Best Place To Raise Your Kids

The housing market in Jacksonville, N.C., is bucking the nationwide trend.

By Christine Dugas, USA TODAY

"We are not recession-proof, but we are recession-resilient," says Jim Reichardt, executive director of Jacksonville-Onslow (County) Economic Development.

The area has a major asset: It's home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River. As a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure program, the region gained about 12,000 military jobs.

•Sales status. The housing market benefits from the steady flow of Marines. On average, military home buyers only stay for three to five years, and real estate agents sell the same houses again and again, says Melissa Worrell, president-elect of Jacksonville Board of Realtors.

In September, Jacksonville's home sales were 10.1% higher than the same month last year. Because of the military bases, the city has one of the youngest populations in the nation. For that reason, first-time home buyers account for the majority of sales, Worrell says.

•Price points. Only six homes sold in the past 12 months exceeded $500,000, Worrell says. But that doesn't mean prices have fallen. Jacksonville never saw a boom in new construction, and home foreclosures have not dragged down home values. In September, the median price was 10.3% higher than a year prior.

•Local economy. Jacksonville's unemployment rate was 8.3% in September, less than the state's rate of 10.4%. Military personnel have a stable disposable income, which has helped local auto dealers, restaurants and retail stores, Reichardt says.

•Hot 'hoods. About 20 years ago, downtown Jacksonville seemed mostly a wild and wooly place filled with bars, says Dennis Burgard, former president of Bettering Our Local Downtown, a non-profit organization. That's mostly been cleared, and the non-profit is trying to revitalize the area along the banks of the New River, where walkways and waterfront access abound.

Vacant properties are being used for new homes that are modeled after Victorian-style homes in downtown Charleston, S.C. Prices range from about $160,000 to $220,000. One developer has sold seven homes fairly quickly in the lower price range, Burgard says.

"We're doing something right here"

Jacksonville tops Zillow.com's list in housing appreciation

December 21, 2008 @ 4:33PM, By: MOLLY K. DEWITT

The City of Jacksonville is on yet another list - and this time it's at the top.

Jacksonville was ranked No. 1 in home value appreciation out of 163 metropolitan statistical areas by Zillow.com, a popular real estate Web site.

While U.S. homes are set to lose more than $2 trillion in value during 2008 and home values declined 8.4 percent year over year during the first three quarters of 2008, Jacksonville is bucking that trend, according to a Zillow market report.

"Most markets in the country are not seeing any sort of home value appreciation, most homes are depreciating when we're talking about year-over-year value," said Katie Kurnutte, spokesperson for Zillow. "Jacksonville and a couple other places in the Carolinas are the exception. I think part of this was there was never a huge bubble in Jacksonville, and I think the bubble was what contributed to other markets seeing major year-over-year appreciation."

Zillow reports Jacksonville as having a 4.9 percent increase in home value appreciation when comparing the first three quarters of 2007 to the first three quarters of 2008 and an annualized five year change in value of 9.7 percent.

Another North Carolina city, Burlington, also made the top 5 with a 3.1 percent change from 2007 to 2008.

Coming in at the bottom of the list were several cities in California; the worst being Stockton which is reported to have a 32.3-percent decrease in home value appreciation from the first three quarters of 2007 compared to the first three quarters of 2008.

Kurnutte said while other areas in the nation showed large spikes in home value appreciation in recent years, areas like Jacksonville remained on an even keel, lessening the impact when the housing bubble burst.

"It goes back down as dramatically as it went up and it had to because this was appreciation that was too fast and too rapid," she said.

More affordably priced homes may also have contributed to Jacksonville's steady home value appreciations, Kurnutte said.

"In a place like Jacksonville homes are more affordable for a lot more people so that probably lessened the desire to get these more risky loans ... I think that the problem is a little less than it was in the higher priced areas," she said.

Thirty of the 163 metropolitan statistical areas covered in the Zillow reports, including Jacksonville, showed gains in the Zillow Home Value Index over the first three quarters of the year.

"We are very, very fortunate that we live here because of what's going on in the rest of the nation," said Van Dupuis, president of the Jacksonville Board of Realtors. "We are faring very, very well against the rest of the nation. There are places out there where (the real estate market) just shut down completely."

Area home values increased on average $6,000 per home from 2007-08, Dupuis said.

"Ours has been that steady appreciation that just kept on working for us," he said. "It gives the community the confidence that Jacksonville is a fine place to buy a home and, of course, confidence is what we're trying to build because of what's going on across the nation."

