Stan Powell, Broker Local. Coastal. Trusted.
(910) 274-5067 StanPowell@SeaCoastRealty.com

Your Community Guide · Ash, Brunswick County, North Carolina

Sterling Oaks

Sterling Oaks is for the buyer who wants the Brunswick County coast within easy reach — but does not need to live in the middle of the beach traffic to enjoy it. Quiet mornings at home, trees behind the back porch, a new home that does not need a weekend repair list, and Sunset Beach or Calabash close enough to become an ordinary part of the week rather than a vacation itinerary.

This is a 76-acre Ryan Homes community off Ash-Little River Road, approved for 338 homesites, with six floor plans from 1,100 to 2,275 square feet. The beaches are about twelve miles away. Here is what the builder's brochure leaves out — and what I would want you to know before you choose a plan or a homesite.

338homesites approved at full build-out
~76acres, per the county's planned development approval
6floor plans, 1,100 – 2,275 sq ft
2025presales opened; still actively building
~12 mito Sunset, Ocean Isle and Holden Beach

Unit count and acreage per Brunswick County planned-development records (PD-114). Plan availability and pricing verified against the builder in September 2026 and change constantly — call me for today's numbers.

Stan Powell, REALTOR® and 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.”

Stan Powell · Your New Home Advisor

One builder, but four very different ways to buy here

Sterling Oaks is a single-builder community — Ryan Homes, start to finish. Pick the one that fits and I will send you live listings.

The common thread is not the floor plan — it is the kind of coastal move you are trying to make. Some buyers want to simplify into one level. Some need bedrooms for children or visiting family. Some want a first-floor owner's suite now and extra space upstairs for the people who will come visit once they realize how close you live to the beach. Sterling Oaks works best when you start with the life you want and choose the house around it, not the other way around.

Sterling Oaks community entrance off Ash-Little River Road in Ash, NC
The entrance off Ash-Little River Road. The model is right at the front — 8011 Sterling Oaks Drive NW.

The address says Ash, NC 28420, which surprises buyers who found the community through a Calabash search. You are inland here, north of Carolina Shores, on the quiet side of the county line. That is the trade: wooded homesites and a price that starts under $250,000, in exchange for a real drive to the sand.

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

One-level living

Ashgrove & Rosewood

The two single-story plans, and the reason a lot of my retired clients look here at all. No stairs, no bonus room nobody uses, no wasted square footage you still have to heat and cool. The Ashgrove at 1,100 square feet is one of the least expensive brand-new detached homes you can buy anywhere in southern Brunswick County right now — it is priced where townhomes are priced, and you own the lot underneath it.

The Rosewood steps up to 1,434 square feet and, more importantly, to a two-car garage. If you are coming from the north with a car, a golf cart and a workbench, that garage is usually the deciding factor between these two plans. Both put the owner's suite on the main floor with a walk-in closet.

For a lot of buyers moving here, "one level" is less about age than freedom. Fewer stairs, fewer rooms to furnish, less house to maintain — and more time to actually live where you moved. The appeal is being able to lock the door for a long weekend, spend the afternoon at the beach, or meet friends in Calabash without feeling like the house owns the rest of your day.

View one-level homes for sale Live MLS · updated daily
Ashgrove one-level plan under construction at Sterling Oaks in Ash, NC, showing the single-car garage
The single-car garage is the Ashgrove, and it is the detail that sends most of my buyers to the Rosewood instead. Stand in front of it before you decide — on paper it is one line on a spec sheet.
One-level home at Sterling Oaks in Ash, NC, with a two-story home next door and the pine buffer behind
A one-level home on the street, with a two-story next door and the pines standing behind both. This mix is worth seeing in person — your neighbor's roofline is part of what you are buying.
Single-story Ryan Homes Rosewood elevation at Sterling Oaks
A Rosewood elevation. One level, two-car garage, covered entry — the workhorse plan of this community.
Streetscape of one-level homes on Sterling Oaks Drive NW
Sterling Oaks Drive NW. Young landscaping, which is typical for a community this new — plan on three to five years before it fills in.
Plans
Ashgrove, Rosewood
Size
1,100 – 1,434 sq ft
Bedrooms
3
Baths
2
Stories
One level
Garage
1-car (Ashgrove) or 2-car (Rosewood)
Yard
Owner-maintained

Two-story homes

Evergreen & Sequoia

Ryan markets the two-story plans almost as a separate community, and functionally they are — different buyer, different street feel. The Evergreen at 1,485 square feet keeps the footprint small and stacks the bedrooms upstairs, which is how it lands close to the Rosewood on price while giving you a half bath on the main floor.

