TYPICAL MAY GRAY AND JUNE GLOOM 4 TO 6 MONTHES A YEAR TAKEN FROM MY HOME IN VISTA 6 MILES INLAND. THE CLOUD COVER IS ABOUT A MILE INLAND. NOTICE HOW THICK IT IS IN THE REAR OF THE PHOTO. IT GRADUALLY BEGINS TO CLEAR AS IT MOVES EASTWARD?
I have lived on or near Southern California Beaches all my life and I'm hard pressed to see what all the fuss is about. Sure it's nice from a convenience stand point and you certainly can't beat the ambience and the charm that beach life has to offer overall. But I really feel an urge to fess up to some facts that a lot of otherwise envious folks may not be aware of. Nowadays you're really much better off renting a vacation home or at the most buying an affordable second home like a condo, du, tri or even 4plex, or a mobile or manufactuerd home than tying up millions of dollars on a waterfront property even if you have the doe-rey-me.
Here's why. Unless you're filthy rich and money just doesn't mean anything the day you purchase a home near a salt water beach (up to a mile inland in most cases) is the day your spending begins and doesn't end till the day you sell. Kinda like the boat that's just a big hole in the water that you keep pouring money into or the two best days of boadowner's life, the day he buys it and the day he sells it.
In the first place there are several months out of the year when you are socked in with fog and overcast typically from late April well into July and sometimes even into August. You wake up to a thick layer of overcast called an inversion layer typically known as a "Catalina Eddy". Sometimes it doesn't burn off until late afternoon if at all and usually returns in the evening. Locals refer to it a "May Gray" and "June Gloom" They haven't found names for July and Augest yet but it seems that with every passing year our gray skies extend further and further into the year.
Then you have the added problems associated with mold, mildew and pungyness throughout your home and garage unless your constantly cleaning and wiping things down. I have two bikes that I purchased close to the same time. A beach cruiser that I keep at our beach cottage and a mountain bike that I keep at my home in Vista which is about 6 miles from the coast the way a crow flies. Well, in less than 2 years my beach cruiser has become seriously rusted and I keep it in an enclosed and sealed storage compartment. My mountain bike by contrast has no rust, oxidation or corrosion anywhere and I leave it out for extended periods of time.
Then there's the traffic and the parking challanges. I've sat in my office on Coast Highwayand La Costa Ave in Leucadia and seen massive traffice jambs if not total gridlock tying up folks for hours on end on Saturday mornings trying to get to points of interest in San Diego.
Lot's close to the beach are typically small and tight on parking. In fact many multi-vehicle families usually have to park one car out on the street somewhere hopefully close to their homes, and that's if there's no surf. In a few very short years these cars will begin to show signs of pre-mature rust and oxidation unless they're kept covered which they're usually not.. The only practical way to get around a beach town if you live there is to walk, bike or skate. Not a bad option but if you're in a hurry to get somewhere you could be in for a pretty frustrating experience.
SEVERAL OF THE OLD TRAILERS YOU SEE IN THE FOREGROUND WERE REMOVED AND BRAND NEW SITE-BUILT AND MANUFACTURED HOME COMBINATIONS WERE INSTALLED.
Having had the best of both worlds now for the past several years I will have to say that I'm a lot happier having one nice comfortable home to come home to when there's no waves or sun at the beach. And it's a lot better on my pocket book to have a quaint little cottage with minimal upkeep to visit when the surf's up. I prefer tiny places on tiny spaces at the beach. Add to that the property taxes on a 5 million dollar beachfront home at 1.2% per year, (soon to grow if our State Government has its way) and your looking at a cool 5k a month for just taxes let alone your mortgage, if you have one, and your maintenance, insurance, etc.
THIS IS THE "WEE" MOBILEHOME PARK IN LEUCADIA, CALIFORNIA. IT HAS BEEN PARTIALLY MODERNIZED WITH 3 OF THE 9 OLD TRAILERS BEING PULLED OUT AND REPLACED WITH A SITE BUILT 2 STORY COTTAGE, A ONE STORY DOUBLEWIDE AND TWO TWO STORY STRUCTURES WITH A SINGLEWIDE MANUFACTURED AND 2ND STORY SITE-BUILT CABANA. THE TOTAL COST FOR ALL FOUR OF THESE NEW DWELLINGS WAS JUST A LITTLE OVER 1 MILLION AND IT'S JUST 300 FEET FROM THE WATERS EDGE.
You gotta be a gizillionaire to own one of those big beautiful waterfront homes and even then it might eventually break you or at least get the best of you. I'm not badmouthing big beautiful waterfront homes and I'm certainly not trying to stifle a hard working house peddler's efforts albeit I rather doubt that I would. The folks with the deep pockets will keep on buying them no matter how much they cost because they can and GOD just aint makin anymore beachfront.
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