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$850K Beach House Breakdown: Can Outer Banks STRs Still Cash Flow? · Short Term Shopping

• 0:02
  Speaker A: Welcome to Short Term Shopping where we explore homes for sale in the best vacation markets in America. Some homes we do like, some homes we don't like. Brought to you by the Short Term Shop. It's Short Term Shopping. Short Term Shop plus here to talk about the Outer Banks on this glorious Thursday, I think it is. Anyway, so I have Meg here. Meg is wonderful. She is a licensed real estate agent in North Carolina and she is with the Short Term Shop for quite some time now. And she's just a wonderful human. We, we just appreciate her so much. I had the pleasure of running the Outer Banks Marathon with her. Was that last year? Was that two years ago now?
• 0:55
  Speaker B: Two years ago.
• 0:56
  Speaker A: Two years ago. Where does the time go?
• 0:58
  Speaker B: I know, I was thinking about that today. I was like, holy cow. Two years, it's just gone.
• 1:02
  Speaker A: Yeah, it seems like yesterday. And yeah, so we're going to just explore this market a little bit and, and, and dive in as to what Outer Banks has to offer. And Meg, I'll go ahead and let you take over. Tell us a little bit about yourself and where the hell is the Outer Banks?
• 1:23
  Speaker B: So the Outer Banks are the barrier islands of North Carolina. So my market here, you know, I'm a, the, the Short Term Shops market agent for the Outer Banks and we are brokered by exp. But my kind of, my region, my territory is about 130 miles of coastline and we have been getting tourists that have been coming here for generations, just families. It's, it's a very, very popular area. To kind of give you an idea of the ratio of visitors versus our long term residents that live here year round. We've got about 37,000 permanent year round residents and we're seeing an influx anywhere from 250 to 400,000 people coming and going. So upwards of, you know, close to a million people every weekend during the high season coming. So this area is really, really dependent on that tourist revenue. One of the great things about. I'm probably going to skip around a little bit and we'll get to questions. But one of the really great things about this area is that because it's so dependent, a lot of people are worried about, oh, where it's very seasonal here. One of the wonderful things about the Outer Banks is we really do try to stretch into those shoulder months outside of the popular Memorial Day to Labor Day period. So we've got, as Luke mentioned, the marathons, there are a lot of race events that occur here. Fantastic fishing tournaments. The, the offshore sport fishing is a big deal here. But we've got like, I think two biker weeks. We've got Jeep Week, we've got Pride Week, and then, you know, we've got the, the Seafood festival and the Bluegrass festival, and all of these events actually happen outside of the summer months to continue bringing tourists in. So it's, it's a really great way. And, you know, these will be things that you all will be able to tap into and that I'll be able to help you really kind of promote to continue getting those tourists to come in and stay at your property. Beyond those, those really popular.
• 3:26
  Speaker A: How long have you lived there?
• 3:28
  Speaker B: I moved here in July of 2011, so 1313 years now.
• 3:34
  Speaker A: And, and how did you get involved? Like, where did you live previously? And, and what brought you to the area?
• 3:40
  Speaker B: Yes, I lived in, in Richmond, Virginia. I moved down with my boyfriend at the time, so we are, we're now married, but we bought our house here. And, you know, I had a really tough time. I just got my, like, literally weeks earlier, had just gotten my mba, moved to the Outer Banks. Like, I'm read work, and it was just very, very difficult to find work. And I actually started out in the boating industry down on, on Roanoke island in Wan Cheese and kind of got got wet in the whole idea of sailing and, and, or selling sailboats rather. But it was a really easy transition to go from boats to, to properties. And, you know, we were, we had started flipping houses just kind of as a little side gig and realized that we could do so much more than just buying and selling. And so we've done a lot of different types of acquisitions. Our portfolio is pretty diverse here, both in Virginia and in the Outer Banks here in North Carolina. So.
• 4:44
  Speaker A: Okay, great. What, what are some of your favorite things about the area? At the end of the day, this is kind of a small town, right? So it's. What, what do you, what it makes you happy there?
• 4:54
  Speaker B: You know, the cool. The other. Well, there are lots of cool things about the Outer Banks. But, you know, we'll, we'll kind of go over the, the townships in the area. I'll show you guys a map. And there are a lot of townships as you go down the coast. You know, 130 miles is, is a lot of area to cover, but each of those townships has its own little flavor, its own special independent draw that brings different types of folks, different types of families, groups, friends to each area. So kind of whatever you're in the mood for, you're. You're going to here. You know, if you just want to be out on the beach, you can do that. If you want to go up and tour with the wild horses, you can do that. If you want to go see Gravedigger, like the headquarters for Grave Digger, the, you know, the, the muddy motorsports that's nearby. There's a lot of nature preserves here. Of course, this is the, the, the location of the Wright brothers first flight that took off. So we've got, you know, a lot of monuments, and so there's a lot of history here as well.
• 5:52
  Speaker A: And this is like out in the ocean?
• 5:55
  Speaker B: Yes, well, we're alongside the ocean. We are flanked by the Atlantic Ocean on one side and then the Albemarle, Pamlico and Roanoke sounds along the western side of the islands that kind of separate us from the mainland. So you do cross bridges to get here.
• 6:14
  Speaker A: Are you ready to show us a map and go over that? Okay, I think, I think I enabled that.
