Recently, the Board of Education in New Hanover County approved a new district map that will go into effect 2009-2010 school year.

It Took Nine Tries

Many parents have been a little worried over what was going to be decided about where their child would go to school next year. It took 9 tries before they found one they could live with. Still, those in favor of busing students aren’t totally satisfied with the changes. You can take a look at the new map to see how the schools are divided.

Relocating 1,412 Students

Option 9 (as they are calling it) is projected to relocate 1412 currently enrolled students. The largest amount of kids are being moved from Wrightsboro Elementary to the new elementary school being built in Castle Hayne. There is still a significant number being moved from College Park and Blair as well. Also, the new map moves a large amount from two of the magnet schools–Snipes and Freeman. Maybe they are hoping that more parents will opt to enroll their kids in one of these newly formed magnet schools.

So What Does this Mean for Wilmington Home Buyers with Kids?

What does all of this mean for home buyers who are relocating to Wilmington NC? Well, one thing is for sure: If you want to make certain that your child goes to a specific school you should probably buy a house right across the street!

Okay…maybe you you don’t have to go to that extreme, but you should know that when you hear redistricting buzzing around you need to get in on what’s happening. The New Hanover County Board of Education obviously can’t make everybody happy, but they need to know what parents think and want regarding the education of our children.

How To Ensure Your Kids Go to a Certain Elementary School?

Another way to ensure your child doesn’t have to transition to another school is to buy on Wrightsville Beach NC, Carolina Beach NC or Kure Beach NC. If you buy a home on one of the New Hanover County area beaches, your kids are guaranteed a spot at Wrightsville Beach Elementary or Carolina Beach Elementary.

There are Other School Placement Options to Consider

Let’s talk about other school placement options. Maybe there is an area of town that you absolutely have to live in, but you don’t like the school assignment. You basically have four alternatives to explore within New Hanover County: Charter Schools, Magnet Schools, Year-Round Schools, and Private Schools. I’ll be talking more about these school options in my next post on New Hanover County Schools.

If you are a parent, buying a home is synomous with finding a good school.

I have a lot of work to do on The Wilmington Search in regards to writing articles on local schools and how to determine which schools are the good schools in Wilmington NC.  Unfortunately, this post is not on which schools are good or bad.  Rather, I want to help you get a sense of the area and which schools are located where.  Since my wife has been a teacher (now stay out home mom with 2 and 1 on the way) in both New Hanover and Brunswick County School Systems, I have asked her to help me write some really useful blog posts on local schools.  So look for that in the future.

Till now, I have yet to have a client who had kids in school not site schools being a top priority in their home search.  Dream homes get overlooked when schools become a priority.  That is because the dream home can wait.  A good education cannot.

My last client had 5 kids!  So if you are in the market to buy a home and schools are important to you, I have done quite a bit of research on the local schools and would be happy to help you with shortcuts on finding the right schools.

And of course, this is part of a 7 part post series on what you should know about 28403:

1. University of North Carolina of Wilmington

2. Main Shopping Areas

3. Parks & Recreation

4. Schools

5. Medical Facilities

6. General Areas to Live

7. Pros & Cons about Living in Midtown/28403

So let’s talk about…

4.  Schools

There are 5 public schools located in Midtown.  I want to stress that I am not referring to school districts but rather which schools are actually located in the 28403 zip code.  I will be writing about schools in future posts.  But for now, my goal is to simply acclamate you to where things are in Wilmington NC.  If you want to learn more about New Hanover County Schools, click here to go to their website.

Elementary Schools

Click for Arial View

College Park

• School Website
• NC Report Card (Click to see stats on School and Test Scores)
• District Map

Click for Arial View

Winter Park

• School Website
• NC Report Card (Click to see stats on School and Test Scores)
• District Map

Click for Arial View

Forest Hills

• School Website
• NC Report Card (Click to see stats on School and Test Scores)
• District Map

Middle Schools

Click for Arial View

Roland-Grise

• School Website
• NC Report Card (Click to see stats on School and Test Score
• District Map

High Schools

Click for Arial View

Hoggard High

• School Website
• NC Report Card (Click to see stats on School and Test Scores)
• District Map

Isaac Bears

See the School website to learn more about this unique early college four year program which meets at UNCW.  This school does not have a school district nor a NC Report Card.

• School Website

Well, I hope this post has been helpful.

READ PART 5 | Medical Facilities

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Walt Dowdy

910.431.1655

If you are planning on buying a home in the Wilmington NC area, it would probably be helpful to know a little about the area.  So let’s start with Midtown.

Wilmington’s zip code 28403 is sometimes referred to as Midtown.  28403 actually extends beyond Midtown, but to keep things simple, we’ll loosely refer to 28403 as Midtown.

No matter where you are thinking of buying, whether in Wilmington NC, or in the outskirts of Wilmington, you should be familiar with Midtown.  In this series, I am going to be writing on seven important facts to know for each zip code in Wilmington.  They are:

1. University of North Carolina of Wilmington

2. Main Shopping Areas

3. Parks & Recreation

4. Schools

5. Medical Facilities

6. General Areas to Live

7. Pros & Cons about Living in Midtown/28403

Each point will be broken into an individual blog posts.  So here we go…part 1:

1.  The University of North Carolina of Wilmington is located in Midtown

UNCW first opened its doors in 1947 and has continually grown over the years to enroll nearly 12,000 students.  It is situated on a 650 acre campus right in the middle of Wilmington.  UNCW is one of the primary things that separates Wilmington NC from other coastal towns of North Carolina and South Carolina.  You can learn more here and view a map of the campus here.

Midtown is influenced by UNCWs presence in several ways.

