It is a family centered, well designed “town” that is growing and will probably outshadow many local sites in the area. Even in a down real estate market, folks are commiting to purchase and construct at Seabrook.

The Seabrook team are not neophytes and are focused on assuring the Seabrook residents that recreation, retail, and other commercial ventures will be visible at Seabrook, and sooner than the naysayers believe.

Owners at Seabrook probably considered other coastal vacation/getaway sites such as Cannon Beach, Ocean Shores, Long Beach, etc., and decided against them. If you are planning on investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a 2nd home, do you want a trailer park next door or homes of a similar value?

Seabrook is a new experience for Washington. It captures elements of New England vacation enclaves, Florida beach towns, and the Oregon coast. It may not be the getaway site for eveyone, but it sure is perfect for many.

Our house there in Seabrook is $270 during peak summer / holiday rate.

The bottom line is it’s a peaceful place to stay, and 1.5 hours less driving than Cannon Beach area.

Did I mention you get an entire house, fully furnished?

It is not snobbish at all at Seabrook. Like many others have said before me, “Don’t knock Seabrook until you visit.”

I say don’t even knock it then, because it is a work in progress.

As a good faith gesture, I will let you stay in our home, Sand In The Toes, for one week. COMPLETELY FREE!

What do you say about that?

While I understand the issue people have with the pricing of the homes at Seabrook this is not my primary concern. Although the homes are pricy in comparison to other homes in the general area, the prices are inevitably based somewhat on the willingness to pay. For example, if Seabrook’s target market is Seattle-ites looking for a weekend retreat, then the homes really are not necessarily that out of whack in terms of price.

My concern and hesitancy surround the environmental and the social justice aspects. I wonder if the founders truly understand and believe in the tenets of New Urbanism and I wonder if they will see the project through. New Urbanism and similar movements embody some great ideas but these ideas are also growing in trendiness, making me wonder if the Seabrook development is all part of a greater fad and will fade with time.

Unfortunately, we found our personal values in serious conflict with those of Seabrook, especially Seabrook Foundation.

At first, the notion of a portion of the housing prices are put into a “Foundation” to benefit the community (surrounding community as well, we thought)

Turns out, after talking to many locals in the area, we found a lot of things that we found disturbing about the Seabrook “team” and their promises to the community.

JOBS- promised, not realized. Imported their own people. Undercut the local businesses by hiring their people out from under the local businesses, where locals were hired (temporarily) Maybe 10 locals work there for minimum wages, or close.

SCHOOLS- 6 additional students total. Seabrook expected to add many more..

POVERTY- surrounds Seabrook. The foodbank in Copalis Beach has about 300 “customers” on Wednesdays out of a total population of about as many full timers.

CHILDREN- distinct from the school issue, the water in Copalis Beach is pretty rough. A lot of old wells serving families. No sewers, housing in desperate need of basic repair and energy efficiency. Seabrook has been instrumental in lobbying for water to come to CP, but the people are scared to death that they will lose their homes due to the hook-up fees, which are minimal for anyone in Seabrook, but might as well be a million for those in CP.

So, my question is this: where is the Seabrook Foundation, what does it really do, what is it for and how does CP apply for some benefit.

There is one tavern, a post office, fire station and extreme poverty and need. There is NO playground, community center, grocery store. More to the point, there is a lack of culinary quality water.

The state park has no facilities, especially a playground. The local health department (SeaMar) has trouble retaining a physician.

Seabrook could do better, even if they offer in-kind maintainence, use of their resources to improve the lives and dignity of the people they have moved in amongst.

Community? It extends beyond the boundaries of Seabrook, my friends.

It takes a village to be human, not simply to raise a child.

Seabrook is pretty. Seabrook is fun. Seabrook is a nice place to visit. But it also is surrounded by great need and they could do a lot to stem the resentments they have created by DOING SOMETHING to contribute to everyone in the community, whether they live in Seabrook, or not.

best regards.

First of all, a planned residential tract development does not make a town, let alone “an authentic beach town…” This place is neat, but if you have been there and you don’t make a comparison to other artificial developments, you may be missing something fairly obvious.

I’ll give you a hint:
The Truman Show (great movie about a fake coastal town)
Paris Hotel, Las Vegas (nice hotel, but it’s not Paris)
Disneyland (fun place with great rides, but those furry creatures are not real animals!)

Second, this place is a bit of a drive from the population centers. 3 hours from Seattle and 3.5 hours from Portland. Not a deal killer, especially for those trying to shed the city environment, but there are many other competing alternatives within 3 hours of both places. Despite that, the Pacific Ocean is a great spot and worth the drive for many people.

Third, the real estate boom is over. The bubble has burst. The prices these places were offered at did not reflect the economic cost required to build them or the vast number of cheaper alternatives for coastal land. To be clear, very few homes within Seabrook are ocean front or even ocean view. That does not mean they’re not nice places or Seabrook itself is not a nice place. On the contrary, it’s a fine place. But there’s a big difference in the scarcity of waterfront land versus that surrounded by trees in a rain forest. The latter can be purchased by the truckload for a fraction of the cost of the former.

