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Old 03-10-2014, 12:27 PM
 
5 posts, read 9,112 times
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Hello. I am looking to get out of Long Island within the next year and head to NC. I love long Island but it is not what it used to be. There is very little of the "good life" left here on the island. My family is young. I have 3 young children and my wife. We need an area with great schools. I would even consider private schools if need be. We want to live on the water on the NC coast. Can anyone recommend an area with larger homes, good schools, low crime, clean, great restaurants, movies, boating and beaches? All advice will be appreciated!

I know I'm leaving a great place, but there has to be a cleaner, nicer and cheaper version of Long Island's Fire Island out there somewhere!
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Old 03-10-2014, 12:39 PM
 
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
13,323 posts, read 26,778,087 times
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Originally Posted by Marlin216 View Post
We want to live on the water on the NC coast. Can anyone recommend an area with larger homes, good schools, low crime, clean, great restaurants, movies, boating and beaches?
Hampstead or Newport, but don't expect either to be a sophisticated as Fire Island. If you have several million to spend, you could look at Landfall or Figure Eight Island.
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Old 03-10-2014, 12:52 PM
 
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You are looking for Wilmington most likely, although a few other areas will work. Just note that waterfront property is not cheap because there are those that have come before you and those that have been there awhile.

Landfall in Wilmington is probably the nicest, but the waterfront will cost you over a million. If you are looking for half that you may consider some of the out of the way places. I have a few friends that live at Shipwatch which is along the river near Snow's Cut (to the Intercoastal waterway...and you can get waterfront there for 500-600K. Hampstead (on the Intercoastal) may also be an option.

If you buy waterfront, you probably want to check into the dock options...many spots are very tidal and can really limit your boat use times, which can be frustrating. A property with a lift is optimal for year round use.
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Old 03-10-2014, 02:18 PM
 
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We are looking to stay under $700K. Is Shipwatch a town? How is Hampstead? If you had to live in one, which one would you chose and why? My kids very much involved sports. Looking for an area where they can play lacrosse and soccer.
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Old 03-10-2014, 02:35 PM
 
3,060 posts, read 4,795,415 times
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Originally Posted by Marlin216 View Post
We are looking to stay under $700K. Is Shipwatch a town? How is Hampstead? If you had to live in one, which one would you chose and why? My kids very much involved sports. Looking for an area where they can play lacrosse and soccer.
Shipwatch is a small gated community just across the Snow's Cut bridge near Carolina Beach. You can most likely find something for 700K there. All of the properties have dock access, but only half are on the water. It is tidal, but not too bad. It feeds to Carolina Beach Elem, Murray Middle and Ashley High, none of which are bad. Its not far to most of the private schools in Wilmington. It is a bit of a trip through town for shopping and such but the folks I know really like it.

Hampstead is probably the largest unincorporated town in the state...its essentially a long strand from the Pender Co line to the turn to Surf City. Eventually there will be a highway bypassing it, but it can be a pain to drive through. There are properties along the intracoastal in Pender Co (which is called Hampstead).

You may consider looking at the beach towns, Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach and Kure Beach in New Hanover Co...I know a number of folks that just went out and bought beach houses to get the waterfront when the market dipped. Plus Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach both have good Elem schools. They get busy in the summer with tourists, but that's normal to any coastal town.

Some other neighborhoods with waterfront...Inlet Point, Inlet View, Towles Rd, Skystasail (Shandy area)...and the Middle Sound Loop Rd area.

Last edited by HP91; 03-10-2014 at 02:44 PM..
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Old 03-10-2014, 02:38 PM
 
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
13,323 posts, read 26,778,087 times
Reputation: 6915
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marlin216 View Post
We are looking to stay under $700K. Is Shipwatch a town? How is Hampstead? If you had to live in one, which one would you chose and why? My kids very much involved sports. Looking for an area where they can play lacrosse and soccer.
You can look up Shipwatch Drive, Wilmington on your favorite real estate search site. There are plenty of locations around Wilmington with water access or shallow waterfront for under $700K. There are many others with nearby marinas if you need deep-water access.

