Why so much real estate for sale on the coast?

[Larry Caldwell]

I agree completely. 40 years ago I was building houses on the coast. Some of those houses aren't there any more. There was nothing wrong with the houses, but the owners ran out of money to keep them maintained. Let a roof start leaking in December and don't fix it for a couple of months and the house won't have an interior. If you aren't there and don't have money to throw at it right away, don't even think of owning a house on the coast.

[dtuba]

^ and to add to what Larry said, even if you have the money to maintain a coast residence, there is a definite shortage of labor to do said maintenance. Handy people can be few and far between in the smaller coast communities. Building materials are also not as readily available as they are in the inland cities. You don't have Home Depots on every corner.

My mother owns and rents out a house in Bandon and has to deal with this constantly. Thank God she has good, steady renters.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Some of it is that the real estate recession hit the coast exceptionally hard and the coastal cities have been the last to recover. Just now are prices getting up at all, not to pre-crash, but at least up, so many people have been waiting years to be able to sell.

I've got a house on the coast and I find all these "negatives" that people are listing to be a bunch of hooey. You don't buy next to the ocean unless you understand that you will have more maintenance. The weather in the winter is wonderful and dramatic, and you don't buy on the coast without checking first to see what the weather will be like year round. Yes, it rains frequently on the coast, but it also rains frequently in Portland and that rain doesn't stop anyone from living in Portland.

Oregon coast is not the same as a beach in Hawaii, but plenty of people appreciate it for what it is.