About Currituck County, NC

...Oh, and then there is the wind...

It's challenging to garden here on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Before I moved to the OBX, I had a beautiful garden in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. After moving to the beach, I had to relearn everything I thought I knew about gardening. Twenty five years of learning down the drain. Oh well, my Mom once told me if you keep learning you will never get old. I must be getting younger every day!

Here is what I have learned about keeping things alive and thriving at the beach:

1. You can't bring your "old friends" with you. No matter how hard I tried to convince it otherwise, thyme hates it here. And lilacs and azaleas. I miss them but discovering new friends is fun too!

2. Learn to love Gaillardia. If it grows everywhere around you, with nobody taking care of it, take the hint. Grow what you see works!

3. Water is precious. It is all around us, but we are in the middle of a drought right now. Plant drought-resistant plants. If it won't survive without watering, don't plant it. It will die. Trust me on this.

4. Beauty is fleeting, especially when the wind blows. I love a pretty iris, and we have a few. But look quickly when they bloom. If the wind picks up they will be gone in a flash!

Here is a great place to make some "new friends":

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Drought-Tolerant Plants for North Carolina Landscapes

Plant Finder

Salt Resistant Plants

Now, if I could just find that drought tolerant, salt resistant, wind resistant, heat loving, low growing blue flowering groundcover, my garden would be complete!

As much as I love doing research on the internet, I have found the best resource is local. If you need help, check out your local Master Gardeners group. Mine is Currituck Master Gardeners. Talk to the locals!

Spring is here on the Outer Banks, and the rush of visitors will soon follow. The roads that have been quiet for months will be busy again in no time. The stores and restaurants that have been closed all winter are opening their doors. Our Reservationists are taking a lot of calls, and the ocean front homes are filling up fast. The homes further back will soon follow. Hopefully gas prices won't go too high and we will have another great year here in Corolla!

After many years on the Outer Banks, I have decided that Spring is the best time to be here. Everything is fresh (including the locals!) and there is always lots of work getting done in anticipation of the season to come.

Outer Banks Events

It looks like the wait will be over in 2013 when the first cars are able to make the trip across the Mid County Currituck Bridge that will connect mainland Currituck to Corolla. This will dramatically reduce the travel time , some predict up to 2 hours, for tourists that for years had to wait in miles of traffic to get to Southern Shores, Duck, & Corolla as they made their way to the Outer Banks for vacation. The bridge will also give residents and tourists another evacuation point in case of a major hurricane. The Mid County Bridge has been on the agenda for construction for over 25 years and now it looks like the time for construction to begin is only a year or two away. It is amazing at how long it has taken for the powers that be to finally get together to make this happen.

If you want to learn more about the Mid County Currituck Bridge Click Here

I just commented on a fellow poster who is a Home Inspector and I thought I'd expound a little--I LOVE Home Inspectors!

I hear other real estate agents saying how they hate Inspectors but I know there must be fellow real estate agents out there who like them too, right?

When representing buyers, I want the buyer to hire the pickiest Inspector he can get--he's paying for it. Even on new construction, we always recommend an objective report by a licensed Home Inspector to uncover any hidden structural or mechanical defects, which, in our market, are items that if the buyer requests be repaired, the seller must either comply or remediate in monetary form, or the buyer may terminate with release/return of his earnest deposit.

This does not apply to code issues or cosmetic issues.

The seller always has this choice and he knows up front he is not required to do anything, but doing nothing might kill the deal AND subsequently anything discovered then becomes a material fact.

So when representing sellers, I tell them FIX THE IMPORTANT STUFF to sell the property to his under-contract buyer who has money on the table to close, who actually wants to buy the property at the price you both agreed upon (getting rare these days, huh?)...or risk paying one way or the other later.

Better yet, sellers would do well themselves to hire a licensed Home Inspector prior to listing and marketing the property to discover these sames issues early, fix them ahead of time, be proud of the fact and not be surprised later.

It is well worth the several hundred dollars it costs to have a licesned professional check out the property either way--before or during the sale.

See--Home Inspectors ARE our friends!

Outer Banks area Home Inspectors

I just commented on another post and ended with the above quote, a favorite old restaurant saying that I learned as a stressed young hostess juggling waiting lists of angry, hungry would-be diners waiting (too long) for their tables.

I can't cite my source because it was 20 years ago and I can't remember who I first heard say it, but it certainly helps make a point.

The quote's genius is that it rings true for many business ventures--better to lose someone's business very early on in the relationship because they don't like what you have to say, rather than later after you have already done a lot of unappreciated work for them with no reward.

I'll bet lots of agents around the nation have done unappreciated and unrewarded listing work, and blamed themselves for not finding buyers for their sellers. AND many sellers who have blamed their Realtors for the same, when both together never put a proper price on the property.

FAIR MARKET VALUE IS DICTATED BY BUYERS, PERIOD. It's what a buyer will pay and what a lender will lend, and it fluctuates. Deal with it constructively:

This article continues at Outer Banks Community Forum