If I were to wager a guess, those places were developed a long time ago and have stayed in families over time. My friend's father grew up in a small beachfront town just south of Atlantic City. His house wasn't beach front and it was very small. There was still some of the old cottages left on the beach blocks, but over the years, most have been bought by the wealthy crowd and torn down. However, there are still pockets of areas, especially those that aren't touristy, that have remained predominantly middle class.

I live in a waterfront community, not beachfront but bayfront. In the early 1900s, it was a wealthy vacation resort that slowly became a destination for wealthy African Americans from Washington DC (lawyers, doctors, educators) in the mid century. By the 70s, it became more integrated, with middle class whites buying the summer cottages as year round homes. It is now a predominantly middle class neighborhood, though many of the original waterfront homes are still owned by families who arrived in the 50s (their children/grandchildren who would now be considered middle class), or by middle class families who bought the waterfront homes back in the 70s when this area was no longer a vacation destination. However, now, with major highways connecting where I live to Washington DC and Baltimore, my area has become more popular among those commuting to their jobs and therefore, about 15 years ago, the waterfront suddenly shot up on value. Buying a waterfront home here puts you at a minimum, at a $1M price, and that's for bottom of the barrel. When we moved here 16 years ago, it was possible to buy waterfront for $200K (which may seem like a lot to some people even now, but that was not much more than the average price of homes in my area back then and affordable to what was considered middle class income in the DC area).

I used to live in NJ suburb of NYC, and I grew up in PA and vacationed "at the shore" as a kid. I also have been looking at beachfront property and just went under contract in New England

I will make a blanket statement that NJ coastline is less expensive generally than other areas of the Northeast. There are, as always exceptions, and some very lovely areas (eg Spring Lake is one). But a lot of the NJ coast line was developed many years ago, has a very high density, very modest homes, and some communities are pretty seedy and rundown (think Atlantic City, for one). It has gotten better, but there was time when most NJ boardwalks were not a place to take your family. The same is true of areas like Coney Island, the Rockaways and Breezy Point, btw. These are not as much idyllic summer communities as old areas with urban problems, in many cases.

One of the reasons we only looked at New England beachhouses is because they are far less developed, and have more vegetation.

All that said, in the context of a nationwide home prices of what, 150k?, none of these places are truly cheap. And many are very lovely and upscale.

I could be wrong but I highly doubt anyone can touch a house in Seaside near the boardwalk for under a million or 2. I don't know about the rest of the town but the closer to the boardwalk; the higher the price. A lot of the houses are rentals.

Seaside Park

Seaside Heights

You can't touch beachfront property in South Jersey (Long Beach Island south to Cape May) for under at least $2 million unless you are talking about a small condo. Most are a lot more. These are all vacation properties since living on the beach in the winter isn't fun. There is constant freezing wind off the ocean. It's gorgeous in spring, summer and fall but forget winter. Atlantic City has gotten rough around the edges for sure.

My XH sold a condo about four blocks back from the beach in Ocean City. It was new construction, on the second floor. He got $750,000 for that.

The towns closer to NYC are more like what Mtrd describes. However other towns like Deal are very very exclusive and expensive.

Here is a link that might be useful: waterfront in S. Jersey

Thanks all, your insights are very interesting. Makes sense too.

I have a Fl waterfront story, about my husband's uncle. He and his father (husband's grandfather) were small-scale developers in Miami during the post war boom. In the very early 70s uncle and grandpa bought property in Key Largo and moved down there, building side by side modest stilt-style homes next door to each other. At the time the Keys were still remote-they had to dig their own wells for water for example. Uncle raised his family there, parents lived out the last decade of their lives next door.

The uncle died a couple of years ago. However the land is going to be somebody's jackpot someday when the property is sold. Uncle (who inherited grandpa's share) owned *9 acres* of oceanfront property. It's actually one of the largest pieces of undeveloped land in the Fl keys, and he regularly got offers from hotels and resorts in the range of 10-15 million dollars.

It was always a trip to go down for family parties. You would turn off the main road (US 1 for those who know the Keys) into the property which was just a bunch of scrub, nothing landscaped. Then down the looooooooong drive (crushed shells, never even paved) to the houses. They were small, not particularly well kept up but were directly facing the ocean. The area around the houses was always full of junk; old boats, cars/trucks that didn't run, rusting outdoor furniture etc. All of that next to the most glorious sea vista you could imagine. Amazing.

As I said, it will be an interesting process when the property is eventually sold. Uncle had 4 daughters and one son and left everything to sonny. However, my husband's cousins are some pretty strong women and the uncle's plan that his only son inherit and keep everything is probably not going to fly once the big bucks start being offered.

Oh, and many years ago my MIL TURNED DOWN a piece of waterfront property down there that her father offered her as a vacation spot. Crazy woman :).

Ann

Many of the beach communities the homes were passed down in families. My grandparents owned a waterfront beach bungalow in LBI. They purchased it in the 60s for $1200. It sold in the mid 80s for close to 200K. Same bungalow was sold again about 5 years ago for 800K to a developer who knocked it down and built new construction. The only reason my grandparents sold it was because they were divorcing. My father really wanted it, but my grandfather wouldn't sell it to him. Otherwise it would have probably stayed in the family. Just as many of my other family members have shore houses that have been passed on through the generations.

I disagree with the blanket statement that some communities are seedy and that may attribute to the inexpensive real estate. Yes, the town of AC is not desirable, but the boardwalk was pretty nice. IMO AC wasn't really meant to be a family vacation town anyway. The only other shore town I can think of that may not have been desirable is Asbury Park, however even that was pretty nice in the last 10 years. I took my kids there 2 years ago when we stayed in Bradley Beach. Some shore towns may have some undesirable areas, but the same is true for so many towns in NJ, NY and CT.

I do however agree that many of the homes are small and the towns are quite packed with homes, which can attribute to the middle class living in them. Most were developed years ago.

Many of my friends whose families owned beach property for generations found that they could no longer afford the taxes. In other families, some needed the money and wanted to sell. The others could not afford to buy their share, so it was sold. Oh how I wish my parents had bought property "down the shore" back in the '60's. Oh well.

This is an interesting topic for someone who lives in Oklahoma. My DH had a case in New England a few years back and he flew to one of the states there. I forget which state. I was SO jealous that I couldn't go.

He rented a car and drove through several states. The first thing I asked him was what is N.E. like. He said, "I've never seen so many people in all my life." LOL!!

I've always dreamt of a beachfront house in Maine. Big time! I've even looked at the coast on Google Earth, and I love how sparse it is.