All about what life is like living in Carova; the only place I know on the East Coast where you can live at the beach, away from commercialization, and among wild horses.
Certain locals have wanted me to post some tips to the day tripers & vacationers that they feel will make everyones time at the beach more enjoyable. These are not my ideas but I will try to keep them as positive and productive. If you have any other tips to post, feel free to e-mail them to me at CarovaTips@JPPeron.com
3 important questions to ask when choosing and agent to represent you as a Buyer or Seller.
1)Do you live here yourself?
An agent who lived in the neighborhood or area day in and day out is likely to be more up to date on what is going on in the area.
2)What do you do, beyond what is provided through your company, to generate business?
It may be important to know if the agent is taking the initiative to build his business, or if they are just relying on minimal marketing provided by their company to bring them business.
3)Is selling real estate your only line of work, or is there another job that you do “Full Time”?
If an agent is split between 2 careers, or worse one career & one hobby (where real estate is the hobby) then that agent may not have the time available to be there when you need them or they may be more interested in their “real job” to give you the attention that you deserve.
This one came to me from a cleaner. It sounded almost unbelievable, but she says that she has had this happen to her on more than one occasion. I suppose 8 hours trapped in the car trying to get here can put a lot of stress on a person, so please think twice before doing this one. These are her words.
Many of the rental company employees (especially the cleaners) live local and if you want a friendly face to offer to get you unstuck with out calling the tow truck then think before you call them back to get sand out of the foyer. The house is on sand, your parked on sand, and think how many trips back & forth you just made getting the luggage in. If after you have done this, you notice sand laying by your shoes DO NOT call and insist that the cleaner come back from his/her dinner to clean up because “he/she obviously didn’t do any cleaning in this house".
OK, so this might sound like a silly tip but I am serious and this one is as much for the locals as it is for the vacationers. In the off season the beach is so empty that you soon forget about things like speed limits & right of way. Let’s face it when your essentially driving down a 10 lane highway with no lane markers & not another vehicle in sight, it’s easy to start cruising at 50mph. But once the weather gets nice like it did this past week-end the traffic starts to pick up and we will have to go back to following “The Rules of the Road”.
The traffic will increase usually in 3 stages.
Stage 1: The Day Trippers – these are the locals from the hard surface and the mainland as far back as Norfolk & Chesapeake. They are usually familiar with the beach and how to handle themselves on the sand. You can often spot them by their vehicle or should I say the size of the tires on their vehicle which can be borderline monster trucks.
Stage 2: The Vacationers – These people may or may not be here for the first time. Their vehicles are more street appropriate, don’t often have enough clearance, not true 4-Wheel Drive (there is a difference between AWD and 4X4), and they are usually running at near full tire pressure. They may also be driving a rental. There is a good chance that they do not know good beach etiquette or even the actual rules & laws for driving in Carova, and YES we do have laws up here. Which brings us to Stage 3.
Stage 3: The Police - Once we had reached stages 1 & 2, it was inevitable that this one would follow. At peak summer there can be 4 or more patrolling Carova at any given moment. Their vehicles blend in well with the traffic and they DO give tickets on the beach (I speak from experience). Some will be driving white Nissan Titan pick-up trucks and other will be patrolling on red ATVs. You would think that the ATVS would be easy to spot, but the life guards are also using them and many of the home owners have ATVs and red is a popular color. So be sure to follow the rules.
So here are some of the rules to follow to be safe and ticket free.
1)Keep within the speed limit.
Although it may not be adequately posted, there is a speed limit on the beach & it is a tricky one so read carefully. The speed limit on the beach is 35mph EXCEPT when you are within 300ft of a pedestrian. When you are within 300ft (100 yards)( 1 football field) the speed limit automatically drops to 15mph. Also, driving on the roads behind the dunes is the same as driving in any neighborhood. If there is no posted speed limit, then the limit defaults to 25mph.
2)Avoid other forms of “reckless driving”.
I have heard that the Sheriff’s Department is going to be paying more attention to what is happening on the other side of the dunes this year. They will be looking for speeders, people doing “doughnuts” and “Mudding” (purposely going into the puddles for the purpose of tearing up our roads further).
3)Yield to right of way traffic
There are about 10 neighborhoods with over 100 intersections on the off-road beaches of Carova & not a single stop sign. It is generally accepted the North-South traffic has the right of way over East-West traffic, and although you might not get a ticket for not yielding the right of way, it could cost you a nasty repair bill and long discussion with your insurance company. I hear that they don’t like to pay out once they find out you had taken the vehicle off of the pavment.
When is the best time of the year to enjoy Carova, or any place along the outer Banks. That is a matter of personal preference. But being as many of the locals are in the property management industry, I have been given some insists that might help everyone have a better experience here.
If anyone in your party is the “type A” personality and expects the house to appear just out of shrink wrap, then come in June when it is fresh not August when the house has gone through 10 other groups of people and is starting to show the usage. These house go through extensive cleaning and maintenance during the Spring to get them all clean and shiny for the Summer rental season. then the houses are cleaned in-between each group, but there is just so much that they can accomplish in the short window available to them between check-out & check-in. Consequently walls will get scuffed, carpet will show traffic pattern and may show stains, and; depending on how nice the previous tenants have treated them, they can start to look pretty worn out by the end of August. The staff all know that and they and they do their best, but if there is anyone in your party who is more concerned about the dust on the ceiling fan than the view out the window, then please, come early in the season.
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