We hope you had a joyous holiday season and wish you the best of luck, happiness, and success in 2023!

As we look back on the past year, we want to thank you for making 2022 a memorable one. The OBX Homes Team ended 2022 with over $41 million in sales, with an average transaction price of just over $1.1 million. What another fantastic year for the Outer Banks real estate market and our team!

As you may have already heard, we are happy to share that we recently joined Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty. This new opportunity has us incredibly excited, and we look forward to giving our clients the exceptional service they have come to expect from us. As many of you know, Sotheby’s Int’l Realty is a prestigious and highly regarded company with a worldwide presence and a reputation for excellence. With this new alliance, we are confident that we will be able to better assist our clients in achieving their real estate goals. We are excited about the possibility of working with you in the future and welcome the chance to do so.

Please make a note of our new email addresses, as our Twiddy email addresses are no longer in service. Also, please be sure to mark the new email addresses as safe/not spam:

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

If you do not receive a response from our email in a timely manner, please call or text Heather at 252-202-3409.

We are pleased to be the Outer Banks SPCA’s corporate sponsor for the fourth year in a row. This has become one of our favorite ways to give back to our community.

We have a favor to ask of you. If you haven’t already, we’d appreciate it if you could leave us a review on Zillow and Realtor.com. It’s incredible how many new clients we get from these sites; your reviews truly help a lot. By visiting each site, you can add a client review/rating to Heather’s profile (search agents). Thank you again to everyone who has left us reviews! We sincerely value your comments.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property. We are also happy to add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you cannot visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the 2022 Year End statistics for your review.* If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

Thank you again for your loyalty and business over the years. We are so grateful to have the opportunity of working with you and are looking forward to an excellent 2023 ahead!

The OBX Homes Team

Welcome to the month that bridges autumn and winter. Crossing it ushers you into the magical holiday season along with the reminder to slow down and spend time with family, friends, and loved ones. The OBX Homes Team wishes you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Despite some unfavorable tropical storm weather early in the month, October exceeded expectations and was exceptional for the majority of outdoor activities. At their annual jazz festival, the Town of Duck was quite successful by bringing together international jazz musicians and North Carolina bands for an unforgettable weekend. The Seafood Festival, held on the third weekend of October, was a resounding hit as well. Along with the town events, Twiddy’s annual Homeowner Appreciation Day was restored and a huge success. If you were unable to attend this year, be sure to set a reminder on your calendar to go next year. You will not be disappointed.

It is no secret that home prices have skyrocketed beyond comprehension in recent years. Those days, however, may be coming to an end. Consumer confidence and purchasing power are currently being stripped away by high inflation and less favorable financing conditions. The Federal Reserve’s ongoing battle against inflation has resulted in several rate hikes. As a result, an increasing number of prospective buyers and sellers are treading carefully. The Outer Bank’s market appears to be outperforming the rest of the country, but we are noticing a significant headwind that could be a sign of things to come in the coming months. As you can see from October’s statistics report* the local property values remain exceptionally high. However, if the economic outlook for home buyers or investors does not improve, price reductions to reflect the nation’s overall economic performance are very highly probable.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for October* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

The OBX Homes Team

Hello there, October! Plants and trees are getting ready for winter, and the last peaches, pears, and berries have been harvested, but there are plenty of pumpkins and gourds to be found. Baseball season is coming to an end, and football season, like sweater weather, has arrived. The sunrises are later, and sunsets are earlier, but it is the best time to enjoy the night with bonfires and oyster roasts! It is, without a doubt, the most wonderful season of the year on the Outer Banks! We hope you have a wonderful October wherever you are!

We were reminded of our region’s deep roots and connection to England as, alongside the rest of the world, we mourned Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Even though it has been nearly 450 years since the British first settled on Roanoke Island, along the Outer Banks there are still many signs of our English heritage. The Elizabethan Gardens, the British Cemetery on Ocracoke Island, and a replica of the ship Queen Elizabeth II, are just a few examples. Buildings and topography have changed enormously over the centuries, so it’s nice to have some reminders of the great explorers who came here and settled here long before us, taming a wilderness and paving the way for all of us to enjoy the OBX now! If only they had built the Currituck bridge, we might be able to keep traffic under control today!

