What do you do when your summer home is devastated by Superstorm Sandy and you don’t have the money to rebuild it? What does it do to the shore community who relies on you or someone you rent to being there to spend money in town?   

Sunrise over the Jersey Shore
Sunrise over the Jersey Shore (Facebook via Jersey Shore Hurricane News)
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There is no FEMA money for second-home owners. The state’s RREM program (Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation) is for primary homeowners. So is the state’s $10,000 resettlement grant. To make matters worse, the state’s first-time home-buyer assistance program, which gives a $50,000 forgivable loan to low- to moderate-income people looking to buy in Sandy-wrecked areas. That means someone else can get the money to buy your home and fix it, but because you also own a second home, you can’t.

Second home owners are unfairly characterized as millionaires, I happen to know that is not true because I own a beach house in Sea Isle City and I can tell you with all honesty, I am no where near a millionaire. I do get to pay a second set of property taxes as do those who lost their homes. Fortunately mine was raised and survived.

While it is most important that something in the form of aid be done for those primary home owners who lost everything to Sandy, something must also be done for the second home owners who do not have the money.

Many of these are people who either saved for years to buy their home or had it in the family for generations. They should not be lost in the Sandy shuffle. This needs to be done not only for the good of those who own these, but for the entire shore as well.

Do you own a second home at the shore? How much has it cost you since Sandy? Let us hear your stories below.

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