Four Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Raise Your Home at the Jersey Shore

Homeowners all along the New Jersey shore are now raising their homes in an effort to comply with the current FEMA guidelines and recommendations. With so many variables involved in lifting an existing home, the real total cost of lifting could be much greater than the cost in the original proposal. 

While it is critical to know what the recommended height is for your home location zone, many homeowners do not realize that the cost of raising your home may not be cost effective, as compared to the custom home you could build instead of raising your existing home.  The truth is, many times the costs quoted by a reputable house raising company many not include critical and necessary repairs once the process has begun.  In addition, your contract with the house raising company may specify that additional costs can be incurred.  What will happen if you begin the process and end up with cost overruns? 

And once the house lift is complete, you still have the same floorplan you had before, now it’s just higher and may be in need of significant repairs inside.  As a custom homebuilder, we believe that rebuilding a new, elevated home with modular construction is more cost effective because not only will your home comply with the newest elevation requirements as set forth by FEMA, you will be able to build the home of your dreams!  Here are four reasons why you shouldn’t raise your home at the Jersey Shore.

Reason #1 - It Won’t Be New!

If you decide to rebuild your home from scratch instead of raising your existing home, everything in your home will be new, from the roof down to the foundation.  All of the electrical, plumbing, windows, doors, sheetrock, finishes and everything in between will be brand new.  Even the layout of your new home can be completely different from your existing home.  Unfortunately, you have been put in a position to make a decision on whether to raise your existing home or build new, so why not make the decision that will give you everything you’ve ever wanted in your home?

Reason #2 - Budgetary Concerns

As we stated above, lifting a home can present some budgetary problems in that you don’t know what the home-lifter will encounter during the process and what the additional costs will be.  Having that in mind, building a new custom modular home will provide for an up-front budget, based on the home and features you will be building and cost over-runs can be alleviated at the time your contract is formulated.

Reason #4 – It Won’t Necessarily Increase The Value of Your Property

Raising your home provides for compliance with the new FEMA elevations standards, but it doesn’t necessarily add value to your existing home.  Building a new home on your existing property can provide for an overall increase in the value of your property.  With all of the brand new systems, appliances and finishes your new home will feature, it will more than likely compare at a higher value than existing homes of similar size and features in your neighborhood. 

Reason #4 – It Won’t Have A Home Warranty

When you build a new home with a custom home builder, you will be the proud owner of a brand new home, but you will also have a new 10 year home owners warranty to go along with all that newness!  This home warranty is a valuable asset that your existing, raised home will not have.  A homeowner’s warranty can provide peace of mind that your home will be covered under a warranty for 10 years.  We recommend you discuss with your builder the specific coverage for your new home, and make sure you receive a copy of your policy at closing.

We think that these four reasons should raise enough questions about whether it is worth raising your existing house as compared to the alternative of rebuilding a new home.  But, if you have any questions or need information on building a custom modular home RBA Homes is here to help.  As one of New Jersey’s premier custom builders, RBA Homes has been helping homeowners in Monmouth and Ocean Counties rebuild their homes after Superstorm Sandy. There is a lot of information available about zones and heights, which can be obtained online for your particular home and location.  http://www.region2coastal.com/bestdata. 

If you have questions about raising versus rebuilding or have a lot to build on, feel free to contactus today at 732-747-3800 or http://RBAhomes.com for more information on how we can help you get back to living your Jersey Shore lifestyle.