Which coastal community is the best for year round living?

[greengladezoo]

I'm ALSO considering relocating from Baltimore, MD.
I need a great area but also affordable and with good prospects for investment. Please share your thoughts with me!
I have heard comments about Monkey Junction being a big up and comer.
I can't get a feel for all of the different posts about Wilmington though. I keep hearing traffic and high prices, but I am coming from Baltimore- where the only kind of traffic we have is bumper to bumper. And modest homes cost $350,000
I am setting off on my own with my 13 year old daughter, so I need some really good opinions and thoughts.

[dfstempel]

we also love the nc coast and decided to build in Manteo for us to use now and then retire to in the future. It is quaint and 10minutes to the beaches, but buffered by Nags head and the rest of the OBX. It also is not as crowded and the people are very friendly. We are building in a new developement called Cedar Bay. They have a web site if you are interested. Cedar Bay Gift Baskets: Northwest Flavors with Northwest Style

dave

[crighi]

OK, we line in CNY and I hate it. The cost of living is high-taxes, heat, gas and the people are very unfriendly. The only neighborhood, out of many I have lived in here, have met with no talking neighbors. Anyway, we went to Corolla nc for the past 2 Aprils and love it, but cant afford to live there. Im wondering about hurricanes. it seems like, when we traveled along the outer banks, the homes were still intact from years gone by. I dont see damage from hurricanes. What gives? We WERe planning to visit the western nc region this October, but I think it would be too cold. I want no snow, and mild temps with warm summers. i WAS looking into Topsail area. Anyone have info on this coastal area-hurricanes, cost, friendliness?

[Roma]

Corolla looks beautiful. I love all the wild horses running around. The houses are stunning too. The only problem for us is we want to be near all the shopping and amenities. Where we live now (Texas) we are about 30 minutes away from all the major shopping and stuff and I feel like I'm out in the boonies. I'm not but I feel that way. We have lots of pets too so we need Vets and pet stores near by.

Anyways we found a real nice Realtor in the OBX area and she sends us tons of stuff all the time in the mail. She's great.

My husband and I go back and forth with where we want to move to. We miss the beach and used to live oceanfront in California. But prices are holding us back from there at this moment, to get what we want. North Carolina has fair prices and we can possibly get oceanfront again or at least sound front which is near the ocean.

[Bill Hitchcock]

Wow! My head is spinning! The coast of North Carolina is very diverse. The Outer Banks (North), The Crystal Coast (Central) and Wilmington (South) area are all different and are driven by different economies. As a result, the cost of living differs too.
Wilmington is one of the most expensive housing markets in the state. Tourism drives the Outer Banks which (tourism) has twice the economic impact than the Crytsal Coast area.
Oops-Almost forgot the inner banks region of coastal North Carolina. This is the newly discovered area running from Carteret County, north!
Even area's within themselves can be greatly diverse. Here's a brief video showcaing the diversity of land, water and home prices along the Crystal Coast-: Click Here (broken link)

[Roma]

I also want to add that the OBX area also sends us stuff in the mail. I contacted the Chambers of Commerce and they directed me to the Tourism Dept and they send me a lot of great information too all the time. So whatever area you are looking into I would contact the CoC and have them send you everything they got.

I so love the Corolla area but I just think it is too far out there for us. I like how it seems more upscale in a sense.

[dsobotta]

Originally Posted by silty1

We were in a similar position a couple of years ago.My husband has two retirements and decided not to wait for Social Security to retire. We spent 4 years in NC with the Air Force, and I am from Va Beach, so spent a lot of time in Coastal Carolina while growing up. This area has exploded with development, and will continue to do so. We travel to the OBX every summer, and I don't think I could stand living there in the summer. My folks owned a place in what is now Southern Shores and we rarely went there in the summer because of the crowds. We ended up driving to Oriental because my husband is a sailor and they claim to be the sailing capital of NC. The town turned out to be quaint, but much too isolated - no Home Depot was my husband's complaint--- We drove up-river and stayed in New Bern for a couple of days so we could explore. NewBern turned out to be a pleasant surprise and the perfect town for us. We are moving in 3 weeks. I am not ready to retire and because I am a nurse, I had no trouble finding a job. What I'm trying to say is you need to just do a little exploring until you find a "feel good" place, then do a little research. I love Coastal Carolina, the people are so friendly and it is not as backwater as some people think. I am looking forward to trading the Baltimore-Washington madness for a little peace and quiet.

We also have traded the Baltimore-Washington-Northern Virginia rat race for the coast.

We moved to Columbia, MD in 1987 from Halifax, NS. Two years later we settled in Roanoke, VA but I worked in Reston, Va until 2004. I would typically go up on a Monday and come home or Thursday or Friday. Eventually I ended up with our two older kids living up there so I could stay with them. Some of my last few years, I also had to go to California for a week a month. That was enough to do me in.

So I know what you mean by "madness." I used to feel the tension drain out of me as I got on Interstate 81 and headed south. Eventually Interstate 81 also because a source of tension.

Now we are living near Cape Carteret. It has turned out well for us.

I really encourage people to rent a place for a few months or at least visit lots of times to see if they will like living in a spot. It took us nearly three summer before we were certain.

Each person has a different mix of what works for them. We at first looked in the Beaufort area including Harker's Island and Merrimom which is across the Neuse from Oriental. We didn't really consider New Bern since I wanted beaches and the sound. Merrimom was very isolated but beautiful. Beaufort very nice but pricey when we were looking there in 2005 & 2006.

As we were trying to visualize ourselves living in Beaufort, we started thinking about services and having to cross the drawbridge in Beaufort to get to much of what we needed.

Yet we did not want to live in a "city" as big as Morehead City. We ended up in Western Carteret County near Cape Carteret.

We are lucky in that the services seem to be coming to us. We have a new Lowes Home Improvement Store and they have just started construction on a new Walgreens. Not far from there we are getting a Walmart.

Also we have found Morehead City to more charming than we first thought. It is prettiest from the water. Morehead is also a great spot for those services. We can be at the mall area in Morehead City in less than twenty minutes which is actually quicker than we can drive across Roanoke, Virginia from our Southwest County home and get to the big mall there.

Morehead has just gotten a small Best Buy. They already had Walmart, Belks, and Staples and construction seem to continue on new shops.

My wife complains most about the closest Target being in Jacksonville. It's only about 20 miles away, but after getting used to the relaxed pace in Cape Carteret, few like to tackle Jacksonville's traffic.

Of course the Jacksonville traffic is nothing compared to Tyson's Corner or the Washington Beltway.

New Bern isn't that far away from us. It is about 40 minutes and there is lots of shopping there.

I am not too worried about area shopping since fishing tackle and boating needs are well covered in the Crystal Coast area.

I hope your move to New Bern goes really well, and it turns out to be the perfect place for you.

Welcome to the coast and a different life style!

-David Sobotta

[MJinNC]

Southport, North Carolina**< *NC Coastal Community along the Cape Fear River and Intracoastal Waterway >