THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610170163
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: REAL ESTATE
SOURCE: Chris Kidder
LENGTH: 104 lines
When it comes to our state's northeast border, few would know where one state ends and the other begins if it weren't for the green highway signs welcoming Virginians to North Carolina.
Flat coastal farms give way to stands of sycamore, sweet gum, cypress and hickory. Tidewater rivers and creeks flow across the border and the Great Dismal Swamp pays no mind to the manmade boundary.
But home buyers have discovered that moving across the line into North Carolina means more than just a change of address: buying power increases because the land is cheaper (the cost to build a house is about the same) and property tax bills take a nose dive.
It's not just a matter of money, say folks who've made the move. Crime rates are lower; schools are better by many standards; and rural Tarheel Tidewater has a laid-back appeal no longer found in the incorporated cities across the state line.
As many as 90 percent of the residents who live in subdivisions in Moyock and other border communities may commute to jobs in Virginia. It's no wonder that the main thing stopping many Virginians from moving is summer traffic to the Outer Banks on Routes 17 and 168 and the lack of major improvements to those highways in Virginia.
The drive to major chain food, drug and retail shopping from the north end of Currituck County is another consideration. But, for most, getting away from all the things they dislike about living in the city overrides the inconveniences.
Nancy Bass, a real estate agent for Realty Executives in Virginia, says she shopped all over Tidewater before building a home in Moyock. She was able to build the house she wanted on a full acre of land and pay $10,000 less than she would have paid to build the same house on a quarter-acre in Chesapeake. When the annual property tax savings were figured in, it was a bargain she couldn't pass up.
Taxes are one of the most frequently cited reasons for making the move, say real estate agents who work the border. Moyock residents pay 73.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
Property taxes in bordering Virginia cities average $4 per $100. ``Whenever the tax bills go out in the Virginia area, we get a lot of calls,'' says Bass. South Mills, a pastoral village straddling the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterways just off Highway 17 in Camden County, is another area favored by Virginia commuters. Thirty minutes south of Portsmouth, 10 minutes from Elizabeth City, the village couples rural ambience with good schools and a lot of undeveloped land.
``There are a lot of beautiful building sites,'' says Town & County Realty Group agent Terry Saunders. ``People want the more country-type environment. They want to get out of the hustle and bustle.''
Saunders predicts that Virginians will buy more than half the lots in McPherson Estates, a new subdivision she listed near South Mills about seven months ago. Where else within easy driving of Tidewater can you buy a heavily wooded, near-acre lot with underground utilities, a public water system and restrictive covenants for $18,000 and pay a property tax rate of only 80 cents per $100?
For many home buyers, sales are clinched by the fact that Camden County schools outscored almost all the competition in North Carolina and Virginia on the national Scholastic Achievement Tests last year.
South Mills may be a little far from the border for Virginia commuters making their first move into Tarheel territory. Agents agree that first time buyers want to be as close to the border as possible. ``The closer to the line the better,'' says Town & Country Realty Group agent Jim Gibbons.
That's why Brian Inness, owner of Scot Realty and Construction, Moyock, isn't surprised when the houses he's built on Tulls Creek Road, just a couple miles south of the Virginia line, sell quickly. His latest house - a three bedroom, two-bath, 1,460 square-foot, energy-efficient home on more than a half-acre of land - lists for $113,200. ``The same house would cost about $150,000 in Virginia,'' he says.
But the demand for property farther south is growing as subdivisions closer to the border sell out and become more urban. Communities like Grandy, Bells Island and Powells Point are no longer considered outside a commuter's driving range, says Yvonne Parks, owner of Providence Real Estate. Elizabeth City. The Elizabeth City area - not much closer to the Virginia line - already has more than 10,000 residents who commute to Virginia.
Inness agrees. He opened an office in Grandy, halfway to the beach, and is marketing a new golf course community there to Virginians. With four-lane highway all the way to the Virginia border in the very near future, says Inness, ``Grandy is a lot nearer time-wise than it use to be.''
It's long been said that if the Outer Banks were more accessible to Virginia Beach, half of Tidewater would move down here in a minute. The proposed Currituck Sound bridge could make northern Currituck beaches commuting territory.
According to Carol Webb, a real estate agent with Long & Foster in Virginia Beach, there are quite a few people who are already commuting from Carova Beach. They keep a car on Knotts Island, cross the Currituck Sound by boat and drive to work from there.
``It's an incredible way to live,'' says Webb and she makes it clear that the words are spoken with envy, not disapproval. Those of us who live on the Outer Banks know what it's like to envied.
But as more people move farther south to share the affordable land, low taxes, open spaces North Carolinans in danger of losing their enviable status. If folks don't mind commuting from Grandy or Powell Point, Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil Hills isn't such a stretch: The border may be closer than people think. MEMO: Chris Kidder covers Outer Banks real estate for The Carolina
Coast. Send comments and questions to her at P.O. Box 10, Nags Head,
N.C. 27959 or e-mail to realkidd(AT)aol.com ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CHRIS KIDDER
New homes, complete with docks and sailboats, line the Atlantic
Intracoastal Waterway in Currituck County. by CNB