New Price on Conveniently located lot on Carotake Hwy!

Great visibility and only minutes from the bridge.

MLS#74541                 $39,000

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Best Buys on the Outer Banks for the Week of June 24th

Best Buys on the Outer Banks

New Listing! 762 Bayberry Court, Corolla, NC 27927

This well cared for Ocean Sands home has everything you’re looking for. From the expansive top floor deck that wraps 3 sides of the house, to the 6 bedrooms, game room, private pool, ample bathrooms, dining room, open concept kitchen, comfortable family room and it’s cheery, bright decor! You can walk to the beach in minutes. Corolla has some of the most beautiful beaches in North Carolina. Close to shopping and restaurants and the perfect area for your entire family to gather. Excellent rental income as well. Due to limited availability by current owners this home is not rented at its max.

Best Buys on the Outer Banks for the week of June 17th

Best Buys on the Outer Banks

Outer Banks Summer Rental Season is Getting HOTTER!

634 Grebe Court $499,000!!

This home has been well cared for & has just been remodeled; looks better than ever! Check the location on this great beach home. Backs up to the Green Conservation Area for privacy as well as situated on a nice cul-de-sac.  This is your classic beach rental home with proof of up to $44,000 in rental income potential.

Single Family Home

6 Bedrooms        4 Bathrooms Interior: 2,350 sqft Lot: 6,300 sqft

Just a short walk to the Beach in Kill Devil Hills!!

4 bedroom, 3 full bath home - 2,400 sqft

This home is a very short walk to the deeded beach access from it's 3rd row location. Enjoy the lovely patio area downstairs and the shaded deck off the front door. The bottom floor of the home has a media room, full bathroom and bedroom with backyard access. The "garage" area is also heated and cooled so use it for storage or convert to more living space! There is so much potential for this home whether you want to live here year round, keep for a 2nd home or rent it weekly.

MLS# 78660          $319,000

Property with endless possibilities in Maple, North Carolina!!

3609 Caratoke Highway, Maple, NC MLS#75337 $164,900

Get ready for the summer season with this great commercial opportunity. 2 Acres Soundfront. Is currently being used as Residential. This would make a great tackle shop or retail space . Lot has a shallow canal that may work for a boat launch. Fixer upper with tons of potential!

Contact Me About This Property

Best Buys on the Outer Banks for the week of June 10th

Best Buys on the Outer Banks

Summer is officially here in the Outer Banks!

While the calendar may say summer begins June 21st, locals and visitors would disagree! Memorial Day weekend has come and gone and we are in full swing here on the Outer Banks. There are just a few noteworthy items to report this month.

Mid-Currituck Bridge – Recently H817 was sent back to the NC State Senate for discussion. This bill basically removes the gap funding for the bridge among other projects. The likelihood of this bridge being built is fading more and more. If you are a supporter of the bridge you can voice your support here: http://www.buildthebridge.org

Dare County Tax Rate – The Board of Commissioners approved a 3.25% tax hike for Dare County property taxes recently. When property values declined on average 29%, the rate needed to break even at the previous budget would have been 39.75%. This change will make the new tax rate for the county at 43 cents per $100 of value.

Beach Nourishment – A $20 million beach widening project was approved in Kill Devil Hills in mid May. Duck is also looking into a project to pump sand onto nearly 2 miles of beach there. As well, Dare County is hiring a firm to design a project for Rodanthe and Buxton.

Flood Insurance Update – Your help is still needed to get some changes made to pending flood insurance rate hikes. My recent blog post breaks down new information obtained by our local Association of Realtors.

Buying or Selling – If you have any questions about the real estate market for the summer months on the Outer Banks, be sure to contact me. Having had a slightly slower spring, we are expecting higher than normal numbers for summer. We know rents are strong, and that gets buyers excited! Let me know how I can help.

Stay cool!

New Price on a "Sunflower" Cottage in Corolla!

Great Price AND Available to Lease for Summer Fun!

Actual ocean views, nice deck space, screened porch, sunny and bright interior, top floor bedroom, easy flow floor plan, awesome community amenities, hot tub, bright open kitchen, ground floor entrance, cul de sac location, laminate wood floors and a fantastic price round out the benefits of the “Sunflower” beach cottage. MLS# 77980

Contact me today for available dates or more information!

Outer Banks Flood Insurance Update

www.IlonaMatteson.com

Members of OBAR attended the National Association of Realtors Legislative Meetings in Raleigh recently and shared information about the potential detrimental impact of the Biggert-Waters Act, passed in July 2012 to reform the National Flood Insurance Program. Most legislators seemed to be unaware of this information. NAR’s Land Use and Property Rights Committee appointed a special Flood Insurance Study Committee to review the legislation further.

