Tuesday, June 8, 2010

What Does A Beach House REALLY Cost?


I was fortunate to spend last week at the beach with my family for a much needed vacation. We love the beach and every year I find myself daydreaming, or rather morning-dreaming, during my morning runs about what it would be like to own a beach house as a second home or to retire to a beach community.

It always appears to be a far-fetched dream, but my husband brought home a sales flyer from a local home that was for sale. Could it be achievable or is this too good to be true?

The flyer read, “What Does A Beach House REALLY Cost?”.

It goes on to state, “Curious as to what property values are? You may have heard that some homes here help pay for themselves with their rental income. How does that work? Here’s an example:

6 bedroom, 4 full bathrooms, 2 partial baths, pool and hot tub, Furnished and recently renovated.

Price $549,000

Expenses $39,093

Net Rental Income $37,600

Total Cost per year $1493

Expenses include: property taxes, insurance, utilities, association fees, pool and hot tub maintenance, and 30 year fixed mortgage at 5%.”

The flyer includes 3 pictures of the home and it looks beautiful, although it is not the home in the picture above.

Could it really only cost $1493 a year to own a beach house? WOW, but questions start flying in my head. How difficult is it to rent the home? How well do vacationers take care of the property? Is the home a sound structure or a money pit? Could I even get a second mortgage?

Really only $1493 a year? Really? Does this smell too good to be true to you too?

Part of me wants to investigate a little more and part of me knows that I should just keep dreaming.


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Posted by Family Balance Sheet at 6:00 AM
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5 comments:

  1. We are waiting on tiptoes to figure out whether the oil will reach Rosemary Beach which is where we were going for two weeks this Friday. All the beach stuff is waiting EVERYWHERE to be packed in the car. I think we will just head out and pray for the best.

    I would LOVE to have that beach house. We seriously looked at buying a condo at Perdido Key but decided that the 8-9 hr trip would probably keep us from enjoying it as we would like. We would have had to rent it out, of course, and this year would not have been a good summer for that!

    Come link up to the inaugural edition of What's On the Menu Wednesday. Mister Linky is up and waiting. Thanks.
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  2. Debbie - I hope your vacation works out for you and the oil stays away! Thanks for commenting.
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  3. This is really attracting me. But right now I am not prepared financially to spend more than $500000 for a beach house. But the cost seems alright although I would assume per year cost to be more than $14oo.
    Personal finance
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  4. I have lived at the beach for the past 27 years and it has been expensive, but worth every penny.

    My opinion of the flyer is, if the beach house practically paid for itself with rentals, the owner wouldn't likely be selling it. After all, beachfront property is rare and valuable.
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  5. I grew up in a shore community.. My parents bought an apartment house when I was a kid.. Now yes you can rent it out.. and it will pay for it self. BUT that is if you can get the rentals. If you can't, guess who has to pay? YOU.
    My mother had a person renting for 4 wks this summer.. well she just up and cancelled this past month! Now she signed a lease so she is on the hook.. but if she did not.. My Mom would be SOL ! Oh and remember renters aren't always as clean and nice to your house as you would be to it.

    sue in NJ
    ReplyDelete

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