1 of 14
The small-town life and peaceful beauty of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula are attracting home buyers from urban areas.
2 of 14
“Families are coming here to live closer together.”Robbie Booth
3 of 14
“Many buyers have visited the Northern Neck over the years and finally decided to buy here, others heard about it from friends and family. Being able to work fully online, from home or anywhere there’s good Wi-Fi has given buyers the freedom to relocate to a small town or the country.”Samantha Van Saun
4 of 14
“The real estate market in the area has really taken off in the past five to six months. Inventory that has sat on the market is selling and new offerings, especially when they have reliable Internet service, end up with multiple bids.”Doug Dorsey
5 of 14
“Traditionally, people who buy are buying weekend places, but recently, it’s people relocating. People don’t have to be in the office five days per week.”R.D. Johnson III
6 of 14
“People are coming here from everywhere. Even houses in Kilmarnock on the side streets are selling.”Katie Dew
7 of 14
“I think we’ll see people testing the market, putting their homes on the market with elevated prices to see if they’ll sell.”Betsy Sisson
8 of 14
“Our inventory is moving at a swifter pace, so buyers need to be ready to buy and not drag their feet. As a colleague of mine used to say, ‘This is one great place to live!’”Evie Wilton
9 of 14
“It’s not just real estate with shortages. Boat dealers were sold out [of inventory] before the Fourth of July.”Jason Patton
10 of 14
“It’s not just real estate with shortages. Boat dealers were sold out [of inventory] before the Fourth of July.”Jason Patton
11 of 14
“We’ve had to change showing protocol. I told our clients we’d follow every safety protocol to keep them and their property safe. We prescreened buyers to make sure they were qualified and serious.”Berni LaCasse
12 of 14
“There are a lot of people who see the investment quality of buying a house and getting out of the city.”Sandra Hargett
13 of 14
“We’re seeing multiple offers, escalation clauses on contracts and a lot of disappointed buyers who had their hearts set on a house and were beat out.”Neena Rodgers
14 of 14
“Now more than ever because of COVID, people are looking to move permanently here.”Debbie Price-Jolly
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic has caused families to re-evaluate where they quarantine.
With mortgage rates at historic lows and buyers and sellers high, the pandemic real estate boom is reminiscent of the market in the early 2000s—particularly in Eastern Virginia, where the median sales price in June was 19.9% higher than in June 2019.
For most Americans, home is no longer home. It’s now where you work and play, and it’s daycare and school. And with no clear ending to COVID-19 restrictions, home buyers are choosing to leave their primary homes in the city for secondary homes in the rural Northern Neck/Middle Peninsula.
“Americans have flipped the switch in their minds about their lifestyle and where they want to live,” said Bo Bragg, of Bragg & Company Real Estate. “Whether COVID lasts forever or not, they want to make a change.”
“It’s becoming cool to live in the country again,” said Jason Patton of Bay River Realty. “It’s low stress, and you can raise your kids in a safe place. This has probably been a burning desire for people to live in this area for decades, and now that everyone is working remotely, those that can do so may live and work here and still make a decent living.”
Particularly attractive to buyers is the region’s waterfront property. Here, buyers have access to numerous major Virginia waterways for relaxation, boating, water sports and recreation.
“With everyone wanting to get out of the larger cities, they want small, quaint towns like Urbanna, Kilmarnock and Irvington. They want to be here by the water, the fishing and the charm of small-town life,” said Debbie Price-Jolly of Price Properties.
“The water is the draw, but it is a nice quiet area,” said Sandra Hargett, the Supervising Broker for the Williamsburg-based Liz Moore & Associates Northern Neck office. “At any given time, you can spot license plates from five or more states parked off-street in Kilmarnock.”
Off-water listings are also selling well. These properties offer water access or proximity to the rivers, as well as other amenities.
“For those who can’t afford waterfront, there are water access communities that offer swimming pools, boat ramps, and tennis courts,” says Betsy Sisson of Historyland Realty.
“Waterfront homes have been the hot item, but even our off-water homes are selling well this year,” said Jason Patton. Patton has closed sales for buyers from Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and in Richmond and Central and Northern Virginia.
