Regulations On House Flipping Asked Of Chatham Committee

CHATHAM, NJ — The act of house flipping, according to Tony Vivona, chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, who spoke at Chatham Township's April 4 workshop meeting, may be making the township less affordable.

Vivona attended the workshop meeting of the committee and provided an update on the board's progress in 2022, as well as recommendations to the township committee for future consideration.

Among the recommendations was the implementation of house flipping regulations, specifically dealing with the size of the house in relation to the size of the property lot.

Property or house flipping refers to the act of buying and selling a house in a short period of time. These houses are frequently renovated in order to increase their value.

"Builders are buying old homes, knocking them down, and putting the biggest possible house they can fit on the lot. Even though it is legal, it really takes away from the character of an older neighborhood. It also takes a $500,000 house and replaces it with a $1.8 million house, and now you're limiting the amount of people or the caliber of people that can afford to live in Chatham," Vivona said.

The goal of increasing regulations would be to force the property owners to build a home that conforms to the character of the neighborhood and keeps pricing relative to the surrounding homes.

As an example, Vivona pointed out the discrepancy between homes on Chestnut Street. "You have two 5,000-square-foot houses sandwiched by a little 1,200-square-foot house and that house will never sell because it doesn't fit. Down on Longwood, it's the same situation: they knocked down small, affordable capes and put in $1.5 million homes, that are beautiful, but they don't fit the neighborhood."

According to Vivona, the board is attempting to obtain regulations that will help keep house prices relatively equal and maintain "starter neighborhoods" in the community.

"They're just building McMansions, and then normal people and regular people who are not millionaires can't afford to live in Chatham and take advantage of the Chatham schools, the Chatham lifestyle and the safety and security," Vivona said.

Another topic discussed at the meeting was the increased occurrence of builders purchasing a corner lot facing a side street and then flipping the home sideways to face the main street, giving them more space to build larger homes.

"There are several all over town. On Dogwood and Meyersville, there is another one where they took one large lot and put two large houses on it, turned the one on Dogwood sideways and he has a 15-foot backyard," Vivona said.

Committee member Mark Lois clarified that zoning requirements state that a home must have at least a 45-foot backyard, which these flipped homes frequently do not meet.

The builders, according to Vivona, can get away with it because they refer to the backyard as a side yard, which has different requirements.