http://jpeterken.seacoastrealty.com/blog/archive_201807/sort_entrydatetime-desc/ North Carolina’s over 300 miles of coastline see millions of visitors each year and help to sustain a multi-billion-dollar tourist industry. But the residents and fans of the NC coast aren’t just about dollar signs and bottom lines, and that’s why these carefully protected and beloved beaches also support a vast and amazing ecosystem which ranges from shorebirds to sharks and includes a number of species of sea turtle, some of whom choose to make their nests along our shore.  About our Turtles Five species of sea turtle visit the barrier islands of North Carolina--the Hawksbill, the Kemp’s Ridley, the Leatherback, the Green Sea Turtle, and the Loggerhead. The majority of turtles nesting in our area are Loggerheads. Sometimes Green and Leatherback turtles nest here; there have only been two recorded Kemp’s Ridley nests in NC.  Female turtles begin laying in May. Baby turtles emerge between July and September. The NC Sea Turtle Project Under the auspices of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission’s Division of Wildlife Management, over 1000 volunteers, working with a number of local organizations monitor our beaches throughout nesting season and inform and educate the public year-round.  Many of these local organizations offer Turtle Talks, an opportunity to learn about the our local flippered friends. Learn more about turtle talks in Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Kure Beach, and Wrightsville Beach.  On-season monitoring starts in the early mornings of May as volunteers scour the coastline for turtle tracks. Once a nest is verified, the perimeter is taped-off. As the nest nears hatching, volunteers will often create barriers around the area to help direct the hatchlings to the sea. There are a number of organizations that look out for the turtles on our local beaches: Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program, Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization, Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project (Carolina Beach), Sunset Beach Turtle Watch, Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project, Bald Head Island Conservancy, Oak Island Sea Turtle Protection Program. One of the most substantial sea turtle projects along our coast is the Topsail Turtle Project, located at The Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City, NC on Topsail Island. This 13,600-square-foot hospital heads up diagnosing, treating, and rehabbing North Carolina’s sea turtles in need.  Join the Party Want a front row seat to the sea turtle spectacle? Your best bet is to hang your hat in their neck of the woods. We have a number of gorgeous oceanfront properties that’ll give you the best seat in the house! 9 Sand Dollar Lane, Wrightsville Beach. Listed by Costin Real Estate Group, Midtown Office. 3704 N Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach. Listed by Chris Luther, Autumn Hall Office. 260 East First Street, Ocean Isle Beach. Listed by Frances Warner Real Estate Group, South Brunswick Office. 135 Ocean Boulevard W, Holden Beach. Listed by Dan Riley, South Brunswick Office & Barbara Andrews, Holden Beach Office. 2202 S Shore Drive, Surf City. Listed by Eric Sabourin & Jill Sabourin, Autumn Hall Office. 6715 W Beach Drive, Oak Island. Listed by Cronick & Associates, Oak Island Office.   http://jpeterken.seacoastrealty.com/blog/2455/the-sea-turtles-of-nc/ Fri, 27 Jul 2018 12:00:00 -0500 Bird Hike Aug 3Enjoy a leisurely bird-watching stroll around Halyburton Park the first Friday of each month! These walks are for beginner birders and all are welcome.Mystery at the Library Aug 3Work in teams or individually to look for clues, listen to characters, and work your way through solving the mystery! For adults and teens.Record Club for Teens Aug 6Looking for something wholesome but cool to entertain your teen? How about record club at the NE Library this Monday? Snacks will be provided! Register in advance. Touch Tank Tuesdays Aug 7 (recurring)"Each week a variety of coastal plants and animals are carefully collected for Touch Tank Tuesday and later released...The rainbow of wildlife to view and hold varies each week." Mud Day  Aug 10&11Squish, stomp and slide in the mud, make mud pies in the mud kitchen, explore Magic Mud and other new gooey concoctions, all at the Children's Museum of Wilmington!Creative Forces: Open Studio Sessions Aug 15 (recurring)The