How a Real Estate Agent Can Help You Find Your Dream Home on the Outer Banks

Like most seaside holiday destinations, most people see the Outer Banks as tourists. For the lucky ones who get to live here, the Outer Banks lifestyle, with ocean breezes and spectacular ocean views, tangy salt air and natural beauty all around them, is more than just a catch phrase. If you’re looking at homes for sale or thinking of investing in condos or beach properties in the area, it helps to talk to someone who knows the area and its history.

How a real estate agent can help you
If you’re considering buying real estate on the Outer Banks, you’ll find it helps to have a reliable real estate agent whose advice you can trust. This is still a good time to buy real estate, since a combination of factors will keep housing prices moving upwards. With a growing economy, pent-up demand, and low mortgage rates and home prices, the housing market is on an upward trajectory through 2015.
More and more homebuyers are relying on realtors to help them make their choice. In 2014, 88% of all homebuyers used a real estate agent, as compared to 69% in 2001. Realtors have the advantage of local knowledge, and wide experience of helping people find homes. Quite simply, they’re in the business of matching people to homes and over the years, they’ve become rather good at it.

Outer Banks: past and present
The spectacular North Carolina coastline is littered with shipwrecks. The shifting shoals and barrier islands have been a danger to shipping throughout history, right up to modern times. From Spanish frigates to German U-boats, maritime archeologist have uncovered some fascinating finds.
What’s it like to live on the Outer Banks? Once the tourists leave, the residents and local communities in Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Corolla and other places resume their peaceful daily routines. The local school system is excellent and the community strongly supports the arts. Events like Artrageous bring the two together. Every year in October, the annual arts festival brings family fun to community. There are live art demos, kid-friendly activities, art vendors, music, dancing, and food. Family, community, the arts and festivals are all part of the Outer Banks lifestyle.

Advice you can use
Whether you’re looking for a home to live in or for an investment property, you’ll find that real estate agents are a useful source of information, as do 98% of home buyers who used an agent to help them find the home of their dreams. As many as 40% of home buyers find their real estate agent by word of mouth, through referrals from friend and family members. So they know they’re dealing with someone reliable.

If you and family have decided to opt for the Outer Banks lifestyle, the best way to start looking for a new home is to contact a real estate agent.