fire island

And the nominees for Innocuous Thread Most Likely to Turn Bloody are...

It will be agreat buy. I heard that Fire Island is on the Obama "make work program". Widening beach to 1,000 yards...Will become the NY Riviera.

Yeah, but it'll all just get washed away with the next major hurricane anyway, so what's the point?

For my money I'd stay away from purchasing in beach locations, especially places like Fire Island, which is nothing but a giant sandbar--who wants to deal with higher insurance costs and the constant battle with nature?

it was a joke on gov't waste, get it!

if I was looking for sarcastic advice I could have asked my 5 year old. Does anyone have any helpful advice? If not, perhaps you should refrain from answering as it is not helpful. Thank you.

For rental, try vacationrentals.com, under Fire Island.

Try this:

http://fihomes.net/

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Yeah, I got your joke. And used it segue into my own point, which I will repeat: There is NO sense whatsoever in purchasing real estate on a sandbar. Absolutely NONE. Period.

I go to Ocean Beach some...don'tbuy..just rent...If after 2-3 years you think you are very comfortable with the area, then start shopping...For NY area, this is a pretty eclectic place. The anti-anti.

thank you all

I've been going to Ocean Beach for 30 years now - Renting. I know a few owners.

Definitely rent right now and get a feel for the towns. Ocean Beach can be a young /party scene come the weekends. Definitely research the houses around where you want to buy as well - You very well can wind up with 30 or so 20 year old Share renters on either side for the summer.

Ocean bay Park is worse. Not sure of the better towns - maybe Fair Harbor. Corneille. Davis Park.

I'd take a ton of time and get a great feel for the place while enjoying a rental. I don't think there's any risk of missing out on deals due to major price increases any time soon.

You'll probably get great rental deals now as well... Or closer to summer.

squid,

fire island has been around for a while and it has survived a fair number of hurricanes. the hurricane potential keeps prices low, and i'd say that it is a good reason to buy a relatively cheap place there if you buy at all. but to say that there is absolutely no sense to buying real estate on fire island at any price is just silly. i'd add that some of the towns on fire island are among the most pleasant waterfront resort areas you'll find anywhere. they are very close to the city, no cars, low key, spectacular beaches... it's not a bad idea to rent, but owning on fire island is not the idiocy squid claims it is.

Towns go like this - Kismet, Saltaire, Fair Harbor, Dunewood, Lonelyville, Atlantique, Robins Rest, Ocean Beach - there are others but those are sort of themiddle of the island, where most of the houses are (also FI Pines & Cherry Grove for alt lifestyle - in case that orig poster's orientation)

I considered buying in FI several times over the years. A friend who did has his lovely oceanfront house washed away in 1996. My lesson from that was that you are close enough to the ocean anywhere there, don't buy on the edge of the sand. I rented for several summers in Ocean Beach when my children were little, and it was lovely. Eventually, we wanted to spend vacations other places as well, Europe, islands, other places in the US. I decided that summer rentals were the way to go (if you want to rent all year round it doesn't cost much/any more). I haven't spent more on renting there over the course of 20 years than I would have spent on mortgage interest for 5.

That said, if you want to buy, look for something that is already set up the way you want it; having work done out there is unbelievably expensive, slow, and not always the quality you'd want. To find a good buy, frankly I'd wait. Prices are likely to go down another 20% there in the next year. Sorry I don't have any realtor recs there, but if you take a walk around Ocean Beach main drag, you can check a couple out easily enough.

It's a wonderful place. Magical. I love it. There are other ways to be there, though, than owning. To own you really have to have enough extra cash flow that costs don't bother you, whatever they turn out to be.

>>fire island has been around for a while and it has survived a fair number of hurricanes.<<

Yeah, that's what they said about New Orleans. Personally I wouldn't want to gamble with rising sea levels and storm activity that seems to strengthen by the year. But hey, that's just me.