Jacksonville-Onslow Council for the Arts hosts free, weekly art studio time for active duty and veteran military service members. No prior art experience, equipment or commitment required. Just drop in and meet other service members who enjoy the arts in a relaxed, social and creative environment. Each session is led by a local artist/mentor who has experience working with service members. Bring your own artwork or learn new skills/techniques and collaborate on group projects.Veterans Services Aug 17Join a Veteran Disabled Outreach Specialist with the Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Solutions for information for veterans on medical care, housing, food, and other necessities.Teen Sci-Fi & Fantasy Club Aug 17Bring your favorite book to read and share with the group! Teens 12-17 welcome. Register in advance! 13th annual O’Neill-Sweetwater Pro-Am Surf Fest  Aug 17-19Don’t miss 2nd largest surfing event on the east coast, this weekend in Wrightsville Beach! The 13th annual event will feature surf vendors, art and live music! Paws4Vets Arm Wrestling Challenge Series Aug 18Food and drinks, dunk tank, bounce house, and more! The paws4vets Assistance Dog Placement Program provides customized Assistance Dogs to Veterans, Service Members, and their dependents with physical, neurological, psychiatric, or emotional disabilities. Kure Beach Annual Community Center BBQ Aug 18Enjoy a generous plate of barbecue, beans, coleslaw, potato salad, a roll, and dessert accompanied by a refreshing drink. Relax inside the beautiful community center with friends and neighbors while listening to songs performed by local artist Eric Keely.16th Wilmington Family YMCA Kid's Triathlon Aug 18Kids ages 5-13 get the ultimate triathlon experience! All participants receive a finishers medal and tshirt. All proceeds benefit youth programs of the Wilmington Family YMCA! Vegetable Gardening 101 Aug 18Learn to plant and tend vegetables at the Onslow County Discovery Gardens! 15th Annual Leland Under the Lights Car Show Aug 18More than 200 vehicles and over 15 trophies awarded including Best in Show, Most Unique, and more! Rain or Shine!! Cycle for Youth Science Aug 25Join Wilmington-area kids for this community fundraiser for local nonprofit organizations: the Young Scientist Academy and A Bike for Every Child.   Inaugural Rock the Beach Festival Aug 25Bring your own coolers and listen to the top three Tribute Bands in the Southeast today perform all of your favorite classic songs, all while you are closing out the summer on sunny and beautiful Carolina Beach.Cape Fear Comic Con Aug 25Zombies, Superheroes, Ghosts, Fantastic Artists and Writers, Mad Scientists and Fans Set to Converge on Wilmington! Get your costume ready and prepare to nerd out in style!! Sunday FUNday for Autism Aug 26Enjoy your Sunday Funday at Silante Irish Pub to benefit children with Autism. This event features food, fun and raffles for some really excellent prizes including a beach cruiser and an ATV! 21st Annual Lumina Daze Fundraiser  Aug 26Step back into a time where big bands played and people danced the night away to benefit the Wrightsville Beach Museum of History College Sports Recruiting 101 Aug 28Do you have a student athlete at home? This NCSA College Sports Recruiting event will help you and your student learn how to take control of his or her athletic journey. Hosted by Lejune High School.Teen Advisory Board Aug 30New Hanover County Public Library is looking for teens with ideas about how to make the library even more awesome. Volunteer credit hours will be offered for participating. REGISTER ONLINE.  http://jpeterken.seacoastrealty.com/blog/2454/august-events/ Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:00:00 -0500 As we reach the midway point of beach season, Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage wanted to take an in-depth look at home prices and other details in some of our amazing beach communities courtesy of North Carolina Regional MLS statistics.The hottest – no pun intended - and most affordable beach community in the region – and maybe around the nation - is Brunswick County’s Oak Island where the median price of a home sold in June was $267,500.  This was up 11.7% over a year ago after a brisk June sales period where 70 homes were sold, the most in the region and up 22% over last year.  Amazingly, you can live at the beach in Oak Island for LESS than the national median price of $276,900!