Stan Powell, Broker Your Community Guide
(910) 274-5067 StanPowell@SeaCoastRealty.com

Your Community Guide · Carolina Shores, Brunswick County, North Carolina

Lighthouse Cove

A 56-acre, 181-home single-family neighborhood off Thomasboro Road with dues of four hundred dollars a year, town-maintained streets, and three separate construction eras sitting on the same loop. Here is how to tell them apart — and why the dues are so low.

Lighthouse Cove appeals to buyers who want the coast close by without needing a resort-style community around them. It's the kind of neighborhood where an evening walk stays quiet, Calabash is your quick dinner run, and Sunset Beach is close enough that a few hours on the sand doesn't have to become an all-day production.

181single-family homes planned at full build-out
56.7acres, including common area
2005development began; still filling in today
$400per year in HOA dues
~6 mito the sand at Sunset Beach

Home count and acreage per the Town of Carolina Shores. Dues figure from current association records — verify before you write an offer. Not every planned home has been built.

Stan Powell, REALTOR and Broker, Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage, Calabash NC

Stan Powell

REALTOR® · BROKER

Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage

10020 Beach Dr. SW
Calabash, NC 28467

“I wanted to create these Community Guides because every neighborhood along our coast has its own personality, history, and little details that you simply can't see in a listing search. Over the past 20 years, I've worked with many of the builders who helped bring these communities to life, and I've watched them grow from the ground up. Along the way, I've had the privilege of welcoming so many people home here. These guides are my way of sharing what makes each community different, what makes them special, and why so many people are proud to call them home.”
See Every Active Listing In Lighthouse Cove Live MLS · Updated Daily

One loop, three completely different kinds of house

Most portals treat Lighthouse Cove as a single bucket of inventory. It isn't. A home here can be an individually built house from the mid-2000s, a production home from the H&H years, or a current-generation home in the Landmark section — and those three things carry different square footage, different finish levels, and different price per foot. Pick the one that fits and I'll send you live listings.

Entrance to Lighthouse Cove off Thomasboro Road SW in Carolina Shores, NC
The turn off Thomasboro Road SW. One way in, one loop, no through traffic — which is most of the reason people who live here stay.

Lighthouse Cove was platted in 2005 and then did what almost every Brunswick County subdivision did next: it stalled. Lots sold, some houses went up, and then the market stopped. What that produced is a neighborhood with genuine variety in it — a rarity in this corridor, where most communities were delivered start to finish by a single builder off a single plan book.

That mix gives Lighthouse Cove a different feel from many of the newer communities nearby. You're not driving past the same elevation repeated every few homes. Mature landscaping on one end of the loop gives way to newer ranch homes on the other, so you get to choose not just a floor plan and a price point, but the version of the neighborhood that feels most like home.

What follows is how I'd sort the inventory if you were sitting across from me at my Calabash office. Each group has its own live search attached.

Fire pit and seating on the common green overlooking the pond at sunset in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
Whichever end of the loop you land on, this is the view you share. The fire pit and the common green sit between the two, with the pond and the woods behind.
Little free library painted with a lighthouse, standing in wildflowers on the common green in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
And the book exchange at the edge of the lawn, hand-painted with a lighthouse. Somebody built it, somebody keeps it stocked, and nobody was asked to.

The early homes

2005 – roughly 2015

Two things happened on this end of the loop, which is why the houses don't match each other. Some were built one at a time on individually purchased lots — side-entry and courtyard garages, brick and brick-accent fronts, real fireplaces, formal dining rooms, floor plans production builders don't offer anymore.

The rest came from D.R. Horton. Once the recession stalled the original lot sales, Horton moved into Lighthouse Cove around 2009 and 2010 and kept building here through the 2010s and into the early 2020s. Property records put the first Horton completions in 2009 and 2010, with the earliest listings under their name showing up in 2011. So if you're told this is a custom-only section, that's half the story — a national builder worked it for more than a decade, right alongside the one-off houses.

