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Wide Rivers, Grand Homes, a Slower
Pace and Three Hundred Years of History Greet Retirees in Charming New
Bern, North Carolina
Cost of Living: Below the National Average
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Lovely New Bern (population 28,000 and
pronounced Noo-bun by locals) sits in North Carolina’s
Inner Banks
region where the Neuse River and Trent River converge.
It is about 30 miles from Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic
Ocean and is often overlooked by tourists as they hurry
on their way to North Carolina's Outer Banks. This
is too bad for tourists but good for New Bern residents
who are left to enjoy their charming town in relative
peace and quiet. Settled by Swiss and German immigrants in the early
18th century and named after Switzerland's capital city,
this 300-year-old port is the state's second oldest town
and served as its capital for a time. It nearly
burned to the ground in the Great Fire of New Bern in
1922, but today it is an affordable, growing riverfront
community popular with retirees seeking a high
quality of life in a generally mild climate. Of
the population, 23% is age 45 to 64, and 18% is 65 years
of age or above.
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The cost of living in New Bern is 6%
lower than the national average, and the median home
price is $165,000, less than the national average but slightly higher than the
South's median home price.
Housing is diverse, encompassing single
family homes, town homes and condominiums, many along
the water, and New
Bern's historic districts consist of elegantly renovated
homes along with houses waiting to be revived to their
original dignified condition.
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The downtown historic district
is one of the most beautiful in all of North
Carolina. Dotted with homes from the late
1700s and early 1800s, it has elegant mansions
and neat bungalows and is zoned residential and
commercial. The Ghent Historic District,
dating from 1913
to WWII, has classic
residences, many with screened-in porches and
antebellum column fronts. This
neighborhood started out as a "trolley
car" suburb and today has large flowering
fruit trees, tidy lawns and old-fashioned street
lamps. Homes run from the mid-$100,000s to
$300,000. The Degraffenried District, just
north of Ghent, may be New Bern's most
distinguished neighborhood, with many stately
two-story Federal brick dwellings on large lots
with dogwoods, azaleas, red crape myrtles
and cypress trees thick with Spanish moss.
Prices run from the low-$200,000s to
$400,000. Riverside, built from 1896
to WWII, has a nice mix of home styles,
from bungalows to high-peaked,
two-story Victorian structures with wrap-around
porches. Prices range from
$100,000 to $500,000.
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New Bern also has a good selection of newer
neighborhoods, many with country club amenities including golf, boating,
tennis and swimming pools. A few of these are Riverbend
(waterfront homes from $600,000), Trent Woods (homes from $200,000), Fairfield Harbour (homes from $175,000), Greenbriar (homes form
$210,000) and Taberna (homes from $220,000). More affordable but
well tended neighborhoods, many with one story dwellings and small
yards, include Sellhorn Heights ($150,000+), Derby Park ($125,000+) and
Jimmies Creek ($130,000+). Apartments are not in great
supply, but the median rent is about $700 per month. New Bern and Craven County taxes
total roughly $1.10 per $100 of assessed property value,
and real estate is assessed at 100% of fair market value. For
people age 65 or better with less than $25,600 annual income,
the greater of $25,000 or 50% of the appraised value of real property is
excluded from the taxpayer's assessment. The state also has a
circuit breaker tax deference program in place for residents age 65 or
better. When it comes to retirement taxes, Social Security is
exempt, and at least $4,000 in federal, state and local
pensions and up to $2,000 in qualified private pensions, including IRAs,
is exempt.
This is an
interactive map. Click on the arrows in the upper left hand
corner to move the map to the East, West, North or South, and
click on the +/- signs (more than once if necessary) to zoom
in and out.
Sailors, power boaters, fishermen (and women) and other water
devotees will be in heaven in New Bern. Nestled
along the banks of the two wide, gentle rivers, one with direct access to the Intracoastal
Waterway, and surrounded by deep navigable creeks, the city abounds with marinas,
docks and piers. This ideal riverfront location is what
prompted Baron Christophe von Graffenreid, New Bern's founder, to
settle here in 1710. By the early 19th century New Bern was a
major lumber and ship-building center, and that tradition continues, if
to a lesser extent, with Hatteras Yachts, a luxury watercraft company,
headquartered here. New Bern is also the birthplace of the
state's first public school, the state's first newspaper and Pepsi Cola,
the soft drink giant.