“We are a sleepy beach town for people who want family time,” said Carol Averitte, managing broker of the Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage office in Oak Island. “We don’t have chain restaurants although we do have our Dairy Queen!  We have been discovered over the years largely because of the building going on in St. James Plantation, and the exposure we have gotten from HGTV, and when the movie ‘Safe Haven’ was filmed down here a few years ago. We have quite a few buyers from Charlotte, Raleigh, Carey and Greensboro purchasing second homes here and, of course, continued interest from Northeasterners.”          Brunswick County’s other three major beach communities – Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach and Sunset Beach also saw price increases with median home prices in the $400,000 range.  There were 19 homes sold in Ocean Isle Beach, which saw a 37% increase in median price over last June, the highest increase of any of the major beach communities in the region.Carolina Beach Homes Selling QuicklyAnother incredibly affordable beach is Carolina Beach in New Hanover County which mirrored what is happening nationally.  A tight supply of homes saw a diminished number of sales leading to quick sales and increased prices.  There were 41 homes sold in June, which was down a dramatic 35% from last June, and the median price of these homes was $305,000, up almost 4%.  These homes sold in just 67 days, more than half as quickly as last year.“The people who live in Carolina Beach essentially traded a lower price for longer commute to the airport and highways compared to Wrightsville Beach,” said Kimberly Sands, Broker-in-Charge of the Carolina Beach office for Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage. “We are a happy little island and have plenty of shopping and restaurants and are only 10 minutes from Monkey Junction. We are seeing quite a few multiple bids on homes and we are explaining to those who are interested in buying a home here that they need to be ready because they may not have as much time to make a decision as in years past.”Wrightsville Beach is Crown JewelWrightsville Beach, which is 18 miles up the coast, remains the crown jewel of our beach community where the median price of homes sold in June was $894,999.  As you would imagine, because of the more expensive prices, it takes quite a bit longer to sell a home -- 199 days.“We are the Caribbean of North Carolina with our quaint community, white sandy beaches and crystal blue water,” said Sherri Pickard, Managing Broker of the Autumn Hall office of. Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage. “We have become one of the more exclusive communities in the region and that transition began in the early 1990s when the I-40 Connector was completed, giving those in the Research Triangle easy access to the beach.  We have had 37 homes over $1 million sell in Wrightsville Beach over the last year.  But you can still find small 500-foot square foot original cottages mixed in with our incredibly beautiful homes.”Continuing north, Pender County’s Topsail Beach was the second most active beach community in the region with 62 homes sold in June.  It was also the third most affordable with a median price of $358,750, up 2.5% from a year ago.Looking at the Overall MarketAs you can imagine, our beach communities – except for Oak Island - are more expensive than most housing markets around the nation. National Association of Realtors reports in its latest Existing Homes Sales Report that home prices nationally rose to a record $276,900 a 5.2% increase over last June.  This is largely because of the low number of available homes is creating a supply/demand imbalance.Nationally, we are in a sellers’ market with a 4.3 month supply of homes, far below the 6-month number that equates to a balanced market where the supply of homes meets the current buyer pool and neither the buyer nor seller has a negotiating advantage.  As you would imagine, homes are selling really quickly across the county with more than 58% selling within a month.For those of us who are looking for homes away from the beach, here is a look at what is occurring at the county-wide level.Pender County is the only one in the Cape Fear region where June median sales prices were above the nation mark.  Inventory challenges saw the number of sales decrease by 12.2% to 158 but prices increased to $280,950, up 1.8%.  