Tough choice in NJ: Stay or walk away

It was a block where neighbors gravitated to front stoops to talk about life — their kids, report cards, football games and casserole recipes — all as the ocean breeze reminded them why they moved to this bayside town. That’s the charm Stephanie and Richard Diehl found when they purchased their split-level home on Eighth Street in 2007. But after Superstorm Sandy flooded and wrecked their house, an insurance company denied their claim for a cracked