I am a native North Carolinian who grew up in High Point and I spent most of my summers on Ocean Isle Beach in Brunswick County. I started to visit the Wilmington area, including Hampstead, in 1992 helping two friends start a successful retail business. During those weekends I enjoyed Downtown nightlife, lounging on Wrightsville Beach and horse back riding with a friend in Hampstead. I chose to relocate to Hampstead, from Virginia Beach, in 2006 after many years in business management, most recently as a nursing home administrator for Kindred Healthcare. I decided that I needed to start a business of my own and realized that not only did I miss everything this area has to offer but that over 1 million baby boomers have pinpointed the area for retirement. Living and working in the Hampstead area offers me the best of all worlds. Hampstead is minutes from both Topsail Island and Wrightsville Beach. I can shop locally in Hampstead or just drive a few minutes south on Hwy 17 to the Mayfair Town Center. Hampstead is bordered by the ICW to the east offering fishermen and boaters many neighborhoods with deep water access. Hampstead is famous for being "boater "friendly". Hampstead also has several marinas that offer protected wet slips for your boat. The world class Harbor Village Marina being just one of them. Although I spend most of my time working, I always have time to surf fish, look for shark's teeth on Topsail Island or hop on a friends boat and fish the waters fom Topsail Sound to Southport. I can incorporate these leisure activities because of where I live. Its all here! You know the saying, "location, location, location".