Sisters Amy Shreve and Lauren Sheehan were out Monday looking for a summer rental on Long Beach Island.
"We were here yesterday and we're back again today, looked at a few places. The place we had last year they raised the rent a little so we're trying to see what we can manage," said Sheehan.
The economy may be tanking but that doesn't appear to translate into canceling summer vacations at the beach, perhaps just scaling back a bit.
"We eat groceries, we drive down, we don't have to fly so for us this is an economical way to spend some time with the family," Shreve said.
One Ocean City realtor thinks people's love of the shore trumps the troubled economy.
"The economy I don't feel is affecting the Jersey shore as much as other areas. People gotta get down and get their fix of the beach and the sand," said Clay Rossiter of Fox Real Estate.
Jim Schwartz is one of them. He said he'd cut back elsewhere if he has to in order to make sure he's got enough money for a week at this oceanfront house in Brant Beach.
"30 steps you're right on the beach and in the water or fishing, anything you want to do," Schwartz explained.
Boosted by the 3-day weekend when people traditionally start shopping for summer rentals, realtors said business so far is even better than it was last year.
"We have lots of phone calls people are walking in off the street. We had a very busy weekend," said Patricia Shultis of Prudential-Zack Realtors.
Because rentals are doing well, don't expect to negotiate a break on the price. Landlords will be reluctant to drop their prices especially if the renters keep coming.
"We have 9 weeks rented of our summer season out of 15 so we're doing pretty good this year," said rental homeowner Kevin Craig.
Rentals range from about $8-hundred to as much as $15-thousand a week and realtors said there's a lot still available. It seems at the shore the bad economy is good for business.
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