Living in the Outer Banks...recommended or not? (Raleigh, New Bern: best neighborhoods, condo)

[travistarrant40]

Thanks for that information. Raleigh, Charlotte, and Wilmington are really expensive. I thought the Outer Banks would be a little cheap. I'm happy to report that I will get my disability in December and instead of a heart transplant, I will need a defibirlator and a pacemaker combination.

[travistarrant40]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

I wish you luck but you might want to look at the home prices along the coast and you will see that you will actually be paying more than you are currently in Raleigh.
Plus the coastal insurance is extremely costly to what you are probably use to now.
At that age of your son it would be a dream come true least in the warm weather months but even in the cold weather months there fishing abound.

I would look actually to what you can afford and they may be on some of the Sounds cities like Elizabeth City or Oriental.

What about rental properties? Here in Raleigh, two bed room units can start from $600-900 depending on the neighborhood you live in. To find a three bed room unit at that price, your room mate is a rat and a cockroach. Three bed room units can run well over a thousand dollars here.

[SunnyKayak]

Originally Posted by travistarrant40

What about rental properties? Here in Raleigh, two bed room units can start from $600-900 depending on the neighborhood you live in. To find a three bed room unit at that price, your room mate is a rat and a cockroach. Three bed room units can run well over a thousand dollars here.

YOu are forgetting one thing that would make this a challenge.

The obx is 95 % vacation rentals

[Ces1]

Love going there for vacation, but not to sure I would want to live there all year round and we are retired, so no kids. The houses are basically built on top of each other and I have a bad hip, so would not be able to manage the stairs. There are some really neat restaurants and lots of places to shop, but when the hurricanes come, that area is usually hit first.

[cpg]

hello medicwife my wife will attest to this we are here 4yrs be careful!!the locals are sketchy trust me it is a different story when you live here there are alot of stuff down here that you would not even consider look up www.123NC.com and let us know what you think?? good luck

[jjenkins48]

Most houses are built at least 7 feet off the ground because of flooding. Years of having to carry everything up and down stairs, can be unnerving. Rentals usually start close to $1000 for 2 bedroom. The best time to look is starting in October because they also have 2 pricing systems - one for summer (which is really high) and one for winter. Pay attention to the neighborhood and stay on the sound side. Ocean side is mostly weekly rentals and between the highways is also expensive. If there are a lot of weekly rentals in the neighborhood, there may be a lot of parties. The people coming for vacation may not want to be on your working schedule. Drugs and alcohol abound in the area as there is little to do for entertainment. Between the months of October and March most of the locals are home by 8 and there is little activity. You will find very old people (retired) and very young. Help is hard to find especially if surf is good. A lot of the businesses depend on foreign help. The beach thrived on construction and real estate, but since neither are doing anything now, repair work is taking its place which is hard to count on. You may be working in Hatteras one day and Corolla the next. Gas prices killed a lot of the independents. And little known secrets by tourists, you can't turn left in the summer and can't leave the beach on Saturdays or Sundays.

[cabalistic]

wow. people seem to say living in the obx is hard, Im also looking into relocateing there in march 09. well heres my point of view i'm currently living in a small town in Vermont located centraly 6 miles from the capitol where as 72% of the school kids are below poverity.My childrens school has failed the no child left behind act the last three years running and lost 3/4 of their federal grants and Vermont is 2nd or third highest state for living costs. (i am currently paying 1100 includes trash and water a month for a 2 bed aparment.) have found a 2 bed house in the obx for 900+ Finding a job here ha.. forget it. lots of businesses here are no longer, it really hurts for me work referances with no contacts due to failing businesses. no local grocery store closest one about 5 miles well we do have the ski tourisim but living in those areas will cost you even more in just rent not counting living/heating expenses. propain went up 67% from last years prices.(ounch I heat with propain) wensdays low is -8 LOL currently 47 in the obx 14 here. I recently lost yet another job/ work referance. then my car when they took it I knew it was time to move on to somthing new.
My children, wife and myself have found houseing in nags head, and are now seeking employment in the obx. SO with that said please fell free to emal me at xcabalisticx@hotmail if you happen to have any employment opportunites.

[SunnyKayak]

Originally Posted by cabalistic

wow. people seem to say living in the obx is hard, Im also looking into relocateing there in march 09. well heres my point of view i'm currently living in a small town in Vermont located centraly 6 miles from the capitol where as 72% of the school kids are below poverity.My childrens school has failed the no child left behind act the last three years running and lost 3/4 of their federal grants and Vermont is 2nd or third highest state for living costs. (i am currently paying 1100 includes trash and water a month for a 2 bed aparment.) have found a 2 bed house in the obx for 900+ Finding a job here ha.. forget it. lots of businesses here are no longer, it really hurts for me work referances with no contacts due to failing businesses. no local grocery store closest one about 5 miles well we do have the ski tourisim but living in those areas will cost you even more in just rent not counting living/heating expenses. propain went up 67% from last years prices.(ounch I heat with propain) wensdays low is -8 LOL currently 47 in the obx 14 here. I recently lost yet another job/ work referance. then my car when they took it I knew it was time to move on to somthing new.
My children, wife and myself have found houseing in nags head, and are now seeking employment in the obx. SO with that said please fell free to emal me at xcabalisticx@hotmail if you happen to have any employment opportunites.

good luck but Dare County unemployment rate is one of the highest in the state at 12.1 percent maybe you could become a good fisherman
http://www.city-data.com/forum/north...ent-rates.html

[cabalistic]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

good luck but Dare County unemployment rate is one of the highest in the state at 12.1 percent maybe you could become a good fisherman
http://www.city-data.com/forum/north...ent-rates.html

how is the unployment rate durning season?
I myself don't consider that all that bad for off seasonal area the same thing happens here when the ski resorts close down Stowe, Sugerbush, Bolton all within all about a 45 min to an hour drive. then you have Stratton Mountian and Killington about 2 hours travel from here When they close up for the summer unemployment goes up. I feel its normal for unemployment to be higher in a seasonal area durning off season, fishing is an option. with good luck can be very profitable. I also dont require what lots of amercians do to be happy I just need to live.

[cabalistic]

how is the unemployment rates during the summer? Even during Vermont's
Ski season there is not the increase of jobs amounts like OBX in season.
Also just to update you. I do not need to fish except for my pleasure I have already found employment 12.1% ya LOL i filled out 3 apps.
Well maybe I was just lucky. check out Vermont housing rates, and remember it snows and get below 0 degrees. It will cost at least 200.00 a month to heat during the heating season depending on what you use IE:gas,oil,electric.
AS for my propain heat I pay $379.00 for a 100 pound tank lasting a month to a month and a half. If your lucky and don't mind being a bit chilly in the fall and spring you will only have to heat for 6 months a year.

http://burlington.craigslist.org/apa/