The real estate market has been declining in recent weeks. Contracts are still being signed, but there has been a noticeable shift in buyer activity and what they are looking for. Our pricing strategies are constantly changing to strike the right balance between sellers and buyers. Multiple offer situations appear to be a thing of the past, but some high-end buyers remain. The disparity in the number of inquiries received by listings is very intriguing. Some of the most expensive listings appear to have more activity than all lower-priced properties combined. We believe the noticeable lack of inquiries for mid-to lower-priced properties is a direct result of rising interest rates. There is speculation that the activity in higher-priced properties is due to 1031 exchanges or investors withdrawing money from other financial assets to put it into a more sound investment. Many people are still watching the market to see which direction it will take. Is it possible that the weather could be simpler to forecast right now than predicting the real estate market?

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for September* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

The OBX Homes Team

September is a magical month, especially along the Outer Banks! The daily temperatures aren’t as hot, and the evenings aren’t as cold, creating perfect weather conditions, and the crowds have thinned out a bit. September serves as a gentle reminder to slow down and take advantage of the outdoors as the summer fades into the background and autumn draws near. We hope that everyone is still having a great time during the final few weeks of the summer and had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Thankfully, this year did not turn out to be the above-average storm season that was originally predicted. For the first time in a long time, there were no Atlantic basin hurricanes during the peak summer months. According to Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University, this is the first time since 1941 that the Atlantic has gone without a named storm from early July to the end of August. Sure enough, right after we turned the calendar to September, Tropical Storm Danielle was named. Thankfully, the storm formed far enough off in the ocean that it did not impact any coastal areas. We hope that the current weather pattern holds and that no hurricanes threaten our area for the rest of the year. The absence of storms also facilitated keeping this year’s beach nourishment programs on track and on schedule. Several towns are still a couple of months away from their completion dates, but if you want to know the status of any specific area, please visit www.morebeachtolove.com for updates.

According to the MLS data from August, inventory fell for the first time in five months, and sales were higher than in July. Despite the recent uptick in sales, however, we did notice that a lot of the properties that sold or are still pending had a price reduction before entering into contracts. As stated in our previous owner notes, our local REALTOR’s office believed the slowdown was seasonal, and it appears that this holds to be true based on the data from the previous month’s report. Over the coming months, we anticipate an increase in inventory, which will be a factor in the market’s becoming more balanced and could possibly make it less of a seller’s market.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for August* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

The OBX Homes Team

“If you saw a heat wave would you wave back?” Thank you for sharing your sense of humor, Steven Wright. Sometimes all we can do is laugh about the heat and express our gratitude for air conditioning. You are not alone if you have considered frying an egg on the sidewalk in recent weeks. This summer will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the hottest on record. The good news is that September is quickly approaching, and fall will soon follow! Can you tell we love fall around here?

In local news, a bill to promote elevator safety at short-term rental properties was approved by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper last month. The new law was enacted in response to a young child’s death at a vacation rental last summer in Corolla. Rental property owners are now required by law to install a barrier over any sizable openings between the floor and the elevator. The updated safety requirements outlined in the new law will go into effect on October 1, 2022. Please take note that the homeowner must file documentation with the state Insurance Department. We would like to offer a friendly piece of local advice: If you own a property with an elevator, it might be in your best interest to contact a local elevator company very soon so you can get on their schedule to make the necessary changes before the law goes into effect. We noticed that a few elevator companies were already having supply problems and were being forced to place backorders for the parts to complete the repair. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding this new regulation.

In recent months, the real estate trend has remained consistent. Despite a gradual increase in inventory, homes are staying on the market for longer periods of time. Buyer activity is somewhat flat, but this could change once they have a better sense of the overall economy’s direction. The pattern appears to correspond with the seasonality of the neighborhood market, but we won’t know for sure if the market has shifted until the fall. We’ve seen a flurry of price reductions, some of which immediately increased interest in specific properties while having no effect on others. We remain optimistic that the activity will resume in the fall.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for July* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

The OBX Homes Team

We hope that everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable Fourth of July!

Is it any surprise that we associate the summer months with happiness and carefree living? Vacations at the beach, longer daylight hours, fewer hours of darkness, sun, warm weather, ice cream, and so many other exciting outdoor activities! What could possibly be disliked about this time of year? Except for weekend traffic, but that is why radios were put in cars right?

In local news, Mother Nature threw a curve ball for the holiday weekend with a surprise tropical storm. Thankfully, it didn’t amount to much other than watering some flowers and a bit of wind. Let’s hope that was the worst of the tropical weather for the rest of the year! As for the town of Southern Shores and their ongoing struggle to combat traffic, they decided the current method of closing down the side streets was ineffective, so they removed the barricades for the first weekend of July for the holiday weekend. It was not clear if this would be a permanent decision. However, it is surprising to see the town acknowledge that there was a different outcome this year. They determined this year, compared to last, the back-ups were exacerbated by the barriers placed at a number of intersections. How much longer until that bridge is built?

