Fire Island real estate - any thoughts?

Fire Island is the best summer house choice there could be on LI or anywhere else for that matter. It's expensive, difficult to maintain and all but useless in the winter. All that being said...if your a beach person it's the greatest. The only caveat is that a purchase anywhere near a share house could potentially destroy your summer and your investment in yourself.

We've just come off the softest weather cycle in a long time. Id expect we are in for 6 to 8 maybe 10 years of horrible storms.
A starting point for required reading;
http://www.fireislandnews.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=249&Itemid=77

Fire Island is also pretty restrictive on what you can do in public. Mostly understandable but some of the things downright silly.
Upside, unlikely to find buried hookers in the sand.

Rent in a couple different places and see how you like them. Here're some of the variations:

-- which village. There're 20-odd of them, with different feels.
-- season: spring and fall are ideal. Many fewer people than summer, but not dead, either.
-- cooking: little/no choice if you want to eat out.
-- stuff to do: the beach is pretty much it. No golf or tennis, etc.

It can be nice even if you're not beachy. I hate it, except for one early-morning swim per day, but still like it out there. Lying on a shaded deck with a pool handy while maintaining a buzz should be the same anywhere, but the no-cars aspect, with everything walkable, tips the scale for me.

love FI. no cars is awesome.

In case the article that truthskr10 linked didn't make it crystal clear, Fire Island's houses are built on a sandbar of ever-shifting sands in an era of rising sea levels and possibly more erratic and violent weather patterns.

Right, buying sand makes no sense. But people go and do it anyway. The usual response to "Don't you worry about it all being swept away?" is "Oh, that's just the chance you take."

Another example of half the world not understanding the other half's attitude toward risk.

Then there's the issue of various government agencies spending our money to replenish beaches, etc.

FI: Awesome place to rent if you find a town with a scene you are into. Ridiculous place to buy. Insane.

My parents rented a fabulous beachfront house in Ocean Bay Park every July in the '60's and '70's - best summer memories of my life. At one point, the owner tried to sell us the house. My dad declined, and I guess the common wisdom then was no different than now. He called it a "ridiculous investment" because "the whole island was going to wash away."

'In case the article that truthskr10 linked didn't make it crystal clear, Fire Island's houses are built on a sandbar of ever-shifting sands in an era of rising sea levels and possibly more erratic and violent weather patterns.'

alan, what are you trying ti say?
Bring a swim suit?

Love FI. Nothing like it anywhere. That said; owning there is like having an inground pool in Alaska. The season is way too short for the price. Rentals are not cheap, but I feel it is better in the short/long run.

Another thing to consider about owning on Fire Island: everything--I mean EVERYTHING--that needs maintenance, fixing, re-doing is a headache. You have to ship over anything you need, bring in repairmen from the mainland, coordinate deliveries, squeeze all this into a very short season, etc. The Hamptons have their drawbacks (everywhere does) but a lot of these issues are far simpler to deal with there. Furnace, roof, siding, decking, plumbing, electrical, housecleaning, garden supplies, food deliveries and shopping, are all pretty much like any vacation community and are readily available year-round. Homes can be enjoyed 12 months a year, a train and jitneys provide transportation alternatives for guests, the beaches are world class, and your home will not be washed away in a storm (unless you have $10,000,000,000 and own on the beach, in which case you wouldn't care because you would just buy something else. In short, for many second home ownership in a place like the Hamptons makes sense, but no matter what your financial situation, I don't know why you would choose to OWN on FI. Better to rent the greatest place you can afford and not have any of the headaches of maintaining it.

Ha ha. Everything everyone here said sounds right, but I love FI like no other place, and would buy a place there in a heartbeat if I had the extra money lying around.

As it is I rent there every summer and pay what I consider to be ridiculously high rents, but always count myself lucky to be there.

How does the real estate out there stack up as investment? If you can keep your house rented for $30k per season to good tenants, is it worth it?

Someone else here might have the answer.

Also, if you own out there, wouldn't it really make sense to own a boat? Even a small one that just can get you around from town to town on the island?

Owning a 2nd home anywhere is a money pit. That being said, I would love to own a 2nd home on FI. Another drawback is the cost of the ferry. It really adds up.

What is the point of owning if you then have to rent it out during prime time? You own so you can not be there during the summer? Nuts.

And a second home needn't be a "money pit." I've had one for 12 years and it is a source of enormous happiness, working the gardens keeps me sane, spending a few days with friends is so much different than just sharing a meal in Manhattan and has enriched our relationships in ways i never would have predicted, and it is an invaluable escape we have whenever we want 12 months a year. If I rented, I would never invest myself as I have in the gardens, having fun decorating and furnishing the house, creating the environment we so love going to most weekends. Oh--and even with the slump, it's tripled in value. Not bad.