Mark Twain once said, “In the spring, I have counted 136 different sorts of weather within 24 hours,”. During the same week last month, we had snowfall and beautiful, sunny beach days. Quite an interesting time of year it can be in our area during this season! Let’s hope Mother Nature gets her act together and begins paying attention to the calendar so we don’t have to deal with any more wacky weather.

The OBX Homes team is excited to share information about an upcoming event that is close to our hearts. From 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 24, the Outer Banks SPCA will host a Bark in the Park event at Dowdy Park in Nags Head. We’d love to see you there if you’re in the neighborhood. Please visit https://www.obxspca.org/donate/ if you’d want to support this event or the SPCA in general. We all know how much joy our pets provide us, and this is a terrific way to help animals in need and anyone considering adoption. For further information about the event, please see the attached flyer in this email.

According to local press, Currituck County has revised the process for beach parking permits in the 4×4 area. If you own property in Currituck County and would like additional information about these changes, please visit the following link: https://co.currituck.nc.us/beach-parking/. As a reminder, from April 30 to October 1, beach parking permits are required in the 4×4 area. If you plan on hanging out on this stretch of Corolla, please apply for a parking permit at https://currituckcountync.ticketspice.com/currituckbeachparking. Please note there is a limit of 300 permits per week for all non-property owners or tenants and that permit costs $50 for the week.

In real estate news, the possibility of rising interest rates has prompted a feeding frenzy among last-minute investors, apparent from the most recent statistics report. In the month of March alone, 13 homes sold for more than $2 million. At the time of writing, our MLS has 25 listings under contract with a $2 million asking price, 21 of which are north of the Oregon Inlet. At the same price point or higher, there are more homes under contract than active listings. The shrinking inventory is forcing prices higher and higher, keeping sellers in the lead, but there’s always the possibility that current events and the status of our economy could change the game. It’s worth pointing out that we have noticed a decrease in buyer interest. The key question is when or if prices will level off or even start to decline. Only time will tell.

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 March* 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

In honor of the great Irish holiday ahead, we thought we’d share an Irish wish for you to start our monthly owner note. “May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch to your door, and happiness be your guest today and evermore.” With all the negative news surrounding us, we thought we would focus only on the positive.

So here’s some positive news: Currituck County property owners just received an encouraging update about their flood insurance rating. During times of increased costs for just about everything, the county’s improved ranking within the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) could likely decrease homeowners’ annual premiums. The potential discounts come from Currituck’s proactive measures to meet certain criteria suggested by the Community Rating System (CRS). This is not a requirement of the NFIP, but something offered to each area locally to help achieve a better rate. The county was placed in a class that is presumed to receive a 20% discount for all policies in its Special Flood Hazard Areas. We are not sure if this is effective immediately, but hopefully, it will be a favorable break for many property owners’ wallets.

In real estate news, the majority of properties that were listed last month went under contract in record-breaking time. The average days on the market for February 2022 was 48. This is down over 50% from what it was last year during the same time frame (82 days). In many cases, properties that were priced appropriately faced multiple offer situations. This generally puts sellers in a great position; however, they are now presented with the challenge of determining which offer is the best fit for their needs. It is not always the case that the highest offer price wins the contract. This market brought forth some creative offers that make it tougher for sellers to see one as a slam dunk over the others. When presenting offers to clients, we help to break down each aspect of the offers and ask the sellers to prioritize what they want most from the sale. Although it seems like a great problem to have, even in this heavily-favored seller’s market, there are challenges to overcome. We continue to be amazed at the current market conditions and hope it remains strong for our clients!

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 February* 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

It might be hard to imagine how cold it has been on the Outer Banks this winter, but it’s snow joke! Yes, the OBX saw snow a couple of times already; however, we have been lucky to not have endured the extreme conditions that many other parts of the country experienced. It’s a good thing March is right around the corner. We will do our best to manifest an early spring and warmer conditions unlike our friend Punxsutawney Phil.

Many beaches along the Outer Banks will be getting another facelift later this year with beach nourishment. As of right now, Duck is the only town that has tentative dates which are set to start early August and end in September. We have not heard anything on timing for Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, or Nags Head; however, many variables impact the schedule like weather and permits, etc. The timeline for these beaches will likely not be known until later this spring, but it is important to note it could affect rentals for a few weeks. If your house is in a rental program, we recommend you reach out to your property manager to ask for more information. Basic information can be found on their www.morebeachtolove.com website for anyone with questions.

Chief Economist, Mark Flemming wasn’t specifically talking about our local market, when he said “Strong demographic demand will continue to act as the wind in the housing market’s sails,” but he could not have been more accurate if he were. The demand for properties in our area is extremely high, and potential buyers are essentially begging people to sell their homes. The low inventory is expected to continue well into 2022. At the end of January, the number of residential properties (all co-ownership, condos, townhomes, and single-family homes combined) for sale in our MLS was 281*. Let’s put this into perspective: Last year that number was 443, and in 2019 it was 1330 properties! To say it’s a seller’s market is an understatement right now. If you have any intention of selling in the next few years, now might be the best time to consider it. Threats of rate increases might dwindle the purchasing power of these buyers and ultimately lessen the overall demand.

