owning in Grand Isle....what's the pitfalls?
 

like the title says....there are a couple affordable places in GI right now....just wondering what are the challenges that I might have?

I will likely rent ...........cleaning services? grass cutting?

Not being able to sleep from June 1 to November 30 may be a challenge. I'm curious to what others have to say, because I've always wanted a place down there.

Unless you are an offshore fisherman, fishing specs are only good from May to Sept. will need to go to north(Leeville or Golden Meadow) to do fishing during fall and winter. Hurricane's are not a good thing for a sinking island, also if you are going to insure your place down there it will cost you.

well if youre renting, you probably wont have to worry about insurance. hurricanes are the negative lol

I say rent only a lot.... Build some kind of covered awning.... buy a camper and park it there. Bring it home for hurricanes... only loose an awning or boat stall... not too bad. Had someone tell me that's what their plan is to do down there. Thought it was the best plan IMO

Fishing is actually pretty good from mid April till the end of Oct in a normal year for trout within a 5-10 min boat ride from the marina. Insurance all depends on elevation. If you are three ft or more above the base flood elevation its not too bad from what I hear.

There is a set up like that next to the sureway, the guy has a $250k camper bus parked under it. I would find a way to put a screen around the whole thing

To say Grand Isle trout fishing is good toward the end of October is just not true in my opinion. We had a family camp down there for years, and the trout fishing after the first couple of weak cold fronts turns the trout bite off big time, you can do much better up the road in Leeville or Golden Meadow by that time of year.

imo grand isle fishing sucks BUT i will most likely buy a lot down there on the beach so when we have kids, they can play at the beach with my wife while i fish lol. way more things for the kids/ family to do than in venice

I love grand isle. Gonna try to take the fam down there next year. I'll be there next weekend. Would love to have a camp site down there.

Speck fishing is great year round except for a month or 2 during the transitions never had to go past Fourchon in the winter

I'm with you man.......but the family (other than my youngest) just don't want to hang out in Venice.

Here in the southeast part of the state Grand Isle maybe the worst place to fish trout during the winter months, limits of trout can be had north of GI. Not sure what you are comparing Grand Isle to LOL

You want to hang out on beach go to FT. Walton, Pensacola, Destin etc... GI I guess has that dirty beach charm, I would rather go east to the beach.

Negative nancy^^^^

I was looking last year and came close to buying. But as I was looking at cost verse use...... It just doesn't make "cents". Also I don't like being locked in to going the same place. Think about how much you will REALLY use the place and compare the cost of renting a place that amount.

I can stay in Leeville on the water for $100 a night. I might stay down there 9 or 10 nights a year. Kind of a no brainer off me.

bad!!

Not negative have fished GI hundreds of times, just don't think it is the best place to have camp for all weather seasons. Another thing that you always see in GI is camp after camp for sale, to me that's not a good sign. And to TopD , SimpleP asked for pitfalls, so I am giving him my opinion.

We get it. There's no fish and the beaches suck.

Never said no fish, I guess I didn't say what you wanted me to say about GI sorry TopD

Lol

We have also been looking at buying in GI. Made a offer on a place and they countered with the asking price.
I'm kind of up in the air about it now.
We also planed on renting it out. You do know to do short term rentals it must be on the beach side or the property line must start within 150 feet north of highway 1? They have very few exceptions to this.
I think we are going to by a lot now and put the camper on it something like what is next to safeway. If a storm comes grab the camper and boat and haul but. If we decide we really like it down there we can build something or sell the lot and buy something.

Also if you are talking about one of the 3 houses on Oak St. yea they are verry well priced and from what I have seen there is a reason why.

Theft is a major turnoff for me plus having to cross that toll bridge

I get it...........but man...........couple small places with the lot that sleep 6-10....for around 115K........you don't have to rent but five nights a month a 150 a night and the nut is covered.........

Where else would you guys consider?

Check into the Bay St. Louis, Waveland, area plenty of places for the family to play on beach even a short boat ride to ship island and other barrier islands and you can fish the Louisiana Marsh from that area also.

I also looked in coocdrie. Cost of camps are about the same price there, more protected from storms, and have more options to fish all months of the year. Wife did not want Cocodrie b/c they dont have anything for my girls to do there.

look around golden meadow / Galliano area, your within minutes of great year round fishing and fresh water fishing isnt far away either. your near the coast but it still feels like your not in the boondocks so the kids have all the regular city like activities to do plus when they want to get out on the water its right there and grand isle is a 20 minute ride away if they want to spend a day at the beach.

plus your in a more protected area from hurricanes with levees all around you so you are safer then if you were right on the coast but your not far away from the coast.

