Outer Banks on the Web

Southern Shores has approved a $5.8 million budget that includes a 1.25-cent tax increase for operations and another 3 cents to build a capital improvement fund. With a budget scorecard. full story ?

More here:
Southern Shores OKs 4.25-cent tax increase

Just a friendly reminder if you are making reservations at the Outer Banks. When you look online at properties for rent remember the fees that you don’t see. For example, we are traveling with 2 small dogs and decided to stay at a Stan White rental property. There is a $150 per pet fee. That means $300 extra on our bill. Next is the travelers insurance at $95, optional. This protects you against bad weather like hurricanes, mandatory evacuations, illness cancellation etc. Usually a good idea. Then there is the deposit. In the case of Stan White Realty you have two options. First, you can give them $500 and you get it back 45 days after your trip is over. The other option is to just give up $69. Next is your credit card fee of $30. If you use your check routing and account number rather than a credit or debit card you can negate this fee. Next is your $135 administration fee. I suppose that goes to the person that answers the phone because when you are all said and done you’ve spent an hour or two on the phone checking your bank balance and making decisions with your spouse as you see the price climb. Don’t forget the taxes either. It is a whopping 12.75%!

To sum it up just look at the price on the property you want to rent and add about 80% more. Double it and add $100 if you do have pets. Our $1,100 13 night stay ends up being $2,336.65.