A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a 1943 semi-autobiographical novel written by Betty Smith. The story focuses on an impoverished but aspirational adolescent girl and her family living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, during the first two decades of the 20th century. So what does this book have to do with real estate in Carteret County, the Crystal Coast or Emerald Isle, for that matter? Well, in a 1947 Merrie Melodies cartoon, Bugs Bunny is being chased by a pack of menacing dogs in Manhattan In the climactic scene, Bugs is trapped in an alley and he grabs a book to fend them off. Suddenly, the dogs all stop, turn and run off. Bugs looks at the book title, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The dogs presumably ran to urinate on the tree.
That’s how rare a tree was in Manhattan back then. And, that’s about how rare a real estate listing is on the Crystal Coast right now. As I speak this, there are under 3,800 listings in our local MLS, an MLS which goes east from I-95 to the coast and which goes south from Goldsboro to Wilmington. Not three years ago, our MLS had over 13,000 listings. That’s a drop in inventory of roughly 70%. Compounding this catastrophic drop in inventory is the insatiable demand to purchase a home in Carteret and surrounding counties. A demand that cannot be met for three salient reasons. First, Carteret County is the third-largest county in North Carolina with a total area of 1,341 square miles. However, 62 % of this total area or 834 square miles is water, And, much of the remaining 500 square miles is unsuitable for building as it is classified as marshes, wetlands or national protected areas such as Croatan National Forest, Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Lookout National Seashore. federal or state property. If ever Mark Twain’s adage of “Buy land, they aren’t making it anymore” applied to a community, it surely applies to Carteret County. Second, the population of Carteret County is under 70,000. That’s a neighborhood in some large cities. And, while the COVID 19 pandemic heightened external interest in Carteret County, a lot of that interest was from people looking for an escape route, i.e. a second home rather than an abandonment, i.e. pulling up roots and relocating to Carteret County. In other words, the internal or permanent population is not demanding accelerated development. At this time.
Third, either way there’s not a lot of undeveloped land here in Carteret County. Take the town of Emerald Isle, for example. After purchasing the western half of Bogue Banks, the land that would become Emerald Isle, McClean and friends divided it into 54 blocks, 1,100 feet wide each, running from the sound to the sea. Of the thousands of raw land parcels initially created in Emerald Isle, back in the 1950s, roughly 300 remain undeveloped in 2022. Inasmuch as Emerald Isle is one of the newest communities or towns in Carteret County, it will be the available land and not the available demand that ultimately drives development. Fourth, I’ve said this many times: when people grab a piece of paradise, they don’t want to move or sell. And, if people on the Crystal Coast didn’t already know they owned a piece of paradise, the COVID 19 pandemic of 2020-21 certainly let them know, loud and clear..
To be sure, a lot can and does slip between the cup and the lip. Interstate 42 is coming. It’s being constructed as I speak. When this limited access, high speed road is complete, it will have a direct impact on Carteret County. If what happened in New Hanover county after Interstate 40 came to Wilmington, the population of Carteret county can expect to double in a relatively short period of time. If history proves correct, there will be another house pricing correction. Maybe after living in an urban setting all their lives, second home owners decide that the solitude and quiet of Carteret County is not quite their cup of tea. It’s not like we have a plethora of high end restaurants. Hurricanes are a fact of life here in Carteret County, too. I can remember back in 1997, after Hurricanes Bertha and Fran devastated the Crystal Coast, there were hundreds upon hundreds of homes for sale in Emerald Isle that winter. Heck, my wife and family looked at over 60 ocean front homes before deciding on the two that we purchased.
So, what is a home buyer to do if they desire to live along the Crystal Coast? Of course, everyone’s situation is different but if you were my customer or client, the first thing I would do is advise patience at this time. I don’t recommend you chase that tree growing in Brooklyn, or that one listing that just popped up in Emerald Isle. There ARE other towns and communities. Today, I am recommending that you look east, east of Beaufort to the Down East communities like Harkers Island, Bettie, Otway, Sea Level and Atlantic. I showed one client a 4 story home sitting on acreage, with a boat slip and an elevator on Adams Creek, recently. It has a forever view of the IntraCoastal Waterway. That same house in Cedar Point would be doubled in price and the bidding would be a feeding frenzy. Not the best way to purchase a home, in my opinion.
As the year progresses, I’ll have further thoughts on the real estate market in my area of specialty, Emerald Isle, Bogue Banks and the Crystal Coast. In the meanwhile, to learn more about how you can find a permanent home here in Carteret County, go to my website, www.EmeraldIsleHomesforSaleNC.com and sign up for my blog. Ready to buy or sell? Call me at 919-308-2292. Explore the video tab for my weekly uploads to my YouTube channel. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and receive free donuts at my Flip Flops Donut shop. Text your email address to 919-308-2292 and subscribe to my newsletter. My book, "Live Where You Vacation" is available on Amazon.com.
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