Finally, while Seabrook is not my cup of tea I do hope they are able to survive the current market. I actually believe they will. That said, many people who paid $500K for a 1500 (or smaller) inland tract home in a planned development akin to a remote Disneyland without the rides or furry animals are going to have a rude awakening should they decide to sell in the next decade.

The project design is quite a departure from the prevailing development pattern in the area and the Pacific Northwest, which from our perspective is a positive thing. The postwar suburban model of detached homes set on large large lots sprawling across the countryside is on its last legs – due to increasing land cost, greater environmental sensitivity, and rapidly changing demographics and homebuyer preferences. For those who prefer this pattern, you’ve got plenty to choose from, as almost everything built in the past 65 years fits this model. For the rest of us, the choices and opportunities are extremely limited. We happen to believe that compact development along the lines of Seabrook will prove to be more sustainable in the long run, even if certain aspects of the community fall short of its ‘green’ vision statement. New urban communities are not for everyone, but many people these days do not want a big yard, wide streets, or a house that turns its back on its neighbors. Seabrook reminds us of our pre-war neighborhoods where porches, alleys and sidewalks encourage interaction among neighbors and a help create a strong sense of community. Not everyone is looking for this environment but for those who are, take a look at Seabrook.

An earlier comment regarding the disconnect between those who can buy into Seabrook and the less affluent local residents who cannot does indeed register with us. On more than one level it doesn’t feel quite right, and our preference would be for the community to be more inclusive and accessible to more income levels. That said, the days of desirable coastal developments with mostly urban services and amenities that are priced to be affordable to most local buyers are probably long gone.

At least every home sale at Seabrook generates a payment into the Seabrook Foundation equal to 1% of sale price that is used exclusively to support some of the pressing needs of the local community. For a $500,000 sale, this equates to $5,000, which I suspect exceeds what is donated to the local community by developers, sellers or buyers of most other coastal properties.

For those who can find a way to buy into Seabrook, we do have faith and confidence that Seabrook (and other similar communities across the country) will continue to outperform their “conventional” large lot competition. For those of you who feel otherwise, why not be happy with what you have, or would prefer to have? I have yet to find a Seabrook buyer who regrets his or her decision to buy or who has lost faith in the community.

The Seabrook community is quite a project! The thing to keep in mind when purchasing a Seabrook home is that you’re purchasing a “community” and not necessarily just a house. The people who invest in this community know there is a great deal of pride that is going into this and I don’t think the builder has any arbitrary plans of failing. We bought our home at a time when we were looking specifically for a place that had a great view and close to the town of Pacific Beach. Seabrook didn’t have those things at the time but I see they’ve finished developing a few of the ocean view lots and they’re starting a new phase of beach camp cabins that are under $200,000.00! They’re pretty small but you’ll be a part of the Seabrook community:)

Here’s a thought: become your own developer! Why pay an extra 50% to line somebody else’s pocket? If you really like the ocean, make regular visits to the coastal areas/beaches (Wetsport, OS, Long Beach, etc.). Walk those beaches, enjoy yourself. Get a map, become familiar with your area, snoop the real estate web sites. And when you’re ready – pounce on a building lot. It doesn’t have to be ocean front, might be too spendy. Ocean view properties can be had for cheap, $35/45-80K (think about possible 2nd/3rd floor views). Also, and this is important, think about beach access and approaches. Then find yourself a builder, he’ll tell you how to get the lot surveyed, cost of utilities, hook ups, lot prep, etc. He’ll hook you up with other people in the know: someone to help w/the construction docs. Also, study ocean side architecture, styling. It’s your beach house. It doesn’t have to look like Aberdeen circa 1910.

We bought a ocean view lot in 1997 for the price of a used car. Getting it ready for foundation cost us $10-12K. In 2005 we built a 1700 sq. ft. three story home for around $160-175K. No granite counter tops but we couldn’t be happier. Great sunsets, winter storms, beach combing, and it’s appreciating in value. We love the beach!

We’ve spent time at Pacific Beach every summer for over 25 years, mostly in the military housing. This past summer we splurged and spent 3 nights in Seabrook. Very odd experience. A very suburban experience, actually. A television in virtually every room, but of course, no sight of the ocean and not much feel of being near the ocean at all. The two teenagers with us loved riding the free bikes around, and meeting other kids (it was Labor Day and Seabrook was full). All the kids they met came from upscale housing developments in Issaquah, Kirkland, Bellevue, etc. We speculated that the parents chose Seabrook because it was deeply familiar. Houses crammed together, nothing funky and nobody a little odd to make you uncomfortable, television always available.

The houses themselves are well built, according to my architect son-in-law, with good quality materials. But I noticed that even in the 2-year-old house we were in, there were starting to be problems: paint chipping off the outside windowsills (and it looked like no primer underneath), things a little grubby, the gas grill was rusty, the hot tub was full of sand and cleaned who-knows-when. It’s hard to keep up a house at the seaside, and this particular seaside is a long way from the owners’ homes.

And as for Seabrook turning into a vibrant town, well …. time will tell. But I’m guessing that’ll happen about when pigs start to fly.