About Dare County, NC



Here is a simple way to recycle those magazines you have hanging around the house. While looking for recycled gift items last December at the Kill Devil Hills Artist Cooperative I found these lovely bows you see here. Apparently these bows are made from very colorful strips of magazine paper and, because the paper is shiny and bright, the result is truly artistically pleasing! I used them on gifts wrapped in newspaper for the total recycled effect which was a big wow with family and friends! Hey, it beats trying to recycle that coated paper. Try it!

For over 20 years the Outer Banks Restaurant Association has hosted the annual Taste of The Beach and this year is no exception. This year's Taste of The Beach will begin on March 11 with numerous Outer Banks restaurants sponsoring tasting's up and down the beach. This grand food festival event will feature wine tastings, cooking classes, special menu presentations, celebrity guest chef appearances by Ed Brantley & Heba Salama from "The Biggest Loser", brewery tours, tapas crawls and many more events with exciting array of creative combinations of culinary delights and fun activities on the Outer Banks. The event will conclude on with The Beach Expo on March 14^th with over 20 of the Outer Banks top chefs all in one location cooking up a wonderful array of culinary delights.

The Taste of The Beach Weekend is a fantastic way to get out of the winter doldrums and sample the fare of several fine restaurants on the Outer Banks in one fun-filled, food-centric weekend! Casual chefs to full-on foodie fanatics will revel in innovative culinary opportunities offered up by members of the Outer Banks Restaurant Association. You can indulge in a fancy wine dinner one night and mix with the masses in an organic farm to fork experience the next. Or maybe an intimate cooking class with one of the area's world class chefs is more your speed.

Coastal Living Magazine has named the Outer Banks Taste of The Beach one of the Top 10 Seafood and Wine festivals in the USA. So what are you waiting for?? Make plans now to reserve your hotel or rental house and enjoy one of the best weekends (surely one the tastiest) the Outer Banks has to offer.

To learn more go to The Outer Banks Taste of The Beach & Accommodations.

About the author of this blog:

Matt Huband, SFR is Broker/Owner of Hometown Realty in Kitty Hawk, NC and a Certified Short Sale & Foreclosure Specialist.
Matt works with buyers and sellers from Corolla to Hatteras interested in foreclosures, short sales, 2nd home, investment property,
new construction, and condo sales. Put Matt's extensive area knowledge to work for you.

To learn more about Outer Banks real estate go to www.HometownOBX.com or email MattHuband@HometownOBX.com

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It's been a long time coming but after 4 1/2 years of price declines and decreased sales the Outer Banks real estate market is back!!

While the beginning of 2009 started off looking like a repeat of 2008 with prices continuing to decrease things turned around in the fall. Buyers finally decided that the time was right and the average price of a sold house went up in November and December. The total number of sold houses for 2009 also increased from 2008, another first since 2005. Another sign of a market recovery, the number of houses currently listed are down approx 20% from the peak.

Have we seen the bottom? I think we have!

Every buyer is still looking for the "deal". There are plenty out there and they are not all foreclosures and short sales. Speaking of short sales they continue to be a major source of frustration for buyers and sellers. The average wait time for the lender to respond to a offer is close to 4-6 months. Not to mention the closing ratio is for every 10 offers only 3 close due to a variety of reasons. While they can be great deals it requires a special buyer that has lots of patience.

Foreclosures are still coming on the market with regularity however when a great deal hits the market you can expect to contend with multiple offers and a sale price at or above the list price. If you are in the foreclosure market you need to have your pre-approval letter in hand, make an offer the day the listing hits the market or soon after, and be prepared to offer at or above the list price with no contingencies.

The start of 2010 has been extremely strong with the average sold price increasing again for the 3rd month in a row. With mortgage rates still around 5% I feel like this trend will continue and come December we will see our first annual price increase in 5 years.

All signs point to 2010 being the turning point for the Outer Banks real estate market market.

About the author of this blog:

Matt Huband, SFR is Broker/Owner of Hometown Realty in Kitty Hawk, NC and a Certified Short Sale & Foreclosure Specialist.
Matt works with buyers and sellers from Corolla to Hatteras interested in foreclosures, short sales, 2nd home, investment property,
new construction, and condo sales. Put Matt's extensive area knowledge to work for you.

To learn more about Outer Banks real estate go to www.HometownOBX.com or email MattHuband@HometownOBX.com

Sign up to receive a FREE Foreclosure & Short Sale List

Buy Outer Banks real estate using the Big 3.
I bet you're guessing Location. Location. Location.
Nope. Not it ... but you did guess one out of three.

Here's the magic formula to find your piece of Outer Banks real estate:

Location
Features
Price

The Big 3 are truly the key to finding that sanctuary, that dream, that special beach cottage you've always wanted.

Location of course covers what town, what part of town, what neighborhood. Then it takes another direction. Ocean front, ocean side, sound front, sound side, somewhere in the middle.

Features takes us to a physical property. Number of bedrooms and baths. Neighborhood amenities. Private pool and/or hot tub. Second living area. Game room. Media room. Outside shower. Elevator. Wet bar.

Price stands at the top of the list for most. It dictates both location and features. The more you want to pay, the more features you will have along with distance to water and neighborhood.

You know. just 3 items sounds like an easy task when you are dreaming on finding your special place here on the Outer Banks. BUT ... it really isn't as easy as it sounds.

Why not allow me to help you decipher your want list and turn it into your do list? I am fully familiar with the beach and can guide you around pit falls you may not even know are there. It's fun to buy Outer Banks real estate using the Big 3. I will show you.

Call me at 252-599-2845 or e-mail me at linda@OBXperts.com.

I love Southern Shores! I was a young girl the first time I saw the beach at Sea Crest Village. It was the late 1950’s and we were almost the only family here!! My father's friend had a home on Third Avenue where our family of 8, plus the dog, stayed for a week. No air conditioning, but who noticed! There was a sleeping porch that caught the ocean breeze and hundreds of frogs in the pond croaking all night. It was heaven!

We played with the dolphins, collected big conch shells, swam in the warm water and rode our bikes all over the Outer Banks. This was many years before there even was a Corolla! No phones, TV or even radio then. Just a portable record player with vinyl that drove our parents nuts!!

In 1971, my parents built their own beach house on Third Avenue where every year the whole family gathered from all over the country. Although I moved to Los Angeles, my son learned to swim in the Atlantic ocean! He always preferred the beach here. Today he brings his science students each year for their marine biology field trip all the way from Cleveland. And his 4 year old daughter Lucinda shares our love for our Southern Shores beach. They visit at least four times a year!

My parents sold that beach house when they moved to a year around residence on Sea Oats Trail. They retired here from the Washington DC area, remaining in Southern Shores until their deaths in 1992 and 2009. My father, who died last February, refused to leave Southern Shores, even when his eyesight failed and he had to climb 14 steps everyday to get in and out of the house. His passion for his home brought me here as a full time resident 2000 and I will be forever grateful that he needed me.

What started as a holiday in 1958 became a way of life for my parents, my son and me. Southern Shores has a way of embracing you, keeping you safe and happy. It is my hope that other people who visit here will be able to transform their vacation into their own permanent paradise.