Come hellish winds or high water: Real estate on Outer Banks, Ghent remains resilient

(WAVY) — While the effects of climate change are hurting home values in the Northeast and West Coast , properties locally are surprisingly resilient as higher-end homes along the Outer Banks and in the Ghent section of Norfolk continue to sell.

In Rodanthe, along the Outer Banks, six oceanfront homes have collapsed into the water in recent years thanks to beach erosion from pounding surf, as well as stronger, more frequent storms.

But Nelene Gibbs of Gibbs Realty Group , who’s been a realtor for more than 20 years, said the market is defying the tide.

“Everyone wants to see the water,” she said, overlooking a section of Rodanthe beach dotted with support posts that until recently were the base for homes. Those skeletons of former seaside property aren’t enough to scare away buyers.

Gibbs said Rodanthe real estate is resilient because once you invest, the money, like the tide, will return.

“If you spend a million dollars on a seven-bedroom house and you can rent it for $180,000 a year, you do the math. It’s gonna pay for itself pretty fast,” she said.

And who’s awash in that much cash? More people than you might think.

“It’s amazing how many of them are doing cash,” Gibbs said. “We get a lot of cash buyers. I would say maybe 50% are cash buyers.”

Instead of losing value because of the effects of climate change, sale prices have risen. According to Gibbs, they’re up 10% from last year in Rodanthe, with an average sale price of $670,000.

Right on the ocean, Gibbs points to a larger home that could bring close to a quarter of a million a year in rentals. But there’s no guarantee it will continue.

“You’re always taking a chance on that investment,” Gibbs said.

When property values in the Northeast go south, so do the buyers.

“We have had a tremendous amount of New York and New Jersey buyers,” Gibbs said. “They can come down here and they think for a million or two million, they can get something where they can see the ocean.”

Gibbs said even if a major storm flattened the Outer Banks real estate market, it would eventually re-emerge.

“As soon as it receded, they’d be back there building because these are very resilient people that have been here since the 1800s or longer.”

Ghent faces own challenges

A hundred miles north of Rodanthe, Norfolk’s Ghent section has its own set of environmental challenges. It’s known for rising rain gauges and flooded streets.

Realtor Alexandra Serrano of The Realty Group said that seeps directly into the psyche of home buyers.

“Their biggest concern is the flooding,” she said, and what that flooding would cost now and in the future — “the impact on their insurance premiums and the damage it could cause to their personal property.”

But Serrano said Ghent’s flood-prone reputation and reality don’t always flow in the same direction.

“I think it’s been associated more with knowing that it floods versus the actual aftermath of the flooding,” Serrano said.

She is listing a house on Langley Road for $600,000 and because it’s in West Ghent, it’s been on the market longer than she would have liked. Serrano said the house has never had flood damage.

A recent real estate map of Ghent showed 38 properties — nine are for sale and 29 are either under contract or have already sold this year. But Serrano points out that only three of the 38 require flood insurance.

“A lot of that is a misconception that the buyers have, because if you look at the data and the research, there really isn’t that much flood insurance required in this area,” Serrano said.

Even if some of Ghent’s reputation is unfair, it’s not stopping sellers from asking big bucks.

Most of the properties on the map are listed at $500,000 or more — with one them having already sold at $1.7 million.

The market here remains on course because it remains convenient to hospitals, downtown offices, entertainment and night life.

Serrano suggested that buyers have an elevation survey done. It can end up saving hundreds of dollars a year in insurance costs, and FEMA offers grants through the city of Norfolk for flood mitigation assistance.

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