This is also where the largest homes in the community are. Plans run past 2,600 square feet with four bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths, two-story layouts among them. If you want space and you want it in this price band, this is the group to watch, and there are only a handful of them.

This is also the part of Lighthouse Cove that feels the most established. Trees have had years to grow into the streetscape, the landscaping has softened the lots, and the houses carry details from a period when buyers still asked for formal dining rooms, fireplaces and side-entry garages. If you want a coastal-area home without the brand-new-subdivision feel, this is the end of the loop I'd watch first.

View Original-Section Homes For Sale Live MLS · Updated Daily
Individually built home with a covered front porch and dormer windows in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
An original-section home. Covered front porch, dormer windows, detail work over the garage and landscaping that has had years to fill in — an elevation you can't order from a production builder here today.
Original-section home with twin dormers and a covered front porch in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
And its neighbor, built to a different plan entirely. Twin dormers, a deeper front porch, a clipped hedge line — this is what “built one at a time” actually looks like from the street.
Original-section home with a stacked-stone front and cedar-shake gable in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
And a third by D.R. Horton, with stacked stone to the eave and a carriage-style garage door.
Streetscape of homes on Lighthouse Cove Loop with mature palms and a pine treeline behind
Twenty years of growth on the lots. Palms and plantings have filled in and the pines stand tall behind the rooflines — the settled look on this end of the loop is the clearest difference from the newest section.
Typical size
1,800 – 2,600+ sq ft
Bedrooms
3 – 4
Baths
2 – 3.5
Stories
One level; a few two-story
Garage
2-car, some side or courtyard entry
Builders
D.R. Horton, local & custom
Lots
Generally the larger ones

The H&H Homes section

Roughly 2016 – 2020

H&H Homes — a Fayetteville builder founded in 1991 that had put up more than nine thousand homes across the Carolinas — bought into the remaining lots and built out a run of one-level plans. The Eden is the one you'll see most: about 1,410 square feet, three bedrooms, two baths, entry foyer, a kitchen with staggered cabinets, center island and walk-in pantry.

These came through with nine-foot ceilings, granite islands, tray ceilings in the owner's suite, irrigation systems and covered back porches as standard — specification that a lot of buyers assume they have to pay up for. They're eight to ten years old now, which for my money is the sweet spot: past the settling cracks and the first punch list, nowhere near a roof.

For relocation buyers these land in a comfortable middle ground. Modern enough to have the open kitchen, the covered outdoor space and the one-level layout people are actually searching for — established enough that the street no longer feels like a construction zone. Lock the door for a beach afternoon or a long weekend away and the house is easy to come back to.

H&H-built home with a covered front porch, dormers and a two-car garage in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
A typical H&H-era home. One level under a dormered roofline, two-car garage, covered front porch wide enough for rockers — the plan that made this neighborhood work for second-home buyers who wanted low upkeep.
Street of H&H-built homes with matching setbacks along Lighthouse Cove Loop
Consistent setbacks and a repeating rhythm of gables and garages down this stretch — the tell that a production builder took the section in a single run.
Typical size
1,400 – 2,000 sq ft
Bedrooms
2 – 3
Baths
2
Stories
One level
Garage
2-car attached
Builder
H&H Homes
Outdoor
Covered porch or patio

Landmark at Lighthouse Cove

Newest section

The current phase, on Landmark Cove. This is where the builder name confuses people, so let me settle it: Dream Finders Homes acquired H&H Homes in October 2020 and kept the H&H brand running. Landmark at Lighthouse Cove gets marketed under both names, and both are correct. It is one builder, listed two ways.

The homes here come from the PURL line — efficient, well-priced ranch plans. The Efficient runs about 1,264 square feet with three bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage on an open plan; the Vantage comes in around 1,265 and 1,725; and larger plans in the section reach past 1,800. Newest inventory in the community, and the least deferred maintenance you'll find here.