• 6:20
  Speaker B: All right, so this, this is just going to show you the islands. And the reason I want to show this to you so that you can get a sense of, like, all of these flags. These are all townships, so the majority of the folks who do come to, to visit the Outer Banks, you know, you're kind of. Your popular destinations are going to be anywhere from number two right here, which is Kerala, all the way down to number seven, which is Nag's Head. And that's really, is where the, the central, the easiest two areas are. Now when you do come across the bridges, you're either going to come across from the western, you know, western side from, you know, people like, if they're coming like from Raleigh area. This here is Roanoke Island. You're going to come across to Roanoke island, then you're going to take another bridge over to the, to the mainland, which is going to drop you in Nags Head. Now if you go south, you're going to start hitting, you know, the Rodanthe, Wave Salvo, Avon Buxton, which. And I'll take you all the way down to Ocracoke, and Ocracoke's fun. You take, you put your car on a ferry and you cross the ferry. But it, it's, it's a bit of a distance. Like, it's, it's going to add another several hours to your trip. But it's amazing down there because it's very quaint, very local. You're not going to have a lot of commercial. In fact, that's actually true pretty much. Once you get to Rodanthe, all of these islands down here are going to be much More quaint, kind of more gentle. A lot of your, your water sports enthusiasts, your kiteboarders and sailors. And so there are a lot of events kind of down here in these areas. And then, of course, it's outside of Nag's Head, kind of down in here, you've got the Oregon Inlet, which is where all of the sport fishing boats go out.
• 7:56
  Speaker A: How do I get from 16 to, how do I get from Hatteras to Ocracoke? Is there a bridge?
• 8:01
  Speaker B: Well, no. So that's the ferry. You take a ferry, you drive your car onto the ferry, and it takes you down there.
• 8:06
  Speaker A: How big is Ocracoke? Are there a lot of people living there?
• 8:11
  Speaker B: Well, so 37, 000 locals in all of the area. There are not a lot of locals. I don't know the number, but it's, it's, it's a tough place to live down there. I mean, you know, when you, when you talk about the Outer Banks, a lot of people have heard, you know, of course, they think about the hurricanes and the weather like it's, it's, it's tough. But there are people that would know, not want to live anywhere else. I mean, they're committed, they're local. They've, you know, their families have lived there for years.
• 8:36
  Speaker A: So, yes, 715 is the current population.
• 8:39
  Speaker B: So there you go.
• 8:40
  Speaker A: Very, very few, under, under a thousand. Is there a grocery store? I mean, I don't know that you're even going there very often.
• 8:47
  Speaker B: You're gonna bring a cooler of food for sure. But, yeah, I mean, there, there are restaurants, there's. The beaches are beautiful. When we went down there, we celebrated an anniversary. We just took our beach cruisers and we rode our bikes everywhere and we stayed at a lovely little inn down there. And it was, it was lovely. Stayed for a weekend. It was really, really pretty down there. So it is quiet and quaint and, yeah, it's lovely. So the areas that I typically tell my investors to kind of focus on is going to be again, this. Corala, starting at number two and taking us down to number number seven in Rono, because, you know, again, those are kind of the popular beaches. But among those five areas, you're really going to get the, the greatest number of people that are going to be there, but they're also, it's also the easiest to get to. So if you're not coming across the mainland from here, from Roanoke island, you're going to be coming across the bridge, the right Memorial Bridge, and that's going to land you Actually down here in number five, Kitty Hawk. So you're going to come across a bridge here to Kitty Hawk and then you're either going to do take a fish hook and to go up to like towards, towards Dock and Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk and these areas up here, or you're going to carry on and you come down this road here, which is called the bypass. And that's going to be an important thing to remember here in a little bit because the bypass is going to be what divides basically the Oceanside properties from the Sound side properties. So that's a, that's a term that you'll hear a lot. But yeah, it's just these are the areas that are, they're easy to get to and really most populated.
• 10:22
  Speaker A: So the Bain Bridge goes across to right to Kitty Hawk.
• 10:27
  Speaker B: Yes. And then you have the other one. If you're coming like more from, from directly west, not necessarily from the north, but if you're coming from the south or the west, you're going to take that other bridge which takes you across Roanoke island and then over here to Nags Head.
• 10:40
  Speaker A: Is the entire thing, you know, technically an island. Is it. Is there a way to get from land to land to Korova up north?
• 10:49
  Speaker B: We are barrier islands.
• 10:50
  Speaker A: All barrier. Okay, cool.
• 10:52
  Speaker B: All barrier islands. Now, once you get north of Corova, I am fairly certain that you not get up to Virginia that way. And there's an area, the northernmost part of Corala it turns into that kind of. That area is called the 4x4 area. And to access the homes that are up there, you actually have to pull over. They have an air down station where you have to air down your tires. You have to be in a 4x4 vehicle to be able to access those properties up there. It's beautiful, but it does add a layer of complication, I think, for both new owners that don't know the area very well and guests that aren't already familiar going. Because you get stuck. I mean, there's a whole Facebook page that is just rags on people who get their cars stuck and you know, it's photos and images of them trying to push their cars through the sand and you know, it's, it's terrible. But you know, people go out there in their, in their sedans and their, you know, their Teslas and they get, and they sports cars and they get stuck.
