What's wrong with Sneads Ferry?? (Wilmington, Jacksonville: real estate, high crime, house)

[Peppermintpatt]

LOL! This thread was a real hoot to read! I live in Surf City and love the entire area, especially the beaches and ICW! So beautiful! Great to add you to our population here,
T_Schulz!

I admire the members of our military and their families...thanks for your service to our great USA and/or support as family members. Not being able to actually choose where you live has to be challenging! Hope your next post is better!

[BeaverTheCat]

Originally Posted by jake84kg

I've been living here in Sneads Ferry for a few months now. Just as any other place there are pro's and con's. I have no children and thankfully have not been in need of any emergency services! As silly as it might sound, I do have one thing that really bothers me here... The name of this place?! Sneads Ferry?! I hate saying the name and always get laughs from from friends and family back home when I say where I live. Is it possible to say "Sneads" without sounding like you're congested. Whenever I hear someone say it, I always reply with "Bless you!" I've learned quickly and just say that I live in Topsail. It's actually the Stump Sound Township, which is a little better but I'm still uncomfortable with that! This place definitely has the opportunity to grow, and hopefully it does. I'm not a fan of the local restaurants here in this area, so we tend to make dinner more often than I'd like. Nearly all of the people I've met here (local and military) that live in this area have been very nice.

As for SD2000... I definitely understand. Thankfully I have a great group of friends here to keep our mind of the negative things about living here. I enjoyed your post and know exactly what you're talking about (to some extent).

Much Respect...

Could be worse... you could live in Lizard Lick or Lick Skillet.... or the bustling metropolis of Alert (pronounced A-lurt by the natives)

[Lovin the Ferry]

T-Schultz welcome to the Ferry- We have been here a little over four years now, we are not military and we relocated from Long Island NY. We absolutely love this town, this is like LI was before it became overcrowded, overtaxed and untenable to live there anymore. Yes this is a small fishing town- no it is not incorportated and it DOESNT need to be either. In NY I lived in three different incorporated villages and all that got us was much higher taxes and the same services we already had anyway. It is a quiet beautiful place, we consider it the jewel of the coast, you are half an hour from Jacksonville with every kind of store and resturant you can think of, you are 20 minutes from the new Walmart and the Food Lion has in town has just been totally redone- it is beautiful, unfortunately now it also has the prices of Harris Teeter too. There is nothing that I have been unable to find in town itself, without having to run to Jacksonville. It is totally unecessary to run all the way to Wilmington for anything. The person that wrote all the trash about our town needs to seriously get a life. I hope for their sake and our towns sake they have been able to move on. In over four years of living here I have yet to meet one single person that wasnt nice, even in the height of the icorporation/no incorporation battle everyone was still cival no matter which side you were on. If you like the easy laid back lifestyle of a small town I am sure you too will love Sneads Ferry as much as we do.

[Homer Ray]

This area is growing and has better things to come. A new chain building supply store opened several years ago on US Hwy 17. Last time I went to Sneed's Ferry was for a business meeting at the Company cottage.
We had a great time playing golf and fishing.
The Sneed Ferry/Topsail area could be overpriced, due to the run up in beach/water property, but it will level out.
As in all coastal areas of NC, remember how it is now, because it's changing FAST!
In 10 years you won't know the Sneed's Ferry/Topsail area.
The US Marine Corps has bigger plans for Camp Lejeune(increase in troop size), and the back gate of Lejeune is in Sneeds back door on Hwy 172 at the foot of the New River Bridge, a high riser.
You can be happy where you find yourself or choose to be discontent. Happy works better for me.

[PSJ232]

We moved to Sneads Ferry about 4 years ago from Ft. Myers, Florida. We were used to being close to everything, usually a 5 minute drive to grocery stores, etc. Here we are constantly in Jacksonville because there is not much here in Sneads Ferry. I agree totally with the long post of our only grocery store being terrible. Unfortunately that is the only store we have. It has just been remodeled but the prices are now sky high and we are paying for that remodel. They usually jack up the prices for tourist season then the prices come back down for locals; well that is not the case anymore. The prices are high.