Landmark is the choice for the buyer who'd rather spend the first few years enjoying the move than working through somebody else's deferred-maintenance list. The landscaping is younger and the streetscape is newer — but if you came to the coast for a simpler next chapter, there's real appeal in unpacking the boxes, setting up the patio and getting on with it.

View Homes In Landmark At Lighthouse Cove Live MLS · Updated Daily
Row of one-level ranch homes on Landmark Cove in Landmark at Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
Landmark Cove. Ranch plans one after another with the pines standing close behind the back lot lines — the newest construction inside the association.
Two-story homes with craftsman gables in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
Two-story layouts turn up in several parts of Lighthouse Cove — worth knowing if you want the guest rooms above the main living level rather than down the hall from it.
Current-generation ranch home on Landmark Cove with shake-accent gables and a two-car garage, Carolina Shores NC
The same plans up close. Shake-accent gables, stone skirting at the garage, a covered entry deep enough for two chairs — and a driveway you can actually turn around in.
See Every Active Listing In Lighthouse Cove
Typical size
1,264 – 1,850+ sq ft
Bedrooms
2 – 3
Baths
2
Stories
One level, ranch
Builder
H&H Homes / Dream Finders
Plan line
PURL series
Street
Landmark Cove

Let's be straight about this

There is no pool and no clubhouse — on purpose

Several national portals auto-generate amenity lists for communities like this one, and they get Lighthouse Cove wrong. The association's recorded amenities are a community garden, common area maintenance and street lights — no pool, no clubhouse, no gate. What that bare list undersells is the common green itself, which holds the pond, a fire pit, a swing and a walking path. Everything below is what $400 a year actually buys you.

Swing and seating area overlooking the pond at sunset in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
Sunset over the pond from the swing. This is the shared space — modest, well kept, and paid for out of $400 a year.

Here's the math nobody runs for you. A community with a pool, a clubhouse and a fitness room in this corridor carries dues of somewhere between twelve hundred and three thousand dollars a year, plus the reserve exposure when the pool liner, the roof or the HVAC comes due. Lighthouse Cove charges four hundred.

Over a ten-year hold that difference is real money — and if you're five minutes from Calabash and six miles from Sunset Beach, the honest question is how many times a summer you'd actually use a subdivision pool. For a lot of my buyers the answer turns out to be four or five.

Lighthouse Cove works best for people whose life is going to happen beyond the subdivision entrance. The beach, the golf, the restaurants, the boating and the Calabash waterfront are already right there. Some buyers would rather choose how they spend a weekend — and keep the money — than pay every year for a clubhouse calendar they may rarely use.

The common green

A pond with a walking path around it, a paver fire pit ringed with chairs, a swing facing the sunset, a community garden and a little free library. Modest, well kept, and the place neighbors actually run into each other.

Town-maintained streets

The Town of Carolina Shores maintains the roadways and the street lighting. These are public streets, not private HOA pavement — which is the single biggest reason dues stay at $400.

County water and sewer

Brunswick County sanitary sewer and public water. No well, no septic, no shared package treatment plant to fund.

A single loop, no cut-through

One entrance off Thomasboro Road. Nobody drives through Lighthouse Cove to get somewhere else, which makes it quiet in a way that matters if you walk in the evening.

Room for your own pool

Lots run around a quarter acre with typical frontage near 84 feet. Several owners have added private in-ground pools with paver surrounds — check current setbacks and CS-R6 zoning first.

Fenceable, plantable yards

Owner-maintained yards, most with irrigation already installed. You control your own landscaping rather than living with whatever the association contracts.

No community pool

There isn't one and there is no plan for one. If a listing portal shows a pool icon on a Lighthouse Cove home, it's showing you a data error.

No clubhouse, gym or gate

No amenity center, no fitness room, no guardhouse. Not age-restricted either. Budget accordingly and buy the house, not the brochure.