The Sequoia is the larger plan: four bedrooms, 1,749 square feet, and a flex landing at the top of the stairs. It is not a plan I would recommend to a couple planning to age in place — every bedroom is upstairs, including the owner's suite. It is an excellent plan for a household that wants four bedrooms under $300,000 and is not thinking about stairs yet.

The two-story side of Sterling Oaks has a different energy. These are the homes for buyers who still need bedrooms, homework space, a home office, or somewhere for everybody to spread out after a beach day. The smaller footprint keeps the house feeling manageable without asking a growing household to live small.

View two-story homes for sale Live MLS · updated daily
Two two-story homes side by side on a street at Sterling Oaks in Ash, NC
Two-story sections. Lot width is tighter here than on the one-level streets — walk it before you pick a homesite.
Two-story Ryan Homes Fairview or Evergreen elevation at Sterling Oaks
A Fairview or Evergreen elevation. From the curb they read much the same, but the difference matters: the Fairview puts the owner's suite on the first floor, while the Evergreen stacks all the bedrooms upstairs.
Plans
Evergreen, Sequoia
Size
1,485 – 1,749 sq ft
Bedrooms
3 – 4
Baths
2.5
Stories
Two, all bedrooms up
Garage
2-car attached
Outdoor
Optional patio or covered porch
Two-story home at Sterling Oaks in a tan exterior package, with covered front entry
The same two-story footprint in a different exterior package. Elevation details and the covered rear porch are options here, not standards — in this climate I tell every buyer to price the porch in up front, because retrofitting one later costs multiples.

First-floor owner's suite

Fairview & Woodford

This is the collection I point most out-of-state retirees toward, and it is the one the national portals describe worst. Both plans are two stories, but the owner's suite is on the main floor. You live on one level day to day; the upstairs exists for the grandchildren in July and sits closed the rest of the year.

That layout is one of the better "move once" ideas in the community. Your everyday life stays downstairs — bedroom, bath, kitchen, living space — while the upstairs becomes flexible room for whoever comes through the door. And once you relocate this close to the Brunswick beaches, people tend to come through that door more often than they did before.

The Fairview adds a second main-floor bedroom and bath, so you can genuinely never use the stairs. The Woodford is the largest plan in the community at 2,275 square feet, with five bedrooms, a first-floor guest bedroom and bath, and dual walk-in closets in the owner's suite. Both are decorated or heavily optioned at the model — see the real thing before you commit.

View first-floor owner's suite homes Live MLS · updated daily
A phase under construction at Sterling Oaks in Ash, NC, with silt fencing and bare homesites
A phase still going in. Buy early and you get the pick of the homesites — you also live beside the silt fence, the bare lots and the trucks for a while. That trade is worth making on purpose rather than by accident.
Plans
Fairview, Woodford
Size
1,927 – 2,275 sq ft
Bedrooms
3 – 5
Baths
3
Owner's suite
First floor
Garage
2-car attached
Model home
Both shown at 8011 Sterling Oaks Dr NW

Move-in ready & early resales

The overlooked lane

Two things most buyers never think to check. First, the builder carries standing inventory homes — already framed, already priced, sometimes months from completion. Those are where incentive money tends to concentrate, because a finished house with no buyer is a carrying cost on somebody's balance sheet.

Second, the earliest Sterling Oaks closings are now old enough that resales are beginning to appear. A two-year-old home here comes with the blinds hung, the sod established, the fence up and the punch list already completed and over — often for less than the same plan brand new. I watch both lanes and will tell you honestly which one is winning in any given month.

For the buyer who wants the new-home feeling without spending the first six months waiting on grass, blinds and contractors, an early resale can be the quiet shortcut nobody at the model center is going to advertise.

