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We love the Outer Banks, and we've been vacationing here since the 1990's. Having grown up near the Jersey Shore, we were amazed at the quiet beauty of Corolla beaches when we first visited.  Our family would spend hours/days/weeks playing in the sand & surf, watching for dolphins, building castles, riding waves, and just relaxing in the sun.  We've watched our children play here in the summer, and we've enjoyed grown-up getaway weekends in the off-season, too.  Steve and I decided years ago that we want to retire in Corolla. . . some day. 

Whalehead Beach has always been a favorite destination for us, not only for its beautiful beach, but also because it is so close to Corolla's fabulous shops and restaurants, with Timbuck II & Monteray Plaza bordering on the south and Corolla Light to the north. (As foodies, we have rarely been disappointed by the local chefs. Our home city of Philadelphia is well-regarded as a great restaurant town, but we still miss our OBX favorites when we're away too long!)  Houses in Whalehead Beach sit on large 100' x 200' lots, so there is plenty of open space and also privacy, as neighbors are not right on top of one another.  The community is 2.5 miles long, but just 3 streets wide, so it's a short walk to the beach no matter where you are.  I'm sure many locals and vacationers alike would agree that this section of Corolla is one of the premier destinations in all of the Outer Banks.

Over the years, we have watched as the building trend in Corolla changed from "cottages" to what some would call "McMansions."  It is not uncommon for houses now to have 6, 8, 10 or as many as 14 or 16 bedrooms and a price tag to match.  Many of these places rent for more than $10,000 per week, some as high as $25,000 - yes, per week!  Sure, they are gorgeous. Sure, they have more bells & whistles than you could ask for (or might even use during your stay.) And yes, if several large families vacation together, you could certainly divide the cost (and hopefully not get on each other's nerves and still speak to each other by the end of the week ; )  

But unfortunately, if you are a single family, or maybe parents/kids/grandparents vacationing together, or even a couple looking for some quiet time away from it all. . . there aren't as many options for you (or us) in Corolla anymore.

{size doesn't matter}

For a long time, the Corolla real estate market was booming - no really: BOOMING.  Many people invested with short-term goals, knowing that even if they could not break even on rental income, they could sell a property in just a few years and make a huge profit. All the more reason to build bigger & better - it might be worth twice the original price in a very short time. As you can imagine, all that changed when the housing market crashed.

We've been actively looking at homes in Corolla for several years. We've seen prices plummet and many buildings sadly fall into disrepair.  Unfortunately, when we would run numbers on rental projections, even foreclosed homes seemed to be a long-shot to pay for themselves with rental income.  Steve felt strongly that we would need at least a 6 to 8 bedroom house to generate enough rent to break even.  But a big house comes with a big price and requires a big down payment of cash, which we didn't have just sitting around. Plus, a big house with a high weekly rental rate made me very nervous: what if we didn't book our whole summer? Even one open week would mean thousands of dollars lost that was supposed to be used to pay the mortgage. What then?

So we also looked at condos and townhomes. Yes: lower prices, and yes: lower rents. But no: the rental income still didn't seem to cover the mortgage and high association fees and many were far away from the beach.

That's what we really want: to be as close as possible to the beach. We have always dreamed of having a home right on the water, but the rational side of both of us (okay, more Steve than me) knows that even IF we could somehow afford the price tag. . . well the insurance, the taxes, the maintenance - and the rare chance that one day it might just wash out to sea during a hurricane - are all good reasons not to buy an oceanfront property. (A girl can still dream, right?)

Instead, we thought about SEMI-oceanfront homes.  These are close enough - just one lot back or across a small street from the ocean. Close enough that we could be on the beach in minutes (or run back to the house for a quick potty break during the day.) Close enough that we would hear the sound of waves crashing and see the sunlight shimmering over blue water from our decks.  Close enough to our dream. . . but still far enough beyond our budget : (  

Until one day this past February. . .  a real estate listing came thru email and caught my attention. . . I quickly replied to our agent and asked "What's wrong with this one???" . . . and when Steve came in I asked him to sit down, and keep an open mind . . .

Semi-Oceanfront, in Whalehead, at a price too good to be true.  This was one of the original "cottages" built in the early 1980's.  Our agent looked into it and found that there was nothing seriously "wrong" - the home had belonged to one family for a long time and they were just not using it much anymore.

One story, only three bedrooms. The online photos showed very dated furniture & decor, but the house looked solid and the owner had paid for an inspection when she listed it.  It would need work, but we (Steve) won't mind getting our hands dirty (and I can shop.) We ran the numbers. . . it could work. . .

It would be more than a week before we'd be able to make the 6.5 hour drive to see it, and we heard that another buyer who was scheduled to see the house in two days had expressed a firm intent to make an offer at that time.  More calls were coming into the listing agent - everyone who had been watching Corolla real estate wanted details on this one.  The list price was LOWER than undeveloped lots in Whalehead Beach, so builders were interested in buying the little house just to tear it down and build something new. 

We decided there was no time to wait. We made the decision to put in an offer, sight-unseen.  Our agent drew up the papers and I wrote a personal letter to the seller, explaining why we wanted her house and how it would fit our family perfectly.  And then we waited. . .

It didn't take long. The next morning our agent called early: the OBX Little Beach House was ours! We couldn't quite believe it. . . and we weren't sure exactly what we'd gotten ourselves into.  And now the story - and the work - begins. . .