Should I buy a beach vacation home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve posted a few times offering my honest views and almost every time I’ve been written off as someone who is just “jealous” that I don’t own a beach house in Delaware that’s a five minute drive from the sand. I know I shouldn’t bother responding and that I’m wasting my breath, but what the hell — I’m bored today.

I actually grew up two blocks from the beach in one of the nicest towns in NJ. Candidly, it’s a lot nicer than Rehoboth. I still have lots of family living in and near my home town. Three of my siblings own modest homes there that nonetheless are worth ridiculous amounts of money. They live there year round. Always have. We’re all close. I visit. I understand the beach scene very, very well.

I have absolutely no desire to live there myself, though. The majority of year round residents of small towns on or near the beach — or the shore, as we call it in NJ — are old AF, conservative if not downright MAGA, not well educated, and white. I cannot relate to any of it.

The Delaware beaches are no different and no better.

If you can afford to buy a home in any of those towns, which I can, there are far better and more interesting places to buy elsewhere. If you can afford to rent a (nice) house for a week or two in any of those towns, you can afford a trip to Europe or the Caribbean instead.

The absolute last thing I would want to do is own a beach house in Delaware that I could only use a week or two in the summer, where I couldn’t see the ocean from my front door, where I would have to come in the off season where more businesses are closed than opened, where the majority of the other people hanging around were old fogies and conservative hicks, and when there’s basically nothing to do.

Yes, I have money. Could I afford a $5 million dollar beachfront home in Rehoboth? Nope. Could I afford a place that costs a couple million? Absolutely. I am, however, supremely uninterested — and not even remotely jealous.

Why are you on this thread? You aren't interested, move along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - So where are these elusive amazing places to buy a 2nd home? Hilton Head seems like the only upscale place I've found, and I imagine its fairly MAGA these days too.

We spent a month in Sanibel and I really loved it there, but husband really did not like the red tide that sometimes occurred, so I don't think we will ever buy there for that reason. I think it's more liberal than other parts of FL, but that might not be saying a lot.

In HHI, I only go to Sea Pines and I like it a lot, and it didn't strike me as particularly MAGA.

There are direct flights DCA to Nantucket. I'm also the one who said I've likely decided to rent for a few months a year rather than buy, though.

Living in DC and buying in FL or MA makes little sense; and FL insurance issues would make it a non-starter for most intelligent people.

[Anonymous]

The Delaware beaches suck

[Anonymous]

Here's your answer as to whether it's a good idea to buy a beach house: https://www.darenc.gov/Home/Components/News/News/9169/17

State of Emergency Issued for Dare County - Mandatory Evacuation Issued for Hatteras Island

[Anonymous]

We considered buying a beach house on the water in NC. We bailed when we investigated further the risks associated with climate change. Be sure to look at the elevation of the property. If you can find something at a high elevation, that would be much less risky. We decided to keep our money in the stock market and spend it on Airbnb's and hotels instead. Much less hassel and we can do that for he rest of our lives easily.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how you can watch the news this week and NOT think that a beach house is a really solid investment!

https://www.nytimes.com/video/weather/100000010353421/hurricane-erin-north-carolina.html



I mean people who would watch a video of what happens when a minor hurricane passes 100 miles off shore and think it's not a wonderful idea to sink millions into property at the beach is JUST JEALOUS of how happy we are.

[Anonymous]

Buy a fancy beach house—be unable to visit it without a helicopter! https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/weather/highway-12-ocracoke-hatteras-north-carolina-hurricane-erin.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - So where are these elusive amazing places to buy a 2nd home? Hilton Head seems like the only upscale place I've found, and I imagine its fairly MAGA these days too.

Love our place in Hilton Head. Beautiful and so much to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

ONe takes two hours and one takes 30 minutes, so, your personal opinion aside, it's massively different.

Where's the Delmarva beach 2 hours away from Bethesda? North Arlington? Mclean? That's the mystery...plus uncrowded down a charming lane?