See Every Active Listing In Sterling Oaks
A finished one-level home on a wooded homesite at Sterling Oaks in Ash, NC
A finished house on the street, which is what you are actually buying. Sod down, driveway poured, pines behind it. These are the ones that sit as standing inventory, and standing inventory is where the incentive money tends to land.
Builder
Ryan Homes (NVR, Inc.)
Presales opened
June 2025
Status
Actively selling and building
Utilities
Public water and sewer

Every plan, side by side

The six floor plans, without the marketing copy

Builder websites make you click through six separate pages to compare. Here they are on one screen, smallest to largest.

A floor plan on paper is just bedrooms and square footage. The better question is what a normal Tuesday looks like inside it. Where do guests sleep? Where does the golf cart or the workshop gear go? Could you live entirely on the first floor if you ever needed to? Use the table below as a filter, then walk the finalists in person.

Specifications verified against the builder in September 2026. Plan availability changes — verify current figures before relying on them. Call me for today's pricing.
Plan Beds Baths Sq ft Garage Layout
Ashgrove 321,100 1-carOne level
Rosewood Model 321,434 2-carOne level
Evergreen 32.51,485 2-carTwo story
Sequoia 42.51,749 2-carTwo story, all beds up
Fairview Model 331,927 2-carTwo story, owner's suite down
Woodford 532,275 2-carTwo story, owner's suite down
See what is actually available right now

What you actually get to use

A modest amenity package — and I would rather you hear that from me

Sterling Oaks is not Sea Trail or Ocean Ridge. There is no golf, no gatehouse, no fitness barn. The builder's marketing lists a pool, and a pool is planned — but as of this writing it is described as coming, not open. Buy here for the price, the wooded homesites and the low dues, not for a resort amenity deck.

Sterling Oaks is not the community where the clubhouse is the star. The experience is quieter than that. On the better perimeter homesites, the thing you notice is what is behind the house: trees, a little separation, birds in the morning, and a back porch that feels more private than the price point suggests. For some buyers that is worth more than another room full of fitness equipment they may never use.

The real amenity here is the trees. Brunswick County's approval for this development required substantial perimeter buffers, and the lots that back to them are meaningfully more private than the interior lots — same house, same price sheet, very different feeling on the back porch.

When I walk a phase with a buyer, this is the first thing I map. Builders price homesite premiums for water and for corner lots. A quiet wooded rear buffer is often underpriced relative to what it is worth to live with.

Community pool

Advertised by the builder and planned for the community. Confirm the completion timing and the funding source in writing — the amenity is not open as of this writing.

Wooded homesites

Perimeter buffers were a condition of the county's planned-development approval. Lot selection matters more here than in most communities.

Public water and sewer

Not a given in the Ash area, where plenty of surrounding property is still on well and septic. This was a specific point of discussion at the county planning board.

Low HOA dues

Recent listings in the community have shown dues in the neighborhood of $98 a month. Verify the current figure and the budget — see the dues section below.

Builder warranty

New construction carries a builder warranty and third-party inspections. Understand what is covered in year one versus year ten before you waive your own inspection.

Model home on site

Decorated Rosewood and Fairview models at the entrance, 8011 Sterling Oaks Drive NW. Open by appointment — bring me with you on the first visit.

Shopping nearby, and growing

The Calabash and Carolina Shores corridor added a Walmart Supercenter and a Publix, with a Wawa announced. Just a year ago this drive meant Shallotte or Little River.

The question everyone asks second

What the dues cover

Dues here are low by southern Brunswick County standards, which is exactly what you would expect from a community whose amenity package is still being built. Judge the number against what it buys, and against what it will buy at full build-out.

For buyers who would rather put their monthly budget into the home, into travel, or into the life they came to the coast to enjoy, a lighter amenity package can be a feature rather than a compromise — as long as the future costs are understood going in.

Typically included

  • Common-area maintenance and landscaping
  • Common-area electric and lighting
  • Stormwater pond and drainage infrastructure
  • Perimeter buffer and entrance features
  • Community pool once complete
  • Professional management

Not included — budget separately

  • Your own lawn care and irrigation
  • Exterior maintenance and roof
  • Termite bond and pest control
  • Homeowners and, where applicable, flood insurance
  • Trash service, if billed separately by the county

How it is governed

  • Single-builder community; the developer typically controls the association until a defined turnover threshold
  • Dues and reserve contributions frequently change at turnover and at amenity completion
  • Covenants govern fencing, outbuildings, parking and rentals — read them before you write

Getting around

Inland, off Ash-Little River Road

Sterling Oaks sits north of Carolina Shores on Ash-Little River Road, the corridor that connects the NC/SC line to the middle of the county. Everything is a drive — but nothing is a long one.

