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My wife and I are starting to prepare for retirement in a few years. I will work form home part time when I retire and will need a fast internet connection. I live in Richmond VA and am very familiar with some parts of NC (Raleigh, Charlotte, Outer Banks (northern sections) etc.)
Ideally we will be on a navigable river and far enough / close enough to the coast to reduce the hurricane risk yet be able to drive to the beach for the day. We will boat, fish, walk, socialize and don't need any significant night life. Good restaurants are a must. They don't have to be $$$ just good food and great service.
We are thinking about visiting the New Burn area and looking at lots and homes. Suggestions for a real estate agent, areas to avoid and other areas to vist would be great.
How is the Neuse river to live on, boat, fish, etc.?
My wife and I are starting to prepare for retirement in a few years. I will work form home part time when I retire and will need a fast internet connection.
Just a note. We currently do not have fiber optic connections available in ENC. We have DSL or cable. Or satellite if you really need it. But who knows what will be available in a few years.
New Bern is OK for boating, but has limited dining options. You might look at Carolina Colours, River Bend, Trent Woods, or Taberna. Some of the country clubs might have dining options that appeal to you. The Fairfield Harbour development has deep-water boat slips, but has serious legal issues with its golf courses. Your choice of community might be dictated by whether you want golf or boating.
If New Bern is too limited for you, you might also look at Morehead City, Newport or Beaufort. BTW, New Bern is affected by hurricanes, as there are flood-prone areas close to the water.
I would disagree with Golden on dining opportunities.
New Bern has about 28K people. There are some excellent restaurants here. A town this size is not gonna have hundreds, but there is pretty good variety. No, we don't have Italian trio: Olive Garden, Macaroni, and the third...can't remember, but you can drive 45 minutes in three directions and get those.
Just off the top of my head, Morgans, The Chelsea, Bay Leaf, Persimmons, and the Harvey Mansion, all of which are GREAT. Plus we have Tommy Moore's BBQ, world class eastern NC, and there are others. Lots of others. Wonderful breakfast at the Bakers Kitchen, I think it is called now, right "downtown."
No, New Bern is not NYC, or LA, or even Raleigh, but considering the size, the restaurants are pretty good, and varied. Perhaps I don't have a refined palate, but objectively dining is fine here.
I have found, the more I get off my butt, the more there is to do. Excellent arts scene, world class Kayak Club, and off course the river and all that.
Cable is OK, Suddenlink is not my favorite, and their commercials are pretty terrible, but honestly our service has been pretty good. We have them for internet and recently for phone. They have gotten better over time.
New Bern's hospital is pretty good, though I seem to hear about more infections than I would like,there (me included) and you are less than an hour away from the teaching hospital in Greenville.
You are not moving to a city of 500,000 so it would be unwise to expect what you would find there, but people that dis' lil ole New Bern tend to forget it is not a megalopolis, though it seems unwise expectations sometimes are way out there.
I would opine the weakest part of New Bern is the government and the police department. The PD is a joke, the new chief apparently has a hug a thug mentality, and it shows. There is a lot of crime, but it is very restricted to areas I doubt you would visit. The mayor is better than the last one, but when all is said and done, he is a joke. The streets are beyond terrible, and there is very little public access to the waterfront...all governmental failures.
But it is doable. Again, the more you put in to doing stuff, the more there is to do.
I would disagree with Golden on dining opportunities.
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Just off the top of my head, Morgans, The Chelsea, Bay Leaf, Persimmons, and the Harvey Mansion, all of which are GREAT. Plus we have Tommy Moore's BBQ, world class eastern NC, and there are others.
OK. These are all downtown, and I had not managed to find them. There are also plenty of chain restaurants, like Applebee's on Highway 70.
I agree with the poster who mentioned New Bern being both boring and depressing. I too would recommend Morehead City over New Bern. Morehead City has an economy and is growing, unlike New Bern.
The dining options here in NB are limited. Yes, there are a few chain restaurants including Texas, Outback, Smithfield's, etc. But, all of them are average/below average. I wasn't impressed with the Chelsea and the other restaurants LLN mentioned.
However, the op seems to have "average" expectations and may like it here. Trent Woods is worth checking out along with Taberna.
We are also relocating to New Bern, hopefully within the next year. We visited in April and loved the area. We were searching for a small town environment with good access to boating, some good locally owned restaurants, quaint shops in the downtown. You can gather a lot of information from this forum but it all comes down to visiting the areas and getting the right feel from it. We drove around all areas and really are focused on just two areas now. All the posters are right about Fairfield Harbour - run from it. There are so many other areas which will satisfy your needs. Plenty of housing types to choose from in all price ranges. Good luck with your search. Hope you can visit soon!!
Note that it's New BERN (not BURN) and a quirk is that the accent goes on the FIRST syllable, "NOO-bern" or "NYOO-bern", not "new BERN". Just FYI in case you start asking people about it
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