Have been considering SC - where should I look in NC? (Charlotte: 2009, insurance)

[tedweiser]

We live in Michigan now, but are planning on moving to somewhere on the east coast in around two years. We are still in the planning phase, but are trying to narrow it down to 3 or 4 areas so we can start taking research trips.

I have been looking mostly at the SC coastline, currently favoring the Beaufort area with Mt Pleasant a close second. However, I'd like to get feedback on any places in NC that you think might be worth checking into.

We have a daughter who will be starting kindergarden the year we move, so good schools are important. We are willing to pay for a private school if necessary, even better would be a montessori school. So schools are important, but it doesn't have to be good public if there are other options.

The state of the local job market isn't that important, as I work from home as a remote employee. My wife works part-time in a high-demand medical field, so I'm not worried about any difficulty finding her a job.

We definitely want to be very near, if not on, the water (coastal, river, ocean, any is fine). Eventually we'd like to live right on the water/beach, but if we can just be close for now, that's fine. We prefer smaller towns, but would like to be within 90 minutes of an airport and shopping. We could deal with a larger town, but we despise traffic and definitely don't want to live anywhere that is choked with traffic.

We mostly keep to ourselves, so we don't need a highly active social scene. We enjoy kayaking, walking, biking, hiking (I feel like I'm writing a personal ad!) and love being around water. We don't have any other very demanding or specialized needs, so I am casting a wide net to find places that strike a chord with me.

I have been to Duck and Charlotte, but that is the limit of my experience with NC. Where in NC should we consider?

TIA!

[Steven McCurdy]

Croatan High is in the top of high schools in NC, academically...That is why my kids can and will explain the schools here in Cap Carteret, because they can tell you like it is, and I believe you will be very pleased....I can only tell you why a school is a school of excellence, they can tell you all the nuts and bolts from the inside....It helps you make a better informed decision...

Carteret County and Onslow County have plenty of waterfront homes, sites, access, etc....

You can look at all the pics and brochures you like, and that is helpful, but you really need to visit the area, and plan to stay a few days, to take it all in.

[dsobotta]

Originally Posted by tedweiser

We live in Michigan now, but are planning on moving to somewhere on the east coast in around two years. We are still in the planning phase, but are trying to narrow it down to 3 or 4 areas so we can start taking research trips.

I have been looking mostly at the SC coastline, currently favoring the Beaufort area with Mt Pleasant a close second. However, I'd like to get feedback on any places in NC that you think might be worth checking into.

We have a daughter who will be starting kindergarden the year we move, so good schools are important. We are willing to pay for a private school if necessary, even better would be a montessori school. So schools are important, but it doesn't have to be good public if there are other options.

The state of the local job market isn't that important, as I work from home as a remote employee. My wife works part-time in a high-demand medical field, so I'm not worried about any difficulty finding her a job.

We definitely want to be very near, if not on, the water (coastal, river, ocean, any is fine). Eventually we'd like to live right on the water/beach, but if we can just be close for now, that's fine. We prefer smaller towns, but would like to be within 90 minutes of an airport and shopping. We could deal with a larger town, but we despise traffic and definitely don't want to live anywhere that is choked with traffic.

We mostly keep to ourselves, so we don't need a highly active social scene. We enjoy kayaking, walking, biking, hiking (I feel like I'm writing a personal ad!) and love being around water. We don't have any other very demanding or specialized needs, so I am casting a wide net to find places that strike a chord with me.

I have been to Duck and Charlotte, but that is the limit of my experience with NC. Where in NC should we consider?

TIA!

Your statement, "We enjoy kayaking, walking, biking, hiking, and love being around water," comes very close to defining why people choose to live on the Crystal Coast which is roughly defined as the area from Swansboro to Morehead City/Beaufort. It includes Cedar Point, Cape Carteret, and Emerald Isle among other places.

It is an area of small towns, but we are very lucky to have great schools (Croatan High just won an award as one of the top high schools in the country), wonderful hiking and kayaking and some of the best water to enjoy on the east coast.

We have modern shopping less than twenty minutes from Cape Carteret where we live on the White Oak River which is where I kayak and which also is my path to the Intercoastal, Bogue Inlet, and the Atlantic Ocean.

You can follow that path in this slide show entitled Mackerel Morning.

You can get an idea of the area where I live through this interactive map, just zoom into street level and click on one of the side icons and the map will take you there.

We are also blessed with the Croatan National Forest whose 158,000 acres protect us from over development.

This is an area where most of the entertainment is community events and people getting together to enjoy each others' company.

