I wouldn't bank on the outer banks

I'm a regular/irregular watcher of House Hunters, the HGTV show that follows a potential homebuyer on their house-buying journey. Supposedly. While the show purports to follow the homebuyer looking at three properties and picking one to have and to hold, what the show actually does is work off the house that someone has already made an offer on, and then backfill the plot with two other places - which may or may not have been houses that the purchaser actually considered. Fakery aside, the show is pretty interesting, as you get to see three properties and get a sense of what types of property are available where. (As in Atlanta suburbs: big and boring. As

in the city of Chicago: quirky and interesting.)

Recently, there was an episode in which a woman on the verge of retirement wanted to move from the DC suburbs to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where she had vacationed over the years.

I've never been to the Outer Banks, but those islands are supposed to be gorgeous. 

There's just one problem: the Outer Banks are barrier islands that are made up entirely of sand. And they're eroding. And the houses that were built upon the sand are falling into the drink. 

Earlier this fall, over the course of just a few days, three houses went slip sliding away. 

On Hatteras Island:

..."every year, 10 to 15 feet of that white sandy beach is gone,” [superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore David] Hallac said. “And then the dunes and then the back-dune area. And then all of a sudden, the foreshore, that area between low water and high water, is right up next to somebody’s backyard. And then the erosion continues.”

Ocean waves eventually lap at the wooden pilings that hold up the beach houses. The supports could be 15 feet deep. But the surf slowly takes away the sand that is packed around them.

“It’s like a toothpick in wet sand or even a beach umbrella,” Hallac said. “The deeper you put it, the more likely it is to stand up straight and resist leaning over. But if you only put it down a few inches, it doesn’t take much wind for that umbrella to start leaning. And it starts to tip over.” (Source: WMTW)

The problem is not North Carolina's alone. Massachusetts' Nantucket is also built on the shaky foundation of sand. And every year, we get to see a story or two about an oceanfront house that used to be located about 100 feet from the water being swept out to sea. (Martha's Vineyward is luckier: a combo of rock and sand. Luckier still, the Maine islands that are built on rock.)

The Outer Banks islands are notable because their erosion is moving faster than fast. The Outer Banks are pretty much at sea level; Nantucket isn't exactly mile high, but its average elevation is around 30 feet. When it comes to warding off erosion, bigger's a bit better. When there's a hurricane heading their way, the Outer Banks islands are evacuated, and the miles-long traffic jams full of escapees trying to get across the bridge always make the national news. Nantucketers weather a storm on island. 

Anyway, what surprised me on that recent House Hunters I watched was that the Outer Banks disappearing act never came into consideration. Instead, most of the attention being paid was being paid to how close to the water she could get. 

In truth, the NC barrier islands are skinny, and if you're willing to walk a few miles, most of the houses are walking distance to the water. But the lure of actual waterfront is so great...

It's just that, do people not get what is happening?

“Perhaps it was more well understood in the past that the barrier island was dynamic, that it was moving,” Hallac said. “And if you built something on the beachfront it may not be there forever or it may need to be moved.”

Ah, the past, when some things were "more well understood."  

The House Hunters house hunter decided that having a bit more square footage was more important than living la vida beachfront. But I don't imagine she's going to have a very relaxing retirement. The Outer Banks could end up being the Under Banks, that retirement dream home part of a latter day Atlantis. 

Sigh...