Cost segregation in Monmouth County

The buildings

Monmouth has two economies, and the buildings follow them. Along the shore, Asbury Park, Long Branch, Belmar, Bradley Beach and Ocean Grove have hotels, inns, restaurants and rental buildings that earn most of their income in one season, together with a good deal of new mixed-use construction on and near the oceanfront. Hospitality property of this kind carries a large investment in furnishings, kitchen equipment and outdoor improvements such as decks, pools, fencing and lighting, and it is often renovated heavily between owners. Much of the shore was repaired, rebuilt or raised after Hurricane Sandy, and that work left contracts, insurance files and elevation certificates that are useful to a study.

Inland, the county is suburban. Garden apartment complexes from the sixties and seventies stand along Routes 9, 35 and 36 in Freehold, Eatontown, Middletown, Hazlet and Howell. Red Bank and Freehold have traditional downtowns of mixed-use buildings with apartments over stores, and Red Bank has added new rental buildings near its station. Shopping centers, medical offices and flex industrial buildings line the highways, each on its own lot with its own parking, lighting and drainage. The county also has marinas, where docks, bulkheads and site work may amount to more than the buildings.

Records

Shore property owners should look for the records of any work done after the storm, including the contractor’s agreement, the insurance adjuster’s scope and the elevation certificate. Hotel and restaurant owners generally have purchase records for furniture and equipment. For garden apartments and retail centers, the records of periodic large projects and the tenants’ leases are the most useful. Construction permits are issued by each municipality.

Common situations

The purchaser of an older inn or motel who renovated it before reopening. The purchaser of seasonal rental buildings in a shore town. An investor who has bought garden apartments on Route 9 or Route 35. The purchaser of a downtown Red Bank building with a restaurant at grade and apartments or offices above. A marina owner who has just rebuilt docks and bulkheads. Whether the building was built, bought or renovated decides how it is studied, as the services page explains.

Site visits

Visits are made by car. Seasonal property is best seen when it is open and equipped, which the preparer will arrange around the owner’s calendar. A garden complex or a shopping center is recorded building by building, with the grounds covered in full.

The page on property types covers hotels, retail and other commercial buildings, and the page on multifamily cost segregation covers apartments.

Other areas served

Highbridge Studies works throughout the New York City metro area, including New Jersey: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, Westchester, Long Island, Jersey City and Hoboken, Bergen County, Newark and Essex County and New Jersey.