There is an increasing number of people who are considering a move to the Outer Banks. With our beautiful landscape and reasonable cost of living, people have imagined themselves living here. But in the past what has prevented people from making the move was their job situation. As more and more people discover how to do their job remotely, it has allowed them to choose where they live. Why live in a high tax large city when you can earn the same salary and live steps away from the beautiful beaches on the OBX?
I’ve noticed quite a few people doing “trial runs” here this fall – they will rent a vacation home for 3 weeks or a month, and they will see how well they can balance their work and home lives. With kids in virtual schools across the country, they are just as flexible as the teleworking parents. So I would expect a lot of interest and growth in the real estate market not just here, but in coastal areas across the country. The cost of buying a home at the beach has risen this year, but is still very affordable compared to living in a large city. When you’re planning your move to the Outer Banks, here are 4 tips from a local’s perspective.
1) Scout the area
It’s one thing to visit here for a week during the summer, but if you are thinking about living here take some time to explore and consider things that mattered when you bought your current house. How far away are the schools? What school district do you want to live in? Where is the nearest grocery store, public beach access, or library? If you have kids is there a park nearby? If you like exercising and swimming at the YMCA, how convenient will it be to drive there every day? One thing people should consider when looking at the Duck and Corolla areas is that if you live in Duck you go to high school in Kill Devil Hills. If you live in Corolla you go to high school all the way in Currituck – a much longer trip. You may want to live in Buxton and be close to the schools on Hatteras Island, you may fall in love with the Colington area and imagine your family growing up in a boating community. Each area here offers different experiences and a different lifestyle – so get out there and explore!
2) Try a Winter Rental
A large percentage of homes here at the beach are used as vacation rentals. Typically they will rent to visitors from May until October. But what do those owners do with their property from October until May? There’s a 5 or 6 month window (depending on the owner’s rental calendar) where their property might be available. Some owners will winterize the property and leave it vacant, other “snowbirds” will stay in their properties in the rental offseason. But some owners will do what we call a winter rental – a span of multiple months that you can live in a furnished home at the beach. The owner gets rental income, you get a place to stay and start house hunting. Lots of people will put the contents of their home in storage and do a winter rental – and while they stay in the winter rental, they will find a house here, close on it, and then move their belongings out of storage and into the new house at the beach!
3) Don’t Rent – BUY!
The current long-term rental market has extremely high demand and low inventory. It’s a frequent complaint of locals and I can tell you from personal experience, it’s incredibly stressful to look for a long-term rental here on the Outer Banks. Very few opportunities pop up, and when they do, you will have several people competing with you for the rental. The last 3 long-term rentals we had, we were in each for less than 2 years because the owners kept listing them for sale after we were just getting settled in. We also have pets, which made it harder for us to find a long-term rental. There’s a limited amount of properties here because there’s limited geographical area to build on – most of the Outer Banks is a sandbar! So when you combine that with owners renting out their homes to visitors in the summer, year-round residents who work at our restaurants and businesses, and zoning laws that restrict multi-family housing, it creates a perfect storm that makes it really tough for people to get established here in a long-term rental. If you check out the OBX Housing website, you will see how many properties are available. Buying a property can often result in a lower monthly payment than renting due to demand for rentals, especially with our current low interest rates. And with FHA loans requiring only 3.5% down with some great local lenders, people are often surprised that they qualify for a home loan and can move to the Outer Banks – permanently!
4) Be On Schedule
I’ve heard people say that staying here is easy, but getting here was hard. I think that’s 100% accurate. Once you get here you’ll never want to leave. Many times people will move into a month-to-month rental in the offseason, and when the owner has to get it ready for summer visitors, they have nowhere to go! Don’t find yourself in that situation, it’s so stressful. Other times people from another state will go house shopping on the internet, and put in offers and buy something sight-unseen. Then they regret not scouting the area to see where schools, parks, or grocery stores are. There’s a timeline that works – put your things in storage, move into a furnished winter-rental, while living in the rental get prequalified to buy a home and then start house shopping. You’ll be here, you’ll know where everything is, and you’ll have the opportunity to do some scouting before you buy. Take advantage of websites and Facebook groups that can help you secure a winter or long-term rental, and start picking out homes on my website when you’re ready to make your move to the Outer Banks a little more permanent!
Here are some websites and pages that we used when we were in the long-term rental market:
Craigslist (avoid the spammers here though)
Outer Banks Housing
Colony Realty long-term
Outer Banks Long Term Facebook Group
If you have any questions or if I can help you in any way feel free to contact me – I’m happy to help!