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We recently were down in NC traveling the state and checking out areas to relocate in a few years. (Thinking of maybe buying some land now and building in a couple of years). We both loved the Wilmington area and only had a little time left to check out some places close by. Fell in love with some things they are doing/planning at Compass Pointe. Has a vacation kind of feel. We also checked out Brunswick Forest. My husband liked the possibilities but it felt very barren to me. No real lush landscape, not a vacation type of vibe, and also its planned size seems massive. But I know people really love it there and say there is so much to do. Then I was thinking maybe we would prefer to be over by Wilmington and not have to cross the bridge all the time so I started looking into Landfall and Porters Neck Plantation. I will be going back down in a few weeks to look at both of those. Landfall may be too high end for us. I love the location but not sure it will be the right fit. I can't find much if anything about Porters Neck. Does anyone who reads this live there and want to weigh in with some thoughts? Lastly, I am considering SJP and while there seem to be a lot of wonderful things about it, including the private beach club, I don't think I want to be so far from Wilmington and other conveniences. And this one also seems huge.
I would love if someone could give some opinions. Has anyone compared all of these developments? Would love to hear pros and cons. We both prefer gated with lots of amenities. Prefer to have golf option even though we are not real golfers now. Looking for warm friendly community, as we are relocating from the north with no friends or family currently down there.
I would love if someone could give some opinions. Has anyone compared all of these developments? Would love to hear pros and cons. We both prefer gated with lots of amenities.
First off, I suggest doing searches for the forum on each of these communities. Every one has has several pro and con comments over the past few years. Several people love Brunswick Forest, although I understand your point about it looking barren.
There are a raft of people who have bought in St James and have a whole thread dedicated to it. The houses in St James are among the most expensive of the communities you mentioned, but it has much to offer. If you want to do a custom-built home, it is a good choice.
I think Compass Pointe would be a good choice for you as it is close to Wilmington, and there will be a highway connection which will make it easier to get to Wilmington. Compass Pointe is still developing, and I think it will be more attractive in a few years. For me, however, the lots in Compass Pointe seem too small and the houses are too "cookie cutter".
Landfall and Porter's Neck are both well established communities. I have never seen anyone who lives there participating in this forum. Among the few comments I remember, Landfall is known for the rigid enforcement of HOA rules.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have done extensive searches and can't find much that compares all of these developments to each other. Yes there is an extensive thread on SJP and some comments on the other communities, but very little on Compass Pointe and Porters Neck. I don't know who else to ask and was hoping some people from this community might have seen some if not all of these and could share their opinions. I have read about the "rigid" enforcement of HOA at Landfall, but again, not much else except that it is very expensive.
Hope some other opinions will be coming soon. Thanks in advance.
I have done extensive searches and can't find much that compares all of these developments to each other.
I do hope someone else comments. However, you are comparing very different communities without giving us much an idea of your budget or preferences. It is like comparing apples and oranges. For example, do you want to spend $350,000 or $600,000 when you build the house?
St James, Landfall and Porter's Neck are generally high-end custom home communities. Homes in Compass Pointe and Brunswick Forest are generally built by production builders in the middle price range.
I do hope someone else comments. However, you are comparing very different communities without giving us much an idea of your budget or preferences. It is like comparing apples and oranges. For example, do you want to spend $350,000 or $600,000 when you build the house?
St James, Landfall and Porter's Neck are generally high-end custom home communities. Homes in Compass Pointe and Brunswick Forest are generally built by production builders in the middle price range.
Thank you for the website. The problem is I am looking for the "inside scoop" from real people not someone selling it to me. And you are right, I don't really have a focus on price because coming from NY it is all affordable in the South. But I get the feeling that Landfall is really the most expensive and a bit over the top. From what I have read, more of a snob factor. Don't mean to insult anyone, just not what I am looking for. I am trying to see if Porters Neck is viewed as the same. It offers some of the Wilmington advantages but I haven't heard from anyone that lives there or has visited! What I liked about Compass Pointe was that it had a vacation feel and lots of very friendly people. Since it is developing, hard to have clique's already. Most people in varying stages of moving in and looking to meet neighbors and friends. I want to know if Porters Neck has the same feel. And if St James feels like a city because it sounds so enormous.
I think one of the biggest things I have to decide is if I'm a "city" girl and need the proximity to Wilmington to be happy, or if I want the small town feel that SJP offers from what I can tell. The thing that scares me about Compass Pointe is that it is really stuck down on a "major" road and nothing really near it. It is beautiful inside, but the surrounding area, well not so much. I don't know the answer yet and need to make more trips down. But I would so appreciate opinions of people who live there.
