goldenruhl

Hi everyone,
My wife and I need some help. We're in Pennsylvania and are sick of it. Short boating season, cold, and did I say ccccold. We want to move from PA to the Outer Banks area of NC to Florida's east or west coast. Prefer land with a waterfront. We'd like to be no more than 30 minutes to the ocean, but less would be great. I'm not sure the Carolina's weather is that great in December - March. I would like a longer boating season if possible. Please let me know of areas of interest. Obviously, you just can't get in a car and drive to every possible waterfront community you hear of. The land could be in a development or very rural. PLEASE HELP.
Thanks a bunch,
Rick & Susan
[email protected]

cuda

Check out the Port Charlotte area on the west coast. You can still get waterfront houses there reasonable.

Formula Outlaw

I agree with Cuda. The Port Charlotte area (45 miles south of Sarasota) is starting to come alive and you can still get a house on a canal with gulf access for a reasonable price. What will cost $ 175K in Port Charlotte would cost you at least 400K in Sarasota. Great boating area. These areas are on the north side of Charlotte Harbor.

cuda

In Pinellas County, you'd be looking at $500k.

goldenruhl

Hi Guys,
Thanks much for the good infomation. Any more will be greatly appreciated!
Rick & Susan

Old floating bird

Look up New Bern, NC if your trying for "down-South" living.

You'll not get the CA "lifestyle" and constant temps but you'll never look for something else either. Winters are not so bad and (being in Raleigh) my last weekend on the water was 11/9. I expect to get back out in mid March to early April. Die-hards are out there now though...

toolman

goldenruhl,

Where do you go boating in PA?
We're on the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware river.

Toolman
303SR1

goldenruhl

Old floating bird,
Thanks for the info. We were very close to buying property in Shine Landing. It's a development 6 miles from Oriental. You're on Dawson's Creek, very close to the Neuse River. About 5 miles from ICW and 30 miles the Pamlico Sound. Anyway, situations prohibited from us from buying at that time and I think we need further SOUTH! If you do want to get in Shine Landing ( AWESOME ) talk to Duncan Harrison in New Bern. He runs ads in Powerboat Mag. I forget his company name. Super nice guy! Good Luck,
Rick

goldenruhl

Hi Toolman,
I boat on the Susquehanna River here in Williamsport. We go to Raystown Lake in Huntington, PA about 2 hours haul and go to the Fingers Lakes up in NY. We've never been there. Guess we should try it sometime. We just got our 29 last Spring so we haven't been near the places we want to go to yet!
Thanks for asking,
Rick

Old floating bird

The next place South I'd look at is Southport. It's just far enough from Myrtle Beach not to be overbuilt or influenced by it and far enough away from highways and chaos. It's close to Wilmington (my personal fav. place in the world) and the Gulf stream is still only a few hours East.

Southport is a little backwards here and there regarding development and the people who have lived there all thier lives. They fight development tooth and nail to keep it the way it's been for the past 40 years. (That's not always such a bad thing.)

Similar to that, keep in mind that the further South you go, the further removed you'll be from what you've expected in the way a town is run and philosophies locals have about people "moving to the area" from "up north". Not that it's a detrrent...it's just different.