We have family friends who were similarly situated and bought when their kids were young. They would "summer" at the beach house with retired grandparents, and dad would join them on weekends and for a few weeks.

As the kids grew up, they didn't go on weekends much, but they continued to go in the summer. The kids got their first jobs in the beach town.

After kids went to college, they started using it more, and now they have retired to that house, and the kids bring the grandkids.

I would recommend you look for a year-long rental in the area you want to buy, and try it out. If you enjoy it, buy. If you find it's a slog to get there, then reconsider.

How old are your kids? I ask because when they get to a certain age, there will be activities on weekends that you either won't be able to miss or won't want to miss. Would you regret having something you can't use much of the time?

I'd consider a beach house, but we wouldn't get much use out of it except in the summer, and I'm not sure it's worth it. Plus I've done the beach house thing, and frankly, I get tired of driving out there every weekend and driving back. Spending a total of 6-7 hours in the car every weekend gets old fast, and I don't have so much vacation time that I want to spend many full weeks there.

Plus I get nervous about sea-level rise, so I'm not sure any coastal property is in the cards for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maintenance is an issue and f you don't have a home owners asspciation that deals with it. Kids sports and activities are also a big issue - both cost and time.

We have one and use it a lot. We still vacation other places. Kids schedules are the biggest limiting factor for us. When they aren't busy, we go every weekend. We don't rent ours. We love it.

Parking isn't an issue unless you want to be near the boardwalk. We're in DE and we, like most people we know with beach houses, go to a state park beach. There's almost always parking.

OP here. One plus of the house is very low HOA fees. One negative of the house is that the HOA really doesn't do anything other than maintain the pool. So we are responsible for all maintenance. How difficult would this be? We would have to hire a lawn service for weekly mowing (which we do here now). Get the gutters cleaned once a year, and schedule annual HVAC maintenance. What else am I not thinking about?

You are not thinking that your kids will want to do sports or other activities or go to birthday parties and not want to go to the beach on weekends during the year. If you have 4 weeks to vacation each summer maybe you will eventually want to visit other places like National Parks, Europe, Florida. It seems cheaper to rent a house on the beach each year.

Anonymous wrote:Maintenance is an issue and f you don't have a home owners asspciation that deals with it. Kids sports and activities are also a big issue - both cost and time.

We have one and use it a lot. We still vacation other places. Kids schedules are the biggest limiting factor for us. When they aren't busy, we go every weekend. We don't rent ours. We love it.

Parking isn't an issue unless you want to be near the boardwalk. We're in DE and we, like most people we know with beach houses, go to a state park beach. There's almost always parking.

OP here. One plus of the house is very low HOA fees. One negative of the house is that the HOA really doesn't do anything other than maintain the pool. So we are responsible for all maintenance. How difficult would this be? We would have to hire a lawn service for weekly mowing (which we do here now). Get the gutters cleaned once a year, and schedule annual HVAC maintenance. What else am I not thinking about?

OP here. I don't get why you all are so hung up on the walkable/not walkable issue. Our regular house here in this area is in a completely non-walkable area (no sidewalks even), we have to drive absolutely everywhere so I am completely used to the idea of packing up the car, finding parking and driving places.

Re: the beach, when we go to stay there (in a hotel) we have to drive to the beach, pack up the car with beach stuff, find parking and then get back in the car. I really don't see what the issue is. I'd rather not buy a property that's so close to the beach--it's out of our price range for one, and the newer/updated/modern places are a further drive from the beach. We want a completely updated place where we don't have to do anything other than paint. It's only 2 miles from the beach but not walkable given the roads, etc. but only a 5-6 minute drive.

The place we are considering is in Lewes, by the way.

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be walking distance. Period.

Driving is impractical. Beach parking is a ginormous PITA.

What about bikes? Our beach house is about a 10 minute walk to the beach (I love the walk, it's pretty and I get to see my neighbors, but my kids do not). When our kids were too young to ride a bike, we usually drove (particularly so we could make a quick exit). Now everyone bikes and we are at the beach in 2 minutes.

It needs to be walking distance. Period.

Driving is impractical. Beach parking is a ginormous PITA.

No. Exceptions:
-you get into a popular area at low price, or buy fixer upper, able to spin into regular airbnb or vacation rental.
-You are very wealthy

Go for it! We've looked and seriously considered SC. It's 71/2 hours, though. But well worth it. We live the area, could retire there. The place we really liked was on a golf course-2 miles to the beach. We decided to invest in another DC property instead. Maybe eventually we'll get our beach house - or should u say 2 miles to the beach beach house.

Anonymous wrote:It will be underwater and unsellable. Global warming is real unfortunately.

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind beach houses have more wear and tear than a typical house. The wind, weather, sand, salt spray, water, sun, take a huge beating on the house. And that's just the beginning.

So, you might be able to "afford" to buy a house, but can you afford to maintain it? The extra insurance coverage, the extra upkeeep, AND maintaining two houses - linens, window tratments, furniture, food, utilities, etc.

Have you thought all this through?

And how far is the beach house from your home that you think you can just hop into the car and visit as frequently as you say?

I say go for it. The price sounds way-cheap so ... hard to imagine where it is. As others have said, there are other expenses to consider. One to add is what it winterization is -- do you close it down and turn off the water from November to April -- or does it have a furnace and insulation, etc.? Even if you shut it down in the winter and turn off everything, you're still going to want to check on it occasionally, especially after a big snow storm, etc. And of course keep in mind the need to do yard work year-round.

By the way, a PP poo-poo'd a little house outside of Bethany. I grew up going to a friend's house in a nice Bethany community called Bethany West and it was modest but perfect for the family. An easy 2-mile drive to the beach (where there are public bathrooms); parking was never a problem (we had parking pass for residents); easy access to restaurants and golf; and away from craziness of beach -- the community seemed to be all families and retirees.

Maintenance is an issue and f you don't have a home owners asspciation that deals with it. Kids sports and activities are also a big issue - both cost and time.

We have one and use it a lot. We still vacation other places. Kids schedules are the biggest limiting factor for us. When they aren't busy, we go every weekend. We don't rent ours. We love it.

Parking isn't an issue unless you want to be near the boardwalk. We're in DE and we, like most people we know with beach houses, go to a state park beach. There's almost always parking.

I agree with those saying you should be able to walk to the beach. It's not really a beach house if it's not on the barrier island. Just rent a different house every year...

Keep in mind beach houses have more wear and tear than a typical house. The wind, weather, sand, salt spray, water, sun, take a huge beating on the house. And that's just the beginning.

So, you might be able to "afford" to buy a house, but can you afford to maintain it? The extra insurance coverage, the extra upkeeep, AND maintaining two houses - linens, window tratments, furniture, food, utilities, etc.

Have you thought all this through?

And how far is the beach house from your home that you think you can just hop into the car and visit as frequently as you say?

Anonymous wrote:5 minute drive but isn't walkable?

That sounds really impractical esp with kids