400 E Raleigh Avenue, Lower Township - ACTIVE

Step out onto the front balcony with your morning coffee and watch the surf roll in. Villa House sits just back from the oceanfront, and from up here your view carries right out to the breaking waves, the kind of ocean view most buyers assume only comes with an oceanfront address. The condo comes fully furnished, so the weekend you close is the first weekend you use it. Downstairs, next to your covered parking, a ground-floor storage room holds all your beach gear, and a covered space gives you a shady spot to fire up the grill and hang out. Upstairs are three bedrooms and two and a half baths across 1,370 square feet, with solid flooring through the main living areas and soft carpet underfoot in the bedrooms. Walk into the renovated kitchen and notice the tall cabinetry and built-in uplighting, a detail that makes the whole room glow at night. A full laundry room holds a second refrigerator, so stocking up for a full house of guests is one trip to the store instead of three. New living room furniture and rebuilt front and rear balconies give you two places to sit outside, one facing the water and one for the evening breeze. If you're like most people who fall for Diamond Beach, you want the beach without the boardwalk crowds, and this is where you get it. Spend the afternoon on the private members' beach at the Diamond Beach club, then come back and cool off with a late-day swim in the community pool. The bike path and nature preserve are barely a block away, so an evening ride becomes part of the routine. When dinner calls, every Cape May restaurant is just a bridge crossing away. A furnished, move-in-ready home with a view of the breaking surf is a hard combination to find in Diamond Beach, especially one where the kitchen, plumbing, and balconies are already done, and the pool is right in the community. Picture your first summer here, then come see it in person before someone else pictures it first.