We hope everyone had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend! The weather along the Outer Banks for the holiday was close to perfect, and both tourists and locals were full of good spirits. The 2019 summer season has officially begun, and the OBX Homes Team would like to wish everyone a great summer season!
In coastal news, Dare County was named the 2018 Best Restored Beach by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. This award applauds and recognizes the steps taken by Dare County to improve the condition of their beaches, and to recognize the importance of restoration of coastal areas. In addition to restoring our beaches, local authorities have been fighting another issue which could greatly impact the nature of our beaches. Earlier in May, mayors of several Eastern North Carolina towns met to discuss concerns about offshore drilling and exploration for gas and oil. The meeting concluded with the unanimous adoption of a resolution called “Coastal Leadership’s Resolution to Protect the Environmental and Economic Future of North Carolina’s Coast.” This a notable decision made by local officials to promise to protect our beaches from disasters that can be prevented.
There is some helpful news to report to anyone planning on traveling to and from the Outer Banks during the weekends this summer. The Currituck County Regional Airport recently announced plans for weekend flights to and from the airport to take place during the summer months starting May 18. The flights will originate from airports around the Pittsburgh, D.C., NYC, and Philadelphia areas and land at the Currituck airport. From there, connections to surrounding local airports like Pine Island, Manteo, Ocracoke, Frisco, or First Flight Airstrip will be available. If you would like more information regarding the flights and times please visit www.ultimateairshuttle.com or call 1-800-437-3931.
In local financial matters, the proposed budget by Dare County does not increase the property taxes for the 2019/2020 fiscal year. This vote will take place after a public hearing and workshop in early June. This is great news for both local and out-of-state homeowners considering the many big projects that have been taking place over the last few years. It’s impressive the county can continue to keep property taxes around 47 cents per $100 when the state average is almost 68 cents per $100.
In the world of real estate, business continues to remain steady without any indication of slowing down. Typically, by this time of year, our market will incur a significant decrease in activity levels; however, this isn’t the case this year. We would love to think the market might not slow down at all during the next few months, but in truth that is very unlikely. Due to the challenge of accommodating showings during rental weeks along with the heavy traffic during the weekends, most of the potential buyers tend to hold off on their search until the fall. If your house is currently on the market, don’t be discouraged. Sales do happen during the summer, but they are not as frequent as the spring, fall, and winter seasons.
We’ve included the OBAR statistics for May for your review, but if you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know. If you’ve been thinking about selling, we are happy to assist you with a free market analysis of your property. If you or anyone you know is interested in buying a property, we would love to help find the perfect home on the Outer Banks.
The OBX Homes Team is making an effort to help the environment and decrease our paper output, so if you’d like to help with reducing our paper use, please send us a current email. We will send you a notification each month to look on our website for the updated owner note and statistics report. We appreciate your effort to help with this and thank you. We will continue with owner mailings to those who wish to receive them by mail.
Please don’t hesitate to call or email with any questions, or if you need anything.
The OBX Homes Team
