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I am hoping to talk with anybody who has relocated to Wilmington from New England or the greater Boston area.
We just moved from Boston to the greater Charleston Sc area and I hate it. We had also considered Wilmington and I am now wishing we had spent more time researching Wilmington. I thoroughly researched Charleston and we visited many times before moving. Living here is NOT the same as vacationing.
I am looking for specific info on cost of living, traffic, etc. I have not found it to be cheaper here at all. Groceries are much more and so is home owners insurance so what is saved on taxes is spent on ins. I took a huge pay cut and am actually making less in Charleston as a BSN prepared RN with 16 yrs of experience than I did when I graduated nursing school in MA in 1999. The commute from my community to downtown is a nightmare, and if there is an accident on 26 , forget it. I have never seen it take so long to clear an accident as it does here. It is ridiculous. I also miss being near the ocean. Geographically Summerville doesn't look that far from the beach but I have spent an hour driving each and every time I have gone to the beach. We can not afford to make this kind of mistake again. We have school age children and need to find a place where we can truly feel like we belong. I am hopeful to talk with Boston area transplants because in my "perfect world" what I really want is a community just like the North Shore of MA but warmer. Am I dreaming? Is there any such place?
I have not found it to be cheaper here at all. Groceries are much more and so is home owners insurance so what is saved on taxes is spent on ins. I took a huge pay cut and am actually making less in Charleston as a BSN prepared RN with 16 yrs of experience than I did when I graduated nursing school in MA in 1999.
As I recall you took the job in Charleston because a job offer in Wilmington paid a lot less. Things have not changed that much in a few months, and you are still likely to be offered a lot less than you were paid in Massachusetts. I suspect you are still dreaming of the perfect place.
However, its sounds like the traffic in Wilmington would be a lot less than the trip from Summerville to Charleston. In addition, in coastal North Carolina, we still have very high home-owner's insurance because of the hurricane factor. (Our insurance is more than out property taxes.) We still have a 2% sales tax on food, so the food is probably more expensive than it is in Charleston.
The only suggestion I have is that there is a new Emergency Room North facility opened by the New Hanover Regional Hospital in the Scotts Hill Road area of Wilmington. You might check them for job openings.
Last edited by goldenage1; 07-24-2015 at 03:20 PM..
Any place on the coast in the south will be different from the north.
People want lower taxes. That's what you get. The services will never be at the level of those in a place with higher taxes.
Home owner's insurance on the coast is steep and will never go down. It won't be less in another coastal spot.
Coastal locales are desirable. That's why salaries are lower. Everybody wants to live there, and they can get people to work for less than in other places.
So it's a trade off. No place is ever going to be like up north, only cheaper.
The Charleston area will never be cheap again. It hasn't been for years. And the OP is correct: living is different from vacationing.
Having spent most of my life in the Northeast it was culture shock when my wife and I looked at retirement properties in NC and SC. Although we did no look at Charleston, we did look closely at Hilton Head. My opinion, from a cultural standpoint, was that NC was more progressive than SC. Part of that may be because NC may have more transplanted Northerners but it just seems more progressive. The roads are better, the transportation hubs better and it seems that it takes a shorter time to implement improvements (i.e. roads). I also think that the large numbers of universities and technology companies in NC result in it being more progressive.
As Sue points out living by the coast will have additional costs. Wind and hail in NC on the coast (non flood plain) will run $2K - $3.0K per year and they tax everything in NC (Cars, Boats, etc). I did not blink an eye since it was much better than my $11K of property taxes in NJ. What really turned me off about SC, is that if your residence is a second home you have to pay a higher property tax rate. The $2.5K property tax in NC was $6K in SC for the same size home, because I would not be living there 12 months a year. A total ripoff in my opinion. Over 5 years that would be an additional $18K out the window.
The only consistent thing I found between NC and SC are the people. They are very nice, respectful and live life at a slower pace. That is a very welcome change from the Northeast.
I am hoping to talk with anybody who has relocated to Wilmington from New England or the greater Boston area.
We just moved from Boston to the greater Charleston Sc area and I hate it. We had also considered Wilmington and I am now wishing we had spent more time researching Wilmington. I thoroughly researched Charleston and we visited many times before moving. Living here is NOT the same as vacationing.
I am looking for specific info on cost of living, traffic, etc. I have not found it to be cheaper here at all. Groceries are much more and so is home owners insurance so what is saved on taxes is spent on ins. I took a huge pay cut and am actually making less in Charleston as a BSN prepared RN with 16 yrs of experience than I did when I graduated nursing school in MA in 1999. The commute from my community to downtown is a nightmare, and if there is an accident on 26 , forget it. I have never seen it take so long to clear an accident as it does here. It is ridiculous. I also miss being near the ocean. Geographically Summerville doesn't look that far from the beach but I have spent an hour driving each and every time I have gone to the beach. We can not afford to make this kind of mistake again. We have school age children and need to find a place where we can truly feel like we belong. I am hopeful to talk with Boston area transplants because in my "perfect world" what I really want is a community just like the North Shore of MA but warmer. Am I dreaming? Is there any such place?
You are dreaming. That's OK, we were dreaming when we moved from the south shore of RI last year. We found just what was reflected in our dreams, we are very happy here but we don't need to go to work every day. Down here, just like the North Shore of Boston, there are different communities where you can start to look at housing in the $600K + or the $350K + some in Wilmington and some a relative short commute.
We could walk to Charlestown Beach, in RI, so we needed to be near the beach down here. We wanted to be within a 15 min. drive to the beach and now our beach house is about a 15 - 20 min drive to the beach. We are about half way between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach with medical facilities near by. You may want to look at the Southport area, Wilmington is not that far away.
thank you, some very good points, suggestions and insight.
When I visited Wilmington, it was winter time and I didn't give it nearly as much time as I had on my many trips to Charleston. We started looking at Summerville SC when it became obvious that we could not afford what we wanted in Mount Pleasant Sc or Charleston. Summerville seemed like a nice alternative. In comparing Wilmington and Summerville I felt that Wilmington was more "coastal" while Summerville was more "southern" I figured Summerville would offer more of that southern charm that my husband has talked about for years. I didn't count on being as miserable as I am. I need to be closer to the water / beach.
It appears as though the same grocery stores are in Wilmington as are in Summerville and the weekly fliers for these stores are the same for both locations. I will assume the non sale prices would then also be the same in both locations. Going to try and make a weekend of it , if not next weekend then the one after.
It appears as though the same grocery stores are in Wilmington as are in Summerville and the weekly fliers for these stores are the same for both locations. I will assume the non sale prices would then also be the same in both locations. Going to try and make a weekend of it , if not next weekend then the one after.
I don't remember if you have kids in school, but if you do find a job in the Wilmington area, there are decent schools in Wilmington and in the Topsail/Hampstead area.
Commuting would probably be less stressful than from Summerville to Charleston. It will be more likely on city streets than on a highway.
Food costs are probably the same as Charleston but the state adds a 2% tax on all food, and 7% on non-food items.
There are actually a few houses with basements around here if the lot has enough slope and is not wet. Doogwood Lake in Topsail Beach is where I saw a few.
goldenage1
you mentioned the tax earlier as well so I just checked my receipt from Food Lion , Summerville store
food has 1.5% tax and the non food items were 8.5%
I do have kids, 2 sons, 3rd and 4th grade this year. It is because of them that I need to really find where it is I want to be and then stay there. They can't keep moving around, it is not fair to them. I really do want to find the right place , settle in and become part of the community.
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