There is no police station. There is one in North Topsail Beach which is only 4 miles away from us but they will not respond to this area. We have to depend on Jacksonville police which in the 4 times we have had to call them, took up to 2 hours each time to get to us. Thank God it was no big emergency for any of the calls, mostly vandalism here in our neighborhood.

I wanted to move here because we are so close to the beach. Well in the 4 years we have been here we have only been to the beach about 4 times. In the summer it is packed with people so we usually go in the winter months and take our dogs for walks on the beach. It is nice especially if you are retired and have a lot of time to golf, fish, and go boating. However if you work, it is just like any other place. It is a good location for Marines as the base is only 5 minutes away.

I am disappointed with Sneads Ferry. There were trying to incorporate it so we could get our own emergency services, etc but apparently it did not go through. No one wanted to pay higher taxes and the taxes are pretty high as it is. We tried to sell our house for over a year but no luck. The real estate market took a bad turn for the worse and there are over 50 houses for sale in our subdivision and none are selling. If we had the opportunity to move, we would. We used to see foxes and deer just walking down the streets in here only 4 years ago but now it is so built up with new construction, the animals had to relocate.

This used to be a nice quiet neighborhood but now overrun with young service people and their numerous kids and most without supervision so now at least once a week there is a case of vandalism in here. Private property destroyed by too many kids running wild in here. It is a shame.

There are pro's and cons with every place and Sneads Ferry has both as well. If you like quiet, you will like it. If you are used to a busy lifestyle and lots of things to do, don't pick Sneads Ferry.

You have to drive far to get anywhere where there is some activity going on. It is about 50 miles to Wilmington and about 17 miles to Jacksonville where there is Western Blvd loaded with stores, restaurants, and all of that. No doctors here either. If you move to Sneads Ferry, be prepared to use a lot more gas to get where you want to go.

[betts1]

Hi psj232 could you tell me what subdivision you are in we are looking to move into the area in about 6 months to a year.Any info from all would be appeciated Thanks

[T_Schulz]

Peppermintpatt & Lovin the Ferry....THANKS for the welcome!
We did buy a house in SF. Right now it's being rented since we are overseas. Can't wait to get there though!!
Everything is relative. Right now I drive 30 minutes to an hour depending on traffic to get to a decent grocery store. Have to pack my groceries in a cooler in the summer months, so that Food Lion looked pretty good to me and the people there were very friendly. As for prices??? Try Japan's prices for a while LOL! I just paid $7.50 for a mango!
Real estate is high but SOoooo much better than my native state of California.
We don't have kids. That probably makes a difference, but for us, the Ferry seems like a great place.
Every place has pros and cons...I'll focus on the cons:^)
Hope to be there SOON!

[Ces1]

SD2000. You implied that you are a military family and that is the reason you are living in SF...Curious cause your choices are Base Housing, JVille. As a retired Marine Corps wife and mother we have lived in various places and there is always something good about each of them if you look for it. Why go clear to Wilmington when JVille has just about everything one needs. We moved to JVille from Arlington VA six years ago and have to admit there are some things I cannot find, but also find I really do not need them. My DH is a retired Marine after 30 years and I was working at HQMC and also retired in 94 and we have several friends who live here, and compared to VA the cost of living is ever so much cheaper, hardly any traffic, beautiful weather and beaches and not that far away from metro areas and there is a choice of three bases to shop at, tho we do go to SF to buy seafood. Some people would complain if they were hung with a new rope. Life is what you make it!!

[PSJ232]

Hi there,

Chadwick Shores. Tons of houses for sale in here. Thanks Want to buy mine, I will give you a good deal. LOL LOL

[mudslinger1]

Originally Posted by T_Schulz

There' seems to be a lot written about Wilmington and carteret county/Swansboro. What about SNEADS FERRY??
My husband and I just returned from a week in Surf City on Topsail Island. We loved it. We're looking to buy a home and relocate. We can't afford the beach but there are nice, affordable homes just over the bridge in Sneads Ferry. My husband would be working at Lejeune.
Seems to me that it's close to the beach/base and not too far to Wilmington. So why is nobody talking about SF? Is it a well kept secret? Or too horrible to mention?
What problems might we encounter if we buy a home there?