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 So
you’ve decided to acquire a home and you’ve chosen to locate in the
Wilmington area. Good decision! Very few other areas offer the wide
variety of locales and housing you’ll find here. From condos, restored
homes and row houses nestled among antebellum homes and buildings in the
downtown Historic District to palatial homes on the barrier islands,
plus everything in between, it’s all here.
The purpose of this section is to help you
navigate through many of the aspects of building or buying and owning a
home in this area, along with presenting a representative sampling of
product vendors and service providers. Although many of you have already
selected a location, for those who haven’t, the choices for consideration
are wide and fall into a few basic areas.
Downtown Historic District
Wilmington has one of the largest historic districts for a city of its size
in the nation. This area continues to grow as additional sections of older
homes are formally added. Some people coming to Wilmington fall in love with
this part of town and buy an older home to restore, a true labor of love.
Others opt for previously restored gracious old homes, newer condos built in
keeping with the character of the District, quaint row houses or charming
condos on the upper floors of many of the older buildings. The Historic
District extends roughly a mile north and a mile south of Market Street and
is bounded on the west by the Cape Fear River and on the east by Eighth
Street.
City of Wilmington
Although this area includes two fingers extending east from the Historic
District that include Carolina Heights, the Mansion District and Carolina
Place, the city consists of a very wide variety of housing ranging from
upscale in the recently annexed and burgeoning east side near Wrightsville
Beach to more modest homes in many established neighborhoods. In recent
years, condominium development has been extensive in a number of areas,
along with new housing developments and gated communities. Mixed-use
developments, which include houses, condos and patio homes in conjunction
with hotel, restaurant, retail and office space, are becoming increasingly
trendy. Examples include the upscale east-side Mayfaire development and the
proposed nearby Autumn Hall and Ocean Park developments.
Suburban Wilmington
Suburban Wilmington pretty much includes the rest of New Hanover County and
consists of rural areas, suburban developments and communities such as
Castle Hayne, Ogden, Kings Grant, Murrayville, Wrightsboro and Pine Valley,
plus one you probably won’t find on a map — the rapidly growing Monkey
Junction area at the junction of South College Road and Carolina Beach Road.
Residents of the area prefer to include it Myrtle Grove, but the state and
historians still call it Monkey Junction. Riverfront and adjacent areas
along the Cape Fear River have seen very rapid development in the last few
years. Generally, the area consists of fairly expensive houses, gated
communities and developments right along the river, many with their own
docks, plus somewhat less expensive developments along the east side of
River Road. Several marina developments with condominiums are under
construction or planned, including one at the north end of downtown near the
future convention center.
Oceanfront, Soundfront,
Intracoastal Waterway and Island Neighborhoods
These run the gamut from multi-million dollar homes and half-million dollar
or more condos on the Atlantic Ocean to reasonably priced properties just a
few blocks from the beach. These areas include the exclusive,
restricted-access Figure Eight Island plus Wrightsville Beach and the two
towns on Pleasure Island, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, which are seeing
very rapid growth and escalating property values.
In Wrightsville Beach, very little land
remains for construction, but many condos and homes are available, albeit at
very high prices. On Pleasure Island, development is at a fever pitch
because land is still available. Kure Beach is mostly single-family homes
and moderately-sized condo developments. Just a few years ago, oceanfront
land in Kure Beach was selling for only about $300,000 per lot. Now it’s
going for $1.5 million or more. A Carolina Beach lot just a few blocks from
the ocean could be purchased for around $40,000 in 2000. Today, these
Carolina Beach lots are higher, but still reasonably priced, and homes can
still be found for less than $300,000. Basically, the closer to the ocean,
the more costly the land or home. Properties along the Intracoastal Waterway
or facing the sounds and creeks can be nearly as expensive as oceanfront.
Several high-rise, mixed-use condo developments are underway or in the
planning stages in the central business district.
A major consideration for anyone buying or
building a home in New Hanover County is zoning. Also, because of the area's
proximity to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River, complexities
and considerations exist here that you probably would not encounter in an
inland area. Restrictive regulations exist for protection of wetlands; the
coastal/beach areas are regulated by CAMA (the Coastal Area Management Act),
which has strict rules regarding where and how homes may be built; and the
Flood Plain Management Regulations for the area have a bearing on where
homes may be built and determine areas where flood insurance is required. If
you’re buying land upon which to build, all of these factors should be
considered.
