RODANTHE, N.C. — In 2020, Mark Schiller purchased his home in Rodanthe, along with the lot next to it. In his mind, he wanted to make sure he maintained the view of the ocean from his property. But in the fall of 2024, with six houses already collapsing that year, he felt for the people experiencing it.
“We felt bad for these people who are losing their homes," said Schiller.
In November, Schiller offered up his property to anyone with a threatened home that wanted to move it. Even offering to help out with costs and working on a deal that would be beneficial for both sides.
“We offered to split the cost of the move with anyone who wants to do this," said Schiller.
Since then, Schiller has had a handful of conversations with people that own homes in Rodanthe that area threatened by the ocean, but those conversations are as far as it's gone.
“A lot of the people were skeptical, and a lot of people were just like, well, I'm just going to wait and see. They're moving them back 50 to 100 feet and we thought, well, if you're going to move them back 50 to 100 feet, why not move them 300, 400 feet and buy yourself another 20-30, years, rather than buy yourself five to 10 years," said Schiller.
With so many houses still being threatened by the ocean, Mark is surprised that no one has taken up his offer.
“I don't understand why there aren't more discussions. If my home were being threatened like that, I'd be talking to everybody and anybody to see what I can do to preserve this," said Schiller.
Though the offer is still on the table, it’s not always going to be. Schiller also said in front of his house might not be an option anymore either, behind his house might be the way he'd like for it to play out if something is able to be worked out.
“It was the the immediate threat of the homes that are dropping and are dropping so quickly. But if we fall into a sense of comfortability again, then we probably won't. We'll probably pull the offer or not entertain. But at this point, it's out there," said Schiller.
When we spoke with Dare County back in November, they said this is possible. But a number of dialogues with the county and state would need to happen before it becomes a reality including: the person moving their house would realistically need to be able to fund the cost of moving it on their own, and a Coastal Area Management Act Program permit would also need to be obtained before anything potentially happened.
Schiller encourages anyone interested to email him at Whatsisname22@gmail.com.
