Information on Wilson-Greenville area??? (Raleigh, Durham: real estate, buying a house, employment)

[plattsburgher]

Hi...........

Visited Greenville a few months ago and love the fact that there is a college there with a vibrant feel and a seemingly quality health care facility, but have also heard good things about Wilson...........Is real estate about the same price in both areas or does it get pricier the closer you get to Raleigh? Does Wilson have more hills or any change in elevation? Greenville seems fairly flat.......Would like to be able to hear some live music on weekends. Work in medical offices, so don't know at this point whether it would be worth the drive and effort to battle traffic in Raleigh........or try to find something in a smaller town........? We are approaching retirement but probably can never really afford to retire completely.............Thanks for any and all opinions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mhogan10010]

I lived in Greenville 7 years. Not my kind of place, but it is worlds better than Wilson. The only advantage Wilson has it its proximity to Raleigh.

[Beffrey2]

Originally Posted by mhogan10010

I lived in Greenville 7 years. Not my kind of place, but it is worlds better than Wilson. The only advantage Wilson has it its proximity to Raleigh.

I disagree that Greenville is worlds better than Wilson.

It depends on what you like. Greenville is a party town, thats all there is to it. The rest of the town is a mess! Wilson has a small local private college (Barton) /Atlantic Christian

Wilson changes from east to west. East part of the county is green with gentle rolling hills. It is also sandy. The shoreline used to go all the way up to eastern Wilson co. years and years ago. The western part of the county the soil changes to clay. The elv. is 150 ft/ Compared to 50 ft in greenville.

For someone about to retire, Wilson would be better. However, New Bern would be one of the best choices in the state. New Bern is 45 miles southeast of Greenville.


Local music. Greenville has a local music scene, and so does Raleigh. So Wilson would be half way between the two. If you like to party, Wilson is not your place.

[plattsburgher]

Hi.........

I did actually notice that there is a slight elevation change toward Wilson and have read on other threads here that Wilson is changing, probably primarily as a suburb of Raleigh. It's that sprawl issue probably....... I see my hometown going through the same exact thing. I have looked into New Bern, but haven't visited. Think because there is a perceived "buzz" or more publicity about that area, the real estate has gone up considerably?????? We will need to work but don't want entire paycheck/retirement to be eaten by housing costs. That is why we looked into Greenville originally. We also still like live music........and we love the ocean but don't want our house to be leveled by a hurricane. Guess I am asking for too much??????? Hey, if I can survive 25 summers in the deep, deep humid south and 25+ in the suburbs of Montreal, Canada, I can probably deal with whatever happens. Just trying to find my way toward the most information available. This site is great for that sort of thing. Does New Bern have any sort of college? That seems to make a town more vibrant/alive............

[Beffrey2]

Well, I can sum it up like this:

-Greenville is the best choice for a local music scene. There will be somebody playing somewhere every night! The Club scene-party scene is great in G-vegas (Greenville)
-Sprawl too = Greenville. Not from some other town, but their own spawl
-Greenville is not the safest place to be either, this is basically downtown though. You will be fine around many other people, but never walk in areas where there are not many people. You will get jumped! The burbs are safe.
-The downtown Greenville neighborhoods are very nice. The area is hilly, not flat. Tons of oak trees everywhere. It looks a lot like the downtown neighborhoods in Wilson. (But Wilson's are nicer )
-The cost of living in Greenville will be more than it would be in Wilson or New Bern I would think.
-Wilson is growing true, but it is not at the point yet where houses have sky rocketed in value. So west Wilson would be a great place to invest in a home.
-In New Bern, the cost of living is low. And should stay that way for a long time to come.
-New Bern only has a community college(Craven)
-New Bern really has no local music scene. When I lived there in the 90's, we went to a place called the cellar at the Harvey Mansion downtown, there was local music but nothing great...lol
-New Bern is a great town anyway. It is very historical, located around large bodies of water. Trent and Neuse rivers. Is laid back, many northerners live there. (New Bern population 23,000......but if you add the communities of James city, Trent Woods, River Bend, Fairfield, Brices Creek, Riverdale, and Havelock, the population is easily 40,000. And these areas are basically within New Bern itself. (except Havelock, which is 20 minutes away) Just not counted in the population.

-New Bern is 50 minutes from Greenville
-West side of Wilson would also be close to 50 minutes to Greenville. West side of Wilson is about 50 minutes from downtown Raleigh, and 40 minutes to all the large malls in North Raleigh.
-New Bern is 35 minutes from Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle.
-Greenville is close to 1.5 hours from those same beaches
-Wilson is 2 hours from the beaches in Wilmington, and a little over 2 hours from the beaches of Atlantic and Emerald Isle. (3 hours from Myrtle Beach)


About Hurricanes. From 1996-2003, we were hit by roughly 8 or 9 Hurricanes. The areas from New Bern east towards the coast were spared. Inland areas like Greenville, and Wilson got tore up by the flooding. I mean one in 500 year type floods. It destroyed Greenville and Wilson badly. Greenville is located along the Tar river. For this reason, be very cautious where you buy. Ask about Hurricanes Floyd and Fran first before buying a house.