I have a friendly rivalry with HP91. I usually recommend Hampstead because of its top-rated schools. He recommends Wilmington because it is central and has the urban amenities.

You can check the Hampstead/Topsail school athletics here: Schedules - Pirate Athletics They have both soccer and lacrosse.

Last edited by goldenage1; 03-10-2014 at 02:50 PM..
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Old 03-10-2014, 07:37 PM
 
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Hello Goldenage1 or anyone else. Do you know the names of any neighborhoods in Hampstead where I can get those great schools that you speak of, newer large 5BR houses on the water or very close to the water in a beautiful family oriented community?
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Old 03-10-2014, 08:22 PM
 
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
13,323 posts, read 26,778,087 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marlin216 View Post
Hello Goldenage1 or anyone else. Do you know the names of any neighborhoods in Hampstead where I can get those great schools that you speak of, newer large 5BR houses on the water or very close to the water in a beautiful family oriented community?
The counties run the schools in North Carolina, not the towns. Hampstead has all the same school system, with one high school (Topsail), one middle (Topsail) and two elementary schools. I like Eagles Watch, but any real estate search engine will turn up suitable places.

I don't rule out Wilmington either if you need a 5 bedroom place. You can find decent schools in New Hanover County, like Wrightsville Beach Elementary, Noble Middle and Laney HS. For example, in Landfall there are houses in your price range. Also, Tidalwalk in Wilmington is doing a lot of advertising, and you can have a custom homes built there. (Please google it, as we can't promote it.)

Unlike NYC, the real estate listings are not exclusives. They are all in the MLS, so you can use Realtor.com to find most things.

Last edited by goldenage1; 03-10-2014 at 08:55 PM..
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Old 03-12-2014, 09:53 PM
 
Location: Limbo
47 posts, read 151,654 times
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Originally Posted by Marlin216 View Post
Hello Goldenage1 or anyone else. Do you know the names of any neighborhoods in Hampstead where I can get those great schools that you speak of, newer large 5BR houses on the water or very close to the water in a beautiful family oriented community?
The term "great schools" is relative. Coming from the north, unless your kids went to an inner city drug infested school, (and it sounds like that answer would be a NO) the public school education in NC... well, let's just say, "It ain't no ivy league."

Most likely, you will need to figure in private academy education for the kids into your budget.
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Old 03-13-2014, 10:14 AM
 
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It's true that the national rankings have public schools in NC rated poorly, but it doesn't mean your kids will be uneducated if they attend public schools in the state. My mother has been in the education profession for many years and she approved of all the public schools I attended growing up in NC. I'm 28 and out of my close group of friends, 2 are lawyers, another 1 is a senior manager of Research and Development for a major sports apparel company and most of the rest have other respectable and high paying jobs in accounting, finance, management etc, so I think it has much more to do with the expectations the parents set within the household (for me it was take challenging classes and get A's or B's in them), than the public/private school debate. The best teachers in any school are going to be given the classes with the brightest and highest achieving students, so as long as you live in good districts and encourage your kids to take advantage of Academically Gifted (or whatever the buzz word is now)/Honors/Advanced Placement classes, your kids can get a great public education here and succeed in the world.

As far as real estate, there are not many 5 bedroom Waterfront properties that are under $700k in the Wilmington or even Hampstead area. Most 5 bed waterfront houses are closer to $1M. There is one on a deep water canal in Scott's Hill Bluffs (HL Smith Dr.) that could be of interest. It's actually listed in the 300k's. There's also a creek-front house in the Porter's Neck area with a shallow-water creek that connects to the ICWW behind it in the Blue Point subdivision in in the $500k's too.

I think building a house could be a great way to get a 2500+ sf waterfront house within your budget. You can pick up a $150k waterfront lot in Washington Acres for example in Hampstead, and stay in your budget, including building a dock or bulkhead, etc. There are waterfront lots in Wilmington for under $200k too that would work also. If you decide you would rather buy an existing house that's not waterfront but in a water-access community, it will open up many more options in either Wilmington and Hampstead and you'll still have access to a day dock or community boat ramp. And both cities have good soccer and lacrosse leagues too. Good Luck
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