Ocean views remain in sight for surprisingly modest price

(Robert Spencer for the Boston Globe)

The minute you turn onto Maolis Road, the ocean announces itself with waves of welcome, and enormous homes sit so close to the shore they resemble docked luxury ships.

Those homes are valued in the $2 million to $4 million range, so it's refreshing to cross the street from that mesmerizing setting and enter a modestly priced home.

Sited on a slight hill on a quarter-acre, the home has a vertical layout that allows for many magical ocean views.

The best are from the kitchen, master bedroom, and a tiny upper office.

There are also side views from most bathrooms and bedrooms.

The bathrooms and kitchen are not modern by today's design standards - no granite, stainless steel, or European tile - but they are in good shape with oak cabinetry, and the oak hardwood flooring throughout the house is in excellent shape. While the home has no formal dining room or living room, it does feature a huge step-down home theater room with surround sound and a super-sized screen, which will remain in the house.

Contemporary style lovers will adore the wall of windows that frames a lovely tiled solarium off the kitchen, and the soaring vaulted ceiling in the stairwell to the second floor, complete with glass panels that rise two-stories high.

And in the large master bedroom, an 8-foot slider opens to an enormous deck that runs the width of the house.

And yes, it has an ocean view at one end (and close neighbors at the other, screened by trees).

The deck could use some sanding and a fresh coat of paint, as could a lower in-law suite, but tired paint seems a minor distraction when the main attraction - the ocean - is always beckoning.

"This is a house that enjoys the experience with the sea," said listing broker Steve White of William Raveis Real Estate & Home Services.

MINDY POLLACK-FUSI