Shopping - I will talk more about this in point number two, but I want to note here under UNCW, that there is quite a bit of shopping that is conviniently located to the University off of College (I-40 turns into College when entering Wilminton).

Apartments & Single Family Rentals - Obviously not all college students stay on campus.  There are quite a few Apartment Complexes near the college.  Also, there a several neighborhoods in the one mile radius of the college, typically those with older brick ranch homes, that are often rentals for college students. In Part 6 I will talk about the general areas to live in 28403.

Traffic - In and around the University, at certain times in the day, traffic can be a bit aggressive.  I believe this has a little more to do with the abundance of stop lights in the vicinity that do not stay green for long.  But I have personally noticed that I seem to have a greater chance of getting cut off or have a speeding car pass me aggressively just in time for them to slam on brakes for the obviously approaching traffic light that had just turned red two seconds ago.  Not to mention the young ones who think they can make that yellow light (D students I’m sure).  Expected, but if you are not from Wilmington NC, I think it is worth noting.

Getting to Know the Area 

If you are considering relocating to Wilmington NC, getting to know the area should be one of the most important things you do.

Why?

You don’t want to make a bad decision about where to live.

• Where will my kids go to school?
• What areas are prone to constant crime?
• Which areas have the best shopping?
• Which areas are in flood zones?

When you learn the area before you move, you will feel less overwhelmed about relocating and more confident about your decision to move.

So how do you get to know Wilmington NC when You don’t live anywhere near Wilmington NC?

The easy answer?

Online maps that break down the southeastern NC coastal area into bite size pieces.

The problem with online maps is that they are scattered all over the web and are many times located inconspicously on websites you may or may not even know about.  But don’t fret.  I have searched the web high and low and have compiled a list of interactive maps that can help you get to know the Wilmington NC area better.

1.   How do I locate Homes for Sale?

MLS Finder has a great map feature that allows you to plug in your search criteria and then shows you where available homes are located on a map.  You can click on the icon for more details on each property.  When you view the details of an individual property, you can use the map feature to show nearby shopping, schools, restaurants, and much more.

I suggest you save your searches using SearchSaver.  This way you can save multiple types of searches to see how the results may vary.  You may want to compare homes that come up in a search of New Hanover County to a search of Brunswick County.

Once you have set up your SearchSaver account, you can:

• Save homes you like to a favorites folder so you don’t forget which homes stood out to you
• Get emails of homes as they come on the market (this can be turned on and off by you)
• Conveniently search the Wilmington’s Local MLS without forgetting your original search criteria
• You will receive a weekly tutorial on how to use the various features with simple explanations and pictures so that you get the most out of your SearchSaver account.
• Log in anytime the mood hits to search for homes in the Southeastern NC coastal region.

2.   How do I learn about the different areas of Wilmington?

Zip Codes Maps

Learning the zip codes of a city helps you break down a larger area into bite sizes.  In my real estate market reports, I divide market statistics by zip codes.  You will want to take note of the different market trends you find in each zip codes.

By understanding what kind of schools, businesses, and amenities are located within a zip code, it will be easier to narrow your search for where to live.

NOTE: These maps are in a pdf. format.  You can zoom into the street level to explore the dividing boundaries. These maps also feature the major roads in bold so that you can get to know the major roads in Wilmington.

[Download time may take a few seconds.  These maps can be saved to your computer for future reference.]

• New Hanover County
• Brunswick County
• Pender County

3.   How can I tell which areas belong to a certain school district?

New Hanover County Schools

IMPORTANT UPDATE (December 2008):

Relocating to Wilmington NC? How the New Changes in the New Hanover County School Redistricting Can Affect Your Next Home Purchase

Click the link above since school districts are changing! The links below will be obsolete 2009-2010!

• Elementary
• Middle
• Secondary (High School)
• Year Round

4.   Crime and Traffic Maps

Starnewsonline.com, our local newspaper’s website has a few helpful maps that are still in beta testing.  At present, I don’t believe you can zoom in and out.  But you can grab the map and scroll back and forth to find different areas.  Here are the available maps:

• Crime Reports – See what crimes have been committed in the last 30 days
• Who’s Wanted in Wilmington? – See where people are wanted
• Traffic Map - See where drivers have had wrecks in the last 30 days
• Speeders Map – And much more.  This map is a community interactive map noting speeders, slow pokes, potholes, congested areas, bad traffic designs.

5.   Which areas are located in flood zones?

Flood Maps

Because much of Wilmington is surrounded by water, you may be concerned about flood zones.  After clicking the link below, click the compass located beside “Digital Flood Maps”.  This may take a little while to load since it is for the entire state of North Carolina.

NC Flood Maps

My clients often ask about whether homes are in a flood zone.  First of all, North Carolina real estate law requires sellers and their representing agent to disclose if a home is in a known flood zone.  To be sure, you and your buyer’s agent should always check the NC flood map.

6.   Google Maps

Google maps is a great way to explore an area.  Simply type in Wilmington NC and hit search maps.  Then use your mouse to click the link right under the search box titled find businesses.  Then think of businesses or local attractions you are curious about.

Maybe Home Depot is your favorite Home Improvement Store and you want to see if there is a Home Depot located in Wilmington NC, so type in Home Depot and search “Find Businesses”.  But maybe you are curious to see what other Home Improvement stores are in the area and where they may be located.  Then you would type in a certain category of business and search for that.

View Larger Map

Would you like more help with relocating to Wilmington NC?

If you would like personal help with relocating to Wilmington NC, I would be happy talking with you about Wilmington and providing additional information that would be helpful in learning about the area.

Simply fill out this confidential form and when the best time is to reach you.  I understand you may not be looking for hiring an agent at this point.