[Anonymous]

Buying hard assets (real estate) is absolutely a safe bet if you want to diversify. As other posters have said, it depends on WHERE. We bought in Nantucket 4 years ago and it's only gone up. We rent maybe 4 weeks to just family & friends at almost $15K a week. Use it in the off season and half the summer. Taxes matter (Ours are low, friends of ours in NJ are high) and yes, there is some maintenance costs but they are minimal. We also bought in Europe for currency diversification and it's been fantastic.
This is all long term investment. If you are strapped for cash and the costs add up too much, it's probably not the best choice but you can start small.

[Anonymous]

We have a house on a river and love it so much more than a beach house. We have a lot more land than you can get near the beach, so we can ride ATVs and play lots of yard games. Everyone tubes down the river all summer long, or you can put up a stake and just float in front of the house. Fishing, archery, and bonfires are popular too. Swimming is better in the river/lake than the ocean, but of course we can't make sand castles.

Can't stand the beaches here in the mid atlantic. Traffic is never ending, the cities are dated (and not in a good way) and food is expensive. The town our house is in is historic with a really cute downtown.

Just another option in case people are thinking of something like a beach house, but on fresh water.

[Anonymous]

Do not underestimate the maintenance and insurance costs of a beach house. Fortunately our beach house is not in an HOA. Dodged that bullet thank god. Storms are definitely something to consider if you are on the coast. We went to an architectural firm that specializes in designing storm and flood resistant houses. It cost more to build with more expensive materials but it’s strong and I'm confident it would have minimal damage if it took a direct hit by a Cat 5 storm. It’s not at sea level and not directly on the beach. Select carefully if you buy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha, have fun with climate change.

Only a sucker would be investing in anything near the water these days.

Seriously—insurance is only going up, and that's your best case scenario. Most places you're probably consider are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic storm damage.

Get a mountain house.

Op - also a consideration, but we aren’t sure we are boat people.

Maybe something mid Delmarva peninsula—easy drive to the beach with much less risk. We stayed at some airbnbs—beautiful large old houses on open fields, only like 30 minutes from Rehoboth.

That's not really a beach house.

Yes, we've established that only a literal moron would consider buying a beach house in a day and age when they're shortly all going to be uninsurable and/or severely damaged on a regular basis. The idea is a nice family home that can be an escape and a retreat that also has easy/close access to the beach so, while it's all still there, the OP can enjoy what the beach has to offer.

Why all the aggression and name-calling, PP? We have a beach house, and yes, our insurance premiums are increasing. We've also experienced several hurricanes. But we can afford the insurance as I suspect OP can. We didn't buy ocean front (we're deliberately four houses from the ocean) and we looked carefully at the flood zones, so we've never experience even a dollar's worth of damage due to storms or floods. This "literal moron" has seen her beach house value rise by $500K in the 3 1/2 years since we bought with a 3% mortgage. My personal opinion is that, if you have to get in your car and drive 30 minutes to a beach, you might as well drive 2 hours to the beach from DC. It's the same amount of effort to pack everything up and get in traffic. We walk down the lane to a beautiful uncrowded beach.

ONe takes two hours and one takes 30 minutes, so, your personal opinion aside, it's massively different.

Where's the Delmarva beach 2 hours away from Bethesda? North Arlington? Mclean? That's the mystery...plus uncrowded down a charming lane?

Doesn’t exist unless the beach is on the Chesapeake Bay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - So where are these elusive amazing places to buy a 2nd home? Hilton Head seems like the only upscale place I've found, and I imagine its fairly MAGA these days too.

Love our place in Hilton Head. Beautiful and so much to do.

Hilton head is overrated. Only thing going for it is that it’s more conservative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Delaware beaches suck

Couldn’t agree more. So overcrowded in the summer. Hard to find a place on the beach without someone right on top of you.