What a great fall we are having! The weather has been phenomenal, and the weekends have been bustling with fun events all month long. There is no better season to be on the Outer Banks than fall!
A bit of fun news about Southern Shores, they recently surveyed about 400 community members about adding a library nearby, and an overwhelming 80% of the people polled voted in favor of it. Ultimately, the final say is up to the commissioners; however, this could be an exciting addition to the town if they decide to move forward. Many communities in recent years have dealt with budget concerns, including library closures, but it is comforting to know many people still care about educational improvements in our community.
Currituck County has started its state-required reassessment of property for the county. This process will take several months to complete, and property owners will be notified of new appraised values about a year from now. The new values will be what the county uses for taxing properties starting in 2021. If you feel the valuation is unjust, there will be an option to appeal. This is a North Carolina mandated law that is in place to ensure all taxpayers are treated fairly, and it takes place every 8 years.
Next year, homeowners along the Outer Banks and most of Eastern North Carolina should expect an increase of almost 10% to their annual policy. Although this increase is not appealing, we should be grateful for the state regulators who were able to negotiate with the insurance companies and prevent them from imposing a 30% increase, which they had originally proposed.
In real estate news, inventory remains a little higher and interest rates are still very attractive creating an above-average seasonal upswing. According to the MLS October statistics report* “Under contract listings are through the roof – up 41% over October 2018 AND the highest number since April 2015.” The upcoming weeks around Thanksgiving are traditionally strong for the local real estate market, and we hope this trend continues for the remainder of the year. Our goal is to finish off this year as dynamic and productive as possible for a record-breaking year in sales.
We’ve included the OBAR statistics for October* 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.
The OBX Homes Team is making an effort to help the environment and decrease our paper output. If you’d like to help in reducing our paper use, please send us a current email so we can add you to our paperless mailing list. We will send you an email each month with a copy of our updated owner note and statistics report. We appreciate your effort to help with this and thank you. We will continue with owner mailings to those who wish to receive them by mail.
Please don’t hesitate to call or email us if you have any questions or should you need anything at all.
All of us would like to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving and holiday season to follow!
