Relocation advice from CA coast to NC coast (Wilmington, Ogden: transplants, real estate)

[aleanabean]

We are a family of four, kids are 8 & 9 and we have lived by the beach in CA our whole life. We surf and enjoy all aspects of ocean life. We want to relocate our family in the next couple of years where we can afford to settle, and still enjoy the beach life as we have. We will be traveling the Wilmington, NC area this spring to learn more, but would love to see if anyone on this forum could answer a few random questions:

1. How bad are the bugs in the Wilmington area?
2. Are communities there welcoming to transplants?
3. My son skates and surfs and we'd love to hook him up with likeminded kids. Is there an established skate culture there?
4. My daughter is a gymnast and is on the team here where we are. Is there a gym with a team in the area?
5. Is there a high demand for rental homes there? We will be buying our house, but would also like to invest in a couple of properties to rent out for income purposes. Is it easy to rent out vacation rentals and/or longterm rentals there? Or, is the supply much higher than the demand?

Thank you in advance for your time.

[BC1960]

1. What kind of bugs? Inside? Outside? There are many variables. As far as inside, if I see a couple, I call pest control, then I don't see any for months. Repeat as necessary. Outside, lots. Tiny gnats in the early spring that are particularly annoying. mosquitoes in the summer. Its all very dependent on exact location, wind speed and direction, time of year, etc.
2. Yes, people are moving to the area form all over, in large quantities.
3. I would say yes, but thats really out of my knowledge area.
4. Ditto.
5. Yes, between vacationers, college students, people waiting for their house to be built, people moving here to try it out and rent before buying, there is a huge market for rental real estate. Be aware the city of Wilmington is considering restrictions on rentals of less than 30 days (i.e., VRBO):

Short-term rentals back before Wilmington officials - News - Wilmington Star News - Wilmington, NC

This doesn't include places like Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach.

[hey_guy]

Small fyi Wilmington isn’t at the beach the closest beach wrightsville can be challenging to even visit at times

But obviously you can have various accesses within 1/2 hour

There are a lot of bugs but depends how close you are to woods

There is a diverse community but is still a big southern culture aspect as well think 50/50

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by aleanabean

3. My son skates and surfs and we'd love to hook him up with likeminded kids. Is there an established skate culture there?

Should we assume you mean "skateboarding" when you say skate culture. I have felt like an idiot before when I thought a kid meant roller skating. I don't see much evidence of a lot of kids skateboarding. However, there are two skatepark in Wilmington: one in the Greenfield area, the other in Ogden.

[BC1960]

Here's a listing of skate and surf shops in Wilmington:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...,lf:1,lf_ui:10

Must be a skateboard culture if there are this many stores.

[hsw55]

Medium skate culture with an awesome skate park in Ogden. Bowls, ramps ect.

Gymnastics is the same. AND they all offer teams. Carolina Gymnastics is one with an amazing facilty, they're closer to Carolina beach. And Port City Gymnastics is another great one that is in northern wilmington. There's another one, but I cant remember the name. It's also closer to northern wilmington.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by aleanabean

3. My son skates and surfs and we'd love to hook him up with likeminded kids. Is there an established skate culture there?

The surfing is not great at the beaches around Wilmington, eg 2 or 3 foot waves at most. Check for surf cmeras. You would have to go the Outer Banks to have anything comparable to California surf. That would be a weekend trip, rather than a day trip from Wilmington.

[BC1960]

Outer Banks surf doesn't campare to CA either.