Moving to Wilmington

Dear E.,
What a big change you are about to make! Me and my family moved here to Wilmington 4 years ago, and the city has grown immensely in that short period of time. I can tell you that as far as the public school system is concerned, Topsail schools are rated the highest. Plus, it is a growing area so you will probably get more home for your money! For your visit, you will definitely want to stay in downtown Wilmington as that is where the majority of culture, nightlife and great restaurants are located. It is also located along the river, so it has some beautiful views.
Overall, Wilmington really is a great place to live - especially if you like the "small-town" feel. Best of luck to you and your family. If have any other questions feel free to contact me at ____@____.com or ____@____.com.

P.

I moved here in 1996 to go to college and loved it so much I never left!
I echo what the others have said:
Pros: nicest people you will ever meet, beautiful weather almost all year round, great beaches, amazing history, nice parks and museums, theaters...
The only con is that so many people love it that it is growing very rapidly and sometimes the traffic can be a bit of a pain but nothing compared to some other larger cities in the US.
The entire Wilmington-Metro area (pretty much all of New Hanover county) is growing and there are a lot of great homes on the market now. We have been in a bit of a housing slump here so now is a great time to buy a home. There is a new middle and high school in the southern part of the county - Murray Middle and Ashley High. I don't know much about how they compare to others in the area (my son is only 9 months old) but I have heard good things about them.
I can't speak for everyone but I love chocolate and ice cream...I think you'd have a great business here! Good luck with your decision and move. Don't hesitate to email with any questions.
J. S.

Wilmington, North Carolina? We just moved here in early August from upstate New York. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! An absolutely wonderful, vibrant place to raise a family. Nothing can beat our frequent days at the beach, a climate warm enough for the kids to ride their bikes year-round and the endless family-focused activities.
As far as schools go, we are experiencing Brunswick County Schools, which do not have a terrific reputation, but are, perhaps, up-and-coming. We may consider one of the Catholic Schools for our boys. St. Mark's is supposed to be terrific.
Hope to hear from you when you make the decision to relocate!

Hi E.,

I moved to wilmington 4 yars ago from california and I woouldn't live anywhere else. I love this place. I have a 15 year old son and he goes to a wonderful school in all advance placment classes. The area is a wonderful place to raise children, couple of places to go is wrightsville beach, downtown wilmington. great places to get the the feel for wilmington

L. c

Yes! I would have to agree with the other, Wilmington is a great place to raise a family, very diverse and friendly people. You will find a huge mixture of very natural, organic-type people, with more conservative traditional people. There are lots of parks, churches, and plenty of things to see and to do, most of all, the beautiful beaches!!! It has a small town feel, but with the culture and everything of a large city, for example, it's one of the biggest areas on the East coast for film production! Also, in Southport, about an hour away, if that, they are building a deep sea port, which will bring a huge influx of people, companies, and opportunities! My children are 3 and 18 mths. so I don't know much abotu public school, but they do have a great network of magnet and charter schools, which you can try to get inot if you don't want them to go to traditional school. I did find a very large variety though, the diversity of the area totally surprised me when we moved there. We had to move back to Raleigh and I miss it so much, the peopl there are much more genuine! I would also recommend maybe looking at meetup.com, there is a mom's group called circle of moms that I belonged to, a great group of women with children of all ages, who you could get in contact with, and get some advice and info from. Hope this helps!!!

Hello E.,

I'm glad to hear that you have interest in our area. I can tell you that there is a little of everything from the beaches to downtown Wilmington's museums and shops.

About Wilmington's lifestyle, boating, fishing, arts, museums full of history about Wilmington and Cape Fear area.

About the people I think Wilmington has a diversity from the UNCW students, families and retirees moving here from all over the country. I feel that Wilmington is a very Family oriented city.
About the worst and the best...the traffic but not as bad as other cities, and the best would be the beach and the people.

I hope this helped and please let me know if you have any other questions. Please keep in touch and let me know when you are coming, I would love to show you around the different areas of the city and what Wilmington has to offer.

Hi E.,
I moved to Wilmington about 2.5 years ago. Before that my husband and two children 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son lived in Los Angeles for about 10 years. I grew up in Charlotte, went to college at University of North Carolina at Chapel. Once my children were older we wanted to get back to a more simple life and to be closer to family.

I'm not sure where in Itlay you are moving from...but if you are coming from a larger city...you will be in for a small shock..... both positive and negative. In my opinion her are all the pros(positive aspects living here)
-nice, genuine people
-affordable housing
-good schools (check out the New Hanover County school website to get school scores(www.nhcs.k12.nc.us/), etc. Also check out (www.schoolmatters.com) and (www.greatschools.net). Those websites might be helpful. I only know information for Elementary schools in the area.
-small town feel
-relaxed. open-minded, city for the South
-diverse areas, beaches, historic downtown, and an arts and theater community, UNCW and other community colllege
-for me less traffic!!! NOTHING compared to Los Angeles/Santa Monica
-small airport
-a short non-stop flight to New York City (we like to get out of town and experience the city feel)
-great local restaurants
-great parks
-great farmers market in the spring-early fall
-wonderful mild climate most of the year
CON(negatives...or adjustments for me personally)
-not as ethnically diverse (very small) (you can see from schools' breakdown)
-many food chain restaraunts and not as many choices for diverse eating..some but limited
-humid in summer..).but we are fortunate to live at the beach so there is almost always a breeze)
- at first...it took me awhile to not be in a hurry...from habit living in LA (now this is a positive!)

I hope this helps some. I love living here! I do also miss great shopping(although not a priority)..and Wilmington does have many cute small boutiques. For me, life is just easier with less choices and more simple life standards. My children love it here as well. My older daughter loves LA too....but we love visiting and not living there. My husband has to go back and forth about every 6-10 weeks. So we get to travel back and get the taste of LA several times a year as a family. I am ALWAYS ready to come back.

Please email me if you would like to get more information or call when you come.
____@____.com yes, I would LOVE a chocolate shop here! That would be wonderful!!!!!!!

Good luck with everything and perhaps our paths will cross!

Warmest Wishes.
C.