Still going downashore:
Beachgoers, undaunted by high gas prices, head for familiar haunts
By ROBERT STRAUSSPhiladelphia Daily News
For the Daily News
ABOUT THIS TIME of year, for all but one of the last 21 years, Mike Murphy has closed up his Wayne house and headed 100 miles southeast, his perch on the Wildwood Crest beach clean and ready for him once again. An actor, model and corporate spokesman in cooler weather, when the first warm ocean breeze hits, Murphy is back up on the lifeguard stand five days a week.
"My office is the beach. I've been doing this since college and can't get enough of it," said Murphy. "I compete in the [lifeguard] competitions and love teaching fourth-graders in the junior classes."
Murphy has never wanted to buy a place, always renting a couple of blocks off the North Wildwood beach.
"I guess, yes, you could say I'm addicted to the Shore. I wouldn't want to be anyplace else for those nine weeks," he said.
According to Realtors, Murphy and his fellow perennial Shore renters will find a stable market this year. Despite the seeming threat of a slower economy and higher gas prices, little has changed in the last couple of years - neither prices nor availability, except in a few specialized cases.
"There are a few more properties here," said Mark Grimes of Ocean City Realty, "and they overbuilt a little bit with condos in North Wildwood, but there have also been more people renting early, so for those coming now, it will be about the same as last year - the best weeks and best properties gone, but still some places to rent here and there at a decent price."
That "decent price," according to Grimes, is in the $1,000- to $1,500-a-week range for a three-bedroom apartment three blocks from the beach, going up to $3,000 for similar digs a block from the beach.
In Sea Isle City, said Ian Lazarus of the Landis Co., you'll spend slightly less - perhaps $2,500 to $2,800 for a side-by-side townhouse a block from the beach.
Realtors in North Wildwood said a week at a new, three-bedroom condo about a block from the beach or boardwalk would be $1,500 to $2,000, which is slightly less than the peak reached about three years ago.
Whatever the price would be in Ocean City, though, Lou Greenwald would be there. The New Jersey Democratic assemblyman from Voorhees, who is now 41, has been going there as a renter every summer since he was a boy visiting his grandparents at their rented place.
"My other friends from Cherry Hill would go to Margate and Stone Harbor," said Greenwald, "but for us it would be Ocean City, because all four of my grandparents loved it. It was playing Wiffle Ball with my grandfather and going to Mack & Manco's on the boardwalk for pizza and Kohr's for custard."
He said his mother, Maria Barnaby Greenwald, would come to the Shore and transform from tough politician (she was the mayor of Cherry Hill) to just plain Mom, making baked beans and potato salad for picnic lunches.
"It has always been for a couple of weeks in July, and now I do it with my kids," Greenwald said. "It never gets old."
For Karen Ferguson, who grew up in Collingswood and now lives in Haddonfield, summer rentals at the Shore started with her parents and their siblings in Wildwood.
"It was fun, but my parents got tired of the drive" and started going to Ocean City, which was closer, she recalled. "Now my twins are 19, and we were thinking of not renting for the first time. When we told them - they are freshmen in college - they screamed, 'What are you thinking? Of course we are going to rent at the Shore.' "
Talk of the slower economy and higher gas prices thwarting the Shore rental market is misplaced, said Grimes of Ocean City Realty. A few bucks more in gas hardly stops the regulars.
"It is what they do, what they save for," he said. "People who love the Shore aren't going to let $4-a-gallon gas stop them from the smell of the beach."
Jim Dougherty certainly isn't. He and his wife, Carol, have dragged their five daughters to the Shore all their lives. (The girls are now 14 to 28 years old.)
The Doughertys rented for two to four weeks in Sea Isle City during the 1980s. For the last 15 years, it's been the same place at 27th Street and Asbury Avenue in Ocean City. He estimates he has spent an average of $6,000 a year in rent in recent years, slightly less in the past.
"I suppose if I had that, say, $175,000, I could have bought something, but then I would have had to take care of it," he said. "Renting, all I have to do is clean up a bit at the end. I know more of the neighbors than the owner does, because I am down here every year.
"And I am at the Shore, without any worries," he said. "That is what I want my summers to be."*
Saturday, May 17, 2008
"I am at the Shore, without any worries, that is what I want my Summers to be"
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Triathlon to Raise Money for Sea Isle VFW & Injured Marines
Race to keep memorial in Memorial Day, organizer says
By DEBRA RECH For the Press of Atlantic City, 609-463-6719
Published: Monday, April 14, 2008
SEA ISLE CITY - Matt McCulley wants to keep the "memorial" in Memorial Day and for everyone to remember the great sacrifices military veterans have made. That's why he decided to start a triathlon called Tri for Our Veterans, to be held Saturday, May 24, in Sea Isle City.