Now that the first half of 2022 is over, some concrete data suggests that sales this year won’t be as strong as they were in 2021. The sales volume for the month of June decreased by 22%. Residential sales have decreased by 23%, and land sales have decreased by 19%. If the last two years have taught us anything, it is to be prepared for the unexpected. The market is constantly shifting, and this year more than in recent years, the uncertainty is having a significant impact due to the steady rise in mortgage rates, construction costs, food prices, and rising costs of other commodities. According to the Outer Banks Association of REALTORS’ statistics report, the current decline we are seeing is solely attributable to the seasonal slowdown we typically experience at this time of year. Of course, we won’t know for sure until, as with many other things, we look back down the road.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to come visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for June* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

The OBX Homes Team

We hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend! June has arrived, bringing with it warmer temperatures and longer daylight hours. There are numerous fun events going on, including several outdoor concerts from Corolla to Manteo. We highly recommend that you join in the fun while you’re in town! Finally, happy Father’s Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, and those individuals who are just like dads.

In our area, beach nourishment has begun. One project is currently underway in Kill Devil Hills and will progress north to Duck. Each town’s expected completion time is one month, resulting in the following rough timeline: Kitty Hawk in July, Southern Shores in August, and Duck in September. Also this year, beach nourishment will also be completed in Nags Head, with work set to begin in early August. Remember that this plan is subject to change based on weather conditions, so the dates are only estimates. For the most recent information, please visit https://www.darenc.com/government/beach-nourishment/upcoming-projects.

In real estate news, individual transaction prices in our local market were still higher than expected in May, but the aggregate number of transactions declined. It’s tough to tell if the market is cooling or if sales are being affected by our usual seasonality. Some could argue that, with interest rates already a couple of points higher, the current frenzy will start to shift by the end of the year or early next year. However, there continues to be a shortage of homes listed which is keeping prices higher than pre-pandemic levels. We cannot state with certainty that things will have a significant impact on our market in the near future, but there are hints that changes could be on the way.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to come visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for May* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.
The OBX Homes Team

“May . . . it’s full of all the things that make spring and the brighter part of the year so special. Flowers bud, the sun shines, and new seeds are sown into the fabric of our lives. May is awesome.” ―Jenna Danchuk. Is there a more evocative way to describe the month of May? We hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

In local news, our community is preparing for another busy summer season. We’re about as close to “normal” as we were a few years ago. The usual topic of conversation is traffic, which has returned to being the main topic of discussion. Southern Shores held a public meeting at the end of last month to discuss several traffic mitigation techniques to relieve congestion on busy weekends throughout the summer months. Tourists have traditionally used residential streets in the municipality in an attempt to discover a faster path to destinations north. There have been multiple complaints about the “no left turn” regulation implemented in recent years, but as Southern Shores Mayor Elizabeth Morey put it, “There’s no one magic way to make it go away.” Following their recent May meeting, town officials announced that they will file an amicus “friend of the court” brief in support of the Currituck Bridge to demonstrate their public backing for the bridge’s construction. They have until mid-June to file this, and we hope to hear more about the bridge’s progress soon.

In real estate news, many of us are wondering how current world events will affect our own future and investments. The upheaval in Ukraine, ongoing COVID outbreaks, and the Federal Reserve’s repeated threat to raise interest rates all have a significant influence on our local and national economies. In an ideal world, our current market would remain robust. However, we’ve witnessed a significant drop in activity during the last few weeks. With each rate hike, many customers’ purchasing power diminishes, and the fear of missing out on buying a beach property is no longer a motivator for others. To deal with the recent slowdown, we’ve been less aggressive in our market analysis. We’re hoping this is only a brief pause, similar to what we experienced last fall for a few months.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends/family interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out, as we can send a free market analysis for your property and also add prospective buyers to the auto-email notifications for specific types of properties here at the beach. If you’re not able to come visit in person, we offer virtual showings and are more than happy to preview a home for you and send some notes.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics report for April* for your review. If you would like a more tailored report with specific figures for your neighborhood, please let us know, as the report we send contains figures from Corolla south until Nags Head.

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.

The OBX Homes Team