The flooding in Wilson was very rare though, probably will never happen like that again...we can only hope.

New Bern area never floods, the rivers are very wide(1 mile wide)The rivers suck up all the water. The banks are also high. Only area that floods is one part of downtown, and nobody lives there.

Any more questions just ask, I grew up in Wilson, New Bern, and Greenville.

[robin from Oregon]

Thanks Beffrey -
What a great, informative post!

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by Beffrey2

Well, I can sum it up like this:

-Greenville is the best choice for a local music scene. There will be somebody playing somewhere every night! The Club scene-party scene is great in G-vegas (Greenville)
-Sprawl too = Greenville. Not from some other town, but their own spawl
-Greenville is not the safest place to be either, this is basically downtown though. You will be fine around many other people, but never walk in areas where there are not many people. You will get jumped! The burbs are safe.
-The downtown Greenville neighborhoods are very nice. The area is hilly, not flat. Tons of oak trees everywhere. It looks a lot like the downtown neighborhoods in Wilson. (But Wilson's are nicer )
-The cost of living in Greenville will be more than it would be in Wilson or New Bern I would think.
-Wilson is growing true, but it is not at the point yet where houses have sky rocketed in value. So west Wilson would be a great place to invest in a home.
-In New Bern, the cost of living is low. And should stay that way for a long time to come.
-New Bern only has a community college(Craven)
-New Bern really has no local music scene. When I lived there in the 90's, we went to a place called the cellar at the Harvey Mansion downtown, there was local music but nothing great...lol
-New Bern is a great town anyway. It is very historical, located around large bodies of water. Trent and Neuse rivers. Is laid back, many northerners live there. (New Bern population 23,000......but if you add the communities of James city, Trent Woods, River Bend, Fairfield, Brices Creek, Riverdale, and Havelock, the population is easily 40,000. And these areas are basically within New Bern itself. (except Havelock, which is 20 minutes away) Just not counted in the population.

-New Bern is 50 minutes from Greenville
-West side of Wilson would also be close to 50 minutes to Greenville. West side of Wilson is about 50 minutes from downtown Raleigh, and 40 minutes to all the large malls in North Raleigh.
-New Bern is 35 minutes from Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle.
-Greenville is close to 1.5 hours from those same beaches
-Wilson is 2 hours from the beaches in Wilmington, and a little over 2 hours from the beaches of Atlantic and Emerald Isle. (3 hours from Myrtle Beach)


About Hurricanes. From 1996-2003, we were hit by roughly 8 or 9 Hurricanes. The areas from New Bern east towards the coast were spared. Inland areas like Greenville, and Wilson got tore up by the flooding. I mean one in 500 year type floods. It destroyed Greenville and Wilson badly. Greenville is located along the Tar river. For this reason, be very cautious where you buy. Ask about Hurricanes Floyd and Fran first before buying a house.

The flooding in Wilson was very rare though, probably will never happen like that again...we can only hope.

New Bern area never floods, the rivers are very wide(1 mile wide)The rivers suck up all the water. The banks are also high. Only area that floods is one part of downtown, and nobody lives there.

Any more questions just ask, I grew up in Wilson, New Bern, and Greenville.

A new poster was asking about Wilson, so I'm bumping this up

[plattsburgher]

Thank you for the info re: those three areas.........Am planning to go back and visit in the next 6 months. I am a health care professional and also need to know about dental offices and schools in this area and where I might find employment easier than other places. Just from looking at map, it looks like if I might be able to get a home and some shopping and amenities in one area, and even travel to an adjacent town for employment if the interstates aren't completely jam-packed. Is Greenville expanding in a certain direction? In other words from the maps it almost looks like eventually the two areas might merge, as in Raleigh-Durham..........Can you visualize a Greenville-Wilson down the road? Are there other towns in that area that are in similar situations? Growing into other town areas????? Again thanks for all the info.........This is a great site with amazing people!

[Beffrey2]

Greenville and Wilson will never merge. At least in our lifetime. Wilson is dead to the east, not growing at all. Wilson is growing westward, towards Raleigh.

I think Greenville's strongest growth is towards the south. (Winterville) I think in the far future, Greenville will have a better shot at merging with Kinston, because of the Global transpark. (which I think will take off eventually)

Job wise, Greenville will be your best choice of the two. But a drive from Wilson would be cake.

[ronpcool]

I just discovered this site, and I was very impressed with reply! Can you tell me anything about Goldsboro, located south of Wilson? What is the geography like in that area-is it subject to flooding and hurricanes? Is it a desirable place to live as I like to live in the "country" but like the conveniences of a mid-size city as well. My kids are grown and gone so schools are not an issue. I have an opportunity to relocate to Goldsboro for a new job, and I would appreciate your thoughts on living in that area of NC. Thanks a million!