I live, work and play on the island of Bogue Banks. My company, which I founded, is Pine Knoll Shores Realty and is located almost dead center of that island. I'm about 10 minutes from the bridge to the mainland and I can't imagine living anywhere else.
I sell property on the mainland and love the little towns over there too, but not the same way I love my home town of Pine Knoll Shores.
I just had an email from a potential buyer asking why prices are so much more on the island. Her question made me revisit that issue and try to put in words why I think it is.
I decided years ago that my heart would shrivel up if I had to move off the island and that I could live with much less house in order to walk on the beach anytime I wanted to; in order to hear the surf anytime I'm outside or have my windows open; to laugh with the gulls, to feel that ocean breeze that washes across the island constantly and to live amongst the diversity of people who are Pine Knoll Shores.
Many other people feel the same way and that's why it costs more to buy property on the island.
So, if you don't mind an occasional evacuation because of a hurricane, the extra time it takes to get anywhere, a little more traffic in the summer, a lot of quiet in the winter, wind, constant sand on your floors, salt spray on your car and windows, tourists, mosquitoes, sand tax, higher insurance premiums, and visits from relatives you forgot you had, you just might want to live on the island.
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