It is safe to say the warmer weather might be here to stay for awhile.  The pollen is turning the cars yellow, and the birds can’t stop singing!  The tourist season is rapidly approaching, and we are expecting another season with high numbers of visitors and newcomers to the beach.   Every year it is amazing how many people come here for the first time, and end up making this a new permanent destination for future vacations.

In local news, the Wright Memorial Bridge eastbound bridge will be back up and running around May 14.  The bridge has been closed since October, and despite the unfavorable weather this winter they will be able to open as scheduled.  Another important item to note is the new traffic patterns concerning anyone who uses Dogwood Trail as a “bypass” to the northern beaches.  The town of Southern Shores voted for no left turns at the U.S. 158/South Dogwood intersection to take place for just a single weekend (Saturday, June 23 and Sunday, June 24 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) as an experiment to decide if this  prevents unnecessary traffic through that part of the town.

On the real estate front, we are still seeing fairly low initial offers.  The good news is there has been an increase in the percentage of sales price to the listing price.  With that being said, most properties are selling just above 90% of asking price.  New construction has been gaining momentum in the real estate market for this year.  According to the OBAR statistics “building permits in Dare County have increased 15% since 2017.”  Concerns about flood maps, increasing insurance, and rising interest rates don’t seem to be affecting too much of the market as we had originally thought in the early spring.  Activity levels for last month have shown signs for a favorable market, and we hope that continues to be a trend.

As always, please don’t hesitate to call or email with any questions, or if you need anything.   We’ve included the April OBAR statistics report for your review, but if you would like a 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 feel free to stop by our office in Duck to say hello if you’re in the area.

Mother nature is definitely still confused.  We saw snow flurries in March, and only a few days of spring-like weather.  Let’s hope the latter part of spring brings warmer weather and flowers!  

In local area news, the Town of Duck has been working all winter long on completing the sidewalk project.   If you’ve been through Duck recently you might have noticed all of the orange cones and even slower traffic.  The good news is this project should be done by the beginning of the summer season and allow more room for our walking tourists.   

The last weekend in March and beginning of April had high numbers of tourists and homeowners in town for the holiday.  Twiddy had a great turnout at their annual “Owner’s Weekend.”  Many came to talk with the rental side of the company and to see all of the great things Twiddy has to offer their owners.   We thank you again for being a part of the Twiddy experience. 

In real estate news,  the market seems to have stalled a bit.  To quote the OBAR MLS statistics report “So far, 2018 has not been a banner year.”  This is not exactly encouraging news, but we have noticed a significant number of inquiries regarding listings and requests to show properties  come our way in the last week. We are optimistic that April and May will be stronger months for sales.  We believe the weather was a considerable factor in why the market was slow.  The first week of April was somewhat mild, and in that same week the OBX Homes Team was able to get eight properties under contract!   With that being said, we feel the next few weeks could dramatically change the numbers for our local market in a good way.

As always, please don’t hesitate to call or email with any questions, or if you need anything.   We’ve included the March OBAR statistics report for your review, but if you would like a 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 feel free to stop by our office in Duck to say hello if you’re in the area. 

At last, February is over!  We have seen some unusually cold weather here over the winter months.  March has come in like a lion, and we certainly hope it goes out like a lamb!  Spring can’t get here fast enough.

In statewide news, Governor Roy Cooper has requested an official exemption of off-shore drilling for North Carolina. We hope the level of importance of tourism for our area is recognized on a national level.  In local news, a new ordinance requires permits to park on the 14-mile stretch of beach from Corolla village to the state line from the Friday before Memorial Day until 11:59 p.m. Labor Day. Residents and property owners will be given free permits and two guest permits. Exemptions will also be given to commercial fishers and tour groups.  Commissioners said they wanted to set a $50 fee for a 10-day parking permit and a $150 fee for a year-round permit.

In real estate news, we have noticed lower than average numbers of requests to show houses. It appears the storms and cold weather have kept potential buyers from being able to visit the Outer Banks and search for properties. In addition to the weather, other factors are likely contributors to the decline in real estate sales for the year.  There are fewer homes on the market overall, and especially fewer affordable homes. Additionally, the continuing increases in interest rates and complications in obtaining mortgages have had a serious effect on February’s home sales.  According to the OBAR statistics report “Sales of Single Family homes were down 17 % and sales of condos were down 9 % …making it the weakest month for residential sales since November 2011”.  We are optimistic this will change for the upcoming months, since the rental season is upon us, and future investors will want to purchase properties to earn rental income.   We continue to be positive in the slower times, and strive to create strong results for our clients despite the current decline.

As always, please don’t hesitate to call or email with any questions, or if you need anything.   We’ve included the February OBAR statistics report for your review, but if you would like a 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 feel free to stop by our office in Duck to say hello if you’re in the area.

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying February so far! Hard to believe we’re already halfway through the month.

January on the Outer Banks had some interesting weather, to say the least.  We were hit with the “bomb cyclone” storm right after the New Year, and then we had a second storm which managed to dump up to nine inches of snow on some parts of the beach! Needless to say, I think we’re all ready for summer now.

On the sales front, our OBX Homes Team has listed nine properties since the New Year, so we are hopeful that the buyers will be coming in full force over the next several months. January was off because the bad weather deterred visitors’ coming down to house hunt. President’s Day weekend is coming up, and that normally brings a lot of folks into town to look at property, as well as homeowners arriving to prep their homes for the spring rentals.

The January statistics are enclosed show that we had the highest sales volume in January since 2006! However, the number of homes that went under contract in January was the lowest it has been since 2009. We contribute low sales to the lack of traffic in January due to weather. We do expect to see an increase in activity for the next several months, as buyers are hoping to find a property to purchase before the rental season begins. 

If you have been thinking about selling your OBX property, now is great time to get on the market. We are always happy to provide you with a free market analysis. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any real estate questions that we might be able to assist with. We hope to see you in Duck sometime soon!

The OBX Homes Team

Happy 2018!! We hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and that your 2018 is going great so far. We experienced quite the wild winter storm here on the Outer Banks beginning January 3rd which essentially shut down the OBX until Monday the 8th. We had several inches of snow, coupled with hurricane strength winds and below freezing temps which lasted 4 days in a row. The weather folks called it a bomb cyclone. The locals called it snowmageddon! This extended cold snap caused the sound to freeze over in many places so there were quite a few folks who experienced walking on a frozen sound for the first time.  And in true Outer Banks weather fashion, we’re back to almost 70 degrees this week!

We’ve enclosed the statistics for December of 2017 as well as the year end statistics for your review. The OBX Homes Team had a great 2017 with over 12 million in sales and we were the top producers for our Duck Office for another year. Thank you to all our great clients who made that happen!

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like a market analysis for your OBX property, or if you have any questions about the market. We hope you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018!

The OBX Homes Team