NBC4’s Dan Hellie—with wife Anne and children Chase and Caroline—enjoys time in Duck and Bethany. Photograph courtesy of Dan Hellie

BETHANY BEACH

NBC4 sports anchor Dan Hellie grew up in Gaithersburg and has been going to Delaware’s Bethany Beach his whole life. He and his family, including two children, rent a house there every summer. “I’ve been to a lot of beach towns but never found one that has the perfect little boardwalk and quaint feel of Bethany,” he says. The Caribbean restaurant Mango’s (Garfield Pkwy. at the Boardwalk; 302-537-6621) is a favorite, and a stop at DB’s Fries (100 Garfield Pkwy.; 302-537-0880) is a must every summer.

Harvey Galper, an economist at Deloitte Consulting, bought a house in Bethany in 1977 when his children were eight and ten years old. Now he has two granddaughters, nine and six, who love coming to Bethany. Among their favorite things to do is get ice cream after dinner at Dickey’s (97 Garfield Pkwy.; 302-539-1119) and go to magic shows at Dickens Parlour Theatre in nearby Millville (35715 Atlantic Ave.; 302-829-1071).

A strong spring buying season has real-estate agents hoping that the market in Bethany has turned the corner. In the first four months of 2011, 39 single-family houses sold in Bethany—a significant uptick from the pace over the same period in 2010 (19 homes) and 2009 (13).

Realtor Leslie Kopp says many of the homes that sold in 2010 were smaller ones away from the water, which may help explain the relatively low median sales price for single-family houses last year: $490,000. Thus far this year, higher-priced properties are attracting buyers: The median price for single-family homes sold from January through April of 2011 was $806,250.

What $500,000 buys: Three blocks from the beach, a three-bedroom, two-bath ranch house sold in April for $475,000. It had originally listed for $550,000 and spent 21 months on the market.

What $1 million buys: Five months after listing for $1.2 million, a six-bedroom, five-bath house on the Loop Canal—less than three blocks from the beach—sold for $1.16 million in February.

OCEAN CITY

With its high-rise condos and summer traffic, Ocean City, Maryland, is rarely confused with the barefoot charms of Bethany. But that doesn’t bother Fox 5 news anchor Brian Bolter. “A lot of people think Ocean City is about rowdy high-school grads, cheap buffets, and Putt-Putt,” he says. “They obviously don’t know about the city’s hidden treasures. Selfishly, maybe that’s a good thing.” Some of Bolter’s favorite spots include the tiki bar Fish Tales (22nd St. and the Bay; 410-289-0990) and the waterfront crab shack Bahama Mamas (221 Wicimico St.; 410-289-0291).

In 2006, Bolter and his wife, Lisa, bought a 5,000-square-foot house in a new-home community on Assawoman Bay in nearby Bishopville. The neighborhood is a mixture of year-round residents, retirees, and vacationers. “The common thread seems to be a general disposition of no worries,” he says. “People here don’t sweat the small stuff.”

NBC4 meteorologist Doug Kammerer makes a point to give his children, ages four and two, the same Ocean City experience he had as a kid. Kammerer’s parents owned a vacation home in the town when he was growing up, and his extended family still gathers in Ocean City every summer, with members coming from as far away as Colorado and Florida.

Ocean City grew rapidly between 2000 and 2006, and it has been slower to recover than other nearby communities. Foreclosures still make up a significant portion of the inventory—294 homes sold in the first quarter of 2011, 15 percent of them foreclosures. Jennifer Cropper-Rines, president of the Coastal Association of Realtors, says Ocean City buyers can find a lot of good deals, particularly on condos with three or more bedrooms.

What $500,000 buys: A second-floor three-bedroom, two-bath condo on the bay at Hidden Harbor sold in January for $520,000, nine months after being listed for $599,000.

What $1 million buys: At the Gateway Grand, at 48th Street and the beach, a four-bedroom, three-bath eighth-floor condo with ocean views sold in April for $899,900. It had been on the market 14 months and originally listed for $1.03 million.

OUTER BANKS

Michael Charness, managing partner at the DC law firm Vinson Elkins, used to own a place in Bethany Beach before buying a home in Duck on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. “It’s very different from Bethany,” he says. “It doesn’t have a town center. It’s more scenic.”

Charness and his wife, Kathy Little—also a Vinson Elkins partner—spend about three weeks a year in Duck and enjoy going to such restaurants as the Blue Point (1240 Duck Rd.; 252-261-8090) and, in nearby Kitty Hawk, Ocean Boulevard Bistro Martini Bar (4700 North Virginia Dare Trail; 252-261-2546).

NBC4’s Dan Hellie also frequents the Outer Banks. Although it’s a much longer drive to Duck than to Bethany—it takes about five hours—Hellie says you can get more house for your money. And his family is usually able to rent right on the beach: “That’s huge when you’re lugging beach chairs, boogie boards, and all the kids’ stuff.”

Big houses are common in the Outer Banks, where short-term rentals offer non-owners opportunities to host family reunions and other large gatherings. The Four-by-Four area north of Corolla—14 miles of beach where four-wheel-drive vehicles are required because there are no paved roads—is known for big houses, some with more than 20 bedrooms.

Because so much of the housing in the Outer Banks was built within the last ten years, a lot of owners were under water on their mortgages when the market collapsed. In the northern part of the Outer Banks—from Duck to the Four-by-Four area—about a third of the 256 sales from April 2010 to April 2011 were either foreclosures or short sales.

But prices are beginning to show signs of stabilizing. After falling for three straight years, the median sales price increased from $547,000 in 2009 to $559,500 in 2010.

What $500,000 buys: In March, a five-year-old, five-bedroom, four-bath home in the Four-by-Four area—the second house from the beach—sold for $505,000. It had listed for $535,000 and was on the market four months.

What $1 million buys: A foreclosed house in the Whalehead Club in Corolla—where Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia and former Redskin Russ Grimm have vacation homes—sold recently for $1.18 million. Four bidders competed for the house, which had listed for $1.15 million.

This article appears in the July 2011 issue of The Washingtonian.

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