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Another suggestion is to do you actual house shopping in the winter. Prices are at their peak in the summer, and you are in a better bargaining position in the wnter.
Last edited by goldenage1; 06-16-2015 at 11:48 AM..
Thanks, everyone! golden- those homes in Oak Island are beautiful. I would gladly live in one of those! But is Oak Island very isolated? No shopping, restaurants, grocery? Do you have to leave the island for that? Also, my husband is now very worried about hurricanes in these areas (Topsail, Oak Island, Surf City...). Can anyone shed some light on this as well? Thanks very much for reading.
Thanks, everyone! golden- those homes in Oak Island are beautiful. I would gladly live in one of those! But is Oak Island very isolated? No shopping, restaurants, grocery? Do you have to leave the island for that? Also, my husband is now very worried about hurricanes in these areas (Topsail, Oak Island, Surf City...).
As I told you, Oak Island is less isolated. It has two grocery stores, a Beach Pantry and Food Lion. It also has restaurants you can drive to. The doctors and hospital would be on the mainland.
If you are worried about hurricanes, you have to develop a plan for dealing with them. You need to be able to board up the place by yourself and evacuate. You may need to climb ladders to put up storm shutters. If you can't physically deal with hurricanes, you need to consider a high-rise condo, or else not live on the water. There are some condos with water-views in Southport.
The reality is that hurricances happen!! Check some of the historical storm-path maps put out by the weather service. Topsail Island took a direct hit from Fran in 1996 and some places were under 6-12 feet of water.
Last edited by goldenage1; 06-17-2015 at 06:23 AM..
You can get an older single family home a block from the ocean (Canal Drive usually has them) for around $400k at Carolina Beach. Look on realtor.com
Carolina Beach has a small boardwalk close to (but not on) the beach, and some coffee shops that are in walking distance to Canal Drive. It also has the famous Britts Donuts and several seafood restaurant nearby. It is certainly more compact than Oak Island, but correspondingly more crowed in the summer. You might enjoy it if you find the right house.
Oak Island and Carolina Beach both sound lovely. Donuts! Uh oh, that could be dangerous
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