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I have a desire to relocate to New Bern. I've been wanting to return to the East Coast and I'm preparing to make the move. I'm of retirement age 68, my wife passed five years ago, so things like property taxes and cost of living are important to me. What sold me on New Bern is that lovely Down Town area and its cool vibe. The historic tree lined streets and all the laid-back activity. Frankly, I miss the water.
I understand the fact that its susceptible to hurricanes and flooding. I'm originally from New England and hurricanes are common, for me the flooding is worrisome. I'll be purchasing a small home outside of the
Down Town area. 200-250K.
How do find out if the house you are considering is in a flood zone? Or has been flooded in the past? Does everyone have flood insurance in New Bern? Is the entire area a flood zone?
...... I'll be purchasing a small home outside of the
Down Town area. 200-250K.
How do find out if the house you are considering is in a flood zone? Or has been flooded in the past? Does everyone have flood insurance in New Bern? Is the entire area a flood zone?
......
Obviously, the closer to a river or creek, the higher the risk. I believe that the seller's realtor must disclose if a place has been flooded. However, if the house has brand new carpeting or flooring, that is a tip-off.
I tried the web site with 400 Johnson Street, which is the public library, and it returned a .2 % chance of flooding ( 2 tenths of 1 percent), so thats not really high risk.
You can also contact a homeowners insurance company for a quote. It’s easier if your current company also covers that area since they would like you to consider them if you move.
I have a desire to relocate to New Bern. I've been wanting to return to the East Coast and I'm preparing to make the move. I'm of retirement age 68, my wife passed five years ago, so things like property taxes and cost of living are important to me. What sold me on New Bern is that lovely Down Town area and its cool vibe. The historic tree lined streets and all the laid-back activity. Frankly, I miss the water.
Thank You for any suggestions.
I’m also from New England and highly recommend visiting Southport before you make a final decision. My husband and I visited many coastal areas of NC prior to retirement…we’d been living in the Raleigh area for 10+ years. While New Bern is a lovely town, it is on the river and yes, prone to flooding. It’s also close to 40 miles away from a nice beach. I believe Atlantic Beach is closest.
As soon as we drove into Southport, we knew we had found our sweet spot. Lovely, historic town which sits at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, where it feeds into the Atlantic. It reminded us of Rockport, MA. The town is vibrant, mostly retirees, lots to do. Active senior groups. Granted, living in town is expensive but it’s possible to find a small condo or townhome in the $250k range. We live about 2 miles out of town. Takes us 5 min to get to the waterfront downtown or 7-8 min to the beach on Oak Island.
Everything one needs on a day to day basis is here. Additionally, we’re only 30 miles from Wilmington for major shopping and good medical care. New Hanover Regional Medical Center is a large, 800 bed hospital which is now part of the Novant system. That’s my $0.02.
There was a lot of well publicized flooding in New Bern during Hurricane Florence. Obviously the damaged, flooded areas got all the press. But, an awfully lot of New Bern did not flood. It’s unfortunate that the media gave the impression that the whole town was wiped off the face of the earth!
Our home is two blocks from the Neuse. The “old” flood line, at 9 feet, cut across the extreme NE corner of our lot, just a few square feet, far from the house. During Florence, the flood debris was for all practical purposes, right along the line. The 9 foot line really nailed it!
Since then, on the link referenced above (revised flood risk), the foundation of our house is partially in the .2% (yellow) flood line. Our house is on rather high foundation, so I don’t lose sleep over it (at least not from November until June).
The point is, you should be very confidant that you will do OK if the home you are looking for is above the .2% (yellow) area on the map. At least in our area, the exceptional flooding during Florence, did not cover all of the yellow. Conversely, a home in the blue zone is at a risk I would not take for flooding. Although many of these homes are/have been elevated. An elevated home in the yellow section should also be OK. Possibly in the blue area, too. Again, if elevated.
EDIT. I took out flood insurance when we moved in, though I was not required by the bank, based on proximity to the Neuse.
We used to own a second home in New Bern and I would recommend checking flood planes. We were on Northwest Creek and were in flood zone AE. Since our home was elevated on pilings we were ok, but the area under the house flooded twice while we owned it and destroyed many neighbors' docks. We lost major trees during Irene and trees fell on our deck, but luckily missed our home.We sold before Florence, but the area flooded very badly during that time. Actually some of the scenes of roof rescues were in Fairfield Harbor and these were homes that hadn't flooded before. So pay close attention to the flood maps. With that said, I thought New Bern was a charming town and loved the views as the Neuse met the Trent River. If you enjoy boating it's the best area I've been in with wide open water and relatively little boat traffic. But it was not an area that had enough for me to want to retire there. As ljd1010 said Southport also called out to me when we spent time there. We started with a second home to see how much we liked it and now 2 years later, next week we will be making Southport our primary residence. Although boating is not as good as New Bern, there are good restaurants, lots of activities,a thriving music and arts community, and a very charming downtown area bordering the Cape Fear River. A short hop across the intracoastal and you're at the beach. And many areas of Southport are not in flood zones. Prices have escalated substantially recently like so many areas, so I'm not sure about your budget, but it might be worth a look.
Your Realtor should be able to give you a synopsis of areas succeptible to flooding. We had a townhome about 15 minutes up the river from DT New Bern and the last hurricane washed it out, yet a few streets over were fine. If you need a referral for a trust-worthy agent anywhere from New Bern to Myrtle Beach, shoot me a DM.
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