Every island in the area has a story, sometimes stretching from pirate lore to hurricane histories to how it eventually welcomed more and more beach-loving homeowners and tourists. 

For David Ward, one of his tales of Topsail Island begins around the same time his dad started a real estate company, in 1947. 

In the images that first come to his mind, his family piled into a boat to check out Topsail Island, a 26-mile strip mainly in Pender County that holds Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail Beach.

During that trip, Ward was about 4 years old, and it was the first time he’d been in a motorboat and the first time he’d eaten potato chips.

“We knew the military was giving it up. It was an opportunity,” he said.

But the journey was cut short.

“Being as it was still under military control, we got run off,” Ward said.

Eventually, A.H. Ward Jr., David’s father and founder of Standard Realty & Construction, collaborated on the first subdivision in what is now Surf City. A.H. Ward’s original company morphed into Ward Realty, which today is owned by David and managed by David’s son, Brandon Ward, who serves as the broker in charge.

Ward Realty, which operates out of a 7,000-square-foot, two-story office building a short walk from the beach, manages about 300 vacation rental properties on the island, experiencing a boom in the aftermath of COVID.

“It’s definitely taken off for us. All the coastal areas of North Carolina have really taken off. We’ve always felt like Topsail Island as a whole is a great value area considering just the other costs of other beaches in the area all along the coast, which I think are much more expensive,” Brandon Ward said. “We’ve always considered ourselves the best-kept secret, if you will, but now I think the secret is out.”

Long before vacation rental homes, restaurants and beach boutiques dotted the island, it was populated by the machinations of war.

“At the beginning of World War II, the U.S. Army built a large temporary anti-aircraft training base at Holly Ridge and took possession of the island. They built the road from Camp Davis to the sound and installed a floating bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway where the present bridge is located,” explains the town of Topsail Beach’s website. “They also erected training facilities and support buildings in what is now the Surf City business district.”

Then it was the Navy’s turn. 

“The Navy began a joint project with Johns Hopkins University known as Operation Bumblebee, which was an early guided missile development program. Over 200 missiles were test fired,” according to the website.

In the beginning, after the military left, A.H. Ward worked out of a ramshackle office. The serial entrepreneur, who had owned a hotel when he was only 19, acquired property and sold lots.

“Daddy created his first office down here that was a piece of a barracks that were cut off,” David Ward said, adding that it was a “little ugly-looking thing.” 

He would move the firm to other office buildings over the years. Ward Realty ended up in 2016 in an office that David Ward, who got a degree in architecture from N.C. State University, designed at 202 S. Topsail Drive.

David Ward received his license to sell real estate in 1974, and the Ward family’s company developed an additional 19 subdivisions on the island after creating the island’s original neighborhood.

“The construction division has built well over 100 cottages, including both speculative and custom homes. Property management became a part of the company in the early 1950s and continues today with over 300 rental properties,” stated a summary of why Ward Realty was this year’s CEA chamber award winner for the Topsail area’s chamber. “All these deep-rooted accolades culminated in Ward Realty’s 75th anniversary this past year.”

Although they live in Wilmington, Brandon, who has worked in the family business for nearly 20 years, and David are immersed in the Topsail Island housing market.

David Ward said home price appreciation “has gone nuts in the past two years. It really has.” He said that appreciation has been “anywhere between 40 and 50, maybe even 70% in some cases.”

In addition to David and Brandon, Ward Realty also includes four real estate agents and about 15 employees.

Demand for vacation rentals on Topsail Island continues to grow, the Wards said, with a major pandemic boost “because people didn’t go to work in the office. They could work from home, and if they can work from home, they can work from the beach and enjoy the beach right here,” David Ward said. “So we had a lot of what we call seasonal rentals – one month, two months, three months. But that was mainly in the offseason.”

In the summertime, the properties Ward Realty manages are strictly weekly rentals, David Ward said.

Asked about how the company has achieved its success, Brandon Ward said, “We’ve grown organically every year … our name in the area is pretty well-established.”

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