Should we buy a beach house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Parking by the beach? If it's a pain, then it's not worth it if you have to drive.

This is my concern with beach houses not walkable. If you rent on the beach you may not appreciate how much of a pain parking can be

OP here. Well I understand that parking can be a concern, if you're going during prime time (like 11 am - 4 pm). But we actually don't like to go to the beach during those hours. We'd get to the beach by 7 am (probably not much traffic then or problems finding parking). Then we'd be driving back to the beach house around 11 am (could be some traffic then). It's kind of the same as avoiding driving in rush hour traffic (which I try to do here).

And then when we would be there during the off season there wouldn't be much traffic/parking issues.

For me, parking/drive is a non-issue.

OP, are you in the town of Lewes, or our brother Royte 1? Be very careful of the suburban developments. They are a dime a dozen down there. It could be hard to sell, and you might not make much via appreciation.

Sorry...other side of Route 1.

[Anonymous]

Both sets of grandparents have vacation homes on the water -- directly on the beach--that they don't rent. We went for weeks at a time when the kids were little but now as teens were lucky to get there once a year. I think you are downplaying the challenges in your head and underestimating how little your kids will want to go once they have their own social lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Parking by the beach? If it's a pain, then it's not worth it if you have to drive.

This is my concern with beach houses not walkable. If you rent on the beach you may not appreciate how much of a pain parking can be

OP here. Well I understand that parking can be a concern, if you're going during prime time (like 11 am - 4 pm). But we actually don't like to go to the beach during those hours. We'd get to the beach by 7 am (probably not much traffic then or problems finding parking). Then we'd be driving back to the beach house around 11 am (could be some traffic then). It's kind of the same as avoiding driving in rush hour traffic (which I try to do here).

And then when we would be there during the off season there wouldn't be much traffic/parking issues.

For me, parking/drive is a non-issue.

OP, are you in the town of Lewes, or our brother Royte 1? Be very careful of the suburban developments. They are a dime a dozen down there. It could be hard to sell, and you might not make much via appreciation.

Sorry...other side of Route 1.

+1 if you are east of route 1 in Lewes, you're good in terms of driving - that area stays pretty clear regardless of year. But I would never buy in the subdivisions west of route 1 or the pockets east but without direct access to town. It will take you 30 minutes to go a mile. Also, I think anywhere in that area you should realistically assume you'll take a loss. They just keep building up on farmland, so housing prices are stagnant unless you're in the water. And if you're in the water you have to deal with flooding and flood insurance, etc. in Lewes anything in Lewes beach (between the bay and the canal) is probably going to flood. Regardless of where you buy, I would take a look at the NOAA coastal flood risk maps where you can toggle a 5 ft rise in seas - FEMA flood insurance is not as cheap as it used to be and unsustainable, plus you don't want to buy something that's going to be worthless as sea levels rise or that increasingly floods.

That said, we have a place in Lewes (not on the water) and love it. We still take vacations elsewhere, but our kids love having a "home" at the beach, we go year round right now. As they get older I'm sure there will be years we use it lelas, but as another poster said, we assume it will pass and then we'll use t more again. Our parents are retired and often use the house when they visit and we each go with friends a few times of year as an easy kid free getaway. If you can't afford it, it's not worth it, but we max our retirement, save more than enough for college and this is our luxury. Some people drop crazy cash on the country club; we like the beach. Do what works for you and don't worry about what works for other people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 to the rent, don't buy camp. Do you know any friends with older children (say, 2nd grade on up)? I would say that 85% of our weekends from September through June are taken up by sports--often times with both kids having games--or birthday parties or school events. And our kids aren't particularly sporty, either. They each do one sport a season (fall, winter, and spring).

I also agree with the walkability factor. Have you ever rented a house or stayed at a hotel ON THE BEACH? It is a totally different, super fun, extremely convenient vacation. I would try that and see how you like it. For $260K you can rent a very nice house for many summers directly on the beach.

