You can get there from here: Ocean Ridge close enough to Myrtle Beach, but not too close

    Note:  In yesterday's article, we described the wide variety of golf at Ocean Ridge, with more on the way in 2009.  We finish our review of the community today with a discussion of its location and profile.

 

    Ocean Ridge will appeal to those who don't want to be pigeonholed into a homogeneous community.  The community's residents comprise retirees, young professionals and a mix of others, including a number of second home owners who don't want to be tied to private golf club membership and like the proximity to the ocean.  Ocean Ridge residents have a choice between two nice beaches,

Ocean Isle and Sunset, both about five minutes away.  The community maintains a private oceanfront club at Sunset Beach which can accommodate a few dozen cars at a time.  If too many residents show up, which is what happens on holidays and busy weekends, public access points up and down the beach are plentiful (and the sand is exactly the same).
    At a point between Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, closer to Myrtle Beach by 15 minutes, and with an entrance on the main north/south route along the coast, Highway 17, Ocean Ridge residents have a choice between two entirely different cities for their shopping, entertainment and transportation needs.  Tourist mecca Myrtle Beach is the lure for loud entertainment options, a little bit honky tonk if you like that sort of thing.  And with another few dozen golf courses within a half hour, any Ocean Ridge resident who tires of his own five courses certainly has a wide variety a half a gas tank or so away.

    Wilmington, on the other hand, offers a more classic southern environment, with a more sedate vibe than the neon, tourist-invested Myrtle Beach.  The essentials of health care and food shopping are within 10 or 15 minutes of Ocean Ridge, although any serious medical issues might require a trip to Wilmington, about an hour away.
    Ocean Ridge provides mostly all the check-the-box amenities you expect from a community of its size, including tennis, indoor and outdoor pools, fitness centers, nature trails and two clubhouses with two more in the works.  For boaters, marinas are off property but nearby; Pelican Pointe Marina, for example, is just three

minutes from Ocean Ridge's gate and on the Intra-coastal Waterway.  The entrance to the community off of Highway 17 is gated and manned, but I had to wonder about security since I drove through an un-gated side entrance that featured neither guard nor guardhouse.  It was mid morning but it still made me wonder what the "Round the clock security services" in their marketing materials actually meant and how many other claims might be overstated.
    The community is divided into neighborhoods that are separate, if not distinct.  I saw a lot of brick exteriors one neighborhood to the next, very appealing if not very "beach house."  I expected to see more of the Charleston style homes that feature two stories and a wide front porch.  The few I noticed stood out as noteworthy.  Ocean Ridge has been open for over a decade and most of the community has a grown in, mature feel about it, although a number of home sites (beginning in the $200s) are still available, with many more to come adjacent to the Jaguar's Lair course.  Homes generally begin in the low $400s and proceed up to over $1 million. 
    Summary:  Ocean Ridge will appeal to those looking for a diverse community near a beach and just close enough to centers of entertainment and all necessary services, without being stifled by a nearby urban atmosphere.  The confusing array of golf membership programs may appeal only to math majors, but the variety of golf on property and off will appeal to anyone who swings a club, no matter their handicap.  Ocean Ridge's golf courses are very popular, and I strongly recommend that anyone interested in such a community with public courses spend some time there to determine if outside play will affect your own experience.  
    Final note:  Large developments like Ocean Ridge that have remaining lots to sell are in natural competition with local real estate agents.  If you deal only with the on-site real estate office, you may not see all (or any) of the resale lots that are for sale on the property.  Contact me and I can connect you with a local real estate agent I have personally qualified and worked with and who will open up the entire Multiple Listing Service to you.  There is no cost or obligation to you for this service, ever.

    Ocean Ridge Plantation, Highway 17, Sunset Beach, NC.  Web:  www.oceanridge.com.   Homesites from the $200s, homes from the $400s.