Archives for January 2016

2015 Agent of the Year

January 14, 2016 By Ilona
2015 Agent of the Year

From left to right: Beth Urch, Sales Manager, Ilona Matteson, and Jimbo Ward, President.

Ilona Matteson, associate broker for Beach Realty & Construction / Kitty Hawk Rentals was named the company’s agent of the year for 2015.  Ilona also earned agent of the year honors in 2012.

Ilona was licensed in the late 1990’s and became sales manager for Beach Realty in 2002.  In 2006, she moved to Richmond, VA and was affiliated with a national coaching company where she excelled as a one-on-one coach for real estate professionals.  The allure of the Outer Banks brought her back to the beach and she resumed her career in real estate sales.  She quickly became a top producer and attributes her success to hard work, discipline and in-depth knowledge of the local market.  Along with her successful career in real estate sales, Ilona also offers training and coaching to the sales team at Beach Realty & Construction.

You can reach Ilona Matteson in the Duck office of Beach Realty & Construction/ Kitty Hawk Rentals at (252) 261-6600 or email [email protected].


Beach Realty & Construction/Kitty Hawk Rentals is a full-service real estate company offering an attractive and ethical environment for licensed real estate professionals to realize a successful career.  For more information about joining the Beach Realty sales team contact Sales Manager, Beth Urch at (252) 261-3815 or [email protected].  

Filed Under: Home Buyers' Tips & Advice, Home Sellers' Tips & Advice, New OBX Property Listing, OBX Real Estate News & Data, Outer Banks Good Living, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

The 2015 Outer Banks Market Report

January 14, 2016 By Ilona

We saw a lot of very positive signs in 2015 that continue to lead us on the path to recovery.  While we still have an oversupply of inventory on the market, keeping prices down, we have a double digit increase in number of sales.

The other interesting trend is showing more homes in the higher price ranges are selling and fewer homes offered in the under $300,000 price range.  That is showing our median sales price to be up, even though individual home prices aren’t rising at this point.

It’s virtually impossible for our home values to go up when inventory is still at a 15 month supply.  However, it’s a great step forward.  We saw a 20% increase in number of sales for 2012, then it steadied for 2 years until another big increase in sales for 2015.

Mortgage brokers are expecting a surge in activity the first part of 2016 to beat the Fed’s promise of rising interest rates.  We certainly have a year round market on the OBX and see great activity all year long.  The two spikes in activity happen in March/April and September/October.  No need to wait though, we can get your home sold any time of year.

Here is the breakdown of where we ended up for 2015:

  • Residential number of sales were up 11%
  • Average sales price was down 2%
  • Land sales numbers were down 5%
  • Average sales price was up 7%
  • Inventory was down 8%, being the lowest since 2007
  • Foreclosed home sales were down 37%

Next month I’ll provide a break down of each location individually so you can see how it compares year over year.

If you have any questions or would like additional information please let me know.

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Filed Under: Home Buyers' Tips & Advice, Home Sellers' Tips & Advice, OBX Real Estate News & Data, Outer Banks Good Living, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Currituck County’s PRELIMINARY Updated Flood Maps

January 14, 2016 By Ilona

The following information is copied with permission from the Outer Banks Association of REALTORS(R) .

Currituck County’s PRELIMINARY updated flood maps have been released. Information pdf on how to access the site. The link will take you to the flood map FRIS page, click on ok and then select the County (Currituck).In the upper right corner you will see “effective”. Go there and select “preliminary”. You will be able to look at the new proposed maps that will hopefully be adopted within the next year.

If you zoom in, you will start to see aerial views. By clicking on the map in a particular area you will get the information on the right side of the screen or you can search by using magnifying glass on menu at top left. Most of our county is seeing a significant change to elevations being lowered and many homes will come out of the flood zones or be classified into a lower zone (VE to AE for an example According to the NC Floodplain Mapping Office, the preliminary maps show that Currituck County has 11.5 square miles of V Zone (89.5% decrease from current maps) and 249.5 square miles of A Zone (24.75% increase):

  • ‪Under current mapping, there are 1,097 buildings in the V Zone; new maps show 126 buildings in the V Zone;
  • ‪Current maps show 7,020 buildings in the A Zone; new maps show 2,767 buildings the A Zone.

There are oceanfront V Zone properties that are coming completely out of the special flood hazard area – being changed to an X Zone!

Please keep in mind that these are only preliminary maps. They will have to undergo a 90-day appeal process, a public meeting process and final FEMA approval. This entire process could take up to 18 months. In the meantime –  good news overall for homeowners in the special flood hazard area!

Filed Under: Home Buyers' Tips & Advice, Home Sellers' Tips & Advice, OBX Real Estate News & Data, Outer Banks Good Living, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,