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[quote=Anonymous]We owned an OBX rental for about a decade and can answer a few of the previous questions based on our experience.

Depending on when you buy, it can be very difficult to make any money on these rentals even when they are fully booked during the high and higher seasons.  Renters are very tough on the properties and wear and tear is a real issue.  Each renter is replaced with another renter with virtually no turnaround time, and the new arrival is paying good money and expects everything to be in good working order. 
That means your management company is replacing common items -- a blender, for example -- all the time and at premium prices.  Management fees and wear and tear costs are simply outrageous.

The salt air, harsh winters -- and, again, the renters -- are very hard on HVAC systems.  You need to replace them two or three times as often as your primary residence, and then some.

Pools aren't maintained for free.  Beach furniture rusts and damages very easily and needs to be replaced often during the summer.

Flood insurance will easily cost hundreds of dollars a month and can be more.

When you see that houses are not available for many months in the winter, it's generally not because they're fully rented -- it's because they're taken off the market and the house is shut down.  This is because in OBX the only homes that will consistently attract winter rentals are those directly on the beach, and even there only at dramatically reduced rates.  For most owners, the expenses involved in keeping the homes on the market for those months just don't make sense given the low rents.

OBX home values really fluctuate depending on the economy.  We bought when prices were high, unfortunately, and sold when prices were in the middle of a long decline.  If you were fortunate enough to buy at a low point, I imagine you can do well enough -- unlike sale prices, rental prices have only gone up -- but recent buyers are not in this situation.

Our OBX investment was, in short, by far the worst financial decision we ever made.  [/quote]

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