• Trouble logging in? Send us a message with your username and/or email address for help.
New posts

Carter

Beach Comber
May 20, 2005
25
0
Marin County, CA
For all of you who love the gulf, but missed your chance to buy a slice of it like me.

First, I'd like to thank whoever it was who said on this site sometime in 2004 something like "Check out Mustang Island in TX, reminds me of Grayton Beach 20 years ago" or something like that.

I am sad to say i am priced out of the Emerald Coast Market. I live in CA and love the EC. I have been traveling there for years and in fact will be there in Dune Allen rental in June with my young kids, wife and 14 other family members renting gulffront - and that sure has gotten expensive too). i am sure i will continue to come there - hopefully at least 1x/year. But i can't afford to buy my little slice of waterfront,waterview or stumbling distance walk to beach). i missed my opportunity 3 years ago when I almost made an offer and chickened out.

I am kicking myself for not moving faster when I saw that Port Aransas/Mustang island post here last year. The word is sort of out on Mustang Island, and the gulf front props that were a mere $$400K last year appear to be scarce and more like $700K-$1MM now. And the dune is so wide there, beachfront is often a heck of a hike to the actual beach

So i literally arrowed my way around the entire gulf coast on mapquest looking for somewhre on the gulf within an hour drive of a decent sized airport. I found Surfside Beach, TX. www.surfside.org 45 mins drive from Houston Hobby airport and 45 mins so. of Galveston. With the exception of some somewhat remote parts of LA, i think this may be the last place on the gulf that you can buy at a 'reasonable' price.

I learned a painful lesson in FL gulf coast. There is only so much gulf, a lot of people have a lot more money than me, and i would up on the wrong side of supply and demand.

I just purchased a 4BR/3BA built in 2002 beach house that is in the rental pool and fully booked for 11 weeks in summer at $2K/week. I paid $320K.

I am also in contract on a gulf front lot that includes the two contiguous lots behind it (i.e 2nd and 3rd row) for a grand total of $145K on the 3.

I am not a large land investor, in fact the only property i ever purchased prior to these is my 1st and only primary residence.

This is NOT emerald coast beach. The water is not aqua-marine. The beach is not fluffy white. You drive right through ugly industrial to get to it. But it is the gulf. Gulf front.

If I can figure out how to post a picture, I will.
 

Today

Beach Comber
Feb 6, 2005
6
0
Check out the article entitled, the search for the last affordable beach house, Money, June 2005. It list five areas it defines as affordable, they are as follows: 1) Prince Edward Island, Canada; 2) The Outer Banks, North Carolina; 3) The Forgotten Coast, Florida (this area is from Port St. Joe to Carrabelle); 4) North Padre Island, Texas (this area includes Mustang Island), and; 5) Central Coast, Oregon. Since I like warmer weather, I would limit my search down to #'s 2,3, and 4.
 

Bob

SoWal Insider
Nov 16, 2004
10,364
1,391
O'Wal
Good post, Money magazine's article about "affordable" is dubious. Affordable for whom? I'd say areas 2.3.and 4 are not affordable, and areas 1 and 5 are moderately affordable because 9-10 months of the year, the waterfront is miserably cold.
 

BrettMan

Beach Comber
Apr 15, 2005
34
0
There is also a great development called Beachtown Galveston going in on East Beach in Galveston, TX. It was designed by the same architects that did Seaside and Rosemary Beach, Duany Plater-Zyberk. Like someone mentioned previously - the beach are not like the Emerald Coast, but neither are the prices. I just bought two gulf front lots. I think it's going to do really well. They are supposed to be breaking ground on the town center this summer. All the roads and utilities are in, but that's it. Here is the URL:

www.beachtowngalveston.com
 

GraytonBound

Beach Fanatic
Nov 15, 2004
947
2
57
The Nooga
Anyone have an opinion on Gulfport/Biloxi area? Lots of mom & pop's being torn down & replaced by large condo complexes. Good investment ??
 

Carter

Beach Comber
May 20, 2005
25
0
Marin County, CA
Brettman- May i ask how much the Gulf-front lots at beachtown Galveston are going for? I saw a full page ad for that in a local beach mag when i was down there and it looked well thought out and nice from what little i saw, and i did note with interest the claim of 'same designers as Rosemary'.
 

Paula

Beach Fanatic
Jan 25, 2005
3,747
442
Michigan but someday in SoWal as well
I went to the web site listed above and it said that the real estate developer "visited and studied similar projects designed by the town planning firm of Duany Plater-Zyberk, namely ?Seaside? and ?Rosemary Beach? in Florida. " So, it didn't seem clear to me that architects of Beachtown Galveston and Rosemary and Seasidethat are the same, although I may have missed something when I read the information on the website.
 

BrettMan

Beach Comber
Apr 15, 2005
34
0
Carter,

I think we got the last of the gulf front lots, but I've heard that there might be a couple of resales. I'm not sure what they are going for. If you are interested, contact Vicki Bird at (409) 762-2222. She is the agent we dealt with.

Paula,

We thought the exact same thing before we bought. The ad that we saw actually said that DPZ did the design, but the wording on the web site made us think that may not be the case. So.. I called the offices of DPZ and asked about the Beachtown Galveston development and they knew what I was talking about and referred me back to their sales office.
 

Paula

Beach Fanatic
Jan 25, 2005
3,747
442
Michigan but someday in SoWal as well
Thanks. I'm not pursuing any property in Texas but I did look at the link out of curiosity. If I was looking for property, though, I'd be looking further into this because it seems interesting. Certainly, a weekend trip to the area would be my first step.
 
New posts


Sign Up for SoWal Newsletter