To make that transformational point, consider this: In 1984, there were about 420 homes in the still isolated community of Corolla still lagging within a nearly deserted postwar economy. By 1995, there were almost 2,000—call it 150 homes a year for eleven years. The footprint of Corolla Light alone was purchased (by a group based out of Virginia Beach) in total for those 240 ocean-to-sound acres for about three million dollars, a figure today exceeded by single oceanfront homes in the community selling for that amount. It’s worth pausing to consider the broader economic environment that helped shape the Outer Banks as we know it today and where that rapid growth originated.
Broadly, we have several things at work; at a national level, interest rates were on their way down from the Carter highs of the late 70’s and were relatively low, by recent comparison, for the start of Reagan’s second term. In a simple sense, it was cheaper to borrow money. Some tax reform, a key piece of Reagan’s re-election campaign, helped too. In short, the real estate investment landscape was hungry and positive. Bond markets began a forty-year bull run from 1980 through 2020 as well, making real estate even more attractive.
We also have some key people emerge in key places. The seminal Marc Basnight arrived in Raleigh in 1977, appointed by then-Governor Hunt to the North Carolina Transportation Board from his role in Dare County’s tourism bureau. That’s important because, in the early 1980’s, there were still no paved roads all the way to Corolla. He would go on to be elected to the State Senate in 1984, and became head of the appropriations committee in 1993 on his way to a unique career in North Carolina government. It was the influence of Basnight, among others, who helped pave the roads. Photographs from the initial community opening show a ribbon cutting on a freshly paved road without any paint markings.
And, above all there had to be someone willing to take a risk. The word entrepreneur is a French word meaning to build something from nothing, and there was a handful of people locally who had that exact kind of vision. The great Dick Brindley, a retired AT&T executive, came to Duck thinking about a restaurant. Taking an initial development leap into a small community in Duck called Northpoint, he applied his unique insight to an emerging niche for purpose-built vacation homes and boldly looked north at cheaper — and more — property. He took his relationships, what he’d learned, and an even grander vision with him.