The Central Coast of California offers a wide range of housing for those who want their own little piece of the coastline. From a one bedroom "beach shack" in Oceano or Grover Beach to a million plus beach estate with panoramic ocean views in Pismo Heights; everyone can find their perfect vacation beach home on the Central Coast.
"Beach shacks" as they are dubbed locally, or "beach bungalows" start as low as $200k and go upward depending on their condition and location. At the lower end, many beach bungalows are priced without the value of the home considered, as structural issues make some borderline "tear downs." Potential purchasers should be prepared to put between a 20%-33% down payment on this type of house, as some lenders will see this as the purchase of a lot (and thus a riskier investment) with the home having no value at all. Some property owners have improved these shacks and updated them, but many in their existing states would not qualify for the low down payment government backed financing programs such as VA or FHA.
Beach bungalows in Grover Beach, Pismo Beach, and Shell Beach are usually no more than 2 bedrooms and one bathroom and the square footage is typically less than 1000 square feet. Of course, pricing is heavily influenced by condition and the location. There are beach bungalows available in tony Shell Beach, CA; however, I find much of the inventory there has been improved and updated as compared to the inventory in Grover Beach or Oceano. Due to the location which offers direct walking access to the popular beach areas, and the typically better condition of the properties, the prices of beach bungalows in Shell Beach start at around $500k and go upward.
Because of the housing downturn, we are beginning to see bank owned beach house inventory on the Central Coast. This is very exciting as new opportunities abound for buyers to find the vacation house of their dreams at a significant discount. Those wishing to buy a bank oned beach house are in for some challenges. Indeed, some buyers are not up to it, as there are definite delays when buying homes from a bank. However, bank owned homes offer some of the best discounts in the current market, and it may turn out to be worth your wait. In my experience, these delays can occur at any part of the transaction.
I've had bank owned transactions where it took almost 3 weeks for a bank to accept an offer, two weeks to sign the contract, 3 weeks to choose an escrow company, or one week to sign their estimated settlement statement. These types of delays can cause difficulty when financing rate locks are involved. Some of these delays are less brutal on vacation home buyers because they do not need to coordinate a move into the home immediately. The good news is that the bank owned pricing environment has spilled over and affected even the prices that private sellers are asking for beach homes. They must compete with bank owned inventory in order to obtain offers. This translates into an especially opportune time to pick up a beach house.
My background as an attorney lends itself easily to a specialty in helping others buy bank owned (REO) and "pre-foreclosure" homes. I would be happy to show you all the Central Coast has to offer for your second home purchase, including golf course communities with ocean views such as Cypress Ridge in Arroyo Grande, hilltop ocean view homes in Pismo Heights, and beach front bungalows in Shell Beach. Call me directly on my cell at (805) 878-9879, or send me an email at tni@mintprop.com, and I'll set up a "Client Portal" for you where you'll get alerts about newly listed bank owned beach homes. Or you can simply search for free on my website.
Sincerely,
Tni LeBlanc, JD, M.A. , e-PRO
Broker/Owner
Mint Properties
(805) 878-9879
tni@MintProp.com
www.MintProp.com
www.BuySantaMariaForeclosures.com
www.SantaMariaRealEstateBlog.com
www.CentralCoastRealEstateSearch.com
www.VAFBRealEstateSearch.com
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