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Jim Miltenberger, an Atlantic City police officer, is among the thousands of shore residents who made the move to the mainland in recent years.
He says he never would have believed it could happen. He lived nearly all of his life in Ventnor. He could not envision being anywhere else. The beach was a few minutes away. He took Boardwalk bike rides just about every day in the summer. He was an island person.But today, Miltenberger, his wife, Regina, and their two young daughters are mainlanders. They cashed in on the booming shore real estate market."Part of me wanted to stay put," he said. "I loved Ventnor but I saw what homes were going for and decided it was crazy not to sell."The Miltenbergers sold their three-bedroom Ventnor Heights ranch home on Burghley avenue in August 2004 for $240,000. They bought it for half that amount seven years earlier. They used the money from the Ventnor sale to buy a new home in the Meadow Run development in Egg Harbor Township."I got a bigger home with a huge backyard for about what I sold my Ventnor home," said Miltenberger. "I used to be able to put my hand out the window and touch my neighbor. Not anymore. The decision to sell was a no-brainer. It seems like everyone is doing it."The second-home buying spree has made the southern New Jersey shore one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. The median sales price of a home in Ventnor has skyrocketed from $140,500 to $299,000 over the past four years. In Brigantine, it's nearly doubled to $377,500. In Ocean City, it has more than doubled to $445,000. In Longport, the typical home sells for nearly $800,000. On Long Beach Island, a quarter of the homes last year sold for more than $1 million.CSW Fiserv, a Cambridge, Mass.-based real estate research firm, tracks repeat sales data within zip codes. It reported earlier this month that homes within the Brigantine, Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Ventnor and Beach Haven zip codes, respectively, had the highest median price increases over the past five years in the entire Northeast. The only areas in the country with higher appreciation were in California.Second home buyers, many of them from the Philadelphia and Cherry Hill areas, replace families like the Miltenbergers. As a result, enrollment in shore districts has declined significantly. Ocean City lost nearly a third of its elementary grade students in the past six years. Avalon, Stone Harbor and Beach Haven operate schools with fewer than 90 students. Ventnor, after years of enrollment increases, lost 8 percent of its students this year.Five years ago, Margate spent $20 million to build a new school at Granville avenue and expand two others. Today, three classrooms are not used for classroom instruction. The three schools were designed to accommodate nearly 900 students. As of Oct. 15, there were only 560 students.Kevin Corcoran, the Realtor who sold Miltenberger's Ventnor house, said three-fourths of the homes he sells are to second-home buyers.Rich Perniciaro, director for the center for regional business research at Atlantic Cape Community College, said he expects the second home buying trend to continue for some time. He said demand will eventually push the second home market into the mainland areas. He added that he expects Atlantic City to become a major player in the second home market.Margate Mayor Vaughn Reale calls the second-home buying trend "a double edged-sword."With fewer people, there is less of a demand on services, but Reale said he is concerned about the effect on the quality of life."There's less diversity," he noted. "Our businesses need year-round residents. Prices are so high now that families can't afford to buy. If this continues, we could be a less desirable place to live."Murray and Judith Schwartz of Mount Laurel bought the Miltenberger home. They expect to be one of those second home buyers who retire to the shore."That's our intent," said Murray Schwartz. He said he and his wife were attracted to Ventnor because the town has a significant year-round population. Schwartz said he is more active in Ventnor than he is in Mount Laurel."We put our travel money into the Ventnor home," he said. "For us, it's more than a place to visit."He is a member of the Ventnor Community Association and attends recreation commission meetings whenever he can. The Schwartzes say they spend almost every weekend at the shore and are often there during the week as well."We're excited about being part of the community," Schwartz said. "And I know of other second homeowners who feel the same way."Perniciaro said the unanswered question in the shore migration to the mainland is just how many second homeowners will be like Schwartz and make their second home their permanent residence. What they do will have a significant impact on the economy of the region, Perniciaro said.