Pros or Cons of Sunset Beach ? (Wilmington, Shallotte: for sale, to rent, condo)

[Apple Annie]

If anyone living in the Sunset Beach area currently would like to give positive or negative experiences, please chime in. Housing prices? Subdivisions? Builders' reputations? Shopping? Employment? Weather? Buyer's market, sellers market? Thanks !

[jerseyj]

Annie-I am responding to your post in hopes of getting someone with upclose experience to answer your ?'s. I am interested in what people have to say about Sunset Beach too!
We do not live there but do own a piece of property on the Mainland of Sunset Beach with the hope of building there in future years. We have been vacationing there 2-3 times a year for the past 4-5 years.
To me, it looks like there are a significant number of retirees living there. The agents that we dealt with lived in Wilmington. Haven't run across much "big" business there, the usual banks, Home Depot, WalMart, hospital and a lot of grocery stores. So I have no clue about the job market.
There is a fair amount of shopping in the area, Shallotte and Calabash are very close and of course N Myrtle Beach is only about 20 minutes south and is a shoppers dream (big Tangers Outlet )
They are developing new subdivisions, Ocean Ridge, Sea Watch, Ocean Isle Palm, to name a few. These lots appear to be selling fast. There also appears to be a large inventory of "used" homes for sale. Try looking at Realtor.com and type in the zip 28469 (Sunset Beach), this will give you a peek at homes for sale.
We have been there in Sept, Oct, Nov, Mar, Apr, and May. We have never missed a day on the golf course because of the weather-shopping maybe-never the weather!!
Hope you get more info from an insider!!!!

[Beffrey2]

Originally Posted by Apple Annie

If anyone living in the Sunset Beach area currently would like to give positive or negative experiences, please chime in. Housing prices? Subdivisions? Builders' reputations? Shopping? Employment? Weather? Buyer's market, sellers market? Thanks !

Sunset is a family beach. It is pretty far out with nothing to do.....but chill on the beach with the family. Good spot for a family vacation. Weather is nice year round. It you are looking for fun, and shopping this is not the place.

[leighbhe]

My inlaws live in sunset beach, like you, not on the beach, but inland. They moved there to retire basically. Years ago, it was a relatively empty beach, even over the big holidays. Now it gets quite a bit more traffic because it is close to myrtle beach (30/45 minutes) and it is cheaper to rent in sunset than in myrtle. That being said, it is a beach town, not many year round residents, lots of tourism as in industry, etc.

My inlaws have lived there for at least 5 years and it seems as though there have been a number of new developments (inland) in the past couple of years. They don't do much, so I can't help you there! If you like bingo and going "on the gambling boat" as they call it, then I could give you lots of information!

Leigh

[Apple Annie]

Thank you; but I don't mean the beach itself or the shoreline, I was wondering about the "town" itself if there is a town actually, or let's say the "area". I know there are many new subdivisions, and Centex has a big one in that general area, can't recall the name of it at the moment. I was wondering about the subdivisions and condo developments. I looked on realtor.com but didn't really learn much. I'll try to access their MLS through one of the broker's websites and do a search. Appreciate the input you've all given so far.

[Mikeabo]

My in-laws have a condo at A golf community in Sunset Beach. As far as a town I don't think there really is a "town." the closest town is Calabash just a few miles south. It's mostly "fish camps" and trinket shops. If you keep going south you get to Little River and North Myrtle Beach.

[NCSC]

Sunset Beach is actually the island (beach houses, couple of shops, hotel, pier, etc.) and the area just inland. A small swing bridge seperates the two, but they are getting ready to replace it with a larger one that won't cause
lots of traffic jams when the swing has to open for a boat.
There is no traditional "downtown." It's more like an "area"
with shops, restaurants, etc. scattered about between neighborhoods
and golf course/developments.
The closest town is Shallotte. Calabash is nearby, but not a traditional
town ---- it used to be just a bunch of restaurants, but does have some
shops and businesses now. Ella's at Calabash has great seafood,
also Twin Lakes restaurant, which is on the waterway looking onto
the island of Sunset Beach.