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When You Live By The Ocean...

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408

When you live by the ocean, you live by the ocean, and not just by the picture perfect postcard of azure waters, white sand, and sun in the blue sky...

It can be angry black, destructive, noisy, it can swell... It can be much more than just unpleasant. It can be deadly...

Living by the ocean means accepting living next to one of the most powerful nature forces.

Living By the Ocean

While we acknowledge and welcome change, nature is changing as well. Climate changes (and it used to do it even before the new administration), we are constantly moving, evolving, and though some of these changes can take hundreds, of thousands, or even millions of years, they are happening.

I read an article about rising ocean waters and its effect on coastal Florida. Florida State University Professor Emeritus James O'Brien is the world expert on the subject.

«Unless we go back into an Ice Age, we will continue to rise at over eight inches in 10 years. That’s without any global warming.” He expects the water levels go up 8'' in 10 years.

Is it a big deal? It all depends how you look at it. But we already feel the effect of rising waters. Like in Key West, where Duval street now after heavy rain stays flooded, and it was not like this years ago. Or so called sunny day floods in Miami Beach, when it happens under the sun and bright skies, that tidal waters spill into the streets...

It also affects aquifers, as salt water goes farther inland. It affects the drainage and causes overflow.

And for all those beautiful condos, it means that the water gets higher, and van get closer...

It means that if we want to live by the ocean, it may be a bit more tricky in the future and sure more costly.

I am sure that the lure of living by the ocean will be defined by the size of the wallet. After all, when it is picture perfect it is priceless...

P.S. If you want to buy this priceless view and lifestyle for very modest money, call me 386-405-4408.

Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Kerrie - this understanding always comes later. Corroding metal, white film of salt on the windows, sand pushed into the unit even if you are on the 10th floor...

Jul 11, 2013 11:00 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Andrea - the ocean is more than the postcard. But it gorgeous most of the time, at least here in Florida :)

Jul 11, 2013 11:01 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Andrea - wow, what a story. We have Old A1A road and you can't drive through now, as it is partially taken by the ocean. They simply built a new section west a few hundred yards.

Jul 11, 2013 11:03 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Christine - excellent analogy. Thank you

Jul 11, 2013 11:04 AM
Patricia Kennedy
RLAH@properties - Washington, DC
Home in the Capital

Jon, my mother wanted to move to Ocean City and my hydrologist dad wouldn't hear of it.  Mom loved the beauty and Dad appreciated the strength.  They never moved to the ocean, but the visited a lot. 

Jul 11, 2013 11:56 AM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired
Hi Jon, Thankfully ocean access is still possible. The beauty, it's power, it's shore and it's inhabitants should be for all to share.
Jul 11, 2013 01:50 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Patricia - it is serious stuff. One Cat 5 huricane and you can lose everything. If it is a condo, and it is condemned, then you only will get your portion of insurance money, and it is the replacement cost, i.e. how much it would have cost to rebuild.

But if you get that money plus the divided cost of land being sold to someone, and then try to buy, nobody would be chargin you the cost of construction. And the market value can be astroinomically higher, so petentially you may not have enough to put even a deposit, for example, in Miami....

Jul 11, 2013 03:08 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

William - in our area it is still even affordable. Don't know for how long, though :)

Jul 11, 2013 03:13 PM
Sharon Alters
Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty - 904-673-2308 - Fleming Island, FL
Realtor - Homes for Sale Fleming Island FL

Jon, also barrier reef islands are constantly eroding from the north and rebuilding on the south. This is nature at work but man tries to stop it. 8" in 10 years? That is alot! Maybe I will buy flood insurance...

 

Jul 12, 2013 10:49 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Sharon - this is interesting.And I can clearly see this pattern here as well. And yes, 8'' seems not a big deal, but now the waves are bigger, and go farther

Jul 12, 2013 11:14 AM
Cindy Jones
Integrity Real Estate Group - Woodbridge, VA
Pentagon, Fort Belvoir & Quantico Real Estate News

I love to visit the ocean but understand when the wind howls and the water rises so would my insurance costs.  I'll enjoy my vacations at the beach though.

Jul 13, 2013 11:43 PM
Norma Toering Broker for Palos Verdes and Beach Cities
Charlemagne International Properties - Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Palos Verdes Luxury Homes in L.A.

And that's why I love Palos Verdes--we are on a hill but enjoy some of the most breathtaking views of the mighty Pacific Ocean from high bluffs far above sea level.

Jul 14, 2013 01:16 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Cindy - true. One major huricane can raise the premiums through the roof

Jul 14, 2013 03:13 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Norma - I have never been to Calidfornia. I am only imagining it. Gotta be beatiful scenery with hills and mountains. We do not have it. But then, your ocean ios cold

Why can't we have everything in one place

Jul 14, 2013 03:14 AM
Helen and Larry Prier- Re-Max Gateway - Residential Real Estate
RE-MAX Gateway- Residential Real Estate Sales - Anacortes, WA
Anacortes & surrounding Skagit & Island Counties

Jon, I agree that there are some risks by living right on the waterfront.  It is a romantic thought but it might not be for everyone. I for one would love to hear the lapping of the water, watch the storms come in and face washing my windows a lot more frequently than most. 

Jul 14, 2013 06:23 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Helen & Lary - In some condos you have access to windows from balconies, but in some you don't, or not to all windows. Usually in summer you have plenty of rain, and if rain gets there, you have clean windows. But in dryer season you have to live with dirty windows from washing to washing, which is usually done once a month, or once in 2 months, or once in 3 months.

It is not part of the maintenance of the building, usually it is a subcontractor doing it for a reasonable fee.

And still it is so beautiful on the ocean, and it is still most of the time.

Jul 14, 2013 07:52 AM
Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED
RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

A good way to think about it . . . for those that want "water" it does have a mind of it's own, that's for sure.

Jul 14, 2013 08:09 AM
Brad MacKenzie
Brad MacKenzie - Duxbury, MA
Turning Houses into Homes on the South Shore

Well, it's still real estate, even after it goes underwater. It's an area ripe for re-development.

Jul 14, 2013 08:28 AM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Carla - people sometimes are not realistic in their dreams, but that's why we call them "dreams", and not reality. But we need to understand the reality so that we are not going to be greatly disappointed.

I am always fascinated by people looking seclusion and buying houses in Florida on the lakes, rivers, or ponds, and then finding out that they have to share the surrounding area with alligators, black bears, raccoons and ... a lot of mosquitoes

Jul 14, 2013 02:18 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Brad - underwater real estate sounds a bit scary to me. :)

Jul 14, 2013 02:20 PM