Articles Tagged with Hoboken Business

Before you renovate, look at new FEMA rules

Hoboken homeowners and home buyers face new challenges when considering extensive renovations because of recent changes in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regulations.

FEMA now forces homeowners who make improvements that raise the value of a property by more than 50 percent to conform to new base flood elevation rules. Under this directive, ground-level and basement dwellings that fall within revised FEMA flood areas must be elevated above the flood level or owners will lose the use of these spaces and utilities must be relocated. Revised FEMA flood maps place 79 percent of Hoboken in a flood zone and the city’s entire Hudson River coastline is now within FEMA’s “coastal high hazard” zone.

Few things symbolize the American dream like owning a business. But delving into the world of entrepreneurship can be scary and tricky without the right planning and advice.

There are nearly 28 million small businesses – those with fewer than 500 employees – in the United States. Well over three quarters are run by individuals with no additional payroll or employees and more than half are home-based.

Many ordinary citizens, including residents of Hoboken and Hudson County, are going to work for themselves. Often it’s to realize a long-held dream. But many are displaced workers investing money from buyouts, settlements and severance after being unable to find a new job. This is especially true for older workers. More than five million Americans age 55 and older are either in business for themselves or otherwise self-employed, and the number is rising, according to the Small Business Administration.