Below are talking points to share with local, state and national legislators when you have the opportunity:

BACKGROUND: Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Act (BW-12) on July 6, 2012.
BW-12, a provision of H.R. 4348 – Surface Transportation Act, includes several amendments to the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 and the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 intended to significantly improve the financial sustainability of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The NFIP is currently operating at a deficit due to large catastrophic losses incurred in 2005 and 2012.
While BW-12 addresses specific program flaws that have been attributed to a large portion of total program losses, many BW-12 provisions will have a detrimental impact on home ownership, housing affordability, property market values and the overall sustainability of the program.
Biggert-Waters 2012 should be amended to address the following: 

1. Affordability of Coverage: The cost of property insurance (homeowners, wind and hail, flood, etc.) affects housing affordability, market values, financing and investment in communities. The NFIP is mandated to be widely available and affordable.  Due to BW-12 changes to the rate, premium and coverage structure, flood insurance premiums could increase up to 1000% or more for some policyholders. This huge increase could force policyholders to sell their homes. It has the potential to force homeowners into foreclosure. Property values decline when the cost of insurance becomes so high thus impacting local tax revenues. Homeowners without a mortgage will not participate in the program due to the high cost of coverage, thereby negatively impacting market penetration and the long-term sustainability and affordability of the program. For policyholders without a mortgage, FEMA aid is seen as de facto flood insurance. There is no incentive to participate in the program when the cost is prohibitive.
2. Loss of Grandfathering: The grandfathering provision should remain. If a structure is built to the NFIP standards in place at time of construction, then a homeowner should not be penalized if map revisions cause a significant change to the zone or BFE of a structure. This will cause an increase in flood insurance premiums thus impacting mortgage payments. BW-12 will create situations where homeowners would not have originally qualified for their mortgage if the lender considered future flood insurance premiums increases. This reform measure is unfair and excessive considering other BW-12 reform measures that will have a greater impact in reducing future flood hazard risk and increasing premium revenues.
3. Rate Structure: BW-12 includes the provision that “catastrophic loss years” be included to calculate the average historical loss year. The NFIP was self-sustaining for over 30 years. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused extreme catastrophic losses. Including these “outlier” event losses to determine NFIP rates will cause artificially high increases in rates. BW-12 also increases the annual rate increase cap from 10% to 20%. This is an arbitrary and capricious allowance and has nothing to do with risk. The maximum limit of coverage is only $250,000 for residential policies and $500,000 for commercial structures. The issue of primary residence replacement cost coverage rates being equal to actual cash value coverage rates for second homes needs to be addressed.
4. Administrative Costs: While BW-12 includes reforms that put the burden of raising program revenues and reducing flood hazard risks on individual policyholders, it does not address the efficiency and overall administrative costs of the program. More than one-third of NFIP premiums are paid to Write-Your-Own (WYO) companies. FEMA does not know how much of what is paid to these companies is used to cover expenses or how much is actually profit. The cost to administer the program should be based on a per policy cost, not a commission percentage of premium. The passage of BW-12 creates a windfall for the 90 WYO companies that service NFIP policies.
5. A Flood Insurance Summit, sponsored by OBAR and attended by NAR and NCAR Senior Regulatory representatives, Congressional and State representatives, local elected officials and OBAR leadership was held in early May. The Summit proved to be an eye-opener for those attending. After an informational morning presentation, attendees toured the Outer Banks and got a better understanding of the diverse housing inventory and how the structures would be impacted by the new flood insurance reforms.  A copy of the flood insurance presentation is posted on www.outerbanksrealtors.com under the Advocacy tab which can be found by clicking:
   http://outerbanksrealtors.com/cms/bm~doc/2013-may-1-obar-flood-summit-presentation---updated.pdf

Please keep in mind that the term “subsidized” refers to policies on structures built prior to the effective date of flood maps (approx... 1974) that receive substantial discounts on their premiums.  Substantial discounts on flood insurance were offered to existing structures when flood maps became effective to encourage them to participate in the program.
FYI: NAR has posted a link to an article by an Associated Press reporter on the rising cost of homeowners insurance that was released this week.  OBAR/OBHBA Government Affairs Consultant Willo Kelly is quoted in the article.
Click HERE for the entire article.

New Price in Southern Shores just Steps Away from Boating Fun!

Excellent opportunity for comfortable one floor living. This solidly built brick home in Southern Shores, was a contractors home. 2 bedrooms share a bath on one end of the home, while the master bedroom, HUGE walk in closet and HUGE master bath with double sinks make up the opposite end. Oversized Master Bath shower with all tile and two shower heads. Extra large kitchen with eat in area, dining room and living room with an extra office AND media/TV area. The solid brick deck spans the entire back side of the home! Great for cookouts. Just a few steps away to the bulkheaded canal for all your boating fun. Tons of parking in addition to the 2 car garage.