THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 24, 1994 TAG: 9409220320
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: About the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Chris Kidder
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
When you buy or sell real estate and record your transaction with the county, the who, what, where, when, how and how-much all become public record.
When you or your contractor file for a building or septic permit, the information becomes public record. Tax records, foreclosure notices, subdivision plans submitted to planning boards, liens and other details of bureaucratic regulation and legal process are available for public perusal and use.
So it should come as no surprise that two enterprising Outer Banks residents have turned this wealth of public information into businesses. Bill Ackiss of Computer-Aided Designs in Colington and Harriet Oneto of Oneto & Associates in Manteo, computerize and repackage real estate and building transactions in Dare and Currituck counties.
They clean up and custom sort the data, then sell it to real estate agents, builders, lenders, furniture companies, interior decorators and anyone else who might like to know what's going on in real estate.
Oneto began her property transfer tracking business in 1980 with a typewriter and copy machine. She's now hooked into CompUServ. Her clients - mostly real estate agents, appraisers and mortgage lenders - typically pay $30 to $40 for reports summarizing the pertinent details of every deed recorded in the past month.
Because Oneto keeps a database of all recorded deeds, one service is of particular interest to consumers: she can generate sales histories and tax valuations on specific properties or an entire neighborhood. For do-it-yourself buyers and sellers, this service can save hours of hunting through deed books or tax records at the county courthouse.
Ackiss began his business five years ago. Most of his business centers on building activity rather than sales. He tracks permits and planning board actions, producing reports that provide sales and marketing information for a wide spectrum of clients.
``I don't sell the information. That's free,'' Ackiss explains. Anyone can go to area town or county offices and collect public data but, he says. ``It's not all that user friendly. You'd be surprised at how much bad information there is.''
Ackiss checks spellings of names and verifies addresses and phone numbers; he fills in blanks that get overlooked in the rush to file forms and get permits. Once the data is entered in his computer, he can sort and quantify it to suit any client need.
He produces a library of weekly, monthly and quarterly reports printed out or on disk. Monthly reports run about $40 each. Charges for custom reports are based on their complexity and end use.
Ackiss hopes to have his system on-line within the next couple months so that clients can simply log on and download whatever data they need.
(For more information about Oneto & Associates, call 919-441-0330 or write P.O. Box 277, Manteo, N.C. 27954; contact Bill Ackiss at Computer-Aided Ventures, 919-441-0364, P.O. Box 806, Kitty Hawk, N.C. 27949.)
While Oneto and Ackiss chart the minutiae of Outer Banks real estate, the North Carolina Association of Realtors charts the big picture. They keep tabs on the sales of existing homes through the state's Multiple Listing Services (MLS).
Not all houses are sold through MLS. Homes sold by owners without the help of a real estate agent account for nearly 20 percent of all home sales nationwide; new homes offered through exclusive listings or by the developer/builder account for another chunk of sales.
But MLS figures indicate what's happening in the marketplace. And what's happening on the Outer Banks is that real estate is changing hands at the fastest rate in over four years.
According to MLS sales figures, 528 existing houses were sold during the first seven months of 1994. Only 485 houses were sold in all of 1990.
The figures are considerably ahead of last year: at the end of July 1993, 375 houses had been sold. If the current sales momentum continues, Outer Banks real estate agents will close more than 800 house sales by year's end.
The Outer Banks Home Builders Association will host its 5th Carnival of Exhibits and Home Show on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The free event is held at the Outer Banks Mall.
The event drew 1,400 visitors last year, says Betty Canina, the association's executive director. This year, with 76 booths featuring everything from mortgages to landscaping, sunrooms, seamless steel siding, storm shutters, security systems and recycled furniture, the show should be the best ever, she says.
For more information about the show, call the builders association, 919-441-8600. by CNB