Also, you're not factoring in upkeep and insurance. Painting is a once a decade deal, if that, and its cheap. But, you need to factor in things like replacing appliances, fixing toilets, replacing roofs, plumbing leaks, etc.etc. Also, you don't get tax benefits from a vacation house the way you do with the mortgage for your primary residence.

FWIW, we have friends with a beach house they try to use every weekend and every summer, and their sons, in particular, have suffered socially. Most boys bond over sports, and being away every weekend and not being able to play on a team has really hampered the boys' social life.

OP here. It's really hard for me to understand the sports thing. I did not play any sports in my whole childhood, and spent my weekends watching TV indoors while my parents did yardwork (not that this is a good thing, but I don't really understand the appeal of filling up weekends with sports). I do know a few friends with older kids, I will ask them about this. Honestly from what I've heard from one friend who has older kids, her weekends sound absolutely exhausting and sort of miserable with all the waking up early, driving and shlepping around to sports games.

Yes, we have stayed at hotels within walking distance of the beach (usually 2 or 3 blocks). I don't really see much of a difference though, we still have to lug a ton of beach gear to the beach by walking from the hotel to the beach which is annoying, when you're walking with a huge beach umbrella, beach cart full of chairs, toys, towels, etc. How is it less annoying to walk with all that stuff than loading up the car with beach gear, finding a parking spot, and walking a short distance to the beach? I see these two situations as comparable. Finding a parking spot can be tough if you go at prime time, but usually we're ready to be at the beach by 7:30 am, so parking isn't usually an issue.

I will make a list of all the upkeep and insurance issues, that is more of my concern. However, this is a newer built house (2008) so hopefully most systems should be in working order.

OP, 3 blocks away is not ON the beach. BTW, what does your husband think of this idea? Can he afford two mortgages? Will you stay home indefinitely?

OP here. Husband is on the same page, we're both interested in the idea but on the fence. We've been talking about buying a beach house for years, recently went to the beach and happened to find a great one (we've looked at properties before but this time found one that has all our "must haves.")

Yes, we can afford the beach house with no problem. I work part-time (20 hours per week, from home, can work remotely) and my salary covers the monthly mortgage. But even if it didn't we could still afford the beach house.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]How is Parking by the beach? If it's a pain, then it's not worth it if you have to drive.[/quote]

I agree with this. It may also be harder to rent out. When we look to rent a place at the beach, the main factor is whether it is walking distance to the beach.

I recommend tracking how many weeks you go to the beach in 2017 and what you paid for the accommodations. Then figure out how that compares to owning a beach house with the mortgage, upkeep, etc.

One downsize of owning a vacation home in my opinion is that it limits you to one location. Personally, I like going to various places for my vacation.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I also don't get why you're asking this question to a bunch of strangers other than to be talked out of the decision.

The kid arguments have been made ad naseum. I'm going to add that I have a 6-year-old and his Montgomery County Little League season is going every weekend (except Memorial Day weekend) through June 18. It started back in March. He even has weeknight games scheduled past June 18. This is a coach pitch league and there's no travel. This kills our calendar, but he loves it so we do it.

One thing that hasn't been discussed much is how you expect to fit another family in a 3 BR house away from the beach when there are already 4 members of your own household. You said that your DC-area house is about $1 million. That's awesome for you. However, I'm confused why you think your friends (who I'm assuming live in similar homes) would want to share a small (only 3 BR) house with another family that's not even on the beach, requires fighting for a parking spot at the beach (because the other family isn't leaving the house at 7:00 AM while on vacation), and a drive that will probably take much more than 5 minutes to get to the beach. Also, most families don't want to be bothered so early in the morning on vacation, and having another 4-person family move around a lot in the morning is bothersome when you're trying to sleep.

If you were saying you were buying a 5 BR or 6 BR house, I'm sure your friends would love to visit and stay with you and endure the drive to the beach, some early morning wake-ups, etc. However, I think you're going to be very surprised when your friends don't want to share a tiny bedroom with their kids in your house when a hotel on Route 1 (with a bigger room, free breakfast, and a pool) costs about $100-$200/night in the summer.