• 11:55
  Speaker A: So it's absolutely fascinating. The. And again, I googled it. The total population of both Corolla and Corova is about the same as Ocracoke it's somewhere in the 700. And actually Corova only has 200 people that actually live there year round. So this is a very, you know, isolated area. Which is, which is cool.
• 12:16
  Speaker B: Yeah, it is cool. And there are people who would not dream of staying anywhere else. But I think when you're entering this market for your first property, it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's. There was a technicality there that I think needs to be in consideration with that area. But it is beautiful. And that's, you know, you'll hear about the wild horses. That's where you go. And you can, you can rent jeeps here on the Outer Banks. You can rent all kinds of 4x4 vehicles and go out on the beaches and go see the horses and don't feed the horses.
• 12:46
  Speaker A: Don't feed the horses.
• 12:47
  Speaker B: Don't feed the horses. Do not feed the horses.
• 12:49
  Speaker A: Why is that?
• 12:49
  Speaker B: They're, they're very, very protected animals here on the Outer Banks. And they're. If they're not eating the natur grasses, you know, people want to give them carrots and they want to give them apples, and we have horses that, that get fed and, and pass away. The food gets stuck in the wrong pipe and. Oh, it's, it's awful.
• 13:09
  Speaker A: They're not used to it.
• 13:10
  Speaker B: They're not used to it. They just, we just got to let them eat their natural, their natural foods.
• 13:14
  Speaker A: But are they everywhere? Are there a lot of them?
• 13:16
  Speaker B: No, up in, just up in that 4x4 area. Like, once you get in that northern Kerala area, there are tours that, you know, I think that some people are. It's kind of controversial. You know, these big buses that go up there. A. A lot of folks aren't crazy about the idea of buses going up there and disturbing the animals. But, but it is very common for people to take their 4 by 4 vehicles and go up there and, you know, like, the surf fishing is really nice up there. Again, like you mentioned, it's very isolated and so you do just see people just driving. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. You'll go for, you know, miles without seeing a house and, you know, but you'll then see a group of horses that are gorgeous. So it's pretty special and special up
• 13:57
  Speaker A: there, but as far as, you know, rental real estate and the bulk of the tourist action, we're looking at 5, 6, 7. Is that true?
• 14:07
  Speaker B: 5, 6, 7. What?
• 14:08
  Speaker A: On your, on your map here? Kitty hawk.
• 14:10
  Speaker B: Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. So. So I would Say south of that 4x4 area in Corala, all the way down through South Nags Head. So you can see, you know, like really this is all still, you know, Nags Head here. It's a bit of a drive. Like if you were to come across and hit Nag's Head to go down to Roanoke, you're probably looking at another 40 or 45 minutes to get down there. But yeah, really I would say between two and seven or those are going to be the main, the main areas that I would, that I would consider. It's where we invest.
• 14:44
  Speaker A: Right, right. And is that where you live? You're in that area somewhere.
• 14:47
  Speaker B: So I'm actually over here and let me see if I can pull up this other map to kind of show you. It's, it's an actual Google map. And folks, when you're looking at proper properties, I highly suggest use Google Maps to help you really start looking, getting able to identify the different locations and proximity to the water. It'll really help start giving you a sense of, you know, the different price points and where it's. Two houses may look identical, same number of bedrooms, you know, they're both updated, but vastly different pricing price ranges. Google map it and you're probably going to find your answer there. So let me see real quickly if I can find this other map. Well now see if you can zoom into the bit so you see how the barrier islands are and you'll see the bridges that I was talking about that come across from the west and then you'll see a bridge that comes across from the north. All right, so hold. Okay, so stay, stay steady right there and zoom in. Do you see that purple? The purple look a little bit west of the barrier islands. It'll say like right, Memorial Kill Devil Hills.
• 15:57
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 15:58
  Speaker B: All right, zoom in and kind of that area there. So this is all going to be kind of on the western side of the barrier islands and where you see all of those little inlets, all of those fingers that's called Collington harbor or where the fingers are. But this is all Collington Island. So those are going to all be sound side properties that are going to be more affordable. Long term rentals are allowed back there. We've had long term rentals back here that have been wonderful. I live back here on, on that island as well. So it is a bit of a hike to get to the beach. It's probably, I mean I live almost at the very, very end near the inlet that takes you out to the sound. So just Even to get to my guard gate, it's, it's a five minute drive and then probably another maybe eight minutes to get out to that bypass. Remember we talked about the bypass? See that highway that kind of splits the roads? Yeah. So that one look that you're on, that's actually the be. And I'm really glad you're pointing that out because when we start talking about the areas that are between the highways, that's going to be the section that's between that beach road and the bypass. And that is a really desirable place to be because you're still going to be able to walk in that strip. All of those properties that are in between those between the highways, you're going to be able to walk and bring all your gear, you know, bring your kids. It's all safe. They've got wonderful beach, a, lots of beach access points. Now, if you are on the west side, your guests are going to want to drive, but there's plenty of beach parking too. So that's not, it's not out of the question to have a west side property. But I wanted to point out Collington island just because there are lots of opportunities back there. And I think there's kind of this, this thought that if, unless you're right on the beach, you're not going to make any money and I like to kind of dismiss that a little bit.
• 17:48
  Speaker A: So if I, if I were to buy something up in here, I would assume that my main goal is to be like, you know, a lower price per night would be ideal.
