Excerpt:
David Moot secured a three-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean for just under $400,000 — but its days are numbered.
The catch? It might crumble off the cliff soon.
Erosion, exacerbated by the climate crisis, is reshaping the country’s coasts. Chunks of road and pieces of patios are falling into the Pacific along California’s western edge. Landslides often block the state’s famous coastal route, Highway 1, and a major coastal railroad track is frequently closed as erosion weakens the ground beneath it. In North Carolina, 10 houses have fallen into the Atlantic since 2020 in an eroding stretch of the Outer Banks, The Post reported, including three in the last week. The area has seen some of the most rapid rates of erosion and sea level rise on the East Coast. At least a dozen more homes there are in danger of collapse.
Millions of acres of U.S. land and hundreds of thousands of homes and offices are in jeopardy in coming years, The Post has reported. Moot’s new property is among them: Experts say it could fall into the ocean within 10 years.
But where most see risk, Moot saw opportunity.
“The prices were always far beyond my reach. So this particular house came into my price range due to the erosion issue. So I said, well, let me see what I can do, if I can make it happen,” Moot said. “Life’s too short. People think I’m crazy. Well, I could walk out of the door tomorrow and get hit by a car…”