Pond and common area at sunset in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
The pond and common area. Homes backing to it are the ones that move fastest when they come up.
Porch swing on a timber frame overlooking the pond in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
A swing on a timber frame at the water's edge, facing west for the sunset.
Concrete walking path curving through the common green in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
The path through the common green — the evening walk, without leaving the neighborhood.
Paver fire pit with Adirondack chairs beside the pond in Lighthouse Cove, Carolina Shores NC
The fire pit, ringed with Adirondack chairs under the crape myrtles.

What the low-dues trade actually costs you

I won't pretend it's free. You give up the pool, the clubhouse and the built-in social calendar that a place like The Farm at Brunswick a mile up the road hands you on day one. If you're moving here from out of state and you don't know anybody, that calendar has real value and I'd rather tell you that now than after closing.

The buyers who love Lighthouse Cove are the ones who already have their people, or who found them in Calabash rather than inside a subdivision.

Which is why I think of this as a neighborhood for independent buyers — people who enjoy their neighbors but don't need an activities director to build a social life for them. If your idea of coastal living is dinner in Calabash, a beach morning, a tee time or friends on your own back porch, the trade makes a great deal of sense.

The question everyone asks second

What the dues cover

Four hundred dollars a year is one of the lowest figures in southern Brunswick County. It is low because the expensive infrastructure here is public, not association-owned. That is a structural advantage, and it doesn't show up on any portal.

Covered by the association

  • Common area maintenance
  • Community garden
  • Street lights
  • Association administration

Provided by the Town of Carolina Shores

  • Roadway maintenance
  • Street lighting
  • Building inspections, planning and zoning
  • Solid waste convenience site
  • Animal control, by county contract

Provided by Brunswick County

  • Public water
  • Sanitary sewer
  • Curbside garbage pickup, by contract
  • Law enforcement — Sheriff's Office
  • Fire protection — Calabash Fire Department

Low dues are not the romantic part of buying a coastal home — until you work out what they leave room for. That annual difference goes toward the things you actually moved here for: travel, golf, a boat, a pool of your own, dinners out, or simply keeping the monthly cost of your next chapter comfortable.

Because the portals get this one wrong

Five things you'll read online that aren't right

Lighthouse Cove suffers more than most from bad aggregator data — two town names, two builder names, and an amenity list that gets auto-filled. It's a good example of why buying a community off a search portal alone can mislead you: the names, the municipality, the builder history and the amenities all get mixed together online. Separating the data from the reality before you decide is the job. Here's the correction on each.

"Lighthouse Cove is in Calabash."

It's inside the Town of Carolina Shores town limits — but it shares the 28467 Calabash ZIP code, so mail, tax records and half the portals say Calabash. Both addresses will reach the house. Only one is the municipality you pay and vote in.

"There's a community pool."

There is not. Recorded association amenities are the community garden, common area maintenance and street lights. The pool icon you're seeing is generated, not verified.

"It's a 55+ community."

It isn't age-restricted. Ownership skews toward retirees and second-home buyers because of the one-level plans, but there's no age covenant. If you specifically want age-restricted, I'll show you the ones in this corridor that genuinely are.

"H&H Homes and Dream Finders are two different builders here."

Same builder. Dream Finders Homes completed its acquisition of H&H Homes in October 2020 and deliberately kept the H&H name in the Carolinas. Listings and builder sites use both.

"Lighthouse Cove and Landmark at Lighthouse Cove are separate neighborhoods."

Landmark is a newer section of Lighthouse Cove, not a separate community. The MLS subdivision field gets filled in inconsistently — some homes on the same street are tagged one way, some the other. If you search only one name, you will miss inventory. My search covers both.

Getting around

Off Thomasboro, two minutes from Calabash

From US 17 you turn onto Thomasboro Road SW and then into the loop. It puts you behind the highway rather than on it — close enough to everything, far enough back that you don't hear it.