And confidence in the real estate market is hard to come by these days.

"Given what's going on in all the other markets in the country (Jacksonville is) doing very well," Kurnutte said. "It's a good place to be and people should be happy and feel a lot more secure than they feel in a lot of other places."

Dupuis said he agrees.

"The real estate market is just a dynamite opportunity for us to let the public know that you live in a great town in a great county and your town and your county has been recognized number one in home value appreciation and the best place to raise kids (in North Carolina). How much better can it get than that?" he asked.

Dupuis advises those looking to sell their homes in the near future to capitalize on the current market and put their homes on the market sooner rather than later.

"The average time in the county for a home to be on the market for sale is 83 days ... as opposed to 60 days last year," he said. "If you're looking to sell your house, now is the time to put it on the market so it will sell or will be sold by the springtime."

For Jacksonville, the real-estate future remains bright.

"We're very, very proud of our town here and we encourage the public to look at those facts and figures," Dupuis said. "We're doing something right here."

Jacksonville named best place to raise children in North Carolina

November 15, 2008 @ 4:35PM, By: AMANDA HICKEY

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated Sunday afternoon to correct an error. The story originally said BusinessWeek had named Jacksonville the 34th best place in the nation to raise a child. Jacksonville is instead named by BusinessWeek as the best place in North Carolina to raise a child.

Jacksonville Mayor Sammy Phillips is thrilled, and it isn't just because he's still on the Onslow Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors.

Instead, it's because Jacksonville was named the best place in North Carolina to raise children by BusinessWeek Magazine, beating out runners-up Greenville and Wilmington for the top spot.

"I'm ecstatic about that designation. We do have a wonderful community here," Phillips said.

According to Business Week's Nov. 7 article "The Best Places to Raise Your Kids," the most important factors were school performance, affordability and safety, with cost of living, air quality, job growth, racial diversity and local parks, ball fields, zoos, recreation centers, museums and theaters also coming into play.

Towns with populations less than 50,000 and a median household income of less than $40,000 or more than $100,000 were not included. Jacksonville has a population of more than 71,000 and a median household income of $43,489.

"Jacksonville, a former farming town, is now a commercial hub and home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Station New River," the article stated.

Business Week representatives could not be reached by The Daily News.

The distinction wasn't a surprise for Phillips, who after growing up here and graduating from Jacksonville High School in 1970, raised his own two daughters in Jacksonville.

"I know it's a great place - there's no where else I'd rather live than here. As being a native Jacksonville citizen, I've been to all different places and different states and always want to come back here," he said.

Phillips said things will get even better.

"We as a community are striving to make this an even better place to live. We're looking at growth, we're looking at managing our growth in such a way that our city will be a nice place to live and as a city government we'll be able to deliver services in an efficient manner for our services," Phillips said.

The designation did not come as a surprise to Mona Padrick, president of the Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Commerce.

"We are a young community," Padrick said of Jacksonville, explaining that with young members of the military comes young children. "A lot of the things we have are geared towards kids for that very fact."

Among the children-friendly attractions are the beach, Lynwood Park Zoo, various horse stables, youth sports and more, she said.

"We have a lot of history here, too, with the Marine Corps that would be good for children to experience," Padrick said, explaining that many kids would enjoy taking a tour of the base and climbing on a tank.

Like Phillips, Jacksonville resident Roberta Coogan, 42, was born and raised in Onslow County.

Coogan grew up in Richlands and moved within the city limits 16 years ago where she raised her four daughters - Kristen, 22; Lake, 21; Brenna, 11; and Kaitlin, 9.

"I like the fact that (Jacksonville's) still small enough to be quaint but it's growing. ... It's still quiet but there's new growth and it's kind of becoming a nice little city," Coogan said.

A major perk, she said, is being near the coast.

"The girls love the beach, (my husband) Keith loves the beach," Coogan said, explaining that every year the family goes camping on the beach for a three-day weekend.

The biggest benefit, she said, is the schools.

"The schools are great. I love Parkwood (Elementary), that was the best move," Coogan said, explaining that her oldest daughters initially went to Morton Elementary. "I never had one complaint (about Parkwood) and it continues to grow and get better."

With doctors and dentists within 15 minutes of her daughters' schools, she's been able to get them to their appointments without too much rush, Coogan said.

After living in Louisiana and Alabama, Coogan is glad to call Jacksonville home.

"It was so small at one time," she said. "I'm just happy that it's becoming a shining star."