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Dennis,
Like any place you go there are expensive and in expensive areas. Any place near the water is going to be expensive compared to the surrounding areas. Inland around Hatteras is inexpensive by comparison to the island but then you loose the benefit of being on the island and you are still a commuter that needs to take a car and wait in traffic and so on. Same goes for SC and GA beach communities are expensive compared to inland properties. generally the further inland you go the cheaper until you hit the Cities or Mountains then prices go up again. New Bern NC is a neat little City with great history and sits on the confluance of the Neuse and Trent Rivers. Prices are low in my opinion for what you get, but you need to be careful there are lots of bad pockets in and around the city and again empolyement and wages are tough. Beaufort SC is a nice community located in the SC low country with a lot of Antebellum Architecture but Real Estate prices are high. Myrtle Beach SC is a cross between Vegas and Wildwood lots of Bling. Plenty of jobs from what I understand but low paying. Savanaha GA and Charleston SC ar gorgeous but you need to be a millionaire to get near them other wise you are living 10 miles out side the city. I recomended the NC Crystal Coast because in my opinion it has it all. Awesome beaches, Almost every proeprty is water front or water view peoperty even on the mainland (Morehead City) not just the island. Uncongested by comparison to other outer banks islands. The area still maintains the Old South feel. It is relatively close to larger cities such as Raleigh/Durham 2hrsish, Wilmington 1hrish and Myrtle Beach is about 2hrish away for shopping/dining,entertainment, etc. The tourists by comparison are more Southern as opposed to more Northerners on the other OBX islands. The down side is employement. It is primarily seasonal and largely tourist/fishing based. By and large income is lower in the South compared to the North. If you can come with some money or can work from home via computer or are specialised no problem. If you are in the trades or something similar it is hard as wages are lower but then again so is everything else by comparison to the North.
The best advice I can give you is get in your car and take a few trips. That's what I did. Take a few long weekends every and visit different cities/towns. See what you like. I am telling you what I like but it may not be for you.
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