What is the Cheapest Waterfront City?

[iheartthed]

Puerto Rico is pretty cheap.

[austlar1]

Eureka, California. It's kind of chilly and damp, but it has lots of charm and great marijuana.

[dave8721]

I assume basically the gulf coast. Coastal Mississippi or Alabama don't look to expensive. I've never looked but I couldnt imagine a place like Pensacola being too expensive.

[Jonesy55]

Seafront property in Miami Beach for just $35,000!

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-60845987.html

[mrnyc]

you can still get giant craftsman homes in cle for like $30k, will that work?

[emathias]

Finding land on the ocean that is affordable, in a global sense, is not difficult.

It only gets expensive if you want it to be in a first-world country, in a city with good services and culture, and with good weather. The more of those things that are true for a given stretch of coast, the more expensive it gets. But if you wanted an ocean-front piece of beach in Namibia or the north part of Siberia or even far north Maine, it's not going to be cost-prohibitive. But if you want it to be in Barcelona, well ...

[CaliNative]

Some of the Oregon & Washington coast towns are pretty cheap, at least compared to California prices. Hoquium WA and other down on their luck lumber towns are cheap. Long Beach penninsula is not too expensive. However, the coastal climate is usually cold & often damp, and there is the pesky Cascadia subduction zone offshore that could produce a big quake & tsunami one day. Astoria is funky, with lots of old houses, but prices are up since "The Goonies" came out. On the Oregon coast, Brookings is said to be the sunniest area. Sometimes gets warm winds that blow down from the interior, like Santa Anas. Still rainy winters. Coos Bay area is fairly cheap. As far as riverfronts go, I do like the Mississippi from Galena up to Wisconsin. Parts of the Ohio River front is nice. Lakefront towns? Love Chattaqua, Ithaca & Cooperstown, New York. The latter is heaven for baseball fans. The Door penninsula on Lake Michigan has lots of fun little towns, and housing costs aren't too high in some. Very cheap real estate on the shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota, near the old iron belt. Duluth is cheap. Myrtle Beach SC is kind of tacky but fun. Lots of arcades and mini golf. The area from Melbourne down to Vero Beach is somewhat cheap, compared to prices down south. Lots of bargains in Atlantic City if you are betting on a revival someday. On the California coast, probably the cheapest houses are in the far north, especially Crescent City.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

you can still get giant craftsman homes in cle for like $30k, will that work?

"Cle" is Cleveland?

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by austlar1

Eureka, California. It's kind of chilly and damp, but it has lots of charm and great marijuana.

When Ulysses Grant was posted near Eureka early in his military career, the cool damp weather drove him to drink it is said.

[Shawn]

You can still find comparatively cheap oceanfront land in Bristol and Plymouth Counties, Mass. Places like Acushnet, Swansea, Somerset, and Marion. All facing Narraganset Bay. For that matter, plenty of cheap oceanfront land in Washington Co, Rhode Island too.

These are close to Fall River and New Bedford, making prices about 1/3 of what you’d find in Boston oceanfront burbs or closer to Providence. Maybe 1/5 of what you’d pay for Cape and Islands oceanfront property. Still nowhere near as cheap as Mid Atlantic or Gulf Coast seafront land though.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

What is the Cheapest Water Front City? Calif -- fa-gidd-a-bouddit.

Actually, in the Bay Area, homes near the ocean are relatively inexpensive. For years, and perhaps still, Pacifica (just south of San Francisco) was one of the least expensive places to buy or rent a home. And within the city, the far western areas near the ocean are among the least expensive neighborhoods.

In all cases the relatively low costs of living near the ocean are because of the pervasive summer fog and frigid temperatures that go with it as well as the tendency for salt-induced corrosion or exterior metal on homes and the simple fact that these areas are so far from downtown that commutes can take as long as from some suburbs (an hour or so).

[montréaliste]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Actually, in the Bay Area, homes near the ocean are relatively inexpensive. For years, and perhaps still, Pacifica (just south of San Francisco) was one of the least expensive places to buy or rent a home. And within the city, the far western areas near the ocean are among the least expensive neighborhoods.

In all cases the relatively low costs of living near the ocean are because of the pervasive summer fog and frigid temperatures that go with it as well as the tendency for salt-induced corrosion or exterior metal on homes and the simple fact that these areas are so far from downtown that commutes can take as long as from some suburbs (an hour or so).

Most inner-resting post in this here thread so far.

I am just thinking that corrosion from salt is inevitable whatever neighborhood you inhabit in my city, regardless of proximity to the shoreline.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

When Ulysses Grant was posted near Eureka early in his military career, the cool damp weather drove him to drink it is said.

grant drank his way through st. louis, the civil war, the presidency, death...

[Vlajos]

You can get apartments in the Algarve for not too much.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Shawn

You can still find comparatively cheap oceanfront land in Bristol and Plymouth Counties, Mass. Places like Acushnet, Swansea, Somerset, and Marion. All facing Narraganset Bay. For that matter, plenty of cheap oceanfront land in Washington Co, Rhode Island too.

These are close to Fall River and New Bedford, making prices about 1/3 of what you’d find in Boston oceanfront burbs or closer to Providence. Maybe 1/5 of what you’d pay for Cape and Islands oceanfront property. Still nowhere near as cheap as Mid Atlantic or Gulf Coast seafront land though.

Yea for some reason, it's not an 'it' area on either side of the RI/MA border even though for the most part, the area is farily decent. We used to drive from Lincoln, RI (where my ex lived) into Attleboro to shop and it may have been bland but it was still a nice area. I would have lived there.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by JManc

Yea for some reason, it's not an 'it' area on either side of the RI/MA border even though for the most part, the area is farily decent. We used to drive from Lincoln, RI (where my ex lived) into Attleboro to shop and it may have been bland but it was still a nice area. I would have lived there.

These are my old stomping grounds. I was in Attleboro all the time - ex-gf from North Attleboro. Lincoln is a nice place. That little trifecta of Lincoln, Johnston, and North Providence flies under the radar.

This area had three things going for it: whaling, cheap jewelry, and cranberries. Two of those three haven't been viable for a long time, but there's always demand for cranberries. And it's a good thing, because cranberries are about all you can grow in that sandy clay soil.

My parents want to "retire" to Warren or Tiverton. Walpole-Foxboro are "too close to the snow line" and the Rhodie towns on Narraganset sit in this little micro-climate where all the Nor'easters rain instead of snow. I looked into it and it seems they're actually right.

Yeah, I'd still totally live in this area too. Plenty of Commuter Line trains to Boston and Providence, and you're less than an hour from either city's downtown.

[chris08876]

Perth Amboy, NJ is pretty cheap. It is a waterfront city. Granted the water is probally not safe to drink, and full of bodies of folks who didn't pay there weekly dues, but it is a waterfront city, and much cheaper than Jersey City.

[RC14]

Guam and Saipan have relatively cheap land. I hear they have wild boom and bust cycles though.

[mrnyc]

if you want ocean and warm and cheap i would say go for the redneck riviera. the texas coast has affordable too, like around corpus. there are also some cheaper spots along the lower, warmer east coast, like say around brunswick. that and the north coast aka the great lakes, although certainly not all of it, are generally about as inexpensive waterfront living as you can find.

[Shawn]

Someone tell me if I'm wrong, but I would guess most of the remaining cheap / affordable oceanfront land anywhere near civilization would also be at prime risk for degradation. At least, that's how it is in Mass and Rhode Island. All the "cheap" land is south of the Cape, on soft sand shores. All the expensive stuff is north of the Cape, along cliffs or rocky shores - much more insulated from rising sea levels.