• 17:57
  Speaker B: You're going to have a lower price by night, but you're also going to attract people who. So this particular subdivision has its own private boat launch. So you're going to want to promote, you know, that if you've got a dock, if you're on a canal, you're going to want to promote that and have as many people, you know, like invite people to bring their boats down. They can leave their trailer like down at the parking, the parking area at the marina where you launch and these kind of details are things that I can help you navigate. You know, I know these subdivisions, I know these areas. And, and you know, so if you have, if your budget's not, you know, up in the, up in the millions, you know, there are still lots of opportunities, you know, even if you're sub 750.
• 18:40
  Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. I mean, again, I think you do want to be paying close attention to, you know, keeping your price per night as low as possible when you're getting further Away from the beach. But I think it sounds, you know, I mean, I've been up in here too. I think the marathon end like right here.
• 18:54
  Speaker B: It did, yeah.
• 18:55
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 18:56
  Speaker B: Because I remember Great Memorial.
• 18:57
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I remember going up here and it was, I was freezing cold. Even though it wasn't really that. It wasn't that cold. But you know, post race you're freezing all the time.
• 19:04
  Speaker B: Well, it was raining. I don't remember the rain on the nose for the first like six miles.
• 19:10
  Speaker A: It was horrible.
• 19:11
  Speaker B: It was. And muddy and.
• 19:12
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, the weather was absolutely horrible. But then it did get much nicer later.
• 19:17
  Speaker B: It did.
• 19:18
  Speaker A: But anyway. Yeah. So, you know, there's opportunities to have stuff that's like really cool up in here and, and if you, if you have a desire to be in the area, you can probably make a play at it.
• 19:30
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 19:31
  Speaker A: But it's definitely, I don't think, you know, once you get off of this again, what do you call this strip between the.
• 19:36
  Speaker B: So that strips, it's called between the highways. So you're between the bypass, which is a five lane highway, anywhere from 45 to 50 miles an hour. I am a very nervous person and families do cross that road at crosswalks. There are pedestrian cross, crossways. I'm just, I'm a nervous person. I would always recommend that my guests go ahead and drive to the beach. But you, but you can walk and people do walk. So along the point of kind of the, of affordable properties, Luke, I also like to talk a little bit about opportunities with condos because if you want to be right there on the water, but your budget's, you know, you know, anywhere like between 5 and 600,000. There are still opportunities to do that where you are oceanfront in a condo. The condo might have, you know, a pool there that you can use, easy to access. You know, we've got, you know, two bedroom, one baths and then you'll see like a three, three condo. So there, there's a whole scale of condos as well. And you know, with the Outer Banks there actually is a height requirement. So we don't have these skyscraper hotels or condos or anything like that. So you know, they're probably only going to be, I think three stories is probably about as high as they're going to go.
• 20:48
  Speaker A: Any idea what I can get into a one bedroom condo for?
• 20:53
  Speaker B: If you're going to be on the ocean side, it's going to probably be anywhere maybe 450 to 525 for something that's more kind of Updated.
• 21:02
  Speaker A: And is it safe to say that this strip between the highways here is almost all rentals
• 21:11
  Speaker B: depends on the area. So you know, up in Kitty Hawk there's a road that's called Lindbergh Avenue and it's really desirable but it goes for miles down. You'd have to zoom in pretty good. We actually have a long term rental on there and I've had three short term shop buyers actually buy in that strip just because the location is so fabulous. So that's a, that's a really good area. But it is also, yes, residential. Which is what your question was was you know, there are there a lot of people who live there full time. But yeah, I would say that between the highways it's, it's there you're going to, you're going to have a lot of long term. And then Collington harbor, where all the inlets with those canals are, is also heav. Residential.
• 21:57
  Speaker A: Okay, cool. Talk to me about hurricanes. Let's say I am from, I'm from. Well I'm from Nebraska, so that would be a good example because we sure as hell don't have hurricanes there. And of course we see these, we've. There's this famous video of the house falling into the water. Talk to us about that a little bit at least Europe. I mean obviously you're not a weatherman or weather woman, you know, but your opinion and having been here for quite some time, what are your thoughts on that whole thing?
• 22:24
  Speaker B: Yeah, so my early days when we would have hurricanes, I would always evacuate. And then of course I had a young child and I would always leave. They, they do occur. I'm not going to deny it. When you get to that Rodanthe and south of Rodanthe, those areas are going to be much more prone to erosion and overwash. So those areas all the way down to Ocracoke, remember we talked about Ocracoke? That's all the way at the tip. Once you get down to those areas, those are going to be the first to evacuate during a hurricane and they're going to be the last to be let back onto the island. So they let people in in stages based on, you know, or first of all you a resident, do you own a business? If you're a guest, you know where, which township are you staying in? But typically anything through Dante and South you all those are going to be the last areas that are let. And we are having. I think we had two last week that fell into the ocean in Rodanthe.
• 23:27
  Speaker A: You're kidding me.
