One Cape Cod homeowner is living the dream, but there's a ticking clock on his beachfront property is going to end up in the ocean. David Moot paid $395,000 for his beachfront home in a steal.
Moot bought his house for roughly half of what other houses cost in the area. That's because his home at 157 Brownell Road in Eastham is in danger of disappearing forever. There's only 25 feet separating his home from the surf. The bluff continues to erode with the ocean encroachin three feet closer every year. In only a decade, his home could be under the water.
However, he still bought the property.
"Life's too short," he told Bloomberg in an interview. "Let's just see what happens. It's going to eventually fall into the ocean, and it may or may not be in my lifetime."
Moot is just one of many home hunters grabbing up houses on the cheap. It's all due to the risk of the sea. Eventually, the houses may go into the ocean, but why not enjoy them while they last? "Between 50 and 100 years from now, there are communities that will be underwater," Dylan McNamara, an oceanography professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington told Bloomberg. "It's just a matter of time before those property values go down."
Cape Cod Home Owner Faces Uncertain Future
In particular, Cape Cod and Nantucket have faced winter storms. The encroach of water has devastated shore lines. "The hard conversation to have is with the owners," Shelly Lockwood, a real estate agent on the island told the outlet. "They're losing millions and thought they were going to leave this for their grandchildren. Now, their homes are worthless."
"If you want to buy the house, you're going to have to pay all cash and you can't insure it," Lockwood warned. "That's going to make the buyer pool that much smaller." The National Park Service has started buying up homes in an effort to tear the down and avoid future debris in the ocean.
"They should have never been built," Eric Braojos, a local real estate broker added.
However, the Cape Cod homeowner doesn't care. He's enjoying it while he can. And for now, he's living the dream.
"This is such a wonderful dream for me that has come true that I would love to be able to share it," he said. "I would like people to enjoy it as much as I can."
