[Solved] Buying vs Building

Sargassum is a summer thing.  Long summer.

the permitting process for things on or close to the water also more stringent.   Therefore, take longer.  You can look into CZM permits for more info on that.  A good architect is going to be key.  And a good relationship between the builder and architect helps a lot too.  

Posted by: @Scubadoo

Sargassum is a summer thing.  Long summer.

It started early this year and the North shore is getting a lot as well.  Stuff reeks...

When we thought of buying, the glamour of being on the shoreline was there in our dreams, just not in our pocket books.  We stayed at a condo 20-30 feet from the water during our PMV and the corrosion, damage to items in the house, etc made us rethink that we needed to be that close.  Buy up in the hills, avoid the flood plane and still have an amazing view, the beaches are 5 minutes at any given point for the most part.  Also the maintenance of your home and your electronics will greatly appreciate you.  A bonus is if your married, you or your wife won't be cleaning the windows every few days from the salt spray and residue. 

We just stayed at a place for a few days at water island that got considerable wind and salt spray, it must have been built in the past 5-10 years I'm guessing and unless I had tons of cash to keep it up and someone to do it, I would never buy so close. 

@epo_it can give people a headache. also, i work out this way. after driving home we went back out in my car and it still stunk inside of the car. so i imagine a person would smell as bad. the smell stays with you for a while 

Posted by: @daveb722

Posted by: @Scubadoo

Sargassum is a summer thing.  Long summer.

It started early this year and the North shore is getting a lot as well.  Stuff reeks...

Sometimes so bad it makes my eyes water just driving towards it to a bad spot along the coast.

Posted by: @epo_

@rewired / @stjohnjulie is it not possible (at all) to get/run an electrical dryer on the island with the outage and the power consumption or can you do it provided you have enough (solar) capacity? How about laundry machines?

You can run an electric dryer using solar during an outage, having a battery would be a good idea in case the clouds reduce the flow of current, which could create a problem.  We have an electric dryer (house came with it) and have run it during a outage we were unaware of at the time, same is true of our oven (duel fuel stove that again came with the house).

Posted by: @daveb722

When we thought of buying, the glamour of being on the shoreline was there in our dreams, just not in our pocket books.  We stayed at a condo 20-30 feet from the water during our PMV and the corrosion, damage to items in the house, etc made us rethink that we needed to be that close.  Buy up in the hills, avoid the flood plane and still have an amazing view, the beaches are 5 minutes at any given point for the most part.  Also the maintenance of your home and your electronics will greatly appreciate you.  A bonus is if your married, you or your wife won't be cleaning the windows every few days from the salt spray and residue. 

We just stayed at a place for a few days at water island that got considerable wind and salt spray, it must have been built in the past 5-10 years I'm guessing and unless I had tons of cash to keep it up and someone to do it, I would never buy so close. 

Same is true with us, we also highly value our privacy and virtually every beach front property we looked at had neighbors very close by (not surprising given the demand for beachfront property).  We ended up on a hilltop with lovely views to both the north and south.  Maintenance in the Caribbean (or any small island) is going to be higher than on the mainland due to the strong sun and the windstorms, being on the beach only adds to the nature related wear and tear.  As was mentioned earlier, unless I had a virtually unlimited budget, and needed to be on the beach, I’d look at a condo (there are some nice options) as that takes a lot of the maintenance headaches out of beachfront living, it’s a trade-off like most things in life.

@daveb722 / @jaldeborgh

With "beachfront" I mean a lot that has direct access to the beach and unobstructed views of the ocean. It doesn't mean I have to be at or on the water line. How far back would you need to be to not be affected too much by the sprays?

I think there are two key points when it comes to beachfront house placement.  One is the distance from the water and the second is height above the water.  The height above the water is critical because of the  inevitably storm surge and it’s potential for doing catastrophic damage, the distance is important because of the salt spray.  Any beachfront home will get salt spray during a tropical storm or hurricane so it’s only a matter of degree. Our home is roughly a mile from the water and at slightly more than 200ft of elevation, we haven’t yet had an issue with salt spray, but we’ve also not yet experienced a major storm. 

Posted by: @epo_

@daveb722 / @jaldeborgh

With "beachfront" I mean a lot that has direct access to the beach and unobstructed views of the ocean. It doesn't mean I have to be at or on the water line. How far back would you need to be to not be affected too much by the sprays?

My unit sits back 500-600FT from the sea and the effects of the salt are not nearly as bad as the units just off the beach but the effects are still there.  My outdoor mini-split unit is on the side of the building.  The coil grill on the side that faces the sea tends to corrode while the other sides seem to be fine.  My new unit started showing signs of corrosion on that side after a year and a half.  

Posted by: @epo_

@daveb722 / @jaldeborgh

With "beachfront" I mean a lot that has direct access to the beach and unobstructed views of the ocean. It doesn't mean I have to be at or on the water line. How far back would you need to be to not be affected too much by the sprays?

@epo_

We owned a condo at St C on a cliff on the north shore near Judith's Fancy for several years before we bought our house on the west end.

When we bought the condo, we were comparing two in the complex, one in a waterfront lower building and one in an upper level building (where our view would include the roof of the lower/waterfront building, but wouldn't be obstructed).

The lower unit was about 75-100 feet from the edge of the cliff and the upper unit was 200-300 feet behind the lower unit and about 75 feet higher.

The lower unit was constantly damp from the mist and appliances less than 2 years old had visible rust (causing me to expect a total lifespan of 5 years before they'd need to be replaced). The upper unit was in 'original' condition (no major update of repairs since it was built in the early 80's). The appliances weren't new, but were still working well when we sold the unit 6+ years later, needing only minor touch up painting.

The house we bought at the end of 2019 is about a mile off the coast and close to 400 feet above the water. We have views of water to the southwest and west as well as nice views of valleys and forest around us. Although the windows and doors generally stay open when it's not raining to let the breeze through, there is very little rust on the 8-10 year old appliances. 

Something else to keep in mind if you're doing air conditioning is that many warranties exclude equipment installed within one (or sometimes even two) miles of a coastline.

Like electric appliances, beachfront is 'do-able', but you'll need additional planning and money to manage the additional maintenance and construction costs.