I've been going to OBX for the last 40 years and have some pretty decent experience staying in all of the different areas.
OBX is a series of barrier islands that run from just south of the Virginia border where you can only drive on sand using 4x4 vehicles to the Northern beaches of Corolla and Duck to milepost zero through 20 which includes Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head and South Nags Head. After that you are heading to Cape Hatteras through towns like Rodanthe, Salvo, Waves on to the Cape. The entire stretch is around 100 miles in length.
You have everything from busy four lane bypasses to two lane roads with a max speed of 25mph to no roads at all. Throughout are wildlife refuges, historical light houses, and of course the beach. I recommend that you go to a library or just buy a book and read it. You can experience polar opposites depending on what you want and where you want to stay.
If you want to stay somewhere that you can walk to everything I'd suggest Duck, but you have to stay near the boardwalk area (on the sound). The boardwalk isn't the kind you would imagine, but more of a nature walk. It happens to be in the middle of the restaurant and shopping area. I wouldn't get scared of the traffic. It isn't as bad as people are describing except for Saturday and it is a mess all day. Just find a house with a Sunday check in.
Next I'd look at Buck Island. It is a neighborhood in Corolla that is next to a pretty big shopping center with a grocery store. Across the street is the best shopping in Corolla. Lots of shopping, restaurants, etc. There is a good farm market there too.
Farther north is the neighborhood of Corolla Light. It is all houses on both the beach and the sound. No house is more than a few hundred yards from the ocean or sound. My tip here is to rent one off the beach to save a lot of money. Corolla Light has a shopping area (no grocery store) with restaurants. The famous light house is just up the street. There is also a neat museum on the sound.
If you want more surf shops, lots of decent to okay restaurants just pick anything from about milepost 3 to 16 and you are within a walk or a drive to lots of stuff. Just know that this is very busy with lots of traffic and tons of people.
If you want more remote, just go farther south down to Hatteras Island or farther north of Corolla to Corova. Just know that Corova has no paved roads and no shops or restaurants. You may see the wild horses up there though.
Hope all that helps.
Expect to spend between $2500-4000 for the week on the house. You can go cheaper by renting a condo or spend north of $10,000 to be in a mini-mansion on the ocean.
I'd suggest looking at these rental companies
Duck and Corolla: Twiddy, Brindley, Corolla Classic Vacations, Resort Realty, Village Realty
Nags Head and nearby: Village Realty, Resort Realty, Carolina Designs.
There are many other choices. The ones I listed have some of the nicer properties and have been around for a long time. All are very reputable. I've used all of them
