Happy belated 245th birthday USA! We hope everyone was able to relax and have a safe and happy Independence Day! If you were in the area for the holiday, hopefully, you had the opportunity to enjoy the fireworks and other traditional 4th of July celebrations the Outer Banks had to offer this year!
In local news, the tropics started uncommonly early this year. After Claudette and Elsa zipped by the OBX in June and July, we continue to cross our fingers that no more storms will threaten our area. Another local topic of concern is controlling traffic in Southern Shores. We might all want to take advice from Ernest Hemmingway’s suggestion about traveling during the busy season. “Never go on trips with people you do not love.” When it comes to driving to the northern beaches or even just going to the grocery store, the issue of traffic has been a force to reckon with. Patience is the key message for everyone. As we all know, the town has tried many times to combat this in earlier years. The most recent decision was physically barricading the median along E Dogwood at Hillcrest, Sea Oats Trl. and Wax Myrtle Trl., to block anyone from being able to turn left to head north during the weekend of July 10 and 11. If the town determines that was successful, they will likely add some extra barricades, and this approach will stay in effect for the weekends during the high season and holidays.
On the real estate front, a few homeowners questioned the median home prices in last month’s (May) statistics report. We wanted to point out that these reports are generated by our local Outer Banks Association of REALTORS, and those median prices for each town include all residential properties, not just single-family homes. If you’re curious about what the median price is for your specific type of property (condo, townhouse, single-family, etc) please feel free to call /email us to find out. Another thing worth noting this month in real estate news is that the number of properties that went under contract in June has decreased 14%. This is a slight indication that our market could be experiencing a cooling-off period. Although this is very normal for our area, it’s worth mentioning since it is the first time since last year we have witnessed this. Are things returning to normal? At this point, it’s anyone’s guess, but it’s something worth pointing out since it hasn’t occurred since the spring of last year.
We’ve included the OBAR statistics for June* for your review. 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. Please note we are more than happy to preview homes for anyone, and we can video call from a property if that is of interest to you.
Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.
Stay safe and stay healthy,
The OBX Homes Team
