By Lauren Wanko
NJ Today
Pelican Island residents Ron and Lynda Valeri put their house on the market in August for $459,000.
“We really thought someone was going to come in there or just a couple bucks lower,” said Lynda Valeri.
But all that changed with Sandy.
The hurricane wiped out the Valeri’s entire first floor. Flood waters destroyed the heating and hot water system, and the pool was ripped from its foundation.
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“Originally off the bat, I thought this was going to be great because we were going to get money our insurance company, fix it up and sell it — it’s going to be even that much nicer,” said Lynda Valeri. “Then as time went on … is somebody really going to pull up and want to buy this house? I don’t think so.”
Experts say Sandy has directly impacted the Jersey Shore real estate market up and down the coast.
“It’s produced the highest level of uncertainty in any housing market that I have ever seen, we’re going to see a housing market in turmoil for a very long period of time,” according to James Hughes, Dean of the Edward Bloustein School at Rutgers University.
Sandy has left municipalities along the Jersey Shore with the same uncertainty.
“A significant portion of property wealth was destroyed so that will not be producing any taxes for municipalities,” said Hughes. “That leaves the remaining undamaged properties that would have to pick up the bill, but those may have been reduced in value per se, so this is a really difficult situation that New Jersey has never had to face before.”
High property taxes and insurance rate increases motivated the Valeris to sell. Now, they face $150,000 worth of damages.
“I am not going to rebuild as was,” said Ron Valeri. “I’m not putting in $5,000 worth of Pergola floors downstairs, I’ll go with an $800 rug.”
The Ocean County Board of Realtors reports an 18 percent drop in the number of closings in a year over year comparison for the month following the storm. Now, many sellers along the coast are wondering: will potential buyers want to own property on or even near the water?
“In the long term, we just don’t know,” said Hughes. “There will be bargain seekers, there will be speculators. Water is still magic. People will be drawn to it and we will just have to see how rational people are.”
The Valeris are waiting on insurance money so they can begin to rebuild. Their home will stay on the market for the same price, although the couple says they’ve come to terms with the fact that it could take years before it sells.