probably be perfect, although we would settle for something less than perfect.

I think the cost of living will be lower than here in the N.E. We're hoping to sell our large 4-bedroom home here, and buy a smaller house, with enough property to build a 2-story structure that has a shop on the 1st floor, and exercise studio above. Fortunately, the area we live in was not hit too hard by the housing bubble, we're hoping to do this with just the proceeds from the sale of our current home.

We don't know if this dream will come true, but we know it wont if we don't start trying to make it happen.

I was wondering If there was anyone with familiarity with the area that could suggest where we might start looking. I will also try to contact a realtor in the area who we might be able to work with.

Thanks.

If you have never owned a boat give that one a lot of thought. There is a saying among boat owners "The happiest day of your life is the day you buy your boat - the second best is the day you sell it". Having a boat is like having a huge hole in your pocket that everytime you drop in a doller two fall out. Take that from a former boat owner who still lives close enough to the ocean for boat owning to be practical. I had a 24 foot boat for several years and trust me - the cost of the boat (assuming it's big enough to go out 40 - 50 miles) is only the down payment. At $4.00 per gallon my boat would cost $420 to fill it's 105 gallon tank, which I could easily run through in a day or two.
 
True enough

Might consider S.C. Also. We love the Isle of Palms and Shem Creek area near Charleston.
The Charleston area in a nice area if it weren't for hurricanes - my sister lives there and they've really gotten pasted a few times.

There is really something to be said for any ocean bordering state including my own State of Delaware which has fairly mild weather and some nice beach areas with off shore fishing in both Delaware Bay and the Atlantic.
 
Got a house in Jacksonville, NC that I will sell you! New roof, just getting it painted up and cleaned up from our renters. Problem is I am so darn backwards on it.

I like NC - Emerald Isle if you want to live near the water, Top Sail beach also.
 
How far are you willing to be from the beach? The Wilmington area is very nice. But if you are willing to be further out, you can get a deal on land/housing.

We want to be close enough that it does not feel like an inconvenience to take the boat out anytime we want. So a very short drive at the most. I'm thinking long term, we'll be happier paying a little more for the property to be closer to the water.
 
Do you want to be on the Atlantic, or just on a body of water? There are several nice inland waterway cities and towns, including Washington, Oriental, New Bern, Bellhaven, Edenton, and Elizabeth City. All are on major rivers or sounds such as the Albemarle, Neuse, or Pamlico, and are within driving distance of the ocean. Beaufort (on the ocean) is also very nice, but pricey. They vary in flavor from small town to small city -- all have colonial history and a prominent boating community.

I hope that helps,
Eric

Helps a lot Eric. We actually prefer not the be right on the Atlantic. We are very open, and prefer to be on the sound, or a bay. A river or lake might be a possibility but my wife has a real bug for salt water. Albemarle or Pamlico Sound sounds good. What do you know about towns along those areas?
 
I'm looking for opinions from anyone familiar with the N.C. coastal area that could suggest where we might start looking to buy a home.

My wife and I are starting to look for what we hope will be our retirement home. We're already semi-retired in that we left our corporate jobs in 2009. Since then we both have been persuing "part time" careers doing what we always wanted to do when we grew up...she doing personal fitness training, me woodworking, including pen turning of course. Our timeframe to move is anytime within the next 3 years.

Our new home must satisfy two criteria; 1: be near the ocean; 2) be not so remote that it will be difficult to practice our retirement careers. She needs a decent population nearby that would be interested in fitness training, I still need to do shows without having to travel hundreds of miles.

We both love the ocean, and the Outerbanks, and would like to settle near the water, but not on the barrier islands themselves. We perfer to be on the mainland, near enough to water to make it convenient to have a boat. Something on a canal would probably be perfect, although we would settle for something less than perfect.

I think the cost of living will be lower than here in the N.E. We're hoping to sell our large 4-bedroom home here, and buy a smaller house, with enough property to build a 2-story structure that has a shop on the 1st floor, and exercise studio above. Fortunately, the area we live in was not hit too hard by the housing bubble, we're hoping to do this with just the proceeds from the sale of our current home.

We don't know if this dream will come true, but we know it wont if we don't start trying to make it happen.

I was wondering If there was anyone with familiarity with the area that could suggest where we might start looking. I will also try to contact a realtor in the area who we might be able to work with.

Thanks.

If you have never owned a boat give that one a lot of thought. There is a saying among boat owners "The happiest day of your life is the day you buy your boat - the second best is the day you sell it". Having a boat is like having a huge hole in your pocket that everytime you drop in a doller two fall out. Take that from a former boat owner who still lives close enough to the ocean for boat owning to be practical. I had a 24 foot boat for several years and trust me - the cost of the boat (assuming it's big enough to go out 40 - 50 miles) is only the down payment. At $4.00 per gallon my boat would cost $420 to fill it's 105 gallon tank, which I could easily run through in a day or two.

Hey Smitty - Thanks for the warning. My brother-in-law is a boat owner so we do hear about the upkeep. We're really not looking to go out 40-50 miles. Tooling around just off shore or in the bay/sound, in site of land will be all we want to do. When I get the itch to catch tuna, I'll sign up for a make-up charter.
 
Might consider S.C. Also. We love the Isle of Palms and Shem Creek area near Charleston.
The Charleston area in a nice area if it weren't for hurricanes - my sister lives there and they've really gotten pasted a few times.

There is really something to be said for any ocean bordering state including my own State of Delaware which has fairly mild weather and some nice beach areas with off shore fishing in both Delaware Bay and the Atlantic.

You know...we have not been considering DE. We just didn't think the weather would be as mild as we would like. Maybe we should look more into it.
 
Might consider S.C. Also. We love the Isle of Palms and Shem Creek area near Charleston.

The only reason we did not consider S.C. is we thought it would be too hot in the summer. We're both avid runners, when we use to visit my father-in-law in Fl, we would just die trying to run in the heat and humidity in the mornings there. I kinda figured S.C. would not be much better. Am I wrong?
 
Got a house in Jacksonville, NC that I will sell you! New roof, just getting it painted up and cleaned up from our renters. Problem is I am so darn backwards on it.

I like NC - Emerald Isle if you want to live near the water, Top Sail beach also.


Curious - Where in Jacksonville? Street intersection good enough.
 
Hot Summers

Might consider S.C. Also. We love the Isle of Palms and Shem Creek area near Charleston.

The only reason we did not consider S.C. is we thought it would be too hot in the summer. We're both avid runners, when we use to visit my father-in-law in Fl, we would just die trying to run in the heat and humidity in the mornings there. I kinda figured S.C. would not be much better. Am I wrong?
I have a daughter in NC (and several other kinfolk) and a sister in SC. My wife's parents lived in FL and I spent some time there while in the Navy. Trust me they can all be hot and humid during the summer. Sometimes they cool off enough to run in the morning and sometimes they don't....you might want to find a pool and take up swimming for your exercise in the summer. Even here in DE we frequently have to get out early in the morning and we're walkers not runners....there are very few mornings that the heat is overwhelming here though.
 
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