[Anonymous]

My parents have a summer house which is also on the beach up in coastal New England. In our summer community the mom and the kids drove up the day after school ended and returned the day before school started. Dads came up whenever they could, a mixture of weekends and several long weeks off. We rarely ever saw our "city" friends during the summer but had a second set of summer friends from the other families the community.

I still remember those summers with fondness and my parents still summer in the house and the only difference is that they now go up in the beginning of June and stay through September for my father is retired.

It is a lifestyle. I don't recall getting bored during the summers and had my first summer jobs up there and even summer romances. But we never tried to keep one foot in the city and one foot at the beach, so there was no balancing of sports activities or town activities with the beach or constant driving back and forth, except for the commuting dads and they mostly took flights. From September through end of school we lived in the "city" and were fully engaged with schools and friends and sports at home.

And it's also a lifestyle you really want because it's not cheap. Owning two houses, constant wear and tear from the sea air, always needing a maintenance man to keep an eye on the property during the winter, the hustle and bustle in opening up and closing down the house, dealing with renters if you elect to rent for a few weeks as my parents did every now and then so we'd go abroad. And when you're at the beach, worrying about the other house. It's a commitment. With the right circumstances it can be a great thing to have, but if you don't have the right circumstances or even personality, a summer house can be a headache.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents have a summer house which is also on the beach up in coastal New England. In our summer community the mom and the kids drove up the day after school ended and returned the day before school started. Dads came up whenever they could, a mixture of weekends and several long weeks off. We rarely ever saw our "city" friends during the summer but had a second set of summer friends from the other families the community.

I still remember those summers with fondness and my parents still summer in the house and the only difference is that they now go up in the beginning of June and stay through September for my father is retired.

It is a lifestyle. I don't recall getting bored during the summers and had my first summer jobs up there and even summer romances. But we never tried to keep one foot in the city and one foot at the beach, so there was no balancing of sports activities or town activities with the beach or constant driving back and forth, except for the commuting dads and they mostly took flights. From September through end of school we lived in the "city" and were fully engaged with schools and friends and sports at home.

And it's also a lifestyle you really want because it's not cheap. Owning two houses, constant wear and tear from the sea air, always needing a maintenance man to keep an eye on the property during the winter, the hustle and bustle in opening up and closing down the house, dealing with renters if you elect to rent for a few weeks as my parents did every now and then so we'd go abroad. And when you're at the beach, worrying about the other house. It's a commitment. With the right circumstances it can be a great thing to have, but if you don't have the right circumstances or even personality, a summer house can be a headache.

We have a house walking to beach in Rehoboth and this is how we operate. Summer is full time beach with husband coming for weekends. We have lots of families that we are friends with that do the same thing. The kids are excited to see the beach house friends. Kids are middle schoolers who do travel sports so during year visits have diminished. We still love having the house and all the friends we've made from all over (Delaware, MD, NJ). I actually like that the kids step away from school/local friends for a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a 'river house' down on the Northern Neck. Ours is strictly a family house and we don't rent it out. It is four-season so we can go down all year. Our advice is to buy for the NOW and worry about later needs later. Sure, your priorities may change and you may scale back but in the meantime you want to make memories with your kids NOW. So go for it.

We have found that there is an ebb and a flow for our use. We're heading back into a flow after being on a strong ebb (four kids in middle/high school but the fourth is about ready to leave for college after next year). Our fifth, 6, is still too young to be totally consumed with spring/summer sports so it doesn't matter if he misses some games and such. When he gets up to middle and high school I'm sure we'll ebb back. But by that time maybe some of the older kids will start having families and want to go down either with or without us.

We share the house with my sister and her family. The spacing of their children is pretty similar although they still have 2 in hs so they aren't getting much more use out of the house than we are right now. But our folks are down there all the time. It all works out.

Enjoy!

We're in a similar situation, though our place is in St. Mary's County. We have a nice sandy beach and a drive of just 1.5 hours, so most of the time we can go on Saturday afternoon after little league and soccer games and come back Sunday afternoon (or all weekend after the season is over). Unless you're dead-set on the ocean beach/surfing/boardwalk scene, I'd highly recommend checking out the Western Shore of the Bay - many fantastic waterfront places. You'll likely use it a lot more when it's so much closer.