We are not choked with traffic. During Saturday and Sunday check-ins, the bridge to the beach somes gets backed up for a few minutes but that is it.

The only challenge is that we try to do our main grocery shopping in the summer from Monday-Thursday. From about the last week in June to the middle of August, the grocery stores have more people than we are used to, but it is still below the level of crowding that you would see in a Northern Virginia grocery store on a normal weekend.

We have four grocery stores within ten minutes of our home. There's a new Harris Teeter in Morehead City that is under 20 minutes away. Most of the shopping is there, Belks, Sears, Best Buy, TJ Maxx, and Bed,Bath & Beyond etc Many of the chain restaurants are also there, Outback, Ruby Tuesday, Texas Steakhouse, Panera, Chik-Fila, etc.

Close to us we only have small local restaurants and a few fast food places including a brand new Quiznos. The local restaurants all stay open year round, though some close for a week or two in January.

One of the reasons we moved where we are is that we could get a reasonable priced home on the water and be within a ten minutes ride of the beach. We have great beaches and easier parking that I have seen in SC areas that I have visited.

Here is a slide show of one of my favorite beach walks near the Point at Emerald Isle.

There are two airports within forty five mintues, one in Jacksonville and the other in New Bern. Wilmington which has the next tier of shopping above our area is about 90 minutes away. They also have an airport and the major Raleigh-Durham airport is about 2.5 hours away.

There are a number of cultural resources that are great for kids, the Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and the Maritime Museum in Beaufort and Tryon Palace and its gardens are three good examples.

There are bike trails in Emerald Isle, and my wife and I really enjoy hiking the trails in the area. You can find photos of some of them at this website.

Water access communities like ours, Bluewater Cove, are very popular along the Crystal Coast. Ours has a swimming pool, clubhouse, boat ramp, day dock, board walk, pond, and enough quiet roads for light biking. We only have 42 homes with just a few vacant lots.

You pretty well can pick your amenities by picking the subdivision. Some don't have pools. Some only have day docks. Other have deep water for bigger boats. A few have more of an emphasis on manicured lots. Some like ours let you keep your boat in your driveway if you want. Some have a wide variety of architectural styles and others are more consistent so there is plenty of choice in the type of subdivision.

You can find homes in water access communities on the shore site from the low $330Ks and up. The typical home is from 1600-2300 square ft.

I have seen some waterfront cottages in the low $400K range, but that would be a smaller home.

I recently wrote a post about the area's advantage in costs on heating-coolling-taxes and how it balances insurance costs.

To wrap it up, I think you would be very pleased with the schools. I recently had clients who moved here with their two daughters who had previously been in private schools. They gave White Oak Elementary and Broad Creek Middle a try because of their feeling after visiting the schools and talking to the teachers. They are very pleased with the children's first year in public schools.

Here is my personal list of why I love the area and a link to a list of posts which might provide more information for you.

This is a link to an area calendar of events.

The area continues to amaze me. This weekend we went up to the Core Sound Museum on Harkers Island. It turns out they have a couple of neat trails and a great little museum. This is a slide show of that trip.

This is something of an online diary of our first year here.

If you have any trouble with the flash based slide shows, some of them are also on my Picasa Web Albums site.

I would be glad to answer any questions about the area.

[RedRockAAAA]

If you have been to Duck, you know where Kitty Hawk is. Everything in your description is there, even the distant shopping and airport, Norfolk. Norfolk airport is 70 minutes from downtown Kitty Hawk, local joke it means the 7-11/Post Office intersection.

The schools are highly rated. Your independence will work well in the winter as the population drops dramatically. We were there for 10 years. My wife worked at Southern Shores Realty. I was retired. We sold our condo at the peak, but prices have dropped. Good Luck.

[MTNesters]

You might like to take a look at Hampstead, in Pender county - easy access to ILM airport in Wilmington, shopping, Topsail Island beaches and lots of tidal creeks for kayaking, and good schools. Good luck in your search!

[tedweiser]

This is exactly the kind of information I am looking for, I'll do some digging based on your posts. Thanks again.

[Steven McCurdy]

Kayaking around Cedar Point, and Cape Carteret is fantastic....You can launch freely at the National Forest launch in Cedar Point, very calm waters that lead to the White Oak River and on to the ICW....
You can launch at any on the parks in Cape Carteret if you are a city resident...One of the great bonuses of this Gem by the sea....You could use the boat ramp on HWY 24 and have instant access to the ICW...

Like I have said, people should plan on spending a few days here and you can venture out 30 miles each way up and down the Crystal Coast, and you will discover a multitude of opportunities...

See you here...