Basements in houses (Wilmington: sale, new construction, allergies)

[West_ny]

Am looking to relocate to the Wilmington area. We currently live up north in a 2 story house with a basement. The thing that scares us the most about the move is where are we going to put all our stuff without a basement as it appears few if any homes have them. So I'm wondering are there any homes around that do have basements, particually new developments? I did read something about one development having something called a "Carolina basement" Any idea what that would mean?

[Ellise]

Just get a house with a garage, that's what we did.

[jerseyj]

I wonder if it has something to do with the water table being so high? I know we looked at some lots along the coast and they were just at or a little above sea level.
None of the new developments we looked at had basements.

Just a thought.

[West_ny]

I already have a garage and a shed, and those things are somewhat filled with stuff.So am going from garage, shed and basement to garage and possibly a shed. I will miss the basement!

[Ellise]

I don't miss my basement. It was moldy, musty and mildewy and caused me various health problems--allergies.

Sounds like you've got too much stuff, anyway. Have a yard sale before you move :-)

[BeachLiving]

West_NY--what you will find is that most homes here have very large attics and many have walk in entries. We too moved here from an area where everyone had a basement and we found that there was more than enough space in our walk in attic to accommodate our 'stuff.'

PS. You will most likely find yourself looking at your attic and thinking, sheesh, we could turn part of this attic into another room.

[walidm]

Originally Posted by West_ny

Am looking to relocate to the Wilmington area. We currently live up north in a 2 story house with a basement. The thing that scares us the most about the move is where are we going to put all our stuff without a basement as it appears few if any homes have them. So I'm wondering are there any homes around that do have basements, particually new developments? I did read something about one development having something called a "Carolina basement" Any idea what that would mean?

There are homes in NC with basements. They will cost a little more because of the clay - it costs more to dig the basement. Most basement homes are 'walkout" basements, i.e. you can walkout of the rear of the home via a sliding door.

If you are considering new construction, a builder can typically build a basement for you as long as there is enough change in the grade (think hill - if it slopes to the back you're probably going to be in decent shape).

The best thing to do is contact the builder or a local Realtor who will be able to tell you which builders have basement lots.

Hope this helps.

[West_ny]

That's true, I don't have an attic now so that will be different for me, and will give me more storage options that I don't have now.

We talked about having a garage/yard sale, but they're not to popular this time of year up in this area. We'd have to plow the driveway for people to come in. If in turns out we're still here in May, then we could have one but it's likely we'll be down there by mid march or early April.

I'll look into builders that put in basements.

[Maximmmm]

I am going to sound harsh but if you have not touched it in a year so do not need it. Have you thought about donating to Goodwill, shelters or even taking your stuff to a resale shop?

[Ed_Upstate]

Yes you're right, we do have alot of stuff we can get rid of. Actually not having the basement and having to get rid of all this stuff would be good in the long run. But still tough to get use to not having a basement after all these years. We would likely donate many things, though i must say it gets harder and harder to donate stuff as they are getting so fussy as to what they will take. At least that's true up by us.