• 23:29
  Speaker B: So these are, it's. I think it's been four in recent history. There have been four that have gone down like I would say in the last year or so, maybe two years. I want everybody to keep in mind this area a lot. First of all, beach, again, the beach erosion in that area is, is it. It absolutely happens. I always, I'm not going to tell people do not buy in Rodanthe. It is lovely down there. Just really be cautious. Speak with an insurance with, with a service that can kind of talk with you about you know like camera restrictions. Like what, what happens if, you know, if you do lose your house, can you rebuild there? Do you have to do you know, do you have to do a setback? There are a lot of homeowners who are actually picking up their houses and they're moving them western away from the ocean a little bit and then having further, further inland. But yeah, that, that stretching Rodanthe is, is really tricky. I just would say proceed with caution. It's going to be more affordable and you're going to see these houses and the ocean comes right up to. And it looks so beautiful and you don't want that. You, what you actually want is you want a 50 foot setback from high, the high tide water line or 25 foot setback from the first line of vegetation from the property and that's going to help keep you protected. But when you see these beaches that, that are, these homes that are right on the beach, those are waiting, waiting to fall.
• 25:00
  Speaker A: Because a lot of these. It does look like there's a decent amount of space here. But maybe this is low tide or something.
• 25:05
  Speaker B: It could be low tide. If, if you were to Google Rodanthe beach erosion and not look necessarily on, you know, you, you'll be able to see. I mean I can, you know, if anybody wants to talk about this further, you know, I've got some friends who are. Photographers have gone out and Yeah, I mean there's the, there are some homes that are really. Here they are, yep. And even look, even that row of housing behind that street right there, it really is even too close. So I wonder.
• 25:41
  Speaker A: These houses have probably been here a long time too.
• 25:44
  Speaker B: They probably have been, yeah.
• 25:46
  Speaker A: Because I don't see them doing that like building them right there today.
• 25:50
  Speaker B: No, they're there. So they're again the beach erosion. We do have rising waters there. That is a naturally occurring thing a lot all around the world. So that is happening too. But yeah, I mean back, back up a little bit from the ocean. You know, if you're gonna, you know, if you're going to own this house for 10 years, just, you need to consider, you know, that water line is probably.
• 26:13
  Speaker A: Look at this. This is just. Looks like a bad idea. Like, why would you even build this unless there was more beach there previously.
• 26:18
  Speaker B: There was more beach there previously. It's not. And these aren't. These aren't dumb owners. I think if they were to sell them, the buyer really just needs to be very aware of. Of the, of the risks at that, you know, to the point where actually the North Carolina Real Estate Commission has actually created a very specific pamphlet on just making buyers aware of, you know, if some agents out there who are not well informed or they do not take the time to educate their. Their buyers. That is part of our job. It is part of my job to help keep my buyers from buying risky properties or to at least make them informed. But you're going to look at the pricing on that stuff and it's going to look like. Holy cow. Again, this is back to the. To when you're comparing the two houses. How is this property here? You know, $800,000. And then if I look at the same one up in Kitty Hawk, it's 1.25 million. This is why.
• 27:14
  Speaker A: Right. And the ones that have fallen in, the four that have fallen in were all down in Rodanti.
• 27:20
  Speaker B: Yep. And they can't do. So the shoals that are down there, which is basically the, the sand like out. Once you get into the ocean, they're always moving, they're always shifting. It's always. And so they actually can't do beach nourishment. Like by the time they would bring in all the machines and put in those thousands of tons of sand to kind of help keep that erosion from happening, it would all be washed away again. It's just, it's the, it's the, the way. The geography of that, of the coast, that right there, it's just. It's a. It's a. It's a tough spot, but we don't
• 27:51
  Speaker A: really see that in Nags Head or Kill Devil Hill or not at all or less.
• 27:55
  Speaker B: No. Well, no, you are going to see it again. We do have rising waters all over the earth, but the, the erosion issues are really pronounced down in Rodanthe, for sure.
• 28:07
  Speaker A: And how did things go with this? Obviously, Helene was a really bad situation for. For much of North Carolina, but maybe not your far. As far as east.
• 28:16
  Speaker B: No, it's been. Luke, it's been really a strange sensation. That type of storm is what we experience here. And so to watch my western neighbors go through that, it's been tough because you know in when we get hit with it, at least we have the tools and the machines and the people who are used to this were you is proactive when we know the storm is coming and then we can respond very quickly. It's been heartbreaking to watch what's happening happening out there just because they just, they don't have the tools. And we, we got some heavy rain and that was it here.
• 28:55
  Speaker A: Okay, cool. So but you know obviously hurricanes happen every year. Something you got to think about about this time every year. We're recording this in September, October and it's just part of beach life, you know, it just is. But the further you I will say when I've been there, when we ran the race I didn't know I didn't notice anything, you know that was of concern. Of course I was up in more of the, the tourist area and this is again this is a very, very big area. Right. Well how many miles did you say this whole thing is?
• 29:26
  Speaker B: 130.
• 29:27
  Speaker A: 130 miles. It's massive. Yeah, it's like 130 mile long toothpick.
• 29:35
  Speaker B: Yes it is.
• 29:36
  Speaker A: Okay, cool. Now do you have a house you could show us just in a. Give give us an example of something that would maybe be for sale in your area.
• 29:44
  Speaker B: So this one is actually on the beach road which is semi. So beach road is what divides the oceanfront properties from the semi oceanfront properties. So we are one row over from ocean.
• 29:58
  Speaker A: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Can you click that map view real quick? Quick next to photos.
