North Carolina?

Hi! I'm a nursing student due to graduate in December 2008. I currently live in northeast Pennsylvania, and plan to work here for a year or two while I save some money to move elsewhere.
I've been searching Realtor.com for the last year looking for low priced but nice homes in an area near the Atlantic Ocean. So far the only place that I've found is Elizabeth City and surrounding areas in North Carolina.
Can anyone tell me information about that area (besides what I've found on elizcity.com and wikipedia)? Are there plenty of jobs for health care workers? What is the average starting salary for an LPN? Is there a bad reason why homes are so reasonable in the area? Is there a different area that would be better for me?
Detailed answers are more likely to recieve a best answer pick from me. Links to other sites would be helpful but are not necessary.
Thank you.
- Ed

Ideally, I'd prefer to be closer to my parents (who live in PA), say maybe in Maryland or New Jersey, but I can't find an area in those places where you can get a home like I want (2 bedroom, 1.5 baths, 2 car garage, single story, dining room, laundry room, fireplace, central air, yard) for under $125,000. Elizabeth City and the surrounding counties is the only place on the east coast that provides this, unless YOU know of somewhere better.

My parents recently moved near Elizabeth City. The area is not that big and if you want a large town you have to drive to Norfolk,VA which is about 45minutes away. The reason prices are so low there is because not that many people are competing for the houses. Most of the people that live there are farmers or small business owners and the main industry is cotton, wheat, soy, corn, and peanut farms. However, it is near the coast and lays on the albemarle sound. But to get to the actually beaches at the outer banks it is still about a 45minute drive. If you want somewhere in NC since the beaches are really nice here I would suggest Durham or Chapel Hill. I used to live in Durham and every week the classifieds are bombarded with jobs in the medical field. The reason for this is because Duke and UNC hospitals are located in the area. I hope this helps!