The practical case for this location is Calabash. You're under two miles from the seafood row, the Sunday-morning crowd at the marina, and the grocery run — close enough that people here genuinely do it by golf cart or bicycle on a good day.

This location is easy to underestimate on a map. You can be tucked back on a quiet residential loop and still decide at 4:30 that you want seafood in Calabash, take an evening ride toward the waterfront, or run over to Sunset Beach without planning the whole day around it. Everyday access is a different thing from vacation access — and it's a large part of why people move here in the first place.

Calabash NC waterfront and fishing boats near Lighthouse Cove
Calabash waterfront, minutes away. The seafood capital claim is worn out, but the boats are real and so are the prices at the dock.
Waterfront restaurant deck and fresh seafood market over the marsh in Calabash NC
Dinner over the marsh, with a fresh shrimp and fish market built onto the same boardwalk.
The Oyster Rock waterfront seafood restaurant sign at dusk in Calabash NC
The Oyster Rock at dusk — one of the newer rooms on the water.
Outdoor patio dining under palms and umbrellas beside the marsh in Calabash NC
Patio tables under the palms. This is what a Tuesday evening looks like, not just a holiday weekend.
Callahan's Nautical Gifts of Calabash storefront under live oaks
Callahan's, under the live oaks. The browsing end of Calabash, and a standing answer for out-of-town guests.
Small independent boutique with a covered porch and rocking chairs in Calabash NC
Small independents rather than chains — which is most of why the errand run here doesn't feel like one.
Downtown Calabash & the seafood row
< 2 miles
Groceries — Food Lion, Publix, Walmart
~5 min
Sunset Beach — the sand
~6 miles
North Myrtle Beach
~20 min
Ocean Isle Beach
~20 min
Shallotte
~15 min
Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center
~20 miles
Myrtle Beach International Airport
~35 miles
Wilmington
~50 min
Golf courses within 5 miles
~20

Streets you'll see in the listings

This is a short list on purpose — the whole community is essentially one loop plus the Landmark street. If you're cross-referencing an address from a portal, these are inside the association:

Address numbers on the Loop run into the 180s, and Landmark Cove numbers run in the 600s and 700s. Ask me if you're unsure whether an address falls inside the association.

Schools

Currently assigned to Jessie Mae Monroe Elementary, Shallotte Middle and West Brunswick High in the Brunswick County Schools district. Assignments are redrawn periodically — confirm with the district before you rely on it.

Before we start touring

Who Lighthouse Cove tends to fit best

Every neighborhood in this corridor is right for somebody and wrong for somebody else. I'd rather help you work out which one this is now than after you've fallen in love with a kitchen.

Worth a close look if…

You want a single-family home near Calabash and Sunset Beach without paying resort-community dues to get it. Lighthouse Cove fits that buyer well, and it fits a few specific wants better than almost anything else at this price in Carolina Shores.

  • One-level living with a real two-car garage
  • A manageable yard you control, with room to plant, fence or add a pool
  • A quiet loop with one entrance and no cut-through traffic
  • The choice between an established home and newer construction inside one neighborhood
  • Carrying costs kept deliberately low on a second home or a long hold

Probably not your neighborhood if…

Your move depends on the community itself giving you something to do. That's a legitimate thing to want — it just isn't what's for sale here, and I'd be doing you no favors by talking around it.

  • You want a clubhouse, a pool complex or an on-site fitness room
  • You're counting on a built-in social calendar to meet people after a relocation
  • You want a gated entrance or on-site management
  • You specifically want age-restricted living
  • You want lawn care and exterior maintenance handled by the association
See What's Available Right Now

Questions I get about Lighthouse Cove

What does it actually feel like to live in Lighthouse Cove?

