Living in Four Seasons
First, the thing that trips people up: Four Seasons in Ocean City is not age-restricted. There are several communities called Four Seasons across South Jersey and most of them are 55-plus — this one is not, and never has been. Anyone can buy here. It sits on the south end of Ocean City around 35th and 36th between Bay and Simpson, built in 1968, and it is one of the more genuinely attainable ways onto this island.
The buildings are two-story brick garden apartments rather than a tower — low, quiet, and set back with lawns and walkways between them. Homes run one and two bedrooms with one full bath, generally between about 740 and 870 square feet, split between ground-floor and upper units. End units are larger than interiors. Many have an in-unit washer and dryer, which on a building of this age is not a given and is worth asking about specifically.
The association fee here does more work than most on the island. It covers heat and hot water, insurance, snow removal, lawn maintenance and trash removal — heat included is genuinely unusual, and it makes the monthly carry unusually predictable for a shore property you may only occupy part of the year. That predictability is the reason a lot of owners here are year-round rather than seasonal. As with any older association, ask what the current fee actually includes and whether anything is being assessed on top of it before you write an offer.
Position within the community matters more than the floor plan does. The units at the southern end of the block back onto the OCNJ meadows and wetlands, so they look out over protected marsh with the sunsets behind it, and that section carries no through traffic. Those views are permanent — nothing gets built on the meadows. Interior units on the block are quieter on price and busier on foot traffic. It is worth walking the property before you choose.
The location is the south end at its most practical: the 34th Street playground and tennis courts, shops and restaurants within a walk, the beach a short one, and the 34th Street bridge right there when you want off the island. If you are shopping this end of town, compare against The Crossings and Bluewater, look at what else sits at this level on homes under $500K, or work through every building on the Ocean City condos page.
