A site for Moms in Wilmington and Coastal North Carolina

Relocating to North Carolina Coast...need help please.

Hi ladies,

I am actually a mom from Texas. We are wanting to relocate to the NC coast this summer.   Our family loves to go surfing and want to be in a beautiful, safe city with good...hopefully great schools.

In doing research in NC I have found Wilmington to be a really fun city, with some fun surf and good schools. Except I am hesitant to move in to the middle of the city hustle and bustle again. Right now we live live about 3 miles from downtown Houston, Texas and know ALL about BIG city living.   It's fun for a while. But I am burned out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to go back to the simple living again.

So I like what Wilmington has to offer...but I would like to live a little OUTSIDE of the city limits. I found a city called Hampstead. Can you give me any input on this city and if you would raise a family there? It seems like you could enjoy everything Wilmington has to offer, but not be right in the mix, and still have great schools.

Or do you think Wilmington is a GREAT CITY to live. Despite the increased "crime" and hustle and bustle. Believe me when people talk about "crime" it's ALL relative. We are from Houston where crime, even our on street, is a weekly thing. I have had to even run off druggies myself from the park RIGHT in front of our home. So we are not new to the whole big city shenanigans that goes on. :)   But Houston compared to Wilmington....Wilmington probably would still seem like Mayberry...right? ha ha

Any input would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

We are planning a trip to come out and see this June '10. We are self-employeed with an Internet based business. So theoretically we can pick up and move anywhere...right?   We will see how that goes... ;)

Izzy

Tags: Areas, Moving, Surrounding, Wilmington, Wilminton, of, to

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth King Humphrey on March 30, 2010 at 2:26pm

Hi Izzy,

I think any of the surrounding towns--and even Wilmington itself--may have what you are looking for. When you come in June, perhaps you can make plans to stay a few days in each of the three counties: Brunswick County (Leland is over the river from Wilmington), New Hanover County (Wilmington) and Pender County (Hampstead). Each offers a variety of things and varying access to beaches. Home prices can vary from community to community, county to county. Besides crime, I think you'll find most everything else is relative, as well. (For example, people here complain about traffic, but compared to Houston, you'll probably find traffic less of a problem.)

I live in Wilmington (New Hanover County). I think it is a great city to live in. However, it is also the smallest town I've lived in, so I don't think of it as living in a city as I would Houston or Denver, which is where I'm originally from.

As for schools, you'll find all manner of opinions about which are best. Have you looked at the "report cards" for each area and the schools? Not knowing how old your kids are, some of the area magnet schools might be attractive, whereas if you have older kids, you might be looking for specifics for high school.

Hope that helps and let us know if we can help with any specific questions you might have.

All the best and good luck with your move,

Elizabeth

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Permalink Reply by April Schack on March 30, 2010 at 9:18pm

Hi! We live in Southport about 45 minutes from Wilmington. It's a beautiful small town that has a lot of events in the summer. We have young children and love the area.
I do wish it was a little closer to shopping and other things. I wouldn't mind moving halfway between Wilmington and Southport to Leland. Leland is a very nice area that's close to everything.
Keep us posted on where you decide to move and when!

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Permalink Reply by Ismari Richardson on March 31, 2010 at 12:38am

Hey thank you for responding. I was thinking I might not get feedback since I wasn't an "official" CoastalCarolinaMom yet. ha ha But it is good to know that I am already meeting some friendly, nice girls in the area already! Thank you.

Elizabeth, you are right. It's all relative. I am glad to hear Wilmington will be very different from Houston. I have lived 31 of the 35 years of my life and can't imagine what it would be like living in a cool, small town. In relation to what we have to put up with here....it will be a fun change for us!

It is good to hear positive things about Wilmington from moms. On the message boards, like city-data, you hear really great things, but then you get the nay-sayers posting things, and you want to get the whole picture....but you know nothing about the place, or anyone from the place. So it's great to get reliable info. from yourself and April. I appreciate it.

I think you are right about that Wilmington and ANY of the surrounding areas would ALL be great places to live. Wilmington sounds like a great place to live. You have some great public schools there...I love public school and happy there are some great ones. The 28409 zip code looks good to me.

I didn't realize till now that Hampstead only has 14,000 people in the town. That's REALLY small. Cool, but....maybe too small for us? I don't know? April, I actually DID check out Southport and Leland...and I can't remember why I stopped researching them. I think because they were a little bit further away from getting to the best beaches to surf than Wilmington and Hampstead...but I could be wrong. I went back to look at it and it seems like a great place on the beach. That's why I am glad to get some input since I don't know that place at all.

What we are going to do this June is come and actually look at the places and stay for a little while to get to know all of them. Then if we feel we are happy and have a good feeling then we will pick our top city and put an offer in on a home. And enjoy our new life. I lived on the east coast, in Virgina from the ages of 8-12 and fell in love with the east coast. I have always wanted to move back. My dad was in the Coast Guard and he was stationed in Yorktown so we got to enjoy all the fun stuff around there like Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Virginia Beach, even Washington D.C. We jumped the creek beds in our back yards. It was magical. My sister and her family live near Charlotte, NC. So I would have her closer to us than we do now.

I will keep you informed of our progress. Thank you for being so generous in sharing information with me.

Have a great week enjoying your beautiful, cool towns!

Izzy