Note: The article below is published by permission of Jim O'Brien for the purpose of sharing vital information to Jersey Shore homeowners,builders and real estate companies.
Featured Guest: JIM O’BRIEN
ARCHITECTS
"Major Considerations Buying, Renovating and Rebuilding a Shore Home"
"As Architects we work with
homeowners to select properties, buy, redesign, or rebuild homes at the Jersey Shore.
The shore today is a new world with many factors driving its evolution in flux.
Many local, state and federal decisions that will regulate our built
environment are being made quickly, being revised and reconsidered (or
delayed), or are simply in the offing out to the years of 2014, 2015 and
beyond.
When consulting on
buying, renovating or rebuilding a shore home in this environment we focus on three
major categories where we are experiencing major changes.
First there are the
financial aspects of buying, building/rebuilding, financing and
insuring a home. Decisions there now have bigger ripple effects, many yet without
precedence here, on the real value of these properties in the real estate
market, both while one owns a property and when it comes time to sell.
Secondly, the
techniques of building at the Jersey Shore have evolved almost
overnight. Newly widespread at the shore are previously uncommon factors now
common to every structure’s permanence, storm-resistance, allowable height and
allowable renovation or new construction techniques.
Thirdly, we
see the changing considerations for our sense of aesthetics &
lifestyle at the shore. With many parts of the
shore having been wiped away or drastically damaged, we know they will come
back in a different fashion. The look and feel of our
shore communities is about to change.
From the experience
of the rebuilt and modified boardwalks, to the replenished and relocated dunes
we see as early as now and this summer, to the changes in home styles and
ground floor uses we’ll see in rebuilding in every community each year to come,
our choices are new once again for how to make things beautiful and how we want to live.
Below are the important issues in these three categories we are commonly
seeing and discussing at this time:
1. Financial Aspects
The financial
aspects of the fact that we now coexist with higher flood levels at the shore.
The Jersey Shore’s new Base Flood Elevations (adopted by Gov. Christie) don’t
just add cost - they do save the value of Jersey Shore homes.
·
Base Flood Elevations, recommended by FEMA, are
put down onto Flood Insurance Rate Maps that determine your flood insurance
premium. If you have a property with flood insurance and at anytime it suffers
damages totaling 50 percent or more of its market value, you
are required in your rebuild to elevate your home to the base flood elevation,
if you wish to continue having flood insurance. In so rebuilding and elevating
a home flood insurance offers up to $30,000 for that work under
what’s called Increased Cost of Compliance coverage.
·
If you are with a
mortgage, your bank will require that flood insurance, so this rebuild and
elevation described above is required.
·
If you are with no mortgage,
you are the owner in full of your property, you can opt not to comply with any raising
requirements, even if your home’s storm damage is more than 50% of its value. You
will pay more in flood insurance. But until new rates go into effect, possibly
in early 2015, insurance premiums will not be affected. When that time comes,
according to FEMA, a property that’s four
feet below the advisory elevation in a high-hazard area could cost the
owner roughly $31,000 a year for flood
insurance. The premium drops to $7,000 if the home is at the new standard,
and falls to $3,500 if the house is built two feet higher.
·
The financial aspects include consideration of these questions:
What is the market value of a well built home if it is for sale, and is not
compliant with the base flood elevation? Are there many buyers for this home?
Are cash buyers motivated to buy such a home because they do not have a
mortgage bank requiring them to buy flood insurance on such a home? Are higher
flood insurance premiums for non-compliant homes affecting the sale price of
that home, etc.?
2. Techniques of Building
Shore homes most
vulnerable to storm damage and flooding lie in what flood maps have labeled the
“V” and “A” zones. The most vulnerable homes are in the "V" zones,
which are waterfront areas at the highest risk for flooding and likely to have
up to 3-foot breaking waves coming through land areas during a storm. These “V”
zones require costly pile foundations be used in any building/rebuilding. The
"A" zones covers much of the Jersey Shore just next to the “V” zones.
The “A” zones aren’t as vulnerable as the "V" zones but are still
subject to major storm damage.
To withstand “V” and “A”
zone-strength storm, wind and flood surges without damage to the house’s structure
itself, we use all the engineering principles we know; from pre-planned
concealed openings throughout the ground level for flood water passage, to
hurricane-rated windows, doors and shutters, to internal wall bracing and
structural ties from roofs to footings, elevated mechanical systems, and deep
pile foundations (of wood, helical steel, and hydrojet-installed reinforced
concrete).
“Lifting” an existing
house is a major preoccupation for many homeowners now. A house lifting association
of contractors doing this work suggests the range of $14 per square foot for a
simple and small house to $22 per square foot for larger and more complex homes
as an estimate of the cost of raising a house up to 6 feet. The cost of raising
a foundation and exterior stairs to meet the new raised house floor, and of utilities
re-connections, and of any other incidental work needs to be figured in
addition to that.
The Allowable
Building Height in each municipality is also a major preoccupation for many
homeowners now. Some municipalities have raised theirs 2 to 3 feet. Many are
considering that, to facilitate lifting homes and building new ones reasonably
similarly proportioned to the 2-1/2 story configuration we are accustomed to
seeing.
3. Aesthetics & Lifestyle
Homeowners look to
maximize their livable space within the allowable building heights. This can
change the architecture and appearance of many Jersey Shore communities by
creating homes with parking or storage on the ground floor, living areas on the
second & third floors, and several options for the design treatment and use
of the roof level.
Contemporary and
Traditional Designs: PROS/CONS:
The use of roof
levels. On roofs: pitched roofs (traditional) with half-hidden terraces, vs. flat
(contemporary), walkable roof terraces or “green roof” surfaces. In either case
roofs capture access to the sun, breeze and wonderful views. If some choose a contemporary
flat roof style, we will see that approach replace some of the pitched roof
cottage styles so common at the Jersey Shore. (See image of a contemporary
design.)
The Ground floor use:
parking, storage, low-capital-investment living spaces, due to higher base
flood elevations and likelihood of flood and storm damage here. The Ground floor look: breakaway vs.
permanent. You do have a choice. Ground levels below a base flood elevation
present a fork in the road for the design of a home.
Do we accept the look of
impermanence with breakaway walls of cement panels or plywood (see FEMA image
attached), and/or the look of piling as “stilts” with no walls around them and
a “home” placed above them? Does that drive a contemporary design solution? Or
a podium for an awkward- or challenged-traditional home placed above it?
On the other hand, likely
at greater expense, do we design the ground level with a sense of and with
materials of permanence? (See images attached of 3 design versions of this
approach.) In this approach even a base flood elevation a full story above
grade results in a house design rooted to the earth, as we use good design plus
all the engineering
principles we know (from pre-planned concealed openings throughout the ground
level for flood water passage, to
hurricane-rated windows, doors and shutters, to structural ties from roof to
footings, and elevated mechanical
systems,) to withstand possible storm surges thorough the ground floor with no
damage to the structure
itself."
For further information or to inquire about
architectural design contact:
Mary Alice Smith - 732 608-7583
M. A. Smith Interior Design
Residential and Commercial Interior Design
E-mail: masmith@masmithinteriordesign.com
Allied Member ASID
Serving Coastal New Jersey homeowners and businesses for twenty years
