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by Corolla Classic Vacations

Carolina by the Sea
Oceanfront: Pine Island
Bedrooms: 9 Sleeps: 22

A View to Sea
Oceanside: Ocean Sands
Bedrooms: 7 Sleeps: 18

Waverly
Semi-Oceanfront: Whalehead
Bedrooms: 9 Sleeps: 22

Dune Deck
Oceanside: Ocean Hill
Bedrooms: 7 Sleeps: 16

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Topic: General Information

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Main Topic Post: General Information

Posted By: Guest

Subject: newbie to OBX

hello, hope that I get some advice from some of you seasoned OBX vacationers...I am contemplating renting to the OBX next summer, and basically, to be blunt, I haven't the slightest clue where to begin. Is their one place/beachfront/area that is more advantageous to another? Can you provide information on good agents to use for rentals? Are their any website resources I can consult that might assist me in my search. Any advice you can give is a tremendous help!!!! Thank you so much. TJ

Message Replies:

37506: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 2:46:05 PM

Posted By: Guest

Sorry, I should be more specific, I am renting for family so I guess I want to stay away from the areas that are common for singles...Thanks again!!

37508: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 3:17:51 PM

Posted By: Guest

OBX is family oriented. Try Nags Head, South Nags Head area.

37509: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 3:25:25 PM

Posted By: Guest

TJ,

My PERSONAL advice is to go either north or south of the kill devil hills / nags head / kitthawk area. That area is definitely the most 'commercial' area of the outer banks, and while it's nice to stop there on the way or spend a day up there and over in manteo, it's not really my type of vacation.

I can't speak for up north (duck / corolla / corova) because we always stay south but I actually really LOVE that everything but the restaurants pretty much shutdown at 5.

I LOVE that we can play in the ocean or sound until sunset, have a later dinner, then just spend the evening enjoying the beautiful beach house - reading a book, sitting on the deck listening to the crickets, playing a board game with the family etc.

That's my idea of a vacation....playing in the water, walking on the beach, maybe doing a little fishing etc.

Like I said it's a personal preference.... we always stay on hatteras island - usually in Avon and we always book with surf or sound realty. We've been using them for almost 10 years and they've always been good to us We've never had a problem.

37510: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 3:29:44 PM

Posted By: Guest

One place is about the same as others. There are some differences but it depends what you like to do or not do. Staying in Kitty Hawk to Nags Head will provide the best all round choices of shopping and things to do. Staying In Rodanthe or Salvo will be quiet but you have to drive 20+ miles to shop or go to more than a very few restaurants. Corolla is a long drive up a 2 lane crowded road and the homes are big, so if you have a large group this might be ok.

You have a year to figure it out, there is no right or wrong answer so don't look for one. Those that come and stay in Avon will tell you its best, those that stay in Corolla will say its best and those who like Ocacoke will say that. My suggestion is to come, stay in Nags Head to Kitty Hawk and wonder out and explore and decide where the next year will be, you will like any place here so don't think to hard about it.

37512: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 3:38:58 PM

Posted By: Guest

yeah the general rule of thumb is nags head / KDH / kittyhawk is the most developed area (you can get fast food and there's a walmart along with outlets and other shopping) and if you go north or south it gets much quieter and less developed.

I don't reccomend waves / salvo / rodanthe because there really is NOTHING there. My wife and I got married in that area (we had to find a beach house big enough for all our 25 guests) and though it's absolutely gorgeous, the 25 minute drive to any type of shopping and choices of restaurant does get old after a few days.

like I said earlier. we stay in avon cause it's a nice mix. there's a food lion and movie theatre in a small shopping plaza. A fair amount of restaurants but still very quiet.

If you think you're going to want to mini golf, jet ski, parasail, go outlet shopping, going go-carting etc. then nags head is the place to go. If the thought of all that isn't all that enticing and you just want to be beach bums for a week then look either north or south of that area.

