Wilmington NC - Echo Farms Area (Carolina Beach, Cameron: sales, townhouses, neighborhood)

[luke12]

As empty nesters considering a relocation to the Wilmington NC for future retirement , we have come across the Echo Farms area. Would appreciate any local knowledge if this area would a fit for a possible retirement location. The Echo Farms Golf and Country Club site looks appealing. What type of housing and average pricing can be expected ? Is there local shopping and health care available ?
Any comments or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[HP91]

Echo Farms is an interesting development. Its actually in a pretty good location, but has been held back a bit (from a family standpoint) because of the schools districts its attached to. So there are less children in the neighborhood than you might expect considering its a fairly affordable neighborhood.

The golf course is nice (its public) and has a good pool that you can join if you want to. It has easy access to Monkey Junction and that commercial/restaurants and is easy access to the Mall area as well...and finally has direct access to downtown, probably 10 minutes.

In my opinion, Echo Farms overall value will keep going up...there are 2 big projects that will be taking place over the next 10 years that will have an impact on Echo Farms...one is the River Lights development, which will be a huge residential development with a natural theme...Echo Farms will back up to it. As well, the Cameron land on both sides of Independence Blvd will be developed into high end mixed use. These two new areas should help the Carolina Beach Rd area with its redevelopment, which has been ongoing slowly.

In terms of medical, the main medical district is off 17th St and is within 10 minutes of Echo Farms...as I stated the location is not bad...finally, the I-140 entrance to Wilmington is supposed to come in right next to Echo Farms with a huge $1 billion bridge called the Skyway. That project costs so much its more likely it doesn't happen than it does at this point.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by luke12

Is there local shopping and health care available ?

Echo Farms is right near Independence Boulevard where the major shopping mall is. It is also close to 17th Street where New Hanover Regional Hospital and many medical offices are.

Housing is both townhouses and single family. Which were you interested in? You can get average prices of listings from Zillow.com . I am seeing recent sales of townhouses at 110K to 170K, and patio-type single family houses about $166-270K. It looks like a good area for a retiree, eg the River's Edge section provides lawn maintenance.