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 January* 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 had a wonderful holiday season and we wish you the best in health, happiness, and success for 2022!

As we reflect back on last year, we wanted to send you a special thank you for making 2021 such a phenomenal year. The OBX Homes Team finished 2021 with almost 100 million in sales (actual total was $98,543,957), the top producers at Twiddy & Company for another year (highest sales EVER for a Twiddy agent), ranked #3 overall OBX, and #1 in Corolla. What an incredible year for the Outer Banks real estate market and our team!

For the third year in a row, we are excited to be the proud corporate sponsor of the Outer Banks SPCA. 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 would LOVE your reviews on Zillow and Realtor.com. It’s amazing how many new clients are finding us on these sites, and your reviews help tremendously. You can visit each site and pull up Heather’s and/or Crystal’s profile (search agents) to add a client review/rating. Thank you again to those of you who have written reviews for us! We truly appreciate it.

If you’ve been thinking of selling, are looking to purchase, or have friends or 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 2021 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.

Thank you again for your loyalty and business over the years. We are so grateful and are looking forward to a wonderful 2022 ahead!

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

“My beloved October has returned—with its brilliant colors, cool temperatures, and sunny, cloudless, azure skies, and I must enjoy it before it escapes for another year.” Peggy Toney Horton describes October in a way that reminds us to slow down and appreciate the magical experience that happens when summer turns into fall. If only we could have more than one October each year!

One of the many great things about fall in our area is the local events held during this time. Although a few of them were canceled or postponed this year, others are planning to return to their normal schedules. The Outer Banks Seafood Festival, the Bluegrass Music Festival, and the Outer Banks HALF Marathon (not the full, but we will take half) will all be taking place in the next few weeks. If you’re in the area, we highly recommend joining in on the festivities.

It is our great honor to announce a remarkable milestone for Heather McLay. This past week, Heather celebrated her 25th anniversary with Twiddy. Her many years of hard work and dedication have helped many homeowners exceed their real estate needs. May she continue to negotiate through the impossible and smile while doing so! Congratulations to Heather and may success always follow her!

In local real estate news, our current market condition is comparable to the fall weather. One day the emails and phone calls are above average like the warm temperatures, and the next they cool off like the wind. Although there was a slight increase in properties listed for sale last month, it wasn’t game-changing enough to offset the low supply and high demand. It is possible there could be an uptick in sales for the next few months with buyers trying to take advantage of the low mortgage rates before they start rising, and for investors who want something less volatile than the stock market. If you’ve been thinking about selling in the next few years, these next few months might be the best time to sell to maximize your home’s potential.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics for September* 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 well,

The OBX Homes Team

We hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Labor Day Weekend! We welcome September with a sense of relief that the hot summer days will be cooling off, and anxiously await for some of the best weather of the year to arrive! Although many of us embrace this time of year, we also know there is a nine-letter word that starts with an H that is potentially hanging over our heads. If you thought we were going to say hurricane, you were mistaken! We are talking about housework. After a busy rental season, this is the best time of the year to address major repair items and potential updates. If you are planning any renovations, large or small, we strongly encourage you not to wait for the last minute (spring). Doing so could cause a loss of income if the job isn’t completed by the time the rental season starts next year! Many contractors and handymen are extremely busy and backed up which could take them longer to finish the work. If you’re having trouble finding vendors, please feel free to reach out and we will be happy to send you suggestions.

In local news, the signs of the busy tourism season slowing down are nonexistent. Rental homes continue to be booked, and the beach parking lots are full of visitors. Even with several fall events being canceled, tourists continue to book vacations to experience paradise at its best! As long as the weather cooperates, and there are no hurricanes, this year could exceed last year’s record-breaking numbers.

In real estate news, our market continues to be unpredictable. Under normal circumstances, we typically see inventory pick up in the fall after the rental season is over. Last year, that was not the case and was one of the main causes for the imbalance of supply and demand. Will that be the case this year? That is the million-dollar question. In many parts of the country, more properties were listed for sale in the past month, but that does not necessarily mean the same will be true for our area. The next few weeks will likely determine if the current market will potentially stabilize or remain in the sellers’ favor for the rest of this year. If we notice an uptick in inventory levels, the current pricing strategy will need to be updated.

In OBX team news, we would like to inform you that Ashley Ladd has left the OBX Homes Team to work independently. We thank her for her time with the team, and we extend our best wishes to her future endeavors.

We’ve included the OBAR statistics for August 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 well,

The OBX Homes Team