Could anyone please give me some ideas

[bromo]

If you could please tell me what your suggestions are as far as a retirement area for the following criteria, I would appreciate it.

We would like to live near the ocean - not Florida; small town area - possibly for adults, not a lot of kids; golf is important for my
husband and we would like to know of places where you can rent and not necessarily purchase a home right away.

Thank you for your help in letting us know what areas might be good for us to consider.

[bogeyman]

You are lucky that you have so many choices. Depending on how cold you can take the winters, you have the range of New Jersey to Georgia. There are many small towns either on or near the ocean and many of the developers have been busy building active adult communities near most of them.

If i were you you i would consider places in South Carolina near Bluffton or Beaufort SC. Or north of Myrtle Beach (in NC) - places like Sunset Beach, New Bern, Beaufort NC, Southport.

In almost any town you can rent before you buy, particularly in today's market. Good luck!

[ctyankee]

Everybody loves Asheville NC, but it is not near the coast. It is suffering a bit from sprawl, most of the new developments are way out of town.

A place we have heard good things about is Leland, just 10 minutes from downtown Wilmington - which has a lot going on. Only about 1/2 hour from Wrightsville Beach. Housing in Leland varies from the upper 100s to over 500k. Many of the middle to upper end developments have extensive amenities like clubhouses, walking trails, etc.