THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702210696
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 30 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY CHRIS KIDDER, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: 154 lines
There's nothing like dreaming about a hot sun and a blue ocean during the depths of winter. Just ask the dozens of Outer Banks real estate agents who book vacation rentals for the area's more than 40 property management companies.
Thousands of folks call between December and March to reserve their piece of spring, summer and fall.
But it's not just the idea of setting aside time to get away that draws people to the Outer Banks. They come here for a particular style of vacation that many resorts simply can't deliver.
Although the barrier islands offer just about any kind of accommodations a visitor might want, the majority are not the ``vacation around the clock 'til you drop'' or the``we do everything for you but let you be yourself'' kind of places.
Visitors come to the Outer Banks because they're looking for low-key comfort, family interaction, a home-away-from-home. They want to arrive, unpack and stay put - for at least a week. They enjoy staying in places that, while like home, have the extra luxuries that make vacations memorable and relaxing.
NOT SO SIMPLE: Years ago, being close enough to the ocean to be lulled to sleep by the surf was luxury enough. Or being able to walk to the beach to catch a wave or to cast a rod and catch dinner. For some, it was not having to dress for dinner, going barefoot 24 hours a day, foregoing telephone and television for board games and good books.
Today, says Suzan Brown, head of the Outer Banks Association of Realtors' property management committee, most visitors are looking for more than those simple pleasures. There's a growing demand for bigger and better cottages with more upscale luxuries.
Private swimming pools, virtually unavailable on the Outer Banks 10 years ago, have become commonplace in some communities; electronics, from big screen televisions to sophisticated sound and security systems, are taken for granted.
It's a bad news oxymoron, but vacationers are also demanding more business-oriented amenities like home offices with fax machines and computer terminals. The good news is that guests who can't leave work behind can find cottages that will, at least, give them the luxury of state-of-the-art communications and not having to work at the kitchen table.
But renters don't want just the trappings of a vacation, says Brown. One of the biggest changes she's seen in her 11 years in the business is the level of service.
Real estate agents are studying how to treat customers and improve customer relationships while agencies are providing a broader range of services that allow guests to tailor vacations to their personal expectations.
Brown understands the wide variety of properties required to satisfy vacationers. She manages the Martin's Point office of Sun Realty, one of the company's six rental offices that, combined, offer more than 1,000 properties on a weekly basis.
Sun's 1997 vacation rental brochure lists properties from Corolla to Hatteras Village. Rents range from a couple hundreds dollars per week off-season for small, older homes off the ocean to more than $6,200 for a seven-bedroom, 9 1/2-bath, 6,000 square foot oceanfront mansion in-season.
SMALL ADVANTAGES: Most companies don't have the resources to cover so much territory with their rental programs - and don't necessarily want to get that big. Staffs at small companies often have more leeway to provide services above and beyond what the average renter wants or needs.
They may have more first-hand knowledge of every property in their catalogs and be better able to help renters make appropriate choices.
Jim Crabtree, rental manager of Outer Banks Ltd., one of the oldest rental programs in the area, says his company has 200 rentals between Duck and South Nags Head. He's on the Internet, just as the big companies are, but he's not ready to turn over the reservation process to computer technology. And he believes his staff's familiarity with each cottage helps his customers.
``We still like to have direct contact with customers so that we can answer questions,'' explains Crabtree. Vacation cottages aren't like hotel accommodations where every unit is basically the same, he says. ``Every property is different.''
Outer Banks Ltd. was one of the first coastal property management companies to make vacation insurance available to renters.
The concept of insuring vacations where deposit and cancellation policies can produce monetary loss is not new: the cruise and tour industry has offered it for years. But last year was the first year that rental companies began encouraging their customers to spend 4 to 5 percent of their rental contract total on the insurance premium.
Over 50 percent of Crabtree's customers signed up for coverage from loss due to hurricane evacuations and cancellations, as well as illness, deaths in the family, jury duty, natural disasters at home or at the vacation place and other emergencies.
``Our customers have been very satisfied with it,'' he says.
Vacation insurance is great to have when you need it, explains one rental manager, but the most frequent cause of vacation disappointment is uninsurable: waiting too long to make a reservation. There is always something available, even at the peak of the season, but the best cottages and the best bargains are long gone.
Many rental companies now allow their guests to ``pre-reserve'' properties for the next year; that takes a chunk of cottages off the market before rental catalogs go to press.
Companies are accepting reservations earlier than ever before. Many begin in December, although the first week in January is the traditional hell week for reservationists.
By mid-February, 35 percent of all Sun Realty's vacation weeks were already booked, according to Janice Farr, who oversees all the company's rental programs. Reservations are up 20 percent from last year; by summer she expects to see a 10 percent overall increase. ``I have a good feeling about 1997,'' she says.
Reservations made in January, 1997, at B&B on the Beach, a Corolla-based agency specializing in upscale northern beach rentals, were up 35 percent over 1996, according to president Doug Brindley. ``Most prime, in-season weeks have less than 5 percent availability,'' he reported more than two weeks ago.
The glamour homes north of Duck are definitely hot accommodations, says Linda Hess, rental manager for Re/Max/Ocean Realty, Kill Devil Hills, but she likes to emphasize that not everyone wants ``all the bells and whistles.''
The Remax inventory of 260 properties includes dozens of older, affordable homes in the mid-section of the beach, acquired by her company's merger last year with Robert A. Young & Associates - and her company's reservations for 1997 are ahead of last year, too.
Remax also handles Barrier Island resort rentals, says Hess, catering to vacationers who don't need 4,000 square feet and eight bedrooms but do want the other amenities associated with upscale vacations.
MEANINGFUL DOWN TIME: Although it's far from the typical Outer Banks rental, there's a growing demand for ``package'' or theme vacations, says Brown. People are interested in self-enrichment; they want to do things away from the beach, learn something about history, pick up a new sport or skill.
She expects to see more rental packages featuring golf, fishing charters and other special interests.
``Renters are smarter about renting; they're smarter with their dollars,'' says Brown ``It's not enough anymore to just be at the beach.''
But no matter how much expectations have changed over the last few years, Crabtree believes Outer Banks visitors expect some things to stay the same.
``People will be surprised by the growth,'' he says, ``but the Outer Banks is still family-oriented. There's no boardwalks, no honky tonks, no high rises.''
He's right, of course. From a winter perspective, the beach is everything. MEMO: [For a related story, see page 36 of The Real Estate Weekly for
this date.] ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
CHRIS KIDDER
Photos by CHRIS KIDDER
Vacationers today expect fairly luxurious amenities in their beach
cottages. This one has a large dining table as well as a breakfast
nook.
Suzan Brown, who heads the Outer Banks Realtors, says theme
vacations are popular.
Photos by CHRIS KIDDER
Shannon Newbern of Sun Realty counts keys goe the cottages her firm
handles. Some 40 property management companies are on the Outer
Banks.