Families Fear Sandy Killed Cottages, Traditions The small yellow cottage has always been more than a house to Bob Bratek and his family. It was their tiny slice of oceanfront heaven, a repository of family memories built in the '60s with the hands of three generations of Brateks and any materials they could find. "It was made of pieces and hearts and souls and emotions and memories," Bratek said, remembering how he would ride there as a teenager in the family station wagon, its freight of free siding and donated wood causing the back to practically scrape the highway. Superstorm Sandy battered the Brateks' home and other seaside bungalows and cottages passed down through families that scrimped and saved to buy small getaways on the Jersey Shore. Now many families that see themselves as stewards of an heirloom are grappling with whether it is affordable, or even possible, to rebuild. For some, Sandy may have washed away any chance of another generation going "down the shore," as trips to the ocean are known in New Jersey, to anything other than a rented condo or motel. Many cottages passed down through generations are owned outright and did not have flood insurance, because they didn't have mortgages, or didn't have enough insurance to replace what they lost. Even before the superstorm, many middle- and working-class families struggled to maintain the properties and to pay high property taxes. A Tuesday Dec. 4, 2012 photo shows the Bratek family cottage, which was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, in Brigantine, N.J. Families that inherited small homes on the New Jersey shore over the years are trying to decide whether it is possible to repair or rebuild after Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Katie Zezima) Close Anthony Cappuccio, owner of Boardwalk Design and Development in the coastal community of Margate, said many families have inquired about whether they can be rebuilt. He expects to see many boarded-up homes next summer because people couldn't afford repairs. He has heard a variation on the same story at least seven times since the storm: "I got the house from my mother. We don't even pay the taxes. And we don't even know if we have insurance. There's no good way to assess how many people are facing the dilemma of whether to rebuild, but Donovan Rankin, owner of Coastline Insurance Agency in North Wildwood, said there were many more "legacy homes" on the shore before the real estate boom a few years ago that resulted in many families selling property that had suddenly become hugely valuable. Bratek's father and aunt, who jointly own the house in Brigantine, just north of Atlantic City, stopped paying for flood insurance years ago because it was too expensive. With no mortgage, flood insurance wasn't required. The Brateks had even put the house on the market as a desperate measure prior to Sandy because they could no longer afford the nearly $13,000 annual tax bill. The small cottage is wedged between two very large, much newer homes, and Bratek's father and aunt are on a fixed income. The for-sale sign lies in the grass, blown down by the storm. The house was on the market for $599,900. It was a hard decision. "It has so many memories it's difficult to disassociate the place from the house," he said, counting them off: his grandparents dancing to polka music on Sunday mornings, his friends pitching tents outside, his two children being conceived there. The family used to put a bucket on the counter for guests to pitch in a few dollars for electricity, food and maintenance. Sandy flooded the house with 6 to 7 feet of water in late October. The deck and dock are destroyed. Bratek is in construction and could easily rebuild the house given his access to materials, but he can't summon the emotion to fully assess the damage and see whether rebuilding is realistic.