We recently were down in NC traveling the state and checking out areas to relocate in a few years. (Thinking of maybe buying some land now and building in a couple of years). We both loved the Wilmington area and only had a little time left to check out some places close by. Fell in love with some things they are doing/planning at Compass Pointe. Has a vacation kind of feel. We also checked out Brunswick Forest. My husband liked the possibilities but it felt very barren to me. No real lush landscape, not a vacation type of vibe, and also its planned size seems massive. But I know people really love it there and say there is so much to do. Then I was thinking maybe we would prefer to be over by Wilmington and not have to cross the bridge all the time so I started looking into Landfall and Porters Neck Plantation. I will be going back down in a few weeks to look at both of those. Landfall may be too high end for us. I love the location but not sure it will be the right fit. I can't find much if anything about Porters Neck. Does anyone who reads this live there and want to weigh in with some thoughts? Lastly, I am considering SJP and while there seem to be a lot of wonderful things about it, including the private beach club, I don't think I want to be so far from Wilmington and other conveniences. And this one also seems huge.
I would love if someone could give some opinions. Has anyone compared all of these developments? Would love to hear pros and cons. We both prefer gated with lots of amenities. Prefer to have golf option even though we are not real golfers now. Looking for warm friendly community, as we are relocating from the north with no friends or family currently down there.
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.
You will need to do multiple trips to this area. There is soo much to see! We bought in Ocean Ridge Plantation because we liked the fact that it was well established. We really enjoyed St james, too. Brunswick Forest is up towards Leland and we thought too far from the beach. Ocean Ridge Plantation as well as SJP both are only around 35 minutes from Wilmington area with all its shopping, Target, etc. We are around 10-15 minutes from the most beautiful beach in NC - Sunset Beach and Calebash - such a cute town! SJP and ORP both have private beach clubs. I felt Brunswick Forest tooo massive and lots too close together and in a very congested area, too. Porters Neck and Landfall are not Brunswick County remember, so tax rates will be higher.....HOpe some of this helps you!!!
Thank you for the website. The problem is I am looking for the "inside scoop" from real people not someone selling it to me. And you are right, I don't really have a focus on price because coming from NY it is all affordable in the South. But I get the feeling that Landfall is really the most expensive and a bit over the top. From what I have read, more of a snob factor. Don't mean to insult anyone, just not what I am looking for. I am trying to see if Porters Neck is viewed as the same. It offers some of the Wilmington advantages but I haven't heard from anyone that lives there or has visited! What I liked about Compass Pointe was that it had a vacation feel and lots of very friendly people. Since it is developing, hard to have clique's already. Most people in varying stages of moving in and looking to meet neighbors and friends. I want to know if Porters Neck has the same feel. And if St James feels like a city because it sounds so enormous.
I think one of the biggest things I have to decide is if I'm a "city" girl and need the proximity to Wilmington to be happy, or if I want the small town feel that SJP offers from what I can tell. The thing that scares me about Compass Pointe is that it is really stuck down on a "major" road and nothing really near it. It is beautiful inside, but the surrounding area, well not so much. I don't know the answer yet and need to make more trips down. But I would so appreciate opinions of people who live there.
PS - don't forget a lot of places in Landfall or Porters Neck (I think that development, too) are very close to the water and therefore, will need mandatory Flood Insurance. From the past posts I have been reading for two years on this subject of coastal NC, I believe flood insurance is going to sky rocket this year. Can this be a factor in your purchase? Possibly paying $6,000 a year flood insurance? After all, there is a reason that a development is named "Landfall". make yourself a nice spreadsheet of all the Brunswick Plantations in the area (plantations is the name the south uses for 'developments. Here's a great website to let you know the develpments (plantations) in the area. Brunswick County NC Real Estate | Ocean Isle Beach | Carolina Plantations I am totally not affiliated with that website. We live in southern NJ and just bought a lot in ORP ourselves. Just really educate yourself about HOA fees, golf memberships, how many clubs are in the area, etc. City-data is a great valuable source of info, too. Good luck!!