More residential than resort. One entrance, no through traffic, modest common space and no amenity complex. The older end of the loop has mature trees and varied architecture; the newer end has cleaner ranch homes and younger landscaping. Most of the life happens outside the neighborhood — in Calabash, at Sunset Beach, on a golf course, or in your own backyard. If that sounds thin to you, it's the wrong community. If it sounds like a relief, it's the right one.

Is Lighthouse Cove in Calabash or Carolina Shores?

Carolina Shores. The community sits inside the Town of Carolina Shores limits, off Thomasboro Road on the eastern side of town. It uses the 28467 ZIP code, which is a Calabash ZIP, so mailing addresses and a lot of listing portals show Calabash. Both will get your mail delivered — but Carolina Shores is the town that maintains your street and sets your municipal tax rate.

Is there a pool or a clubhouse?

No. The association's recorded amenities are a community garden, common area maintenance and street lights. There is no pool, no clubhouse, no fitness room and no gate. The common green does hold the pond, a walking path, a fire pit and a swing — low-maintenance things, which is exactly why dues stay at four hundred dollars a year. Several owners have built private in-ground pools on their own lots instead — check setbacks and current CS-R6 zoning before you plan one.

Is Lighthouse Cove a 55+ community?

No. It isn't age-restricted, despite what a few retirement directories imply. The one-level floor plans and the location draw a lot of retirees and second-home buyers, but there's no age covenant. If age-restricted living is genuinely what you're after, I can point you to the communities in this corridor that qualify.

Who built the homes here?

Several, depending on the house. The earliest were built individually by local and custom builders on separately purchased lots from about 2005. D.R. Horton came in around 2009 and 2010, after the recession stalled those lot sales, and kept building here through the 2010s and into the early 2020s. H&H Homes built out a run of one-level production plans through roughly 2016 to 2020. The current Landmark at Lighthouse Cove section is H&H's PURL line — and since Dream Finders Homes acquired H&H in October 2020, you'll see it marketed under either name.

What's the difference between Lighthouse Cove and Landmark at Lighthouse Cove?

Landmark is the newest section of Lighthouse Cove, built along Landmark Cove — not a separate community. The confusion is real, though: the MLS subdivision field is filled in inconsistently, and I've seen homes on Lighthouse Cove Loop tagged as Landmark at Lighthouse Cove. If you're searching a portal under one name only, you're missing listings.

How big are the lots?

Generally around a quarter acre, with typical frontage in the neighborhood of 84 feet and depth around 135. The original section tends to have the larger and more irregular lots; the production sections are more uniform. Homes backing to the pond or to the wooded buffer are the ones buyers compete for.

Can I rent my home out?

Some owners hold homes here as second homes or investment property, but rental rules and minimum lease terms are set by the governing documents and can be amended. Never assume — I get the current covenants and any rental amendments in front of you before you go under contract.

How's the resale market here?

Inventory in Lighthouse Cove is thin — 181 homes total means only a handful trade in any given year, and that cuts both ways. I publish a branded market snapshot covering absorption rate, days on market and closed price trends. Ask me for the current edition; it's free and there's no obligation attached to it.

Thinking about Lighthouse Cove?

Whether you're already watching one particular house or still trying to work out which Calabash community fits you, I'm glad to help you sort through it.

Send me the address you're considering — even if you found it on Zillow, on Realtor.com or on another agent's website. I'll tell you which section it sits in, what I know about who built it, what I'd want investigated before an offer, and how it stacks up against the other options around Calabash and Carolina Shores.

Sometimes the best first step isn't scheduling a showing. It's understanding what you're looking at.

Send Me An Address To Look At

Stan Powell, Broker / REALTOR®
Your New Home Advisor · (910) 274-5067

Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage

Stan Powell

REALTOR®, Broker

CNE · ABR · e-PRO · CSP

Cell (910) 274-5067 Office (910) 579-8471 StanPowell@SeaCoastRealty.com

Office

10020 Beach Dr. SW
Calabash, NC 28467