The 56-square-block downtown,
where the rivers meet and create a pretty tableau of white trawlers, blue water
and historic real estate (some of which is said to be haunted), is
listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has structures
spanning three centuries. Pedestrian friendly, charming and lively,
this section of town boasts trendy shops, upscale restaurants, galleries, some very good
restaurants, art shops, antique stores, clothing retailers, banks, public art,
cozy gourmet coffee houses, theatres and more.
When not boating or enjoying a good restaurant,
New Bernians have plenty to do (although nightlife, other than leisurely
strolls along the waterfront after a tasty meal, is practically
non-existent). The Tryon Palace Historic
Sites and Gardens is worth a visit and boasts four
beautiful homes furnished with 18th century
antiques and art, a variety of exquisite gardens and well-done demonstrations of period crafts, cooking and
blacksmithing. The Croatan National Forest, a battle site during
the Civil War, offers venues for camping, picnicking, hiking and
fishing. For performance buffs, the New Bern Civic Theatre presents varied
dramas, comedies, musicals, and other entertainment. The New
Bern-Craven County Public Library City is small but has computers with
Internet access. For those with the love of learning, Craven Community
College offers lifetime learning
opportunities from computer courses to film and lecture series.
Tours by
trolley or carriage along with the Firemen’s Museum, the Bank of the
Arts, the New Bern Academy Museum, the Attmore-Oliver House and seven
golf courses are further ways to stay busy and involved.
The New Bern Parks and Recreation Department has a
good menu of activities for all ages and has a number of programs
specifically for people age 55 and better, including numerous clubs, Senior Activity Days,
Senior Appreciation Day, Seniorcise, Senior Arts and Crafts and a
softball team. It also sponsors the Neuse River
Senior Games and Silver Arts Competition, a health-promoting event for
adults age 55 years and older. Craven County Senior
Services, located in New Bern, provides services and activities, too,
including exercise programs, yoga, self-help and supportive services,
health screenings and various enrichment classes in cooperation with
Craven Community College. Lunch is provided five days a week, except on
designated holidays, and the agency operates the county's Meals on
Wheels program. And the Senior Pharmacy Program assists seniors
age 60 and older with costs for prescription medications.
| New Bern has more
physicians per capita than the national average, and
CarolinaEast Medical Center is the primary health care
provider. It has dedicated units for heart care, critical
care, intensive care, women's care, orthopedic care, surgical
care, cancer care and more. With 350 beds, it meets
national averages in most specialty areas (but not all) and
accepts both Medicare and Medicaid patients.
This area's climate is humid subtropical,
which translates into hot, humid summers with thunderstorms and
somewhat chilly winters with a trace of snow. Summer
temperatures are in the 70s and 80s, occasionally reaching the
low-90s. Winter temperatures are in the 30s, 40s and
50s. Precipitation is four to seven inches per
month. Average humidity is 90% in the mornings, dipping to
60% by afternoon. The air quality and water quality are
both above the national norms, and the sun shines 213 days of
the year. |
Public transportation is provided by CARTS and is a
call-ahead service that caters to older and disabled
residents. Thirty-five vans and mini-buses travel to Walmart,
Twin Rivers Mall and CarolinaEast Medical Center, among other stops, and
fares are $1 to $6.75, depending on distance.
The Craven Regional Airport provides passenger air
service with flights daily to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Amtrak passenger
railway service is available from Wilson, North Carolina, which is about 1.5
hours from New Bern.
Retirement in New Bern has a few
drawbacks. Although it is set back 30 miles from the
Atlantic, it has been brushed by hurricanes and will be again.
The river banks are high, but parts of the city, including downtown,
have flooded. The chance of a tornado is 25% greater than
the national average. And the crime rate is higher
than the national average, although locals say that crime is primarily
restricted to certain sections of town that can be easily avoided.
Despite these negatives, New
Bern brims with Lowcountry hospitality, gentle charm and easy living, and its
deep roots and Southern traditions create a strong sense of place. Women
in wide-brimmed hats tend to Victorian gardens. Men inspect their
water vessels before heading out for a long day of fishing. The sweet
aroma of magnolias hangs in the air. The water laps at the
shore. Noo-bun may not be retirement heaven, but for many people,
it comes very close.
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New Bern North Carolina Real Estate Active Adult
Developments in North Carolina Retirement Communities
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