Walking by the beach is one of Bethany Beach’s quiet luxuries, and it’s one of those advantages of living here that can be easy to underestimate until it becomes part of your regular routine.
When people first begin looking at luxury homes in Bethany Beach, they usually focus on the property itself. They want to know how close it is to the ocean, whether the home has the right amount of privacy, how the outdoor spaces are laid out, whether there is enough room for family and guests, and how the property compares with other luxury homes in the area. Those are all important questions, especially when someone is making a major real estate decision.
But after you live here for a while, some of the things you appreciate most may be much simpler.
Being able to get up in the morning. When you get up, put on a pair of walking shoes and head toward the beach is a good example. There is no need to drive to a gym or set aside a complicated block of time for exercise. You can walk along the water, continue onto the boardwalk, move through town and simply enjoy being outside while you are doing something good for yourself. And that can make exercise feel very different.
Most of us already know that walking is good for us, but knowing something and doing it consistently are two different things. It is easy to tell yourself that you will take a walk later, only to have the day fill up with work, errands and everything else that competes for your attention. Living near the beach can remove some of that resistance because the walk itself is something you may actually look forward to.
Bethany Beach is especially well suited to that kind of routine. The Town describes its boardwalk as a popular place for both leisurely walking and daily jogging, and that makes perfect sense when you spend time here. On a pleasant morning, you may see people out before breakfast, couples walking together, runners heading down the boardwalk and neighbors who seem to have their own favorite route. (townofbethanybeach.com)
What I like about walking near the beach. I love that walking doesn’t have to feel overly structured. Some mornings you may walk at a brisk pace because you want the exercise, while other mornings you may slow down because the ocean looks especially beautiful or because you run into someone you know. Either way, you are moving, you are outside and you are enjoying the place where you chose to live.
There is also a real health reason to make walking part of your routine. The CDC includes brisk walking as a form of moderate-intensity aerobic activity and recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, along with muscle-strengthening activity. (cdc.gov)
Of course, I am not suggesting that anyone should choose a luxury home simply because it is a convenient place to exercise. The point is broader than that. The location of a home can have a real effect on how easy it feels to live the way you want to live. That is something I think buyers should consider more often.
If you enjoy being outdoors. Walking might already be part of your routine, or if you are simply hoping to spend more time away from the car and closer to the ocean, then the location of a Bethany Beach luxury home can matter in ways that go well beyond the view from the window.
Also, a home near the beach can make certain things easier. You may walk more because the route is enjoyable. You may spend more time outside because the ocean is close. You may discover that an evening walk after dinner becomes something you do naturally instead of something you need to schedule. Those little habits can become part of the way you experience Bethany Beach.
Over time, you may find yourself developing a favorite route. Maybe you walk toward the boardwalk early in the morning, continue through town and stop for coffee on the way home. Maybe you prefer the beach itself when the sand is firm and the weather is cool. Maybe you have one route for days when you only have thirty minutes and another when you have nowhere to be and can stay out longer. That is when a location starts to feel personal. It is no longer just a point on a map or a distance from the ocean. It becomes part of how you spend your day.
I‘ve always believed that this is an important part of evaluating luxury real estate. A beautiful home should absolutely meet a buyer’s expectations for quality, privacy, design and value, but the best property also tends to fit naturally into the way that person wants to live.
For one buyer, that may mean being able to entertain a large family comfortably. For another, it may mean privacy and quiet. For someone else, it may be the ability to walk out the door in the morning and head toward the Atlantic without giving it much thought. Those lifestyle details may sound small compared with the price of a luxury home, but they often become the things owners appreciate most after they have been there for a few years.
The finishes become familiar. The furniture settles into place. The home starts to feel like home. Still, what remains are the routines you create around it. That is why I think walking by the beach is one of the quieter luxuries of owning in Bethany Beach. It is not flashy, and it is certainly not something designed to impress anyone, but it can add something very real to everyday life.
You get exercise, fresh air and time outside, but you also get to experience Bethany Beach at a slower pace. You notice the weather changing, the beach getting quieter in the fall, the early morning light on the water and the small details you would probably miss if you were simply driving past them. There is something nice about that.
When I am helping someone evaluate Bethany Beach luxury homes, I want to understand more than the number of bedrooms they need or the style of home they prefer. I also want to understand how they picture spending their time once they are here. If they tell me they love to walk, enjoy being near the ocean and want a home that makes it easy to get outside, that matters. Because luxury is not always about adding more. Sometimes it is about making the good things in life easier to enjoy.
And for many people in Bethany Beach, one of those good things is simply stepping outside in the morning, heading toward the ocean and taking a long walk before the rest of the day begins.
Joyce Henderson
Luxury Property Specialist
Coldwell Banker Realty