37515: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 4:09:14 PM

Posted By: Kelly

I've been going to the OBX since I was about 10 (so 17 years) and we've always stayed in the Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk area. I'm now married and have a 2 year old, so keeping him occupied is important. I've rented houses from Joe Lamb, Jr., Seaside Vacations and this year Kitty Dunes Realty. Never a problem with Joe Lamb, Jr. Fees hit you in the backside, so make sure you allow for that. Seaside Vacations was absolutely awful! I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy. Dirty house (which took multiple calls to get cleaned...our socks were black!) dirty pool, etc. Will never use them again. We've This is our first time using using Kitty Dunes, so I can't speak for them, yet, but so far so good! I love their discounts! Our favorite restaurant is Barefoot Bernies. Doesn't look like much from the outside, but they have the best food and even works well with kids. We go twice in a week we love it so much! Hope this helps and have a great trip. The Outer Banks is one of my very favorite places!

37518: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 4:55:33 PM

Posted By: Guest

The advice from a previous poster is good advice. We first started coming almost 10yrs back and stayed in Nags Head, since then I've moved up and down the island from Avon to Corolla to find the best community for our family's needs. It was wonderful experiencing each place and now we know where we fit best. No matter where you stay, you can always enjoy your family and the wonderful OBX beaches!

37521: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 6:06:30 PM

Posted By: Guest

Wow - my opinion is it would be hard to go wrong. Some personal taste comes into play. We have spent many weeks anywhere from Corolla all the way down to Frisco. Every area has it's charm. Duck and Corolla are great for families with kids, as long as you are not looking for tons of activities. KH, KDH and NH are more developed and a bit more crowded, but, you are closer to shops and restaurants. For a change of pace, Hatteras Island is the place. Less developed and simply beautiful. Your call !!

37525: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 6:49:01 PM

Posted By: Guest

Use the resources on this sit. Towns, where to stay and etc.

37541: RE: newbie to OBX

6/3/2009 9:00:15 PM

Posted By: Mark

You've asked a question that will get you as many different answers as there are people on the list!

I've only stayed north of Oregon Inlet once in 30+ years of visiting OBX, it's just not my cup of tea. But if you are looking for more commercial activities - nightlife, golf, fast food, etc. then you need to stay up that way.

Looking for a quieter area, mostly you, the beach and the sea, then somewhere on Hatteras Island might be to your liking. Since Hatteras Island is largerly the National Seashore, there are vast expanses of un-developed areas and wide open beaches.

We use Surf or Sound for our rentals. I like their web site, the pictures of the homes has always been pretty accurate to what they really are and you can easily locate the homes on their arieal photos. Not to say others aren't as well, it just like most people, I find something I like and I stay with it. They also have a new BLOG feature that has some somewhat localized kind of info.

A Google search will find you a wealth of info on the area. One other idea is to go to Google Earth and just 'fly over' the entire area to see what is there. You'll quickly see the variances between the Nags Head/Kitty Hawk area verses the Duck and Northern Beaches areas verses the Hatteras Island area.

We spend a week in Avon near the pier a few weeks ago and had a great time. Rainy and windy a few days - which was beautiful in its own way, and the warm and sunny the rest of the week. Getting out on the beach at night to see the stars is almost overwhelming!

37574: RE: newbie to OBX

6/4/2009 9:35:15 AM

Posted By: TJ

WOW, I have received the gamut of advice!! Kudos to all of you for you assistance!!

I am going to have a large group most likely (15-20 people at least, if not more :^) as it will be a family vacation. I am pretty sure from reading this board we will have a great time. It seems from the advice that Nags Head/KDH/Kitty Hawk might be best to entertain all that will be in the group. A couple more questions:
Will I be able to find a house large enough to accomodate our group size in those areas?
What can I expect to pay in rent say around mid to late-June?