Similar to Patton, other realtors have observed an influx of buyers from outside Virginia. Homes are sold to buyers from Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Maryland, and states in the Northeast, Deep South and West Coast.
“I’ve been selling to people from Richmond, Virginia Beach, Northern Virginia, D.C., New Hampshire, Connecticut, California and Florida,” says Neena Rodgers of Rodgers and Burton (a sub-brand of Isabell K. Horsley Real Estate).
Carolyn Packett, who has been in real estate for 42 years and owns Rice-Packett Real Estate with husband, Marion, a realtor for 57 years, attributes the internet to the substantial influx of buyers from inside and outside of Virginia. A cursory search of “Northern Neck waterfront property” yields nearly 4 million Google searches.
“We’ve sold houses sight unseen, which is unheard of,” she said. “They see pictures on the internet and then want to submit an offer.”
Packett said people are savvier about home shopping online because of COVID, and that while selling real estate online isn’t new, the approach is novel.
“We already sell so much online now,” she said. “But people will give us an address and are very specific about what they want to see.”
Berni La Casse, a real estate agent with Burton’s Waterfront (a sub-brand of Isabell K. Horsley Real Estate) located in Mathews, Virginia, has experienced the same. “Our internet traffic has been sky high,” she exclaimed.
La Casse, who has listings move from “For Sale” to “Sold” at a breakneck pace, says she tells these buyers to move swiftly on listings if they feel they wish to purchase the home.
“We tell people [they] can’t relax about [their] decision. They don’t have the luxury of seeing a property and then coming back a couple of weeks later to make an offer. These homes aren’t going to be around,” she said.
Though physical showings have been impacted by COVID, it hasn’t been a deterrent to motivated buyers and sellers. Evie Wilton, a real estate agent with Long & Foster (White Stone), said that while technology has been great, she misses the personal touch.
“For me, selling has been impacted a bit more when it comes to showing clients properties. I love working with buyers, and the most joy comes from showing off our beautiful Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula,” said Wilton.
“Driving around with your clients, talking about the areas, really teaching them about everything. Handing them a ‘real map’ to show them where they are and the relationship of these rivers, creeks, villages, and small towns. Usually, they’ve been all over the internet, but don’t really understand our area’s uniqueness. COVID has put an end to this.”
Katie Dew, who works at Isabell K. Horsley Real Estate, says technology has helped her personalize home selling. “I’ve done a lot of Zoom, video, 3-D videos and Facebook Lives where we walk through the house and answer questions.”
She added that homebuyer confidence has been aided with the installment of a COVID addendum.
“COVID addendums make buyers more comfortable about purchasing a property. They know if anything changes with their job, whether a loss of pay or getting let go because of COVID, they can get out of their contract. It gives them a security blanket,” Dew said.
Two challenges facing realtors in the Northern Neck/Middle Peninsula area are inventory shortages and a lack of high-speed internet. The Middle Peninsula/Northern Neck is a predominantly rural area, which means challenged connectivity. Atlantic Broadband and Verizon are available for many residents, but lack of access affects home sales off the beaten paths.
“It can be a deal-breaker,” said R.D. Johnson III of Mason Realty in Urbanna. “Most buyers are researching internet providers, and they won’t choose a location where the internet isn’t good.”
“[High-speed internet] the single most important amenity right now. It’s necessary for anyone working or going to school,” said Sam Van Saun, a realtor with Select Properties. “Everything seems to be selling, but the homes which sell the fastest are those that are updated, don’t need any work or maintenance and are move-in ready.”
And with potential inventory shortages, realtors are finding that buyers are entering price escalation bids to get the homes they want.
“We’re seeing escalation clauses, people paying cash and people paying above asking price, which is rare for this area,” said Robbie Booth of Shore Realty. “I’ve heard of one home going for $26,000 above asking price.
“Inventory that has sat on the market is selling and new offerings, especially if they have reliable internet service, end up with multiple bids,” said Doug Dorsey, broker and owner of Select Properties of Virginia. He adds, “If there’s a bright spot to the pandemic, it is the resurgence in interest to small-town life in Irvington, White Stone, Kilmarnock and similar towns.”