We are new empty nesters in our mid 50’s ready to retire. Where can we buy a move-in ready beach house with room for guests in Hawaii or someplace similar for $1 million or less?
Dear Empty Nesters,
Congratulations on this new era of your life, being empty nesters and approaching retirement. That’s a lot to achieve by your mid-50s and that’s a lot to celebrate. That’s all great news.
Now the bad news.
Finding a beach house that’s big enough to have room for guests that’s move-in ready in Hawaii or the like? You’re going to need a bigger budget. Or different parameters.
The median sales price for single-family homes in O’ahu still remains above $1 million, ending the year at $1,050,000, according to the Hawaii Board of Realtors. The median sales price for a condo was $508,500, a 0.3% decrease from the year before. And that’s for all the homes on O’ahu — not just beach homes. And the median price, of course, means that half the homes sold for above that amount and half sold below.
So, if you adjust your parameters, you might be able to buy a home in a beach town, but a property on the beach for $1 million is out of reach. Even far away from Hawaii’s paradise, like the Jersey Shore, for example, beachfront homes go for millions. A humble, 1,225-square-foot beachfront cottage in Stone Harbor, N.J. that will be knocked down recently sold for $10 million.
So, where can you move to get a beach vibe on your budget?
The MarketWatch “Where Should I Retire” tool made several suggestions in Florida and North Carolina where you can live in a beach town, although not directly on the water. One suggestion was Fernandina Beach, Florida, which we’ve written about before. Check it out here. Other top suggestions are below.
Vero Beach, Fla.
The median home sale price in Vero Beach was $392,000 in December, according to Realtor.com, which has the same parent company as MarketWatch. The range of homes in Vero Beach is vast, going as high as a $60 million beach-front mansion down to more modest, inland homes for a few hundred thousand.
Still, Vero Beach gets you a beach town with 26 miles of beaches along the Atlantic Ocean. Vero Beach was named the seventh-best “Small Beach Town in Florida” by Southern Living Magazine in 2023 for its “unspoiled beaches, salt water lagoons, and protected wildlife refuges.”
In addition to the beach, Vero Beach offers a main street area featuring galleries, boutiques and restaurants. There’s also the opera, ballet and theater, as well as McKee Botanical Gardens. Vero Beach has become popular in recent years with a flood of snowbirds and boasts the fourth-largest concentration of wealthy households in the U.S., according to Vero Beach Real Estate.
Nags Head, N.C.
The median sales price of a home in Nags Head, N.C. was $875,000 in December, 2023, according to Realtor.com. Your $1 million budget could actually get you close to or on the beach in Nags Head, depending on your taste in homes and appetite for potential storm-related risk.
Nags Head is part of the Outer Banks, a 200-mile stretch of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. With it comes with the cons of tourist season and hurricanes, but also the bonus of beach life. Nags Head is also home to Jockey’s Ridge State Park, which has the tallest natural sand dune on the East Coast – with great views of the ocean.
The Bodie Island Lighthouse is a landmark of Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Outer Banks boasts five lighthouses, wild horses on the beach in Corolla, four seasons of weather, and swimmable water temperatures due to the Gulf Stream. If you don’t like Nags Head itself, explore the rest of the Outer Banks towns. Be sure to visit during all seasons so you get a sense of whether you want to call it home.
There are plenty of nearby retail and restaurants, though some close down in the off-season. About 37,000 people call Dare County, N.C., home year-round and that swells exponentially during tourist season.
Readers, where should our beach lovers retire?
Looking for ideas on the best place for you to retire? Email HelpMeRetire@marketwatch.com
This post was originally published on Market Watch
