I know I should have done this sooner, but I'm just getting around to looking for a house for two young families to rent. I've seen other posts here suggesting Duck and I think Corolla as nice, quiet places. If anyone has any tips on houses (4-5 bedrooms) or rental agencies I would appreciate it. Thanks,

Go to google.com. Type in something like outer banks rentals, then poke around in the responses.

That's what I did a month or so ago looking for a place down there. We decided on an oceanfront house out-of-season (off-season down there starts about the 3rd week of September,and rents drop steeply) and booked it through a real-estate office.

It's our first time going down, so I don't have any real first-hand knowledge of either the company or the properties.

Jim, there are so many places to rent down there you should be able to find something. Do a google search on outer banks real estate rentals, or if you belong to timeshare users group www.tug.com then you could find any timeshares being rented by owners. A good friend rents thru Beach Realty www.beachrealtync.com and has had good experiences.

Check with Twiddy, R&R, or Southern Shores Realty. They should all have houses in these areas. I recommend Duck over Corolla due to location. They are both more quiet than Nags Head but Duck is much closer to restaurants, shopping, etc.

Thanks. I've never been in that area so I wasn't sure where to start. There are hundreds of houses to choose from at a wide variety of prices. If we can't find anything in our price range in Duck is there some other place you recommend? Thanks.

A few of the rental agencies in OBX have consolidated and are now owned by resortquest - resortquest.com or bandbonthebeach.com we have rented houses in Corolla and Whalehead for several years from b&b - they have been uniformly excellent. but it's late - I called in December 2001 to rent in the last week in august and had a hard time getting what I wanted - everything was reserved. I think the entire east coast is going to NC this year. so good luck

We have rented for years through Twiddy in Duck and have always had nice houses. This year we reserved a house in November and had a hard time finding availability so I think at this late date you may have a hard time. There is always the possibility of getting in on a cancellation. I would highly recommend the Duck area of the Outer Banks, for the reasons described in other posts. Good luck.

Check Carolinadesigns.com web site for house 384 in Corolla. Carolina Designs is one of the best rental companies on the northern banks because they limit the number of homes and are very selective. Their service is outstanding.

bandbonthebeach.com

We rented a fabulous beach house in Corolla Light called "Annies Song".

Very upscale, well priced though, and absolutely no complaints about the service of this company.

Go to CarolinaDesigns.com and check out their houses. They have beautiful homes in Duck and Corolla. I have rented from them for the past 3years and have never been disappointed. Have a great trip!

www.resortquest.com

They still have availibilities...

www.outerbanks.org has a list of other real estate co. as a well.

There are many recommendations for Duck here. I personally thought that the year we spent our vacation in Duck was the worst vacation in OBX ever! Yes, it's closer to everything, but the beaches are notoriously small. Our home was next to a public access walkway (we were told it wasn't) and we had to put up with a constant stream of people checking out our pool and activites.

We all found the beaches further north to be MUCH nicer. They were broader and not as crowded. We weren't looking for stuff to do away from the house. *S* Basically we brought the party with us - from children to adults!

'Up-Island' is nice but don't count out Hatteras Island. Plenty to choose from, reasonable rates and many summer weeks still available. Hatteras is what the Outer Banks was all about. A great family destination with very few honky-tonk distractions. Try www.OuterBeaches.com

If you're still looking for a beach house try Sun Realty (www.sunrealtync.com). Our family has used Sun Realty a number of times and they've always been very helpful, with a large inventory of houses.

As for location, if you're looking for quiet and great beaches, choose Corolla, its more isolated and less developed than Duck, Kill Devil Hills or Nags Head. If you want to be closer to restaurants and shopping choose one of the other locations.

Try this web site http://www.obxrent.com/
You will find cottages for rent by owner (maybe a bargain since the owner will not be paying a commission). It also links to rental agent's web sites. My house has already been rented for the season, but that is a very unusual situation. You should still be able to find something. If you do not have shcool age children, you should wait until September or early October. The weather is wonderful, everything is still open, the rents are cheaper, but the crowds are gone. Hope you enjoy my home away from home.

You need to go a little further down the outerbanks to Morehead City for Atlantic beach or Emerald Isle. Emerald Isle Realty is good. It is all near Beaufort,N.C. an old whaling village that is interesting.

I just read an article at cnn.com about how Outer Banks rentals are still available.