Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hey, everyone. My name is Todd and I currently live on Long Island. There's an excellent chance I will be moving to New Bern within the next year. I just wanted to know generally what kind of place it is. Someone mentioned to me it's quieter and the pace is slower which is just fine with me. What are the pros and cons of New Bern? i.e. property cost, property taxes, crime, cost of living, etc. Thank you for your time!
Since you are new, I'll tell you about there search function. Many people have already posted about pros and cons of New Bern, and you can find them with the search box.
I'll give a quick summery of what I remember. For me the best of New Bern is a charming historic downtown surrounded by water.
Some people find it a negative that the city is filled with retirees. That means there is limited night-life, and limited things to do for young people. There is crime in the downtown area, but nothing on par with (say) Newark, NJ. Another large portion of the local population is associated with the Marine Corps at Cherry Point. The military culture may be a positive or negative for you.
The cost of property will be low compared with Long Island, but there are water-front places worth millions. The property tax in the city limits of New Bern is fairly high for North Carolina, but it is lower in surrounding Craven County.
The cost of living will certainly be lower than Long Island, but don't expect it to be as cheap as the deep south. We have a 2% tax on groceries, and a 7% sales tax, personal property tax on cars, plus an income tax.
New Bern is a great place if you embrace it...unfortunately many outsiders never do.
It was once the capital of North Carolina so there is a ton of history...if you like history, NB has a lot for you.
If that's not your cup of tea, it has a ton of water...waterfront property, fishing, good hunting not far away.
It is 45 minutes from the beach...if you don't like Atlantic Beach try Emerald Isle, which would be about an hour or so.
It only has about 20K in town, but it functions more like its 75K because it supports Pamlico county to the East and Jones county to the South and West as well as Craven, which heads toward the beach. It can be a family friendly, small city with lots of things to do. If you are looking for big city amenities like big airports and such, that's not ENC...its a slowed down pace. If you like sports, you'll have to head to Greenville for ECU (about 45 minutes on a backroad type road). NC doesn't do much with pro sports, Charlotte is a haul from there. But heading to Raleigh for a Canes game is a realistic day trip.
It really is a good location, centrally located between Raleigh and the Beach, on the water in a historic town....there are many transplants. My advice is to check out the Trent Woods area and if you have the dime try to live near the water of the Trent River.
Thank you for the input. I've done some research since my post on this website and I've read up about the pros and cons about NB. I think my major concern would be the crime everyone keeps talking about. Where I live on Long Island we don't have crime and my city is twice the size of EB but then again every place has crime. I would really enjoy living near the water, that would be a plus. Trent Woods, I'm assuming, is more expensive to live than EB. Will do more research. Thank you all.
I think my major concern would be the crime everyone keeps talking about.
I don't live in New Bern, but have watched the TV news every evening. Lately there seems to have been a rash of store hold-ups. All of eastern NC (and New Bern) has more poverty than your Long Island community. Additionally, I'm not sure the New Bern police are pro-active enough. But, on the whole I am not afraid of walking around in New Bern.
On your other question, Trent Woods and River Bend are separate incorporated towns. You would pay some part of the property tax to them and get water/sewer and maybe police service from them.
BTW, I like HP91's assessment of New Bern.
Last edited by goldenage1; 02-07-2013 at 01:26 PM..
The crime in New Bern is concentrated in one area really. Unfortunately that area is right next to downtown. Which is a common thing everywhere DC due south, where the areas adjacent to downtown tend to be the most impoverished. Though chiefly New Bern is a place where crime only affects criminals. It's easily avoidable, maybe LLN, who lives in New Bern and close to one of the "bad" areas i believe (a street can literally separate the best areas from the worst around here), will chime in soon.
What are the pros and cons of New Bern? i.e. property cost, property taxes, crime, cost of living, etc. Thank you for your time!
Crime happens in the "rough" parts of town. There is a lot of poverty here. Criminals are becoming increasingly desperate and will rob convenience stores, dollar stores, etc. Again, most of this happens on the "rough" side of town which I avoid.
Property taxes are HIGH where I live in Taberna. We pay both city and county in Taberna. The utilities are costly here as well. Electric/gas/water is expensive here.
New Bern has the highest gas prices in the area. Gas is much less expensive per gallon in all of the neighboring towns of Kinston, Morehead, Greenville, and Jacksonville. My SUV costs between $90-100 to fill up here.
Food is expensive. I shop at Harris Teeter. Walmart in NB offers lower prices but it is dirty and nasty. I would not recommend shopping there. The one in Havelock is much better.
My in laws live in Trent Woods. They have a lower tax rate there along with a lower utility rate. It's a nice area.
What a lot of people from the north don't understand is that in small, southern towns, good and bad areas can be very close. We don't have a bad part of town, generally, since towns are too small.
I used to keep track, but suffice it to say that "most" shootings in New Bern occur within 1,000 yards of my home. A number within 500 yards. I am thrilled about it, but everything bad has been contained, across or near tracks, so far.
In my area, a historic district, but not the high dollar one, downtown, many elderly ladies walk there dogs at night. We do lock our doors. I have hard two cars keyed by a local punk. Our neighborhood guy, an ex-USMC, had a face to face and that non sense stopped.
Even the high dollar historic district is about the radius from where most of the trouble occurs.
There are several sections in and around New Bern that are Mk 1 Mod 0 suburbia. Brice's Creek, Tabernacle, Tren Woods, and Carolina Colors are like suburbs anywhere. I wanted to live in New Bern, in an old house, with a porch. I got that, but it is not without some drawbacks, potential, not actual crime, yet.
At this point with a blizzard heading to Long Island I'd rather be in New Bern! Very interesting points all of you have brought up. I will continue to do more research in the meantime but at least thanks to all of you I have some sort of base idea of what the area is like. Hopefully I will visit soon to see for myself.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
