Clearwater homes
Clearwater homes - Clearwater Beach Homes that are waterfront have some
unique features you have to pay attention to when buying.
The 4 main areas you'll find houses for sale in Clearwater Beach are
Island Estates (Intracoastal waterway frontage, canal frontage and
non-waterfront), the north beach area (both Gulf frontage, Intercoastal
frontage and non-waterfront), the south beach area (mostly on the
Intracoastal waterway or canals) and the Sand Key area (mostly on the
Intracoastal or canals).
I'm going to focus on the waterfront homes here so I can bring up the
features with waterfront homes that are unique and need to be looked at
when you are considering buying one of these houses.
The first is the seawall. Usually the seawalls for houses on the
Intracoastal or canals are made out of reinforced concrete and act as a
separation between the soil of the property and the water. There is also
a cement cap on top of the seawall that is also made of concrete.
(There are some seawalls made of material other than concrete but the
ones I have seen so far in the Clearwater Beach areas have been only the
concrete ones.) Houses on the Gulf that are beachfront will not
normally have a seawall, so this mainly applies to those on the
Intracoastal or canals.
Seawalls can be expensive to replace so you'll want to know the age of
the existing seawall (if the owner knows) and have it checked during the
home inspection. Your inspector will want to look for any cracks in the
seawall or cap and other indicators of problems. If the inspection
shows that there is damage or that the seawall may need replacing in the
next few years, you may want to get an estimate from a reputable
company that does this type of work.
The second feature can vary in waterfront homes, but usually they will
have a dock and/or boat lift and/or davits (kind of like two arms that
project over the water with cables that can lift and lower a boat).
Again, this is mostly for those houses on the Intracoastal or canals.
Probably the 2 most important of these, cost-wise, are the dock and
lift. You should have these included in the inspection you have done to
find out their condition and to make sure that any davits or lifts are
functioning as they should. If there appears to be any potential
problems you should have them checked more thoroughly by a good company
that services and installs them to see if the issues are minor or major
and to get an idea of what it may cost to repair or replace them, as
needed.
Though it is not really a feature, a third area you should pay attention
to is the cost for home and flood insurance. Being on the water does
result in a higher insurance cost than you'd see for houses inland so
you don't want to be surprised by waiting until after you have a
contract on a waterfront home to find out what your insurance premium
may be. You can reduce that cost some by having storm shutters on the
windows and doors but you should talk with your insurance agent to find
out exactly what you can do to reduce the costs and how much reduction
there would be.
My final comment on Clearwater Beach homes that are waterfront is that
you need to be more attentive to maintenance. The salt air is corrosive
and any outside metal can rust more easily and quickly. It may take more
of your time but it will cost you less in the long run to make sure you
regularly and properly maintain all the outside aspects of your home
(including lifts and davits).