• 30:02
  Speaker B: So this is going to be your. The bypass is here. This is going to be the beach road. So all everything here is oceanfront. This is all oceanfront here. So this property that's a four bedroom, it's $850,000 is right here. Is right there. So these are all going to be
• 30:20
  Speaker A: zoom out even further so I can see like where, where. Which bridge and stuff. There we go. Okay, so you're right by not far from where you were talking about where you live.
• 30:26
  Speaker B: So this is Kill Devil Hills. Very, very central. Central area. You know again that's kind of of between that Corala and Nag's Head strip that I'm that I'm suggesting. You know here's again this is between the highways here. But I mean this is semi ocean front. What's nice about this one is that the location is ideal with as far as like restaurants and shops and you know, all the putt putt. All the fun amenities that there are to do here. You know, not far is this big like climbing adventure park and then you know, maybe a 15, 20 minute drive from here is Roanoke island which is where we get lots of live music in the summertime. A lot of musicians come through. And then the festival park is also very nearby which is this one one in Nags Had. It's a Soundside event center. That's pretty new and it's, it's awesome. So this is a great location. Easy to get shoot up to Krala and easy to, you know, get down to. To you know, Pea island which is kind of with us down like the Rodanthe area. I mean people, it's just even the bridges to get down to Rodanthe. Even if you just were just to go, just go for a drive and there are places that you can pull off and walk out on the ocean and it's, it's just beautiful and the beaches are so pristine. But back to this house. The reason I chose this one is really is because of the central location. It's. It's semi ocean front and it's also under a million. It does not have a pool, but that's okay. I did look up the septic and there is, you know, you would need to take into consideration if you wanted to put in a pool where that septic tank is. We do run on septic here. The majority of the properties here you're going to have a private septic tank. A few subdivisions do have municipal water or waste systems rather. But this one for sure does have an underground septic tank. So you know, you'd need to figure work, work with the town to where you would move that septic tank. But it does have a very large backyard. So there would, there might be an opportunity to put a pool in here. That's another reason that I actually liked it though.
• 32:37
  Speaker A: All right, hold on. Let's talk about pools. If you don' on mine. What, what are your thoughts there? I mean is it just an opinion? You don't need to be right. But you know, do I have to have a pool or do I not have to have a pool?
• 32:48
  Speaker B: If it's, if it's in the budget, you know, once you kind of get up to a million dollars, you're, you're, you really should be getting a pool for you know, house once you get up into that million dollars. But you can still find properties that you know are 750 and have like a Little cocktail pool that, you know, you just kind of dip in. Not mandatory, but. But of course, if your neighbor's got a pool and if you have two, like, properties, they're going to book yours or book theirs before they book yours. People, you know, like, like their pools heated. It's funny you wouldn't think so, but even in the summertime, people like to have a hot tub. They like to get into a hot tub in the summertime. So those are, those are also, you know, if you can't quite get into a property that, you know, where you can't afford a pool, get a hot tub. It'll. It'll go far.
• 33:33
  Speaker A: Okay, hold on. The reason the. Normally we would say no hot tub on, in a beach town, but you do have a bit of a season here, right? Like, it does get chilly in the, in the winter time.
• 33:45
  Speaker B: Yes, it does. Hot tubs are very common and, and people want them. They absolutely get used in full fact kind of the. When you hire, if you have, if you have a pool, you're likely to have a hot tub. But yeah, that's, that service is, is kind of a package deal, you know, with our, with our pool service folks. Hot tubs are very, very common.
• 34:09
  Speaker A: Okay, very.
• 34:10
  Speaker B: And yes.
• 34:11
  Speaker A: And is this the tourist season, you know, coincide with the weather? In other words, do people disappear in October or November and then not come back until March? Or do we get a couple of sprinkles of tourism in the wintertime? Christmas, etc. You tell me.
• 34:28
  Speaker B: Thanksgiving. We're still, we still have tourists through the month of October. October. We still see quite a few people down here. I think there are, you know, younger adults that don't either don't have yet have children or empty nesters who come like once. All of the big families, the multi generations and all the children are gone. The beaches are still warm, the water's still warm. You can still go swimming. We still have. Our lifeguards are out there right now. It's in fact, my husband and I took a couple hours. We're doing a big renovation on our house right now. And I was just like, the walls are closing in. I have to get out. And we went for just a couple of hours. And the beat was beach wasn't crowded crowded, but there were still a bunch of people out there. Lifeguards were out. And it was great. It was a beautiful day. So it is nice to come. The restaurants are all still open, you know, during, in October and into November, typically right around Thanksgiving is when they kind of shut down for the season and then pick back up again in maybe March. But yeah, no, you're still getting, we're still getting tourists. Now Thanksgiving will have definitely get a boost, a bump of people and Christmas and New Year's will get a bump, but the season. What's funny, Luke, is that St. Patrick's Day is really like my observations and what we've seen with our rental properties, St Patrick's Day is really. It's not even Memorial Day when we really start picking back up. And we've got a huge parade that happens every year. It's the, it's the, the Kelly St. Patrick's Day parade, Mike Kelly parade. And so it brings tons of people down and it's super fun. I think it's. I don't know how many miles it is. It might even only be a couple miles long. But it's, it's a really big deal here, big tradition. And that's really when we do start seeing the traffic pick up and rent rentals start coming in. And then, you know, immediately after that you're starting to see the spring breakers in April and May. And then once school, it's out, you know, at the end of May and June, that's.