That creates a particular rhythm of life. Home feels inland and quieter; the coast is something you choose to drop into. You can make a Sunset Beach morning out of an ordinary Wednesday, run into Calabash for seafood or groceries, and come home without living inside the seasonal traffic. Buyers who want a beach-town address will read the distance as a compromise. Buyers who want coastal access without beach-town pricing tend to see it as the whole point.

A family walking the shoreline at a southern Brunswick County beach near Sterling Oaks
About twelve miles out: Sunset, Ocean Isle and Holden. Not walking distance — which is exactly why the price starts where it does. For a lot of buyers out here, that trade is the whole point.

The practical geography: Calabash and Carolina Shores to the south for groceries, the seafood row and the SC line; Shallotte to the northeast for the hospital, the box stores and the Riverwalk; Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach to the southeast for the sand.

What has changed the calculus out here in the last few years is retail. The Walmart Supercenter and Publix serving the Calabash corridor, with a Wawa announced, mean an Ash address no longer implies a thirty-minute run for a gallon of milk.

Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Holden Beach
~12 miles
Shallotte, Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach
~20 min
Downtown Calabash & the seafood row
Short drive south
Walmart Supercenter & Publix, Calabash corridor
Nearest full grocery
Myrtle Beach, SC
< 1 hour
Wilmington, NC
< 1 hour

Approximate, and route-dependent. I drive these roads daily — call me and I will give you a real drive time from Sterling Oaks to wherever you actually need to be.

Assigned schools

Brunswick County Schools. Assignment is set by the district and can be redrawn — confirm current assignment directly with the school system before it factors into your decision.

Addresses you will see in the listings

Nearly everything inside the community carries a Sterling Oaks Drive NW address, in the 8000-block range, Ash NC 28420. Neighboring Ash subdivisions use different street names entirely — if an address does not read Sterling Oaks Drive, ask me before you assume it is in the association.

Additional streets are platted as later phases record. Ask me if you are unsure whether an address falls inside the association.

What the drive actually buys you

Twelve miles of Brunswick County coast

A page about homesites and floor plans can make a community sound like a spec sheet. So here is the other half of the decision — the corner of the coast a Sterling Oaks address puts you in range of, and why people keep moving here for it.

Calabash

Shrimp boats docked on the Calabash River at Calabash, NC
The fleet on the Calabash River. These boats are the reason the town's seafood has a reputation — the catch comes off the water a few hundred feet from where it is served.

Calabash calls itself the Seafood Capital of the World, and has done so since the town had fewer than two hundred residents. The claim rests on the fish camps of the 1930s, where lightly breaded, flash-fried seafood became a style named after the village itself. By 1983 the New York Times counted thirty-two restaurants here against roughly a hundred and eighty people.

It is a working river town before it is a tourist one. The trawlers still go out, the fleet still ties up along the waterfront, and the restaurants are still run by descendants of the families who started them.

Shrimp trawler with nets hanging, tied up at the Calabash waterfront
Nets hung to dry. Not a display — this is a Tuesday.
Waterfront restaurant deck and fresh seafood shack on the Calabash River
Dinner on the deck, with the shrimp and fish shack across the creek. The marsh grass does most of the decorating.
Callahan's Nautical Gifts of Calabash sign under a live oak
Callahan's, under the live oak on Beach Drive. My office is a few doors up the same road.

Beyond the restaurants, the other Calabash institution is Callahan's — a nautical gift store large enough to have its own Christmas shop attached, and the thing visiting family will ask to see whether you offer or not.

Next door sits Pea Landing Merchantile, which carries the town's original name. Calabash was called Pea Landing in the 1800s, for the peanuts shipped from here up to Wilmington. The name changed in 1883 when the village applied for a post office and found Pea Landing already taken.

Pea Landing Merchantile storefront in Calabash, NC
Pea Landing Merchantile — named for what this town was called before the post office made it pick something else.
Boats and marsh at dusk from a dock on the Calabash River
Last light off the docks. Roughly twenty minutes from a Sterling Oaks driveway.

