SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

For those who have owned or lived at the beach.

What did you like most and what was the worst?

Would you do it again?

Thank you!

bumping as I have the same question. Would be lakefront where I live though.

I can answer for lakefront.....

The worst thing is looking out over it in the desolate late winter, when the trees are bare, it's frozen, and because of that the air temp around your home is about 5-10 degrees cooler than everywhere else in your area.

We have a place that is plenty high and away from the water so we don't have to worry about flooding. Some lake front properties do have to deal with that. The water table is a bit closer too, so a good sump pump is necessary otherwise the lower level will seep in water.

I would absolutely live on a lake, in fact in about 6 years I hope to be doing that, moving to a lake front property south of here. The kids will be about done with school, and I want to be able to fish, as much as possible.

Sorry Fireproof, I have never been fortunate to live at the beach.

My folks have purchased a "home" on an inlet water way in florida, it's basically a fancy trailer in a retirement community of fancy trailers. They have to have hurricane shutters, and they can only insure the property for about 1/3 of what it's worth due to the risk of hurricanes. That's about all I know.

My sister lives about an hour from the beach, so not right on the beach but close enough. The biggest issue for her is the cost of home insurance. You have to buy hurricane insurance on top of the regular home insurance and it costs A LOT. And the deductible is huge, $5000 I think. In addition, only a few companies offer hurricane insurance where they live and they will not sell it to you unless you also cover your cars with them, and they charge more for car insurance than the competitors. So insurance is a huge expense that not everyone thinks about when looking to move to the beach.

I would like to retire to the beach someday...if I even get to retire

My very first house was a little beach cottage located directly between the beach and the bay. I loved the diverse architecture of the town, which had homes dating back to the late 1800's. Spring and fall were the best seasons, because the summer people weren't there yet or had already left (they swelled the town population to double). This town had a lot of celebrations during the summer season, and traffic was always a bear. During hurricane season the main road frequently washed out, so sometimes you had to take a 10 mile detour to get home. Otherwise it was a great little town. I still look at house there, but I've gotten used to having a much bigger lot and cheaper RE taxes. I own a lake lot now with a small cabin/shed, but I would never build a house there (I don't like new houses.) It's quiet and full of wildlife there.

I've lived about 5-10 min from the beach for the past 30 years. The summer season we are flooded with tourists, and there is traffic and overcrowding, but there is a ton going on at any given time. In the off season, the tourists are gone, but the town just dies. Many businesses close, snowbirds pack up and head south for the winter, there is very little to do.

Lived on the beach, or close to it nearly my whole life. On the Fla Gulf Coast currently.

Cons

-Insurance, you often need wind and flood in addition to your normal home owners policy. Also most known name companies do not write policies here. There is something I am forgetting the name of, but you have to check to see if the company is insured in case it goes bankrupt paying out after a hurricane. (something like that anyway..i promptly discarded the info after getting the policy )

Weather- Have been through a few hurricanes. My family has lost two homes, one in 1967 the other in Opal in 1995 (I believe). Think there have been about three incidents of storms other than Opal that have cause over 5k in damages also.

Tourists- I am in the process of selling my house atm do to overcrowding and poor behavior over the spring and summer seasons.. They come on vacation and they do not care about your property.( I have way too many stories) You also do not really have a neighborhood. Almost all property beach side is on short term rental programs. They come to party for a week then leave. Not the greatest place to raise kids with the amount of drunken stupidly to occurs during the season. Traffic...uggh....during the season it takes me 2 hours to get into town..in off season 15 mins.

Pros

-Beautiful in off season.

Great advice! I guess maybe a tiny vacation would be nice

I must be tired I was ready to hit the beach!

One can dream

I live in a coastal town. One of our rentals is not even on the beach, but about 1/8 of a mile away from the harbor. The insurance is astronomical, and most people have to sell because they simply can not afford it, even if they can find a company to insure them.

However, I do still plan to build a TINY retirement home on the intercostal waterway when H finally retires. Stupid move? Yeah, probably, but my love for salt water, shrimp, crabs, boating, and incredible views of nature overwhelm good sense, lol.

I lived on the beach, waterfront, actually pretty much in the dune line because my house was old enough that the dune line shifted after the home was built and was grandfathered in.

Pros -

The view. I adore water, I can stare at it for hours at a time, I loved my super shaded back porch (or front porch - it didn't seem to have a dedicated front/back).

The air. I rarely used A/C because of the constant breeze that would sweep through. Sliding doors on both sides of the house, so I could create a wind-tunnel effect (which was also a con).

The vibe. I love beach communities. I love how relaxed the locals are off season. I love how it feels to constantly be in that state of salt and sandiness. I felt so lucky to live there, always in touch with the outside, always in touch with fresh air and water. It was good for my soul. And my skin! I don't think I've ever been happier living someplace in my life.

The cons:

Insurance, as everyone has said. It's a bear. For me, because I was living someplace very inexpensive, the insurance was practically as much as my mortgage payment.

Bugs. I couldn't keep them out of my house! My place was on "stilts" or whatever you call it. It was elevated off the beach. Palmetto bugs that look like huge roaches (but they can FLY) would march up the pilings every day, so you couldn't hang out "under" the house. I sort of envisioned having an entire shady deck down there, but it was a no-go. Also I couldn't own anything leather as it would mold, but that was a climate issue...

Weather. The constant wind was 90% great, but the 10% of the time that it was bad was almost unbearable. I was always replacing shingles and shutters and sometimes windows. $$$$$$$$

Tourists. It's hard to accept that you have to battle 30 minutes of beach traffic to get to the store 2 miles up the road, all of your favorite restaurants suddenly have 2 hour waits, people are rude on vacation, people would camp out in front of my house on the beach and throw trash around, scream constantly, have sex (twice I saw this, wish I hadn't) or pee under my house.

I should add that 6 years after I moved away, my former house and in fact my entire neighborhood was completely destroyed by a hurricane. The pictures of it afterward were nothing but beach with some sticks coming out where the pilings had been.

Try a beach rental. I've done it several times and it is great and depending on the time of year you can get some really great deals too.

I lived on an island for a couple of years. My husband worked in the small island town and my kids went to school there. I commuted 1 hr via ferry twice a week to the mainland for work.

It was a beautiful place. Yes, summer tourists were noisy and difficult to navigate around but the rest of the year was fantastic. My kids were little and enjoyed it all. Woke up to the sound of large waves in the winter or cruise ship horns in the summer. There was always something to do because of all of the beach activities, swimming, boating, fishing.

The older kids living there were exposed to the summertime 24/7 party atmosphere and I think it was very unhealthy. The locals vs. tourists vibe was also terrible.

It was a very small isolated town, all of the negatives had to do with the drug dealers running the city and not with the fact that it was on the beach. If by some miracle they all got locked up for life and the "underground economy" changed then I would be back in a second.

I loved listening to the traffic reports from the mainland while I looked across the ocean.

This is my dream. But I have friends who have lived it. Insurance is the deal breaker. The other issues are small things. I'm lucky enough to live within a 75 minute drive of some of the best beaches in the world: I do it often. Living there is my dream.

Of course with climate change I may only have to wait a bit!

If you enjoy having family around ALL THE TIME, then getting a place at the beach would be ideal. In the summer months, you will never go a weekend without someone wanting to come visit!