• 36:18
  Speaker A: How much is this house? I guess let's start with that.
• 36:19
  Speaker B: Okay, so this one is 850. So this is nicely updated. What I really appreciate is that they've got the LVP in here. You know, you're gonna get san your house, people. It's. There's no way around it. I will tell you though, and this is one of the things I tell all of my buyers is put a little foot washing station where you pull the chain, rinse off your feet. People actually love having that. They don't want to walk around on sandy floors either. And like, especially the kids, like, they like to play in it and splash it. Like let them put in a little foot washing station. It's a very easy thing to do. This, yeah, this one I just, I like because it is nicely updated. They've done a really nice job with, with the decorations. They've kept that beachy feel without it being kind of nauseating and it's nuts.
• 37:08
  Speaker A: It likely would not have had these floors to begin with, is what you're saying.
• 37:12
  Speaker B: Carpet. I think normally, you know, you'll see a lot of stuff that people still, they just have never ripped the carpet out. So you're still having, you know, kind of gross carpet that, you know, maybe animals have been in there. And it's just, you've got Renters and you know, spills and feet. So I do, I do appreciate when I see LVP on some of these floors. But as you can see, like, it's lovely. What a darling little, little house to, to go into. They've got accessible for kids. Oh, decks. Decks are a really big thing. You know, if you end up getting not necessarily this house, but you know, like a beach box, a three bedroom, you know, two bath. Decks are a wonderful thing to provide additional kind of just living space or beneath the house if there are opportunities to kind of create. There are. Don't just look at the interior, you know, like, like I've got a, a buyer in town right now. He's actually based in Miami and he's in town right now completely redoing his backyard and creating this amazing like hangout space. It's awesome. He's really taking advantage. It's a huge yard and he's taking advantage. And this kind of, you know, as we're coming off the season to get this ready for, you know, for next summer already and it's beautiful. He's doing a great job. But decks are, decks are a great thing to have here. You can see this is the backyard here that I was talking about. You know, it's pretty sprawling. I know that there is septic back here and again, you would just, you know, for the purpose of this discussion, you know, you would contact the, the city to find out like, hey, what would we need to do with regards to the septic tank to be able to put a pool in?
• 38:44
  Speaker A: Does everything have septic?
• 38:47
  Speaker B: Nearly. There are a couple subdivisions here. Some of the newer developed areas have, have kind of a private water treatment and waste treatment program. You know, water is going to be municipal, but yeah, the majority of the properties on the other banks are going to have septic are going to be interesting. So I know that you can't see it in these pictures and the agent did not identify, but I know that there is nearby. I think first street, we can go back to that map. I think it said that first street is going to be your beach access. So basically you're just going to cross that. That the beach road which is called North Virginia Dare. So this is North Virginia just because, you know, once you get down to North Nag said it's South Virginia, but yeah, you're you. Oh and along the beach road are tons of pedestrian crosswalks. So all of your beach accesses and then even along the roads are also flanked with pedestrian walks. So even if you're pulling A wagon with kids and hustle, you know, umbrellas and whatnot. You're, you're. It's really, really safe to be over there and lots of beach accesses and traffic has to stop. It's, it is a state law on that road that if there's anyone standing on either side of those access points, you're, you are required to stop and you will get a ticket if you get caught. So. Which is a good thing. It's a good thing to tell your guests. Like it's a safety thing. Which is, it's, it's nice, it's nice to have that.
• 40:11
  Speaker A: Wonderful. All right, so no pool, no hot tub, just a cute little two story. Well, it's a three, it's on stilts I guess. So it's, but it's two stories and, and what's the purchase, purchase price?
• 40:22
  Speaker B: So this one's 850, but as you can see, nicely updated. You know, it's turnkey, it's ready to go. You know you can, you can again add the pool, add the hot tub if you want to, but can. Let's talk real quickly about furnishings here on the Outer Banks because. So the majority of these properties are empty. You don't have long term residents living in them. When they do get sold, majority of them do come furnished. So what you see is what you get and it is banked in with that purchase price. There will be a separate bill of sale for $1 to purchase the furniture. And they do that for financing reasons. But it's what you see is what you get. You literally can go close on that day and stay in your house that night.
• 41:08
  Speaker A: All right, and how long is this thing? Does it say how long it's been on market?
• 41:14
  Speaker B: This one I think said 53. Oh, this one's actually been on there longer. This one's been there about three months now.
• 41:20
  Speaker A: Three months. Would you say that at 850k is this thing somewhere? And again, this is going to change in three months when. Depends on when somebody's watching this. But just for frame of reference, is this full market? I mean it's probably a little, maybe even a little too high.
• 41:36
  Speaker B: They've only dropped it 15,000 since they listed it. I think the fact that it is so updated and people probably do want a pool. You know, if you're, if you're willing to take the time to do the research and find out, you know, put about putting a pool in there, you know, this is, this is a great little house with incredible potential.
• 41:59
  Speaker A: I think even at the price that they're asking.
• 42:04
  Speaker B: Well, so the market basically charges the price, right? Like whatever. Something to pay is what the house is worth. And like I said, they've only done one $15,000. Dr. And nobody's biting.