We recently were down in NC traveling the state and checking out areas to relocate in a few years. (Thinking of maybe buying some land now and building in a couple of years). We both loved the Wilmington area and only had a little time left to check out some places close by. Fell in love with some things they are doing/planning at Compass Pointe. Has a vacation kind of feel. We also checked out Brunswick Forest. My husband liked the possibilities but it felt very barren to me. No real lush landscape, not a vacation type of vibe, and also its planned size seems massive. But I know people really love it there and say there is so much to do. Then I was thinking maybe we would prefer to be over by Wilmington and not have to cross the bridge all the time so I started looking into Landfall and Porters Neck Plantation. I will be going back down in a few weeks to look at both of those. Landfall may be too high end for us. I love the location but not sure it will be the right fit. I can't find much if anything about Porters Neck. Does anyone who reads this live there and want to weigh in with some thoughts? Lastly, I am considering SJP and while there seem to be a lot of wonderful things about it, including the private beach club, I don't think I want to be so far from Wilmington and other conveniences. And this one also seems huge.
I would love if someone could give some opinions. Has anyone compared all of these developments? Would love to hear pros and cons. We both prefer gated with lots of amenities. Prefer to have golf option even though we are not real golfers now. Looking for warm friendly community, as we are relocating from the north with no friends or family currently down there.
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.
I think most of your observations are pretty accurate. Unless you're going to work in Wilmington I don't see much advantage to living there. The drive from Leland is pretty short and the developments you mention in Wilmington are quite expensive. We looked at SJP but felt it was too remote, too big, and the golf costs were too expensive. Brunswick Forest is a little bland and not gated (as a matter of fact, there is a public road running right through it). It does have all its amenities in place so that is a plus for it. Also there are a lot of stores nearby. We chose Compass Pointe to build our home and have recently moved in. The pros are; Convenient access to Wilmington, nicest lookig community (IMO), reasonable prices, gated community, and newness of the community has a we're all in this together vibe. The cons are; not all amenities are in place ( each of the last few years they have completed new amenities), shopping not real close (there is a Food Lion and a couple of small store about 5 minutes away, but Walmart and other chain stores, restaurants, banks, etc are 10-15 minutes away), being new a lot of home construction is going on, and also being new a lot of social activities are just starting to be formed so there is a certain amount of growing pains. Goldenage has given a lot of good advise on this forum but i feel missed the mark when it comes to Compass Pointe. Originally there was one main builder and you were limited to the choice of home styles you could build. This has changed dramatically in the last couple of years and now there are almost a dozen builders to choose from and many of those build custom homes. There are different sections at CP and the lot sizes can vary. On the whole I don't thing the lot sizes are much different from SJP, BF, or many of the other communities in the area. Fimally the 'cookie cutter' comment is completely inaccurate. From the beginning it has been required that no two homes next to each other be the same. You can have two of the same styles together but there has to be some difference such as color, roof line, brick and non-brick. There is a section with 'patio homes' (homes connected at the garage). These tend to be very similar and have small lots. Perhaps this is what Goldenage is remembering. If you have an interest in CP they run sales events periodically that gives you the oppertunity to visit the community, meet and talk to all the builders and view their models, and meet and talk to residents over lunch and dinner. I know they are having a couple in August. Its a good way to get a feel for the commuity.
I'll just give a few impressions of Porter's Neck Plantation based on driving past, and reading the listings. The existing houses are not nearly as expensive as Landfall. There are many in the $350K-500K range. (see www.porters-neck.com .) Some have the advantage of mature landscaping, and there is a pleasant variety of house types. There are still lots available, and some new construction is going on. According to one Realtor, "with optional club membership, you gain access to the golf, tennis, fitness center, restaurants, pools and much more."
Another positive aspect it that it is very close to the shopping, restaurants and medical buildings along Market Street. I think PNP is worth considering if you would like a country-club lifestyle with city conveniences.
You will need to do multiple trips to this area. There is soo much to see! We bought in Ocean Ridge Plantation because we liked the fact that it was well established. We really enjoyed St james, too. Brunswick Forest is up towards Leland and we thought too far from the beach. Ocean Ridge Plantation as well as SJP both are only around 35 minutes from Wilmington area with all its shopping, Target, etc. We are around 10-15 minutes from the most beautiful beach in NC - Sunset Beach and Calebash - such a cute town! SJP and ORP both have private beach clubs. I felt Brunswick Forest tooo massive and lots too close together and in a very congested area, too. Porters Neck and Landfall are not Brunswick County remember, so tax rates will be higher.....HOpe some of this helps you!!!
Missynancy thanks so much for your input. Yes it seems overwhelming the amount of "plantations" and options. Every time I try and narrow it down my list actually expands. I never heard of ocean ridge but will definitely be adding it to my list.
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