Those seeking renters are trying to combat the images of destruction left by the storm.
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People promoting rental property in New Jersey have to combat the images of destruction left in renters' minds after Superstorm Sandy.
This year, she has only four weeks booked and is struggling to figure out how many of her customers will return to the Ocean County beach resort, which is among the Jersey Shore towns hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy nearly two and a half months ago.
Even though Atlantic and Cape May counties — geographically about half of New Jersey’s 127-mile coastline — were left largely unscathed, it’s the entire blocks of homes and businesses reduced to rubble in Ocean and Monmouth counties that are seared into the nation’s consciousness.
Sandy’s enduring image has been Seaside Heights’ roller coaster, which once sat upon a boardwalk made famous by the exploits of Snooki and Pauly D. It remains partially submerged in the Atlantic Ocean.
Those images of devastation, fearful shore homeowners and businesses say, could ultimately have a negative impact on New Jersey’s $38 billion-a-year tourism industry — a trade that depends heavily on the coast for its bottom line.
“The first thought out of everyone’s mouth is, ‘Are they going to have a summer season?’” Roher told The Philadelphia Inquirer. The 60-year-old lives year-round in Pleasant Valley, Pa.
The answer from municipal officials, businesses and property owners is loud and clear: Yes, Virginia and Maryland, North Carolina, and Delaware ... New Jersey will, indeed, have a summer season.
Yes, despite the delay in passage of federal recovery aid and the bevy of beach towns from Delmarva to the Outer Banks that would love to poach — ahem, woo — vacationers with their Southern charms. Marketers in competing coastal states have initiated plans to put the hard sell on target audiences in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
“This is a very critical moment for us in the vacation rental market,” said Diane F. Wieland, director of the Cape May County Department of Tourism. “They may not be ready to sign on the dotted line right now, but they are formulating their plans. If we lose the tourists now, they could be gone for good. “
In Cape May County and neighboring Atlantic County, there is a lot to lose.
The region offers visitors the largest number of rental units and rooms — nearly 19,000 in Cape May County alone — along the New Jersey coast. Up and down the shore, most of the units — single-family houses, duplexes, condos, and apartments — are owned by individuals or mom-and-pop enterprises such as Roher’s that depend on the rental income to help pay taxes and defray upkeep.
“It’s slower this year. I think people are going to commit later in the season,” said Roher, noting that her regulars had been emailing and promising to come back.
“They even offered to come down and help out ... but I haven’t had them commit and send deposits,” lamented the landlord, whose two Seaside properties, which sit about nine houses from the beach and boardwalk, took on 3 feet of water during the storm.
Allan Deckert, broker and co-owner of Ferguson Deckert Real Estate in Avalon, said his regular customers were concerned about the potential for an inventory shortage as renters from northern locales discover that the properties they had counted on for a specific week this summer might not be ready.
“Reality will start to set in when they realize they need to lock in to something. I’m seeing demand increasing week by week.”
Nonetheless, Wieland will exhibit at about 20 travel shows from Pennsylvania to Canada in coming months to spread the word that the Jersey Shore is open for business. She’s even invited tourism representatives from Monmouth and Ocean counties to join her marketing effort at the Philadelphia Flower Show in March.
“After Sandy, there’s not a lot of competition among New Jersey Shore towns anymore,” Wieland said. “If we lose the tourists, we all lose. We’re all in this together.”