Really liked New Bern (Raleigh, Wilmington: HOA, homes, transfer to)

[BeachBound2012]

As you can see by screen name, I am from Maine and have thought of going back. My husband does not share this desire. So, I said I would explore different areas closer to the coast before giving up hope. We are currently outside of Raleigh.
We checked out Wilmington and thought the traffic was pretty bad and did not llike outllying areas at all.
I kinda loved New Bern. It was quaint, quiet and everyone seemed super friendly.
We also took the opportunity to drive to Atlantic Beach. Sure wish I had known the seafood festival was gonna back up traffic! It was worth it once we got there however.
Are there subdivisions/school districts you would recommend? We will have 2 in elementary school by the time we would be moving.

[dsobotta]

Originally Posted by BacktoMaine2012

As you can see by screen name, I am from Maine and have thought of going back. My husband does not share this desire. So, I said I would explore different areas closer to the coast before giving up hope. We are currently outside of Raleigh.
We checked out Wilmington and thought the traffic was pretty bad and did not llike outllying areas at all.
I kinda loved New Bern. It was quaint, quiet and everyone seemed super friendly.
We also took the opportunity to drive to Atlantic Beach. Sure wish I had known the seafood festival was gonna back up traffic! It was worth it once we got there however.
Are there subdivisions/school districts you would recommend? We will have 2 in elementary school by the time we would be moving.

Some others will have to answer for New Bern school districts, but we are only 45 minutes from New Bern in an area near Emerald Isle not far from Morehead City. The Carteret County schools are excellent. Our local elementary school, White Oak Elementary, receives a lot of praise from parents that I know, and Croatan, the local high school, has received a national award for the last two years.

We tend to have less traffic on our end of the beach. It is an area of small towns, but we are less than twenty minutes from the mall shopping area in Morehead City.

There are some good reasons why we settled here four years ago.

There are some great subdivisions, and plenty with families spread throughout Carteret County. You just have to decide what you want in one. There are a wide variety of amenities available.

The one where we live has a boat ramp, clubhouse, swimming pool, and boardwalk. We are about ten minutes by boat from the Intracoastal and ten minutes by car from the beaches of Emerald Isle. My neighbor actually works in New Bern.

It only takes us six or seven minutes to get to most services, and we are close to some very good small restaurants.

I have a blog about living in the area, and a site with lots of information and pictures. This is a journal of my experiences in the area.

[BeachBound2012]

Well the other issue is employment. My husband works for Republic Waste Services and could easily transfer to New Bern. He would hate to go to a 40 minute commute since that is what he has to do now. He hates it! I had heard that Carteret county was great, and would LOVE to be even closer to the beach, but again, we have to work.

[macjr82]

Pesonally I'd live East of New Bern down the 70 Corrridor or South of New Bern on 17 in Riverbend, with the former being my preference. 70 East corridor puts you closer to the ocean and gives you better access to the Neuse including Flanners Beach

Flanners Beach, New Bern, NC « Once Upon a Time…
Neuse River (Flanners Beach) Campground Reviews || Tripleblaze.com Camping & Hiking
http://www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/recreation/neuse_river.pdf (broken link)
National Forests in NC Recreation (http://www.cs.unca.edu/nfsnc/recreation/recreate.htm - broken link)


It also gives you direct access to downtown across the bridge.

If you lived in Riverbend your children would go to Ben D Quinn. If the lived East of New Bern going into West Havelock, they'd go to Brinson Memorial, Creekside, Arthur Edwards, or Gurganus. These are the top 5 elementary schools in Craven County with all of them scoring an 8 or 9 on Greatschools (ignore the google map inset at the link, the location of the schools are not accurate on it.) Also, Arthur Edwards is a year round school, I believe.

Elementary Schools in Craven County Schools - New Bern, NC | GreatSchools

As far as subdivisons, that depends on your price range, but unless you stay in a trailer park, you generally won't find any undesirable parts in the area I listed. Not to say all trailer parks are bad. There may be some areas in James City, but they are more just poor/old rather than bad. You'll know them when you see them. Riverbend on 17 is a subdivision/neighborhood. Some to look into down the 70 east corridor are Brice's Creek, Riverdale, Neuse Harbor, Taberna, Stately Pines, Carolina Pines, Tucker Creek, going into West Havelock down Greenfield Heights into Indian Hills (south side of 70) and Westbrooke (north side of 70). Outside of the subdivisons there are homes and neighborhoods everywhere. Names of other areas/neighborhoods are really too numerous to list, but hope this gives you a start.

[BeachBound2012]

Wow, thanks so much! One of the s/d's we liked was Arcadia? It is next to the new one Braeburn?? We drove down Pirate rd. which I guess leads to Riverbend? We were kinda just driving around and had stopped at one realtor's office for information.
We also heard that Trent Woods was nice, but a lot of the homes on realtor.com are much much older homes.
We would love an established neighborhood with lots of kids and preferably a pool. Does such a place exist?

[macjr82]

Acadia is new itself, I don't have any personal experince with it, but I do know it's down the 17 South corridor going toward riverbend so it is in the Ben D. Quinn school district. I found this website that has a good rundown of most of the neighborhoods and subdivisions in New Bern, going as far as Tucker Creek in Havelock.

New Bern NC Neighborhoods and Subdivisions

Off hand I don't know of any community pools. Pools in general have nevver been big in the area. Blame it on easy acces to public waters, income, or the high water table.

New Bern has a pool
City of New Bern - Aquatics - Pool

I imagine aplace like Taberna would. I'm pretty sure Carolina Pines does as well. Both of these places have golf courses. I don't know if the pools are part of the club but they'd defintiely be part of the HOA and come with fees if not. In Havelock and New Bern you'll find a very active parks and recreation department. The area is real big on youth sports. I know Tucker Creek has alot of kids. Any area that has young couples around here will have children. The established neighborhood part will be pretty easy. The pool part, not so much.