How can I capture "the beach" in just a few pictures? It's the place to be, the reason many people move to Southern California in the first place. It's a recreation area, a place to escape and relax, to beat the inland heat, to be inspired, or to stroll with a waffle ice cream cone and people-watch.

It's also some of the most expensive real estate in the country This is the kind of place everyone tells me they dream of when they move to California - a new house on the beach. This one is over $5 Million. The lot alone sold for $2 Million.

So how about just something old, some fixer, just so I can be near the beach? But the problem is that the land by itself is very expensive, it doesn't matter what kind of fixer is on it.

Here's an 8-plex being built on a piece of land that used to have a small old house on it, so you can imagine what just the raw land is worth to a builder

This is a view along Carlsbad Boulevard. Here you see luxury three-story condos replacing small homes like you see in the middle of the picture. These condos right across the street from the ocean command prices over $800K.

The bottom line is that many folks would live at the beach if they had the means. Me, I live about a mile from the beach, and find myself there frequently. It only takes a couple of minutes in the car, and beach parking is free in Carlsbad.