From the time I was a very little girl I have known of my father's dream to have a little house by the sea. It didn't have to be a fancy house, for all he cared it could be a surf shack, but he wanted to wake up to the sun and sand, and drift off to sleep listening to the sound of the waves lapping the sand. While he doesn't exactly have a house on the beach, he did live on a boat for a while and now resides in the US Virgin Islands. He's most definitely in easy driving distance of the beach.

His dream is a dream that many people share. I'm more the cabin in the mountain type, but I do understand my father's love of the ocean. It's a mystical source of both inspiration and awe. I do feel that staring out over endless miles of water is perhaps the second best way to comprehend how big the world really is. Of course you can see an endless blue sky (which is in my opinion the best way to understand) and if you ever have had the good fortune to look at the night skies over the ocean, unfettered by city lights then you'll understand what I meant by mystical and awe inspiring.

So the question inevitably arrives, is a beach house a wise investment? In light of the last two hurricane seasons, even seasoned coast dwellers are beginning to ask themselves the same question. The truth, in dollars and sense, is that almost anywhere you live in America, there is some sort of environmental risk associated with living in there. The truth is also that the last two hurricane seasons have been unlike anything we've seen in history. I grew up in Mississippi and even though Camille was before I was born, I watched many of the scars she left behind heal and grow into a thriving community that until last summer was the Mississippi gulf coast. The point I'm trying to make is that you have to decide for yourself which risks you are willing to take with your investment and remember to be properly insured (this includes a rider clause for flood zones as flood damage is not covered by traditional home owners insurance).

One thing I can tell you about owning a beach home is that if you scout your location and choose wisely, a beach home is rarely difficult to sell and almost always gains value over time rather than loosing value. You would have to let your beach house fall into a serious state of disrepair or environmental damage in order to lose money on the deal. You can find beach houses ranging in size, styles, and price from the meager and modest to the outlandish and outrageous with price tags to match. Well the outlandish and outrageous. One thing you will be hard pressed to find is cheap real estate on the beach.

If you are considering purchasing a beach house, I say go for it. Make sure that you are adequately insured for all contingencies (as we all should try to do with all things in life) and take your risks. Investing in real estate is always a risky endeavor, beach front properties are really and truly no riskier than anywhere else and if you take the proper precautions, you may find that the joy you experience from you beach home is hardly dampened by the risks involved in the process.