One hurricane and you are rebuilding with no help from insurance. Been a few years since a 'major' hurricane came through so I wouldn't mess with the law of averages and just rent.

The whole landscape is washing away before our eyes down there, a good south wind and the water goes over the highway down there. Sorry to sound like a negative nancy

I will be down there four days next week and can't wait:work:

Watch it now TopD will call you down

If you only knew... Only fished 3-5 days a week for the 8 years I was stationed down there, defiantly the worst fishery in the state

lol I was waiting for that

If I was buying / renting a location that was going to be used as a family retreat and fishing spot I would definitely look into bay St. Louis, waveland, Biloxi , gulf port .
These areas have everything that a family needs for fun and the fishing is pretty good and the Biloxi marsh is still a close run.
You have great food, casinos, entertainment, plus it's a great spot to rent in.
I have a few friends whose family have houses down there and they rent out their place thru the local tourism dept ( constant rental opportunities).
It's def worth looking into.

I never said it was the worst fishery in the state, I said it was not any good for trout in the winter. Ok guys GI is the Real CAJUN BAHAMAS, I know you are prob talking about the roadside canals on LA1 on the way down to GI not GI during colder months.

No your right your not going to catch a trout off the beach in the winter I understand that but you can take a 5 min ride off of the island or a 10 min boat ride and hammer them. Not any different than any other area in the state where there will be a boat ride involved. In my opinion the winter time fishery was great over there all of the marsh west of grand isle including the pits off LA1 hold fish usually between mid Nov through the end of Feb. The beach usually turned on as early as March and as late as May or June depending on the winter I've even caught trout in the surf into November. Like I said great fishery don't know what else to compare it to I averaged 2k fish a year the last 5 years I was down there. I was transferred over to Lake Charles last summer and have been fishing on this side ever since I love this place too I don't catch the numbers over here but the size defiantly makes up for that.

Everyone keeps saying the same things I beat back and forth in my mind and Simple Peddler is justifying the same as I do mentally too about rental possibilities. But at the end of the day the hope that I will be able to use it enough or I might be able to rent a place enough to pay the expenses is not strong enough factors to convince me to make the commitment to own a place down there. I bet if you walk away and give this decision a week or two it looks very different to you with some time.

I have a houseboat. I don't have nearly the money into it that I would a camp in GI. But it's still a serious investment. It's very difficult/impossible to buy insurance on but I own it anyway. I thought I'd be down there all the time or my kids would use it or my friends would. The fact is I can seldom get there and no one else does either. I'm glad I have it and love it when I can go but it also makes me mad that it doesn't get any more use than it does. These places require lots a serious commitment of your time. Good luck and let us know what you do. I might rent it from you some time if you get it. Maybe we could swap camp usage or something. Mine will be at the Delta through duck season.

already have a place in Orange Beach....trying to bridge a gap

Great great points

Only thing holding me back is the up keep , cutting the grass blah blah blah and beach lots are 250k+

insurance insurance insurance one of our customers camp is 10-12 feet off ground and his insurance is around 10,000 a yr. check that and expect it to go up many times before you pay off.

I agree with too deep on insurance. The national flood insurance program was adjusted a year or two ago to start recouping the $ that the program is in the hole (billions of $). Congress stopped the rate increases by holding up implementation to update the flood maps but the day is coming. Make sure you do some research before buying. We are seeing camps sitting on a slab at ground level going up for sale or being elevated at Big Lake. Don't know for sure but it looks like a response to the NFIP changes coming.

crazy as it sounds you are better off NOT paying for insurance.

in ten years you saved enough to completely rebuild it at those prices.

sure its a big risk but the gamble is worth it at those prices and they are about to go up another thousand or two a year after they redo the flood maps.

build basic, keep it simple, make anything pricey transportable if need be and skip the damage insurance and just get basic liability coverage

they way the mortgage system is set now if you have one you have to have insurance. just something to look into

I think its always been that way but if you buy it outright such as just buy the lot, put a trailer on it until you can afford to build your house/camp on it , or buy a lot with storm damaged camp in bad shape needing repair, then you aren't bound by that clause and its something you can buy outright without a loan.

because often the insurance costs the same or even more then the house note