• 42:15
  Speaker A: So, so you could go in here and offer, I mean, whatever you want really at this point. It's not like they're going to say no.
• 42:21
  Speaker B: Well, they, they might and they'll say
• 42:22
  Speaker A: no to your number maybe, but they're not going to say go, you know, pound sand. They'll probably come back with a, a counter or something.
• 42:29
  Speaker B: And so that's, it's, that's a great strategy though, Luke, is that when you submit the offer, even if you're going to lowball, which, you know, I'm, I am happy, I will submit whatever offer anybody asks me to do for them and basically say like, hey, this is the start of the, of the negotiation. This is just, you know, opening the door and, and let's see where we land.
• 42:48
  Speaker A: Yeah, because especially that's what I'm doing right now anyway with something that's been on the market for three months. You know, I'm, I'm going, I mean, I wouldn't be afraid to offer 750 here and then, you know, and, and yes, that's ridiculous.
• 43:02
  Speaker B: But sure, absolutely. Yeah. But a semi ocean, ocean front property. It's a four bedroom. I mean you're, you're, you should be doing, you know, that should be getting quite a bit of occupancy through the year. The location's amazing. You're very near the beach and a lot of these events that we talked about that happen off the season. So. Yeah.
• 43:27
  Speaker A: So this house is, is, you know, this is in the wheelhouse for somebody who would be looking to buy a rental property in this area.
• 43:33
  Speaker B: Absolutely.
• 43:34
  Speaker A: Okay. What is a grow? I know you don't like to talk numbers and that's total, really cool, but what, what kind of a, you know, ballpark gross can I expect on this thing? Can I get over 100? Can I get 120?
• 43:44
  Speaker B: Yeah, I don't, that might be a bit of a reach. I would say 80 is probably between 80 and 95 maybe. Or not maybe 90. 80 and 90. I'm say 80 to 90.
• 43:55
  Speaker A: But if I had a pool, we'd be getting much. Oh yeah, 120.
• 43:58
  Speaker B: A whole nother story. Yes. I would say 120 is absolutely achievable for sure. With a pool. 100. Yeah.
• 44:06
  Speaker A: Okay. And what would this house go for? Just making this up? What would this house go for. What would I have to buy it for if it already had the pool?
• 44:17
  Speaker B: Gosh, over a million.
• 44:19
  Speaker A: Over a million.
• 44:21
  Speaker B: 100%. Yes. Updates in there. If you were to add a pool in a hot tub, it would be. I would say it would definitely be sitting in a million.
• 44:28
  Speaker A: Okay, right at a million. Somewhere in that neighborhood. Are there hoas in the area? Does this house have, you know, typical HOAs or no?
• 44:36
  Speaker B: So HOAs that you'll see, your condos are definitely going to have HOAs. And folks, just keep in mind when you're looking at those numbers, it's also those HOAs are going to look really high. But keep in mind it's paying for your pool, your parking, you know, any shared accommodation or amenity that has to do with that building. It covers a lot of your insurances. So when you're, when you're running your numbers. Oh, I remembered Wes to say Luke. I remember.
• 45:03
  Speaker A: I knew you would.
• 45:04
  Speaker B: So when you're running your numbers, just take into consideration you're not going to be adding on pool service insurance. You know, your, your capex. You're. You have to add H Vac and a roof and whatnot. Like a lot of that's already going to be taken care of in there. What's going to come with your listings, you know, if you all decide that you want to come work with me here on the Outer Banks? Is that because we are. Are so established as a tourist destination and these are second homes. These list agents are really savvy. They're great to work with. I have a very strong rapport with so many of the. Of the list agents that are here on this beach and they will provide list of like updated, like all of like the updates that the home has seen. Like last time, the, you know, new H Vac. When was the roof last replaced? No, when was the, you know, the, the pool liner last done? So they'll, they'll provide those two you. So that you're not waiting to go under contract and then get, you know, get your inspection back and then you have like all of these things. You're like, what now? Things are going to get caught that are not going to be on these reports. But they also do provide expenses as well. So you're not just having to like shoot, shoot out there. Like ideas like what's my. What is an electric bill like annually that's actually provided by a lot of these sellers. They'll tell you what expenses they're already experiencing and show you that. So when you go to do your analysis. Those numbers are going to be really, really close to what you will see. As though.
• 46:30
  Speaker A: Wonderful.
• 46:31
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 46:31
  Speaker A: All right. Yes. Listen, I, I'm fascinated. I love that your, your cute little life you have here on this island. And it's just, it's, it seems so wonderful and happy and, and I'm, I'm glad to have. Yeah, I'm glad to have been a part of it for a minute when we ran the race. And it is just, just an unbelievable peaceful. It's like serene, you know, it's just a great area. So glad to be able to talk about it today on Short term Shop Plus. And of course, you can find Meg at. At the short term shop, meg@theshorttermshop.com or agents@theshorttermshop.com and I think that's it. Unless we forgot. We've forgotten anything.
• 47:13
  Speaker B: No, I've remembered what I forgot. Oh, yeah, there we go. Like, let's carry on the conversation and talk some more.
• 47:19
  Speaker A: Wonderful to have you and great to see you as always. So thank you so much, everybody. Thank you.
• 47:25
  Speaker B: Thank you. Yep.
• 47:26
  Speaker A: Bye now.
• 47:27
  Speaker B: Bye.