Anchored on Washington state's southwestern-most coast, Long Beach Peninsula pierces the waters of the Pacific Ocean, Columbia River and Willapa Bay with a spindly 28-mile-long finger.
Buffeted by strong winds, overcast skies and regular rain showers, homes on the nation's longest beach were historically inhabited by vacationers chasing sun-filled weekends or the numerous summer festivals for which the area is known. Vacation homes and rental properties line the main drag, where low-traffic volume makes it easy to criss-cross between restaurants, arcades and retail shops.
For the past five years, housing prices on the Peninsula have been steady. The average view home price ranged from $100,000 - $200,000.
In the last 18 months, all that has changed. Sluggish growth has been swept away by the long-term effects of the economic downturn, notes Jamye Lucier, associate broker for Pacific Realty. Fear and uncertainty in the stock market has encouraged more people to invest in real estate, she explains.
Nowadays, any home with a view is selling for well over $200,000 and edging into the $300,000 price range.
"The market has always been steady for vacation homes," she says. "But with the low interest rates and the finite nature of oceanfront and view property," homebuyers have been surging into this heretofore forgotten coastal community.
The Peninsula's sudden popularity will eventually reach inland and into areas traditionally considered undesirable. "Even declining properties are going to change," Lucier says. Her prediction: Within 10 years, homes that banks currently won't finance will either be bought for cash and renovated or snapped up by investors and demolished, making way for new homes.
Most newcomers to the Peninsula are coming from Portland and Vancouver, Wash. "A lot of the people are sick of the city," explains Gail Quimby, associate broker for Pacific Realty. Other residents hail from California and Arizona, "but those are snowbirds, dual home owners that come here in the summer when our weather is cooler."
Where beauty and lifestyle blend
The Long Beach Peninsula includes the communities of Long Beach, Seaview, Ocean Park, Ilwaco, and several other townships clustered together. The effect is charming: Visitors experience an other-world, small-town feel. With its strong connection to the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Peninsula clings to the architecture and sense of history that both connects and distinguishes it from its more built-up brethren along this rocky strip of coast.
Most lots are standard to over-sized with homes ranging from late-19th Century Victorians to mid-Century bungalows. Streets are walker-friendly, with wide sidewalks, neatly tended yards, and a friendly community of tourists and year-round residents. It is legal to drive along the beach, a boon that entices more than 100,00 people a year to try their hand at clam digging, sandcastle building or flying a kite in the gusty onshore breeze. Beachcombing is a popular past time, as is hunting and fishing. Proximity to national parks and other beachfront communities, like Oregon's Seaside or trendy Cannon Beach, make the Peninsula an enticing choice.
The weather here is mercurial, swinging from sunshine to showers in minutes, but year-round temperatures are moderate. During winter months, wind and heavy rain is common, serious storms are infrequent, and snow seldom falls on the beach.
Although homeowners prefer to buy on the ocean side of the peninsula, the combination of ocean, bay and river availability ensures spectacular views.
The end of a long stretch of quiet
Baby Boomers bumping against retirement are snapping up available property and helping drive the price increase. "We expected the housing market to pick up, we just didn't expect it so soon," Quimby says. "We went from a buyer's to a seller's market.
"It used to be people bought vacation homes, then retirement homes. Now that has flip-flopped. Human nature says people wait to buy their retirement home until about six months before they need it. But when interest rates started to rise, many people realized they better buy now. And when the prices started to go up, the pressure to buy became more intense."
Long Beach Still Affordable
Despite the jump in housing prices, the Peninsula is "still considered the most affordable housing on the West Coast," Quimby maintains. "A house that goes for $300,000 here is a million dollars at Cannon Beach."
To illustrate how home values have jumped, he describes a triple-wide manufactured home built on a one-half acre lot. The asking price was $160,000 - five years ago. "We laughed at the price. We couldn't get anybody to look at it back then."
On this blustery day in early spring, Quimby spent the morning showing a moderately sized mobile home. The asking price: $160,000. In today's market, Quimby predicts that house will sell quickly.
Pickings are "slim in every price range," he says, likening the hot market to a trip to Costco: "If you like what you see you better buy it. You'll probably have competition for it, too."