Living by the water on a budget
Buying a home in a beach town is an expensive proposition, but in some spots there are bargains to be found.
Real estate research firm RealtyTrac identified beach towns with fewer than 50,000 residents that had a high quality of life and then investigated which of those were home to the best bargains. The study, released this month, measured the median price of homes in towns relative to prices in other beach towns, as well as the home prices that weren’t too close to their housing-bubble peaks. For quality of life, it looked at good weather and air quality, and a low density of registered criminal offenders.
“It’s a surprising list — these are places people have not heard of as much,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac. Indeed, often they are beach towns that are close to a name-brand beach town without being that town itself, which is why they represent a deal, he adds. (Of course, that also means some of them are sleepier than their bigger-named counterpart: For example, Bethany Beach in Delaware, roughly 15 miles from Ocean City, Md., makes the top 10, but it doesn’t boast nearly as much in the way of restaurants and entertainment as Ocean City does.
“It’s a surprising list — these are places people have not heard of as much,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac. Indeed, often they are beach towns that are close to a name-brand beach town without being that town itself, which is why they represent a deal, he adds. (Of course, that also means some of them are sleepier than their bigger-named counterpart: For example, Bethany Beach in Delaware, roughly 15 miles from Ocean City, Md., makes the top 10, but it doesn’t boast nearly as much in the way of restaurants and entertainment as Ocean City does.
And the fact that these towns are bargains for beach towns doesn’t mean they are cheap: Many had median home prices of $300,000 and up, which is higher than the median in the U.S. overall, which stands at a little over $200,000. Plus, people who own homes in beach towns have to think about potentially higher insurance costs due to hurricane or flood damage.
Here are the top 10 bargain beach towns for those looking to buy a home, according to RealtyTrac ...
Here are the top 10 bargain beach towns for those looking to buy a home, according to RealtyTrac ...
Keansburg, N.J.
This town lies about an hour or two by car, depending on traffic, from lower Manhattan and boasts homes that cost about $160,000, according to real-estate website Zillow, as well as an amusement park for the kids with a water slide and roller coasters.
Mastic Beach, N.Y.
One of the big benefits of this town, which is located on the southern shore of Long Island: It’s accessible from Manhattan via mass transit on the Long Island Rail Road, and home prices here average roughly $180,000, according to Zillow.
Crisfield, Md.
The median selling price of a home in Crisfield, a small town located on the Tangier Sound, is under $100,000, according to Trulia. The town offers a golf course, boat charters and the 60-years-running National Hard Crab Derby, a festival with crab races, live bands and crab-themed foods.
Riverside, R.I.
This beach town in the southern part of East Providence boasts a typical home price of roughly $181,000, according to RealtyTrac, and temperatures that average a pleasant 72 degrees Fahrenheit in June to August.
Palm Beach, Fla.
You may think of Palm Beach as a town full of ultrarich people — and certain parts of it are very much that — but the median home price throughout the area is under $500,000, according to RealtyTrac data. Palm Beach is known for its quality shopping and sugar-sand beaches.
Emerald Isle, N.C.
Roughly two hours by car from Wilmington, this quiet beach town has 12 miles of coastline and plenty of options for fishing and water sports. The median home price is just over $320,000.
Dauphin Island, Ala.
Located on the Gulf of Mexico near Mobile, this town is the home to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, which boasts a public aquarium as well as research programs that students from the 22 four-year colleges in Alabama can attend. Homes here average around $185,000.
Madison, Conn.
Located about 20 miles from the city center of New Haven, home to Yale University, Madison has a number of beaches, including Surf Club Park, which features 1,200 feet of sandy beachfront alongside its 45 acres of park land with picnic tables, grills, bocce and volleyball courts and more. The median-priced home is listed at about $375,000, according to RealtyTrac.
Florence, Ore.
You can sail from the Siuslaw River right out into the Pacific Ocean — where you can then engage in some whale watching — from Florence, which is located about 60 miles west of Eugene. Homes carry a median price of $215,000.
Bethany Beach, Del.
In this family-friendly beach town — located near the well-known resort town Ocean City, Md. — the median-priced home costs $465,000.
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