THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 2, 1995 TAG: 9508310370
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: About the Outer Banks
SOURCE: Chris Kidder
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
Conventional wisdom says Outer Banks buyers want more. Resort Realty in Corolla is betting that some of you want less: Less traffic, fewer neighbors, lower prices, less commercial development.
The folks at Resort Realty are so sure that less will sell that they've had a model house built where no one will see it without a four-wheel drive vehicle and a map.
While most Outer Banks real estate agents are pushing seaside Taj Mahals that close around the $500,000 mark, this model house is a comfortable, maintenance-free, three-bedroom, 1,092 square-foot beach box, priced to sell for $105,000 including the ocean-view lot.
Welcome to North Swan Beach, says Resort real estate agent Phyllis Cole.
North Swan Beach is one of several ``off-road'' developments located north of the paved road that ends at Corolla. Travel to and from these isolated areas is by tide chart: At low tide you can drive on the relatively solid, flat foreshore; at high tide the trip becomes a bone-jarring crawl across through soft sand. During nor'easters, this ``road'' is impassable to all but the most experienced beach drivers.
The lack of a paved road is enough to put some prospective buyers off. The lack of services and shopping eliminates others who aren't ready to be cut off from civilization as most of us know it.
The closest place to buy or rent anything is Corolla, 20 minutes away on a good day. There's no cable television (although homes here are close enough to pick up Hampton Roads stations), no doctors or pharmacies, no police station, no county offices, gas stations, schools or libraries.
But for some, four-wheel drive country offers their last hope for a true getaway.
The north beaches are one place where people can play without interference, says Marlene Slate, a Resort Realty agent who has lived north of Corolla for years.
Jet skis, ATVs and other forms of motorized recreation are frowned upon, if not prohibited, in most areas. ``Up there, no one bothers you,'' she explains. ``You have the freedom to use your expensive toys.''
North Swan Beach, Seagull, Carova and the other off-road communities front the one buildable stretch of beach where people still takes a back seat to nature. Fewer than 60 property owners call this 11-mile stretch home. In North Swan Beach, eight miles north of the paved road, fewer than 10 houses have been built on the subdivision's 200 lots.
The ratio of houses to unimproved lots is just about average for the off-road developments which total more than 2,000 lots. Although sales in Carova Beach started in the 1960s, interest in the subdivision waned when plans for a beach road connecting Virginia Beach directly to the Outer Banks fell through.
Today, federal and state nature preserves on both sides of the state line make such a road about as likely as snow in July. But North Carolina has approved plans for a bridge from Currituck County's mainland to Corolla. The bridge won't make the off-road miles any easier, but it will put Virginia an hour closer.
The prospect of being close enough to commute between Hampton Roads and the northern Outer Banks is a selling point not lost on Swan Island Properties, the developers of North Swan Beach. They see an opportunity to get sales on a roll.
To prime the pump, Swan Beach Properties is offering 90 percent developer financing at 9 percent interest with no points. And to keep the dollars flowing, they've taken their real estate broker's advice to encourage building.
``Their purpose is to sell the property,'' says Cole. ``We told them if they want to sell, they need to build a model home.''
The house helps customers visualize what can be done with the land. It allows them to see the ocean views possible from five or six lots off the oceanfront. Seeing the house there, ready to go, sells.
Since the model house was finished a month ago, four North Swan Beach lots have been sold with its help, says Cole. And they've had two offers on the house. The builder, Waldt Construction, is already working on plans for another model to be built when this one sells.
The buyer profile for North Swan Beach is much like the profile for buyers on Hatteras Island 10 or 15 years ago, or in Nags Head and Kitty Hawk before that.
These buyers don't want luxury as much as they want privacy and solitude.
They're willing to put their money into real estate but they're not looking for a quick turnaround in cash. They need a bargain to afford a beach home and they find it off the paved road: Land costs 50 to 75 percent less than Duck or Corolla (construction, however, costs about 10 percent more due to the logistics of off-road travel - and usually takes 25 percent longer).
Most North Swan Beach buyers will not rent their homes, although they like knowing rentals are an option. (Houses like the Resort Realty model rent for $700 a week or more in-season.) They want the house ready and waiting when they hop in the car to drive from Chesapeake or Richmond for a bluefish run or a warm December weekend.
North Swan Beach meets all the criteria, says Cole. ``It's easy to fall in love with it.''
The off-road communities, like every other place on the Outer Banks, have changed over the last 10 years. Old-timers view the increased construction and traffic with alarm while newcomers see wide open spaces and a chance to get away from the hustle of city life.
What these few miles of beach will be 10 or 20 years from now is anyone's guess. Conventional thinkers would look at history and say that development will continue to change this place as surely as it's changed the villages to the south. But without hope for a paved road, Cole believes the off-road beach won't lose it's wild edge. ``What you see is what you get,'' she says. ``If you like it today, you'll like it in 10 years.''
``This is the ocean frontier,'' she says. ``It's adventure property. It's not for everyone.'' If you like the north beach as it is, you have to hope she's right. For more information about North Swan Beach properties, contact Resort Realty, TimBuck II Shopping Village, Corolla, 919-453-3700 or 919-441-1411. MEMO: Send comments and questions to Chris Kidder at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head,
N.C. 27959. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CHRIS KIDDER
The first model home in North Swan Beach is a no-frills getaway
going for $105,000 including the lot and an ocean view.
by CNB