We are looking for a rental house in the Outer Banks for a weeklong rental in September. There will be 2 couples (with a 3rd joining us for a weekend) and 4 children, ranging in age from 3 months to 3 years.

Which part of the Outer Banks should we focus our search on? We need something that is oceanfront (or soundfront) but also convenient to golf, grocery shopping and other amenities.

We were going to rent this house, but can't make it. It looks sooo amazing, we are really sad we can't swing it. The website is www.oceanfrontouterbanks.com. There are two houses you can rent, or just one. September is a great time to rent there, off-season prices but still great weather! The houses names are Sunnybanks and Sunnybuns.

I would do a search in the Duck/Corolla area. Less crowded and much nicer in my opinion. You can pick up some really nice rentals at a reasonable price in the month of September.

Do a google search and you will come up with lots of stuff.

I would recommend Corolla. We stayed in the Spindrift community last July, oceanfront, it was a perfect location in a nice community. There was a supermarket (open 24 hours) and shopping center about 2 miles north. There is a great golf course there too, one of the few nice public courses. Tee times book up early, you might even want to book them before you leave home.

Duck is nice also, but more crowded and built up than Corolla.

I recommend you book a place quickly, as the oceanfront homes go fast. We booked ours a year in advance, and there wasn't much selection. Apparently, many people re-rent the same homes year after year, and they receive first choice on the rental for the following year.

Two of the realtors we like are Twiddy and Southern Shores. Both of their websites allow online searches of rental availability. (just add .com to both names for their websites)

Have fun, it's a great place.

We've been renting in OBX for 25 years. We've gone from Corolla/ Whalehead to Avon and back to Sanderling. We only go in the off season now and we find Duck/ Sanderling to be ideal. We only rent Oceanfront and the prices are great at that time. No crowds either. You are closer to Nags Head than Corolla if you want to get out and about, and the shops and restaurants are fine. Especially the Blue Point which is hands down the greatest restaurant in the entire area. Advance reservations needed, great food, moderate prices and great atmosphere. Pig Man's for barbecue of all kinds is great too. Southern Shores are very nice people to rent from. Twiddy, Resortquest and a few others are fine also, but the agents in OBX tend to feel like they are doing you a favor sometimes. Southern Shores reps seem to still retain some humility.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth, have a ball.

We just returned from Corolla (eight women) and stayed at a great place. It was in a quiet area, six BR, 4 baths, gameroom, private hot tub and new private pool, very open and luxurious. Three levels, each with wrap around decks. I found it at www.atlanticrealty-nc.com; ours was called Carolina Seabreeze but they had lots of other ones available. We would go back again--quiet, yet only two blocks to the ocean--very wide for walking.

Stayed in a beautiful home in Corolla that was across the street from the beach. The name of the house is Beach Dreams and it has 9 bedrooms! It was very convenient to shopping, restaurants and the Food Lion. Great views, built in pool, hot tub, professionally decorated, pool table etc. Three levels of decks w/fantastic ocean views. The best part is that they have a gas grill which very few homes have and it was a godsend. It is rented by Resort Quest but they also have their own website: www.beachdreams-obx.com

We found last year that the rates generally drop by half about the middle of September--off-season kicks in early there with many properties. Oceanfront is fairly easy to find.

If you want to tour the Outer Banks at all, I'd suggest looking for something centrally located: Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills... Duck and Corolla are beautiful areas. But if you want to go down to Hatteras, or even Ocracoke, it's a long round-trip....