Two basic types of zoning regulations exist:
county zoning, which includes all areas within a county not covered by the
zoning of a town or city, and zoning for individual towns and cities. For
New Hanover County, it is best to start with the Planning Department home
page at www.nhcgov.com/PLN/PLNmain.asp on the county website. From there you
can navigate to a wide array of information on zoning regulations plus
detailed information on CAMA, wetlands and flood plains. For specific data
or help with site navigation, you may call (910) 798-7165. For the City of
Wilmington, www.wilmingtonnc.gov/planning/tabid/115/Default.aspx will take
you to the Planning Department home page. Click on Zoning, then on Land
Development Code, which is chapter 18 of the city’s municipal code. Open
chapter 18 for the various articles, including article 5 on zoning. For
help, more information or specifics, you may call (910) 254-0900.
For Wrightsville Beach, www.towb.org/planningandinspections.htm
will take you to the Planning and Inspection Department web page where you
can link to Code of Ordinances. Follow the links to Title XV: Land Usage,
which contains zoning plus other important information. For further
information or help, phone (910) 509-5019.
Very complete and detailed zoning data,
including maps of the zones and flood plain, for Carolina Beach is available
at the Planning and Development Department page of the town’s website:
http://www.carolinabeach.org/pages/plan_dev.html For further information or
help, call (910) 458-8118. Kure Beach zoning is controlled by the Planning
and Zoning Committee. For information, contact the building inspector, Dixon
Ivey, at the Town Hall, (910) 458-6535, or contact the Town Hall at (910)
458-8216.
Taxes on homes in New Hanover County are
quite reasonable compared with those in many other cities. The county makes
a reassessment of property values every eight years. Total tax on a given
property consists of the county tax plus the fire district tax for
properties not in a municipality. Properties in a municipality are taxed
based on the county tax plus the municipal tax. Taxes on newly constructed
homes tend to be based on cost as opposed to market value.
In addition to real estate property taxes,
taxes also are assessed on personal property, primarily boats, campers,
trailers, mobile homes and automobiles based on the market value of these
items. Because tax rates are based on the total value of property (the tax
base) in relation to the budgets of the county and municipality, the county
and/or the municipality rate may decline somewhat if newly assessed values
rise significantly.
Except for properties near the beaches,
houses in New Hanover County do not differ significantly from those in other
areas of the nation except that many houses in this part of the country are
either slab homes or homes with only a crawl space under the house, mostly
because our mild climate eliminates the need for a full basement for the
furnace. Houses near the beaches are frequently built on pilings in order to
minimize damage from hurricane storm surges. Most houses are equipped with
an outdoor heat pump providing both cooling and heat.
However, the settings for homes in this area
may differ quite a bit from those in other areas, especially the North. In
addition to normal residential settings in the city or suburbs, this area
has three other arrangements for homes that have become very popular here in
the South. Gated communities, which feature limited access, either with or
without attended gate houses, usually contain homes of similar style and
value, often with rules for appearance and maintenance. Mixed-use
developments are almost a separate community or village, and feature
individual single-family homes, patio homes and condominiums within or
adjacent to an area of shops, markets, restaurants, entertainment venues and
offices. Many of these developments have green areas, lakes, walking trails
and recreation facilities. Residents often can walk to wherever they need to
go. You'll also find plantations, which are usually gated communities
containing single-family, patio and condo homes surrounding a golf course
and lakes. They also may be located on the water and have marinas or docking
facilities. Some plantations can be quite extensive, containing several golf
courses and many homes.
Gated communities, mixed-use developments and
plantations all are likely to have rules and restrictions of some sort, and
it’s a good idea to check through these thoroughly before buying so you
don’t encounter problems at a later date should you want to get a pet, put
in a fence, install a swimming pool or park a motor home or boat in your
driveway. The Community Association Institute has a publication, Community
Matters - What You Should Know Before You Buy. The brochure is available at
www.caionline.org/bookstore.cfm and can be downloaded at no cost. A
considerable amount of additional information on community living is
available at this site.
This chapter offers extensive resources for
anyone who is building, buying or remodeling a home in New Hanover County.
We also recommend our chapters on Real Estate and Retirement, for more
helpful information about neighborhoods and communities. In the Shopping
chapter, you'll find places where you can buy furniture, artworks, antiques
and other items to beautify your home. Please note that the Insiders' Guide
and its writers do not endorse the businesses listed in this chapter nor do
we guarantee the quality of their work. Consumers are urged to research
carefully before hiring any contractor.
Please note that Insiders' Guide and its writers do
not endorse the businesses listed in this chapter nor do we guarantee the
quality of their work. Consumers are urged to research carefully before
hiring any contractor.
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