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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 intersection of South College Road and Carolina Beach Road. Residents of the area prefer to refer to it as 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 more reasonably priced than Wrightsville. 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 also 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/AgnAndDpt/PLNG/Pages/DeptInfo.aspx 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.wilmingtonnc.gov/planning/tabid/115/Default.aspx  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: 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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