New Hanover County, home to the always popular Wilmington market, was the most active of our for Southeast North Carolina counties in June.  There were 578 homes sold last month, up nearly 5% from year ago and prices rose 7.1% to $263,402 essentially mirroring the national numbers.Brunswick County followed in affordability with 534 homes sold in June equating to a median price of $226,070.Onslow, is one of the most affordable markets in the nation with a median sales price of only $170,000, a 4.8% gain. It saw the largest uptick in sales last month with 516 homes sold, an increase of 16% over last June.  The attractiveness also increased the speed that homes sold – just 73 days which was down almost 30% from last year.Here is a detailed look at home sales activity in June according to North Carolina Regional MLS: CountyHomes Sold/% or -Days on Market/% or -Median Sold Price/% or -NEW HANOVER (Total)578/ 4.9%65/ 4.8%$263,402/ 7.1%Wrightsville Beach14/ 16.7%199/ 79.2%$894,999/-13.5%Carolina Beach41/-35.9%67/-55.3%$305,000/ 3.8%Kure Beach19/ 216.7%101/ 18.8%$425,000/-11.7%BRUNSWICK (Total)534/ 2.1%89/-14.2%$226,070/ 4.0%Oak Island70/ 22.8%95/ 4.4%$267,500/ 11.7%Holden Beach13/ 8.3%96/-59.3%$492,500/ 7.6%Ocean Isle19/ 35.7%104/-44.7%$465,000/ 37.1%Sunset Beach8/-11.1%105/-50.5%$427,500/ 17.3%PENDER (Total)158/-12.2%86/-18.1%$280,950/ 1.8%Topsail Island62/ 5.1%114/-34.5%$358,750/ 2.5%ONSLOW (Total)516/ 5.176/-15.6%$220,000/-2.3%    http://jpeterken.seacoastrealty.com/blog/2453/everything-is-better-at-the-beach-especially-real-estate/ Tue, 24 Jul 2018 12:00:00 -0500 What is more refreshing than a trip to the pool? A pool of your very own, right in your own back yard! If you have pool envy (and trust us, we can relate), we would love to help you find your perfect home with the pool of your dreams right out back. Check out these homes with pools and if you have any questions, feel free to call us at 910-202-2830, or call one of our Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage agents! 413 Dungannon Boulevard, Wilmington. Listed by Shane Register, Midtown Office. 218 Sea Gull Lane, Wilmington. Listed by The Carolinas Finest, Jessica Edwards & Associates, Autumn Hall Office.4 Forest Hills Drive, Wilmington. Listed by Jane Elmore, Autumn Hall Office.5 Moore Street, Ocean Isle Beach. Listed by Frances Warner Real Estate Group, South Brunswick Office. 134 Colquitt Drive, Wilmington. Listed by Lindsay Marhold, Carolina Beach Office. 709 Rawles Court, Wilmington. Listed by Allison Horton & Louie Chirco, Autumn Hall/Midtown Offices. 331 Lafayette Street, Wilmington. Listed by Sandy Monroe & Associates, Autumn Hall Office. 790 Lloyd Court, Shallotte. Listed by Nancy Mooring, South Brunswick Office. 162 Freedom Boulevard, Whiteville. Listed by Sonya Blackmon, South Brunswick Office. 905 Winchester Road, Jacksonville. Listed by Renee Brandon, Jacksonville Office.   http://jpeterken.seacoastrealty.com/blog/2450/homes-with-pools!/ Mon, 23 Jul 2018 12:00:00 -0500 A few weeks ago we asked our friend, Pam Hurt, with 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty, to help us understand what a home warranty is and how it works. Today she’s back to chat with us about how a home warranty helps make your home attractive for more buyers, to get it sold faster, and to get it sold for more!  What is the benefit of a home warranty to a home seller?A home warranty service agreement gives peace of mind to the buyer, that makes your listing more attractive to a buyer than one without a warranty. According to the Service Contract Industry Council, Having a home warranty service agreement in place helps a home sell 11 days faster and for $2,300 more. Another great stat, which comes from the National Association of Home Builders, is that 8 out of 10 home buyers prefer buying a home with a warranty.How does a home warranty transfer, and does it cost me anything as the buyer?There is no fee to transfer the warranty from the seller to the buyer. The warranty will convert to the buyer the day of closing. All your agent has to do is update us with the closing date and buyer's information!So even though the previous owner bought the appliances, heating and cooling system, those products are still covered?Yes. A home warranty covers the property not the homeowner.What if I buy new appliances? They are eligible for coverage! Just contact your Southeastern North Carolina Warranty Rep, Pam Hurt! http://jpeterken.seacoastrealty.com/blog/2448/home-warranties-get-homes-sold/ Wed, 18 Jul 2018 12:00:00 -0500