Sunset Beach & the Kindred Spirit mailbox

Sea oats and empty sand at Sunset Beach, North Carolina, at first light
Sunset Beach at first light. The western end runs out toward Bird Island and stays this empty most of the year.

Sunset Beach is the last barrier island before the South Carolina line, and the one most of my Sterling Oaks buyers end up on. Past the last public access, the sand keeps going southwest into Bird Island, a protected coastal reserve with nothing built on it.

About a mile and a half down that stretch, up in the dunes, there is a mailbox.

The Kindred Spirit mailbox and bench in the dunes on Bird Island near Sunset Beach, NC
The Kindred Spirit mailbox and its bench, Bird Island. Notebooks and a pen live inside. Anyone can write something; anyone can read what came before.

It has stood there since 1983, put up by Frank Nesmith and Claudia Sailor, and it belongs to nobody. People walk out, sit on the bench, and write — grief, thanks, proposals, apologies, things they have told no one else. Volunteers carry the full notebooks off and replace them.

Nicholas Sparks walked out to it, read what strangers had left, and wrote Every Breath around it in 2018. The novel is set here, on this beach. People now fly into Myrtle Beach, drive up, and make that mile-and-a-half walk because of a book — and still end up writing something real when they get there.

If you want to see it: park at the 40th Street access near the Sunset Beach pier and walk southwest along the sand. It is about thirty minutes each way. Go at low tide, take water, and give yourself longer than you think, because almost nobody reads one letter and leaves.

Questions I get about Sterling Oaks

Who is Sterling Oaks a good fit for?

Sterling Oaks tends to make the most sense for buyers who want a new single-family home at a relatively approachable Brunswick County price, prefer a quieter inland setting, and are comfortable driving to the beach rather than living beside it. It works for retirees who want one-level or first-floor owner's suite living, for families who need three to five bedrooms, and for relocation buyers who value a new home and a wooded setting more than a large resort amenity package. If your priority is walking to the beach, golf inside the community, or a gated resort lifestyle, I would show you different neighborhoods — and I would tell you that on the first call, not the third showing.

Is Sterling Oaks in Calabash?

No. Sterling Oaks is in Ash, North Carolina, zip code 28420, in Brunswick County — inland and north of Carolina Shores, off Ash-Little River Road. Calabash is the nearest well-known town name, which is why so many listings and reviews reference it, but the actual address, tax jurisdiction and school assignment all follow the Ash location.

Who builds in Sterling Oaks? Can I bring my own builder?

Ryan Homes, a division of NVR, Inc., is the builder for the community. I found no custom or bring-your-own-builder section within Sterling Oaks.

How many homes will there be when it is finished?

Brunswick County records show the Sterling Oaks planned development approved for 338 single-family homes on approximately 76 acres. The project was originally approved in 2021 as the Supsura Tract for 208 units on about 46 acres, amended in 2022, and expanded through a subsequent approval. Not every approved home has been built.

What are the HOA dues?

Recent listings in the community have shown dues in the neighborhood of $98 per month, but that figure moves, and dues in a developer-controlled association frequently change at turnover and when amenities come online. I pull the current budget and governing documents on every transaction here — ask me for the package.

Is it a 55+ community?

No. Sterling Oaks is not age-restricted. The plan mix runs from a 1,100 square foot one-level home to a five-bedroom, 2,275 square foot two-story, and the community has assigned public schools. If you specifically want age-restricted living, I can show you the communities in this corridor that genuinely are.

Should I use my own agent when buying new construction?

Yes, and register me on your first visit — the on-site representative works for the builder, which is exactly as it should be, but it means nobody in that room is working for you. I spent a long stretch of my career on the builder's side of that desk. I know how homesite premiums get priced, which structural options must be locked before permitting, and which upgrades come back at resale in this market. There is no additional cost to you for that representation.

How is the resale market in Sterling Oaks?

The community is young enough that the resale sample is still thin, which is precisely when a seller is most likely to be mispriced in either direction. I publish branded market snapshots for communities in this corridor covering absorption rate, days on market and closed price trends. Ask me for the current edition — it is free and carries no obligation.

Thinking about Sterling Oaks?

Whether you're already watching one particular house or still trying to work out which southern Brunswick County 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 Ash, 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

Office

10020 Beach Dr. SW
Calabash, NC 28467

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