Outer Banks Real Estate

Another Local OBX Blogger

I have heard the voice hundreds of times.  Now there is a blog to go along with "The Voice".  Sam Walker does the local news on many local radio stations on the Outer Banks and he is now sporting a new blog - East Carolina Radio News.  On the way to work this morning I heard his news segment and he ended with the new site.  When I heard blogspot.com at the end, I knew we had another local OBX Blog. 

I think this format is going to work well for Sam and his readers.  He appears to be a quick learner on the technology side.  This will be one you want to add to your subscription list.

Poll updates

The Poll results are in.  Thanks to all that participated in this poll.

Question - What is your favorite OBX destination.

There was a tie for first place - 4WD area of (Carova, Swan Beach) and Nags Head / SoNag.  Being the master of the poll - I declare Nags Head the winner.

Least popular destination (but still popular) - Waves / Salvo / Rodanthe

Now for some stats:

• Eastern most voter - Waltham Massachusets voted for Kitty Hawk / Kill Devil Hills
• Northern most voter - Ithaca New York voted for Kitty Hawk / Kill Devil Hills
• Western most voter - San Fransisco California voted for Kitty Hawk / Kill Devil Hills
• Southern most voter - Wimauma Florida voted for Southern Shores / Duck

States Represented:

• California
• Texas
• Kansas
• Missouri - liked the 4WD area
• Illinois
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• New York
• Connecticut
• New Jersey
• Deleware
• West Virginia
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• Tennessee
• Florida

New poll question centers around the Bonner Bridge replacement.  Cast your vote today.

Will the Fed cut the rate again in October?

The big question for many is - will the Federal Reserve cut rates on Halloween?  Based on the huge amount of recent write offs from some major players in the mortgage world - I think it will happen.  The folks at Wall Street believe that we could see a 1/4% reduction on Wednesday.  There are also predictions that a rate cut could have a negative impact on crude oil prices. 

On a less serious note, some people are searching for Vegas Odds for a fed rate cut.  Seems my earlier post came in pretty high in the search engines...  I was right about a cut but wrong on the amount.  They say you can be on anything in Vegas - I just can't find the odds online. 

I have a history of picking the underdog.  Mac instead of PC (Mac was and still is better) , Beta instead of VHS (beta was really better but still lost the war), Kiwis over the Swiss in Americas Cup (Swiss dominated).  The list could go on and on but I digress. 

Now for the important part - how will a fed rate cut affect the Outer Banks Real Estate Market Conditions?  Typically a reduction in the fed rate will trigger a small jump in 1st mortgage rates but the markets are not really following standard procedures lately.  My guess is that we will not see a big jump in mortgage rates.  The good news for those that have Home Equity Lines of credit - a rate cut will slightly lower monthly payments.  Even though it is a small break - any break is good in the off season on the Outer Banks.

Online Maps for the Outer Banks

There are many online mapping services available today.  Google Earth, Google Maps, Mapquest just to name a few.  My current favorite is from Microsoft Live.  They have the traditional maps that show views from space - but I think they have a  leg up on Google (for now).

Microsoft Live offers views from those planes that carry banners up and down the beach - not really but close.  Here is a link to the view of the new Hilton Garden Inn at mile marker 1.5.  Pretty awesome views - you can even look at the property from multiple directions.

Negativity in the Mortgage Market on the Outer Banks

There is a new Outer Banks Blog from Greg Cremia titled Outer Banks Community Forum.  Greg is an old school Active Rain blogger that has now switched to an independent platform.  Greg understands the technology and I think he will be a very active local blogger.

Greg has a guest author Bernie from Beach Mortgage.  Bernie is a good guy and a long time lender on the Outer Banks.  He posted an article about the negativity in our mortgage / real estate market.  I believe that Bernie is correct on a few fronts - there is a tremendous amount of negativity in the press about the current mortgage market. 

This is where I differ from Bernie. 

• Loan requirements have tightened - higher credit scores are larger down payments are required today compared to July 2007. 
• It is reported that the mortgage industry has lost 27,000 jobs in the month of August. 
• North Carolina Legislature has passed a bill addressing Mortgage Fraud.  The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2008.   
• Most lenders do not have all of the products they had before the fall.  Just check out the Implode-O-Meter to see who is no longer in business or what products have been pulled from inventory. 
• Existing Home sales dropped to their lowest level since 2001. 
• The press moving onto another subject is not going to fix the problem.

Prices have dropped on most properties on the Outer Banks.  Rentals for most companies hit an all time high this year.  There are some good deals on the market today and there are some very motivated sellers. 

A favorite old boss of mine had a saying that he would share with us on an all too frequent basis - it is what it is - which was voted the #1 cliche of 2004.  Deal with the facts and move forward.  Find solutions for your customers when the rules change.   

Done for the night - time to watch the Rockies try to defy odds and beat those hairy Red Sox. 

Spam and Spam Blockers

Spam is something we all deal with and truly hate.  I have been contacted by more people in Nigeria with $65 million dollars than I can count.  Recently, I have received a few returned emails asking for me to verify that I am the sender by entering a captcha code and then the reader will have the option of adding me to their "safe list".  What a pain.

Google's mail client Gmail has spoiled me.  Their spam filter works great with little to no tweaking.  In my opinion, it is the best mail client available today.  Try it - you will like it.

Foreclosures on the Outer Banks

The Outer Banks Sentinel published an article about the current state of foreclosures on the Outer Banks.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

Adding to the financial squeeze is a 78 percent increase in the number of foreclosures in the county. Between Aug. 31, 2005 and Aug. 31, 2006, there were 217 foreclosures. From Aug. 31, 2006 to Aug. 31, 2007, the number jumped to 387.

I am not sure if those numbers include the large number of timeshare foreclosures.  It is my understanding that the number of foreclosures year to date (excluding timeshares) to be close to 200 properties.  More details to follow...

Busy Atlantic

Been a little busy lately and posts have been light.  It looks like the Atlantic is getting busy too.  We have been lucky this year with Hurricanes and I hope the pattern continues.  Looks like there is a lot of activity but hopefully none of the highlighted areas will become a threat.

We all hope that these "opportunities" will turn into good surf and wind and waves:

Paula for surfing

Monty for body boarding (don't call it boogie boarding or you will get nasty looks from my sons)

Bill for the windsurfing and kiteboarding crowd.