Do you dream of living at the beach? Maybe you imagine sitting on a porch with a hot cup of coffee, watching the waves roll in, the fishing boats head out, and the seagulls and pelicans fly past. Or perhaps in the afternoon, you would love to relax with a margarita on the veranda. While this lifestyle sounds perfect, you must keep a few critical considerations in mind if you are thinking about buying oceanfront property. If you want to ensure your coastal dream does not turn into a nightmare, you need to understand the realities of ocean salt corrosion and property maintenance.
Addressing the Haters
Before I give you these considerations, I want to address the haters. I did a short video on this topic because I spend a lot of time at the ocean, and I had noticed a lot of things come into full view that maybe just being an adult or homeowner that I hadn’t really noticed before. When I posted it, the haters were like, “Oh, you’re just jealous. You can’t afford to live beachside.” And I was like, “Oh my god.” Not only did you really not listen to the video, but keep in mind I am exactly where I want to be. I totally understand where I want to be. Of course, I’d want to be closer, but as I go through these considerations, you will see exactly why I don’t want to be closer to the ocean.
1. The Reality of Corrosion
First off, corrosion. The ocean air is just really, really hard on things. Growing up here in Santa Cruz, cars would always have a bit of corrosion at the bottom of the doors and at the rooftop. Now, today’s cars are built to handle it better—they probably have a little bit more plastic and more protected surfaces so they don’t rot as much. But every once in a while you’ll see a car go past and you’ll think, “Oh, grandma’s car just parked outside too long,” because they literally rot.
I sold a couple of houses just a block from the beach recently, and you have to understand that the door handles, if they’re not a really good metal that can hold up to the salt, they will just rot.
On this one house I sold to buyers last year, all the handles around the house and the light fixtures were rotting. I did not suggest replacing them like I would in a normal home inspection, because it will just happen again! They looked to be doing their job and weren’t falling off the house or rotting off the door frame, so we all just agreed it was probably better just to leave them there and understand that they’re going to have some corrosion. (The home also had copper gutters, which were holding up really well). You also want to keep in mind that your electrical panels will have rot at the bottom as well. That just comes with the territory. It’s not bad, it’s just part of life there, but I think some people don’t expect it.
2. Weather and Microclimates
Number two: weather microclimates. Sometimes we decide to go on a bicycle ride from our house, and we put on our sweatshirts and sunglasses and hat and do the whole thing. We think, “Oh, we’re going to go down and be by the ocean.” Well, we get down there and we’re riding along West Cliff, and there’s this peak that you kind of go around at the Lighthouse Memorial where the wind just comes right off the ocean. It’s where it really opens up to the Pacific, and it is breezing!
I call it “going around the horn” because it reminds me of going around the very bottom of South America. It is just freezing, and I am always underdressed. I carry a sweatshirt with me now because I am always optimistic that it’s going to be as warm as it is at my house, which has a hillside behind it that warms up and keeps our area warm.
Now, granted, there have been days when it’s been cooler at my house and we’ve gone down to the ocean and it’s lovely because there are no breezes coming off the water. That water is cold—it’s about 56 degrees, and it only gets to a high of like 58 in August and September. The air coming off that water is chilly. But if there’s no breeze and the sun is hitting the water, it comes off the ocean warm and beautiful. But it’s fairly short-lived.
There’s also an area over by Natural Bridges where I end up selling a lot of houses, which I find so interesting because I don’t really like that area—I think it’s freezing! I have sold at least four houses right by there and told the buyers, “I just want you to know it’s going to be a lot colder than you’re used to in all the other places that you’ve been in Santa Cruz.”It is literally microclimates in this area. It could be up to 5 to 6 degrees cooler most of the time.
And then you may experience more fog. Some people really like fog—part of Aptos was actually founded by people from the Central Valley who craved fog to get away from the heat. It is a thing! Personally, I don’t like fog, and I actually have a lot less where I am. It’s a bit warmer here, and that’s exactly where I want to be.
3. The Price “Bullseye”
When you look at Santa Cruz real estate, think of it kind of like a bullseye. When you think of those outer rings, it actually gets more expensive when you’re closer to the ocean and less expensive as you get away.
Right now, areas about two blocks from West Cliff Drive and Pleasure Point are starting to really come up in price, even though they’re not directly on the ocean. That might be people who kind of figured out that they don’t want to be too close to the ocean because of the other things I’m about to mention. But those prices have been getting really high—I mean, $4 to $6 million for homes two blocks away with a sliver of an ocean view, if any. Granted, those have been really nice custom houses, but they don’t even have full ocean views, which is just unbelievable to me. But the closer you get to West Cliff Drive and East Cliff Drive, those prices are going up just as much as the ones that are actually literally on the ocean.
4. Noise and Traffic
My last two points tie each other for first place when it comes to the biggest considerations about buying near the ocean: noise and traffic.
One of the things that just absolutely drives me livid about oceanfront living, or being right near the beach, is people and their cars. They are playing that thumping bass sound, playing loud music, or riding motorcycles—they love to ride by the ocean. People will park across your driveway and not give you enough room to get out. They will impede your street, and maybe you can’t even get out of your neighborhood. It can get really heavily impacted in the summer and on the holidays.
One time I was at a friend’s house right on West Cliff. There was a parking strip across the street with about four spots, and we were sitting out there on a warm night with a fire going. We have a guy in our area, Curtis, who drives this huge trailer and plays music, but usually it’s not thumping—it’s music you recognize, so it’s not so bad. But as we were sitting there and my friend was talking about how great it is to live there and how everybody is jealous, this band pulled up in a pickup truck.
They unloaded a drum set, a bass, all their amps, and batteries. A full band at 9:00 at night! Now, I go to bed early, and this was a Friday. I am just one of those people that goes to bed super early, so I was completely horrified. This band got out and played, and they were just okay. I was like, “Oh yeah, no. I don’t want any part of this.” I will happily ride my bike down to be oceanfront, but I don’t want to live in it.
I Fell for It Too
Before I end this, I have to tell you, I fell for this myself. We bought a little beach shack down in Loreto, Mexico in Baja. And we loved it because it was two blocks—really small blocks—to the water. And I don’t mean like West Cliff where it’s a cliff and you have to go to certain areas to get down; this was get right in the water. Get in the boat, get on the paddle board, or go for a walk.
Loreto, Mexico
When we bought it, we really investigated it and there didn’t seem to be as much going on. But now? A lot of noise, the bumping bass, the motorcycles, the ATVs, and the traffic. I fell for it myself!
It’s so easy to do when you dream of oceanfront living. I myself am guilty of dreaming of living so close to the water that I became blind to the downfalls and the things that would disturb me later for longer periods of time. I won’t ever live there full-time because I won’t leave Santa Cruz. But when we spend time down there, there will always be this feeling of, “Ugh, I should have bought a little further back.”
Final Thoughts
The beach access is pretty cool, don’t get me wrong. But you really need to make sure that you understand where you’re buying. What’s it going to feel like day-to-day, and what are your personal pain points? Maybe you don’t care about noise, but you care about traffic. Or maybe you care about price, which might keep you further back from the ocean anyway. Or maybe you just want straight-up access, and you are completely willing to pay for that—both financially and lifestyle-wise.
Oh, and let’s not forget: the ocean itself is very noisy as well! I didn’t even mention that constant pounding of the waves.
I hope this helped you look at beach living a little differently! Please like, subscribe, share, and send me your story—I’d love to hear about your oceanfront experiences. Even if it’s just a condo down in Playa del Carmen (I could tell you stories about getting hotel rooms right on the ocean and the pitfalls to that, too—same thing, noise!).