Savvy Realty · Belmar, New Jersey

What your money buys at the beach

A buyer’s overview, prepared for Jeremy

Jersey Shore STR Late-2027 targetHold for a generation

Belmar prices its buildings like a landlord — and pays like a hotel, if you run them right.

Cody Zucker · Savvy Realty · August 2026

The market, in four numbers

6.9%

Price growth, per year

Monmouth County, ten-year compound (FHFA repeat-sales index)

~40%

Average STR occupancy

What the typical Belmar listing actually runs

62%

Professionally run

My own Belmar duplex, booked calendar — the operating gap is the whole game

51%

Of revenue lands June–August

Summer carries the year; a good operator sells the shoulder

Occupancy and season shape from my booked ledger; growth from the federal house-price index. Full detail rides in the underwriting reference.

Three ways to buy Belmar

Real examples from this summer’s market — the shapes repeat, even as the addresses change.

Value-add multifamily

Two-family that needs work

Sold this July

$1.2MPrice

$165kGross revenue potential

Buy the worst-kept building on a good block, renovate, and let the rental income carry the project. The equity is earned, not bought.

See the listing ↗

Turnkey multifamily · the benchmark

Renovated three-family

Sold this July

$1.3MPrice

$210kGross revenue potential

Three doors, diversified bookings, and a long-term-rental floor if rules ever change. Pays for itself even with a manager running it. Every candidate we tour gets measured against this.

See the listing ↗

Luxury single-family

New build that sleeps fourteen

On the market now

$2.0MPrice

$150k+Gross revenue potential

The house your family actually uses, with rent covering most of the carry and the asset compounding underneath. An equity-heavy purchase — a lifestyle asset with income support, not a cash engine.

See the listing ↗
Two more live right now: Belmar lakefront 7BR ↗ · Ocean Grove Victorian 7BR ↗

“Doors pay the bills. Bedrooms host the family. Belmar sells both — pick the job before the house.

What it takes to get in

Cash first, financing second, patience third.

$355–555k

Cash to close

Down payment, closing costs and furnishing, across the three examples and both loan paths

6–12 mo

Reserves, held in cash

Of mortgage payments — the bad season is absorbed by reserves, not by hope

10% down

Second-home loan · family path

A true second home the family uses qualifies — lowest cash in. Single-family only; the multifamily examples never fit this paper

DSCR

Investor paper · income path

Qualifies on the property’s income — the fit for multifamily, since conventional appraisals ignore short-term-rental revenue

Either loan is the right answer — it depends on which job you hired the property for.

1Every number here assumes a professional manager runs it — you live in Scottsdale, and the model never pretends otherwise.
2Lenders will offer more leverage than a legacy asset should carry. Less debt means the bad year is boring — and boring is the goal.

The honest catch

Belmar licenses seasonal rentals, but whether it blesses two-to-three-night platform stays needs written confirmation from the Borough. That answer gates everything — we get it in writing before any offer.

Where to enter, and what happens next

The market will not wait for us — and that’s fine. Prices have compounded fast for a decade and asking prices will likely keep drifting up while we hunt. Rising basis is the cost of patience, not a closed door: the same growth starts paying you the day you own.

Recommended entry points

Belmar coreThe benchmark hunt: renovated multifamily, roughly $1.2–1.4M, measured against the three-family on every tour.

Ocean GroveOne town north — big-house inventory that books hard on the platforms. Same beach, different code. Worth a look.

Cape May areaThe southern play: emerging markets with lower entry points and the same shore economics. Worth a scouting weekend.

Four facts before anything is bought: the Borough’s written licensing answer · booking ledgers from comparable large homes · pool feasibility on any lot we like · real lender term sheets and bound insurance quotes.

Fifteen months of runway. We watch three markets, verify the four facts, and buy the one that beats the benchmark.

Savvy Realty · licensed New Jersey brokerage · projections are estimates, not promises. Figures from the Belmar legacy model, independently verified 18 Aug 2026, rounded for reading.