Seaside

Seaside is a small, safe community, firmly gripped in lower middle-class aesthetics. It is a city imbedded within oceanside’s Monterey County and sits nicely along the Central Coast. According to the 2010 US Census, Seaside boasts a rather diverse population with hispanic and white making up the bulk of the 35,000 residents. Moreover, the city spans 10 square miles of suburban seaside terrain, but doesn’t do anything for me.

Although the city boasts beautiful oceanside views, it’s nothing to look at. The city is brimming with gritty, one-story homes and vastly unpleasant house fronts and yards. Their plotted on small properties with shallow gardens. Driving through the community you’ll notice the plethora of unpolished suburban streets and the vast unattractive residential landscape. For numbers sake, the median household income is estimated at $57,000/year, just below the national average. Moreover, house prices on the market are priced between $200,000 and $500,000, cheap for its location. Yet, the only neighborhood worth mentioning is that closer to the Bayonet (golf course). The area’s attractive quarters presents newly paved streets and nicer neighborhood aesthetics. In fact, it seems like you just moved up a whole other social class.

One of the city’s biggest perks is its proximity to dozens of outdoor activities. In fact, it has everything from wine tasting to whale watching, from kayaking to sailing and from scuba diving to parasailing. Others can comb along the Seaside beach, which offers miles of sandy terrain and breathtaking oceanside views. Bayonet and Black Horse golf courses are popular destinations for out-of-towners and have hosted several PGA Tour events. Both courses overlook the beautiful Monterey Bay and are part of a world class golf resort.

Seaside’s abundant shopping and plethora of electric restaurants serve the needs of both locals and the many year-round visitors. The city also hosts everything from family owned businesses to national retailers. However, their not much to look at. For higher education, the city offers some unconventional options. In fact, the area is home to California State University, Monterey Bay, Monterey College of Law (a private law school) and Seaside High School, all highly unknown amongst the California layman.

Seaside, home to Cal State Monterey Bay—one of the newest Cal State colleges—is a relatively affordable seaside city (it is really little more than a neighborhood, but it has an independent governmental structure I guess). The streets here are sort of flat and even when you can’t see it, you are aware that you are close to the sea because of the fog and seaside feel. Foggy most of the time and cool, this is the perfect neighborhood for those who don’t like heat or smog.

Rents here are relatively affordable—by which I mean they are in the $700 to $800 per room range. So a 3 bedroom runs around $2000/month which is not too bad. A lot of law students and Cal State students live in this neighborhood, even though Cal States generally are more commuter schools than anything else.

Homes here are a very affordable $350K on average—largely because most homes in the area are of the not so attractive tract housing variety. The seaside location however makes them very tempting. Unfortunately, unlike most of the schools in the Monterey area, Seaside Schools are pretty lousy, which is why (unless you can work out some kind of work around), I would not recommend this city for families.

On the western end of Seaside you have a big ugly auto and department store park with BMW, Lexus and Jaguar dealerships being representative of the former, and Target and Marshall’s of the later. Hwy 1 separates this area from the beaches.

Some people also worry about crime in Seaside—goes with the territory of affordable homes. However, since Cal State
Monterey Bay opened, crime has been in steady decline. It used to be equal to the national average and now it is about half that. You still get a murder or two every year in Seaside but overall you are much safer than in most places in SF or Oakland.

So, in a nutshell, if you are a student at CSUMB or the law school, I would definitely recommend renting in this neighborhood. And if you like to speculate into real estate, this might not be a bad place to buy now and wait for things to continue to improve.