Again, your advice thus far has been a tremendous help!!
TJ

37578: RE: newbie to OBX

6/4/2009 9:47:28 AM

Posted By: Guest

Lots of good advice on this thread. I like Duck and Corolla, rented there for years. There is a link at the top of the page, OBX towns which has some info you might find interesting. You can also check this link:
http://www.outerbanks.org/index.asp
The link pretends Corolla doesn't exist b/c it isn't in Dare County.
You can find some info on Corolla here:
http://www.twiddy.com/homes/

37588: RE: newbie to OBX

6/4/2009 11:33:24 AM

Posted By: Guest

Your best bet for finding a house for that size crew is most likely going to be Nags Head/South Nags Head. It's a nice area, we've stayed there several years and we love it for two reasons. It's close to everything but your not in the middle of it. We have used Cove, Sun, Beach Realty and Joe Lamb. Cove left something to be desired but wasn't horrible.....Beach Realty was by far the best! We rented Footloose through them and the homeowners were awesome. We arrived on Sat and that night had a terrible storm. The next morning we woke up and they were cleaning out the pool for us. It was our best experience ever and we had taken our entire family that year (20).

37663: RE: newbie to OBX

6/5/2009 9:21:39 AM

Posted By: Guest

37578 provided a good link with outerbanks.org. go through the tabs to search the area you would like to stay. I found a new map site called multimap.com. They have a good "Birdseye" view that will get you a good leg-up on what the places look like.

37854: RE: newbie to OBX

6/8/2009 10:51:26 AM

Posted By: Guest

as far as finding Mc Mansions that will be no problem. In late june you are probably looking at 6-7,000 a week to accomodate that many. It can get pricey but split it among the group and it is more manageable. That is what we do. About $1500.00 each for the rent for the week, then we split the grocery bill- 250.00 each and the rest is up to you for wahtever you may wanna do. hope that helps.

37891: RE: newbie to OBX

6/8/2009 3:26:05 PM

Posted By: Guest

Here are some house you might be interested in.
http://www.twiddy.com/browse/6-or-more-bedrooms/
Almost every rental company is discounting this year, and I don't think next year will be the same. Here's a current example.
http://www.twiddy.com/specials.aspx
If your group wasn't so large, and if you didn't have a specific house in mind, I'd suggest you wait until a couple of weeks out.

37896: RE: newbie to OBX

6/8/2009 4:13:02 PM

Posted By: Guest

OOPs, I misspoke when I posted 37891.
I DO think next year WILL be the same for discounting rentals as this year. Sorry if I confused anyone.

41608: RE: newbie to OBX

7/7/2009 6:58:40 PM

Posted By: guest

Surf or Sound Realty.
We tried another our 2nd year and were not happy. Had to clean the house top to bottom-took up most of the first day and then had to go back to the rental office for a filter for ac as the one in it was so filthy, we could not get cool air.
(Joe Lamb)
This is our third trip and we went back with Surf and Sound. They were so nice and helpful. We stay in Rodanthe or Waves each time as it is not crowded and is so very beautiful. Don't mind the driving into Kitty Hawk or Kill Devil Hills once and awhile. Area is worth it. We are from SC and would not stay in Myrtle Beach. Too commercial. Outer Banks is awesome!!!!!!

42578: RE: newbie to OBX

7/13/2009 8:12:51 AM

Posted By: South Nags Head

For a large group you will have no problem! we have been renting for 15 years, always Ocean front house with a pool that is a MUST! it is just not worth it otherwise in my opinion, we have tried many realtors and find Joe Lamb Jr the best - very accomdating and if something goes wrong they send a repair person right away. Also if you can be flexible...wait until two months before and check for "specials" on website to save some money
Good Luck

50120: RE: newbie to OBX

8/20/2009 10:39:28 AM

Posted By: Guest

been going there 9 years. you'll never go back to myrtle. obx is a place of it's own....we stay around nags head, 30 min drive will pretty much take you anywhere. please explore it all!! see ya oct 3

50121: RE: newbie to OBX

8/20/2009 10:40:21 AM

Posted By: Guest

been going there 9 years. you'll never go back to myrtle. obx is a place of it's own....we stay around nags head, 30 min drive will pretty much take you anywhere. please explore it all!! see ya oct 3

50123: RE: newbie to OBX

8/20/2009 10:41:44 AM

Posted By: guest

been going there 9 years. you'll never go back to myrtle. obx is a place of it's own....we stay around nags head, 30 min drive will pretty much take you anywhere. please explore it all!! see ya oct 3

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