My husband and I are relocating to NC and have family in Oak Island. We're ready to trade the fast pace of Greenwich/New York for some Southern charm. My husband has a boat so we need to be on or near water, and I would like a pretty community with a few shops and restaurants. We've heard great things about Southport and Wrightsville Beach, but need more options for our search. Thanks for your help!

You might check out the home development communities of Landfall, Figure Eight Island, and Bald Head Island. The first two are very close to Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, and the third is located closer to Southport.

I've only visited this area occasionally, but I think you'll find the people charming. In general, they are laid back and friendly.

I'm from the opposite end of the state, but it seems this area gets more than its share of hurricanes. It may just be my perception, but some research on the web may disproved my speculations.

Mike Honeycutt

It will depend on your income level as property varies widely in cost. (I am from Wilmington.)
Bald Head and Figure 8 are VERY expensive.
Wrightsville is also quite expensive and these are all really more for vacation/retirement homes. (Wrightsville has some lovely places on the waterways and sounds that are more family-oriented.)
The Southport area is very nice and there are a lot of options as far as price goes.
If being on or near water includes the waterways and sounds as opposed to oceanfront, that opens up the possibilities quite a bit.
There's nothing quite like sitting on your deck and watching the herons fly over the salt marshes in the morning over a cup of coffee before you leave for work.

If you are from the Greenwich Conn area, you will get quite a bit for your money house wise. Bald Head is expensive but probably not out of your range. I would not want to live on Bald Head because if you need anything other than basic groceries, you have to ferry off the island. Yep, an island with no bridges.

Just keep in mind that things are very laid back and slow in the south. We do not hurry but we are very nice.

Southport or one of the Brunswick Islands (Holden, Sunset or Ocean Isle) should fit the bill. Holden is probably the cheapest of these. Check ncbrunswick.com for info.

Thank you all for the your guidance. We are from the Greenwich CT area but we do not fit the $$$$ profile, so I greatly appreciate the suggestions for some of the more affordable, but yet "undiscovered" places. We will be taking our first trip there in January to check out both land and houses with a realtor.
Near the water would be ideal. Just want to be sure the community is pretty and interesting enough (book store, art gallery, restaurant, coffee shop) to make it a destination for us.

Keep in mind there is nothing much on many of these islands. It is not quite like the NE beach towns. In order to get the amenities you are looking for, Wilmington is probably the only place that fits that criteria. In reality, the place you want is Amelia Island , Fl. It has all of the things you are looking for in a small condensed area (although the town itself is about a mile from the beach).

Unfortunately, near the water and affordable to not coincide. Once you get near the water, most of the time you are buying the property and not the structure. Don't be suprised when you see an oceanfront shack on the market for a million dollars.

Although you can spend that on Holden (I'll use this example sine I know it the best), there are beachfront properties in the $350-500k range. Now is a good time as it is of-season as well. The good thing about Holden is that it is nearly all SFR, very few condos, no motels/hotels at all. They have done a good job keeping it from getting over-crowded. In looking @ some of the recent sales on Holden a property I have rented frequently, just went for $419k, 2 story, 5 bdrm, 4 bath. Set up for 2 families really. You will find very few people who live there that reside right on the beach.

We leave tomorrow and will check out Southport, Holden, and Oak Island. Meanwhile, I hope the CT housing market holds up.

On another front,last night as we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant, we wondered about finding great pizza and Chinese in the area.

great pizza- as in NY pizza -NO
Great Chinese=as in NY Chinese- No, but it will be passable...

NC is NOWHERE near the things you are used to in Ct or Ny area...It is very small, laid-back, slow and does NOT have a lot of amenities..you need to make your own fun...There is virtually NOTHING to do at nite..aside from movies....so be prepared...

Did you move to Wilmington? We are considering the same type of move. Could you recommend a good realtor?

I have to agree with Andy. I lived in Wilmington for 11 years and never had a good piece of pizza the entire time. Never. Never found a good chinese place we loved either.

Wilmington is loaded with restaurants and shopping. It's not a place that has lots of sites like Charleston, SC does. Traffic is bad (is ranked worst in the entire state)and housing is high. I never realized how boring it was there until after we moved. Someone else mentioned Amelia Island, love it there.

OMG, I just noticed this is 3 years old. LOL, guess they moved by now. I wish people would make follow up posts and let everyone know what they did, that would be nice.