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CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. – Property managers along the Coast said that because of the economy, many people are trying to get houses sold a lot sooner than normal.

Darren Tupper rents out condos along the Crystal Coast.

“They’ve been trying to get them out there ever since Thanksgiving,” he said. “We’ve had a big crowd down since Thanksgiving, Christmas – a lot of people are booking now,”

Tupper said the bottom line is that people just can’t afford to have their homes and condos empty.

“Before the economy went like it did, the people didn’t really care,” he said. “Everything was full all the time.”

Another important factor may be gas prices. Real estate agents said when gas prices go down, they tend to hear from renters who are looking to fill their empty condos.

And Tupper said he is noticing that people are trying to sell condos using the internet, which is something his son Jason helps them do.

Jason Tupper runs a Web site for people renting out their places along the Crystal Coast. He said he’s seeing as much as a 20 percent increase in the number of people logging on this year compared to last.

“I think the homeowners are trying to get the word out about their property a lot more, and they are trying to book them a lot earlier in the year to go ahead and lock in their rentals for the year,” Jason Tupper said. “A lot of these sites nowadays are so easy for the homeowner to go ahead and list their property from t he comfort of their own home and start booking.”

To visit Jason Tupper’s Web site, click here.