The event will raise funds for local VFW Post 1963 and for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund, based in San Diego, which helps rehabilitate injured veterans. McCulley, who lives outside Philadelphia but has a home in Sea Isle City, said the race's main goal is to benefit veterans while focusing on the sacrifices they made to this country.
"My generation mostly went to college, not into the military," McCulley said. "That's the exact opposite of the previous generation, where many people joined the military. I want people to refocus on veterans during the Memorial Day weekend, and this is my way of doing that. We hope to have at least 300 participants in the event, which will be held on the island in the early morning so as not to interfere with traffic and visitors to the island for the holiday."
The event includes a quarter-mile ocean swim off JFK Boulevard; a 12.3 mile bicycle course looping from JFK Boulevard to Pleasure Avenue to 79th Street to Landis Avenue and back to Pleasure Avenue; and a 3.1 mile beach run also beginning at JFK Boulevard. Participants can choose to do the entire race themselves or sign up relay partners to each do one leg of the event.
McCulley, who works for Microsoft, said he's been running marathons for 11 years and started doing triathlons about four years ago. "I love the challenge it takes to increase your stamina each time," McCulley said. "Most triathletes excel at one part of the race, but it's a constant challenge to bring your skill level up in the events you're weakest at."
McCulley's father-in-law, Gerry Quinlan, served in the Army, and his grandfather fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. McCulley said he planned the event to increase awareness of the military, especially in light of current conflicts.
"We need to support all veterans and the ones serving now in Iraq," McCulley said. "Every one of them is a hero, and every one of them deserves our highest respect. There are more than 4,000 soldiers who have been killed in the Iraq War, and I hope when people watch the race it will be a sobering reminder of the great sacrifices each veteran made for this country. I know I want my own three children to be reminded of veterans, and my hope is that many people will not only enter this triathlon but that others come out and watch the event and cheer people on. We hope to make this an annual event."
McCulley said the city and local VFW have been instrumental in getting the race off the ground.
"The city has given us an overwhelming show of support, with the local police on board to help direct traffic, the beach patrol will watch swimmers on the ocean leg and the city actually helped us redesign the bike course. It's been a real three-way partnership."
The VFW will use the funds raised to rebuild the Veteran's Memorial Fountain at JFK Boulevard and Landis Avenue. A team from the Semper Fi Fund also will participate in the race.
"There are 12 people coming from Team Semper Fi who will participate for free, and we need to welcome and support them," McCulley said. "These are veterans who have suffered gunshots, burns, lost limbs. Semper Fi picks up helping these veterans where other organizations leave off. They may provide funds for family travel expenses to rehab or rehabilitate a veteran's home if they are physically challenged.
"My overall reason for having this event is to keep the memorial in Memorial Day," McCulley added. "I want everyone to leave Sea Isle that day giving the highest praise for all veterans and for what they've done for our country."
Cheryl Castor, assistance superintendent of recreation for Sea Isle City, said the city is honored to be part of such an event.
"It's a wonderful idea, and the city couldn't be happier to have Matt's race here on the island," Castor said. "It will be such a great reminder to everyone of what Memorial Day is all about. We are so pleased to be part of this. Matt has really organized this event so well, and it's coming together without a hitch. Our biggest challenge now is to find about 890 to 900 volunteers to help hand out water bottles and for traffic control."
IF YOU GO
Tri for Our Veterans will be held at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, May 24, with check-in at JFK Boulevard and Landis Avenue beach. The cost is $80 until Wednesday, April 30, and $85 after that date. There will be awards for the overall top three finishers (men/women) and the top three in each age category. To volunteer, call the Department of Recreation at 263-0050. For more information, call 610-574-5974 or see:
www.piranha-sports.com
or www.seaisletraithlon.blogspot.com
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
March 2008 - Sea Isle Real Estate Market On The Rise!
in Sea Isle City during the month of March!
Friday, March 21, 2008
How's The Market?
Since January 1st, 2008, this is the number of families that have taken advantage of reduced prices, historically low interest rates, and a large selection of properties to choose from here at the shore:
In Sea Isle City: 75
In Ocean City: 241
In Avalon: 58
In Stone Harbor: 24
In Wildwood: 60
In North Wildwood: 85
In Wildwood Crest: 62
In Cape May: 25
That's 630 Families that are going to look back & say, "Wow! '08 was a great year to get in!"