Same here as you guys..got a place right on the water in St. Mary's Co. too 3 years ago...automated everything so I can conrol lights/temperature/water/garage/security remotely with Alexa. Only 1.5 hours drive and we're there, no need to pack anything...my stress melts away as soon as I look out onto the water...can't beat the view and the sound of the waves lulling us to sleep at night..

[Anonymous]

The price would be a red flag to me. You cannot buy a truly desirable beach house in Delaware at that price point. There are downsides to the community or location you are missing.

[Anonymous]

We own a beach hous- have 2, 8 and 11 year old.
Ok so I wouldn't buy one unless it was on the beach either because my favorite part just about is the view from our place. Shlepping all the stuff down to beach or driving - no way.
Having said that, my grandma had place 3 blocks from jersey shore and amazing childhood memories.
Anyhow, biggest issue is kids and sports and friends. Depends on kids/ but mine aren't that old and we still find it hard to get down to beach very often. We feel obligated to go since we have a place but it's always hard to get away except for holidays.
Then when we are there, always lots of work to do.
We are right on the beach and beach air is like the kiss of death- destroys everything. Inside and out- my pictures mold, my paint peels, even my doorknobs rust. Takes a lot of money to buy and ton to maintain.

[Anonymous]

If one ONLY buys on the beach, you're talking VERY expensive. You can't get insurance so basically you have to be prepared to lose millions. This is not realistic advice. However, desirability is definitely measured by walkability to beach as well as restaurants. You need to look at properties marked as in-town Lewes or walk. Anything else is a major risk. There is always a newer, better housing development being built. Do you really want to live in suburbia-by-the-beach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If one ONLY buys on the beach, you're talking VERY expensive. You can't get insurance so basically you have to be prepared to lose millions. This is not realistic advice. However, desirability is definitely measured by walkability to beach as well as restaurants. You need to look at properties marked as in-town Lewes or walk. Anything else is a major risk. There is always a newer, better housing development being built. Do you really want to live in suburbia-by-the-beach?

We own beach block in Delaware and are actually not in a flood zone and flood insurance was not required. We do carry flood insurance for our own protection. For homeowners you typically have to get from a local provider. I don't want people to think you can't get insurance or that its required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If one ONLY buys on the beach, you're talking VERY expensive. You can't get insurance so basically you have to be prepared to lose millions. This is not realistic advice. However, desirability is definitely measured by walkability to beach as well as restaurants. You need to look at properties marked as in-town Lewes or walk. Anything else is a major risk. There is always a newer, better housing development being built. Do you really want to live in suburbia-by-the-beach?

We own beach block in Delaware and are actually not in a flood zone and flood insurance was not required. We do carry flood insurance for our own protection. For homeowners you typically have to get from a local provider. I don't want people to think you can't get insurance or that its required.

Insurance is available. Even Florida has a high risk pool for homes that are hard to insure. However, there are very few waterfront houses in the US which won't be required to have flood insurance if you have a mortgage. There are houses with sufficient elevation (on a bluff, usually) that are 8+ feet above high tide. There are things called "SLOSH" maps that will give you the elevations and probability for flooding. There have been changes in the flood insurance program in he past ten years or so that will eventually make the premiums go up substantially. It is something worth investigating thoroughly if you are buying on the coast. Do NOT go by what the current owner is paying for flood insurance. Those already in the program are grandfathered, to some degree, so your situation may be very different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If one ONLY buys on the beach, you're talking VERY expensive. You can't get insurance so basically you have to be prepared to lose millions. This is not realistic advice. However, desirability is definitely measured by walkability to beach as well as restaurants. You need to look at properties marked as in-town Lewes or walk. Anything else is a major risk. There is always a newer, better housing development being built. Do you really want to live in suburbia-by-the-beach?

We own beach block in Delaware and are actually not in a flood zone and flood insurance was not required. We do carry flood insurance for our own protection. For homeowners you typically have to get from a local provider. I don't want people to think you can't get insurance or that its required.

Did you buy with a mortgage?