THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605230284
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: ABOUT THE OUTER BANKS
SOURCE: CHRIS KIDDER
LENGTH: 93 lines
I ran into John Bone, executive vice president of the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce recently. We discussed how busy Outer Banks builders have been. People think most of the building is in Currituck County, he added. ``But, I'll tell you what, if you look at the numbers, there's more in Dare County.''
I was skeptical. Even with building on an upswing on Hatteras Island, I thought there was nothing to compare with what was happening north of Duck. ``New construction in Currituck is so visible; in Dare County, you really have to look to see it,'' Bone patiently explained.
OK, I said. ``Maybe if you're talking about commercial and residential construction. There's been a lot of commercial building in Dare County.'' Bone insisted that Dare County was ahead of Currituck on all counts.
He called me a few days later with the figures. In 1995, Dare County issued residential building permits totaling $87,226,000 and commercial permits of $19,772,000. Those figures represent a 10 percent increase over 1994.
Currituck's permits, residential and commercial combined, totaled $67,792,000, a 34 percent increase over 1994.
There are some folks who hope to see an even bigger jump in Currituck building in the next few years. While much of last year's Currituck's booming building permit figures can be attributed to Bob DeGabrielle's work at Pine Island, the potential for even more growth exists right across the road at The Currituck Club.
Pine Island will have approximately 300 homes when built out; the Currituck Club, a soundside golf course community developed by Mickey Hayes at Kitty Hawk Land Co., is platted for 500.
On the Currituck mainland, Larry Woodhouse, owner of Tarheel Realty in Grandy, is developing Barnett's Creek, a 335-acre golf course community with 238 homesites. The 18-hole championship course, scheduled to open next year, is being sculpted to mask the flat coastal plain fields that once supported one of the country's largest seed-potato farms.
The land was originally platted for 300 lots and no golf course, says Starkey Sharp, a Kitty Hawk lawyer who lives in Grandy and handles the development's legal affairs. ``There are plenty of this type of lot,'' he says, referring to the dozens of Currituck farms that have been subdivided in the last 10 years. ``They're not selling particularly well.''
What Woodhouse needed was an ``attraction,'' says Sharp. The golf course was it.
Even though studies show that only one-third of the those buying in a golf course community plan to play golf, the rest of the buyers want the ambience of golf course living.
``We believe this area will become a golf destination,'' says Sharp.
Just to hedge his bet, Woodhouse has included a 23-boat marina and two boat ramps with access to the North River in the Barnett Creek development. The facility will be most attractive to freshwater fishermen and day sailors, says Woodhouse. Because the shallow creek meanders to the river, it will accommodate only small boats that draw five feet of water or less.
Barnett's Creek is being positioned as a year-round community, but a substantial number of homes are expected to be second and retirement homes.
Fifty-one lots in Phase I were put on the market around Easter. Prices for the lots, which average 20,000 square feet, begin at $29,900; the most expensive is $39,000.
The golf club and marina will be separate entities from the housing development, although homeowners will get preferential membership considerations.
Restrictive covenants that include minimum square footage and an architectural review process are ``fairly strict,'' says Sharp. ``The developer is trying to control everything that might detract from this type of investment.''
Existing home sales in March on the Outer Banks were up 19 percent over 1995, three percentage points ahead of the rest of the country and 11 points over the rest of the state.
According Scott Rooth, president of the North Carolina Association of Realtors, ``the jump could only be attributed to interest rates. . . Rates in March were considerably lower than those we experienced in March 1995. Also, there was a slight increase in the interest rate level in March over February, prompting undecided consumers to make a purchase decision.''
Rooth predicts that increase rates will stabilize and then drop again. Others believe that rates will remain stable through the November elections and then edge back up. How much rates will increase depends on who wins, they say.
``It will be difficult to sustain this resale pace throughout the coming summer.'' says Rooth. ``The first quarter surge in existing home sales may diminish demand in the coming months.''
As long as interest rates remain in the 8 to 10 percent range, most Outer Banks real estate professionals don't see them having much effect on sales. And sales won't be hampered by lack of inventory. Resort Realty associate broker Greg Cremia quantified the Outer Banks Association of Realtors' MLS offerings from Corolla through Nags Head in April: 819 houses, 1,318 lots and 124 condominiums.
``I've been doing this since last fall,'' says Cremia. ``And the numbers really haven't changed much. As things are sold, something else comes on the market. Even though sales have been strong, there's still a really good selection.'' MEMO: Send comments and questions to Chris Kidder at P.O. Box 10, Nags
Head, N.C. 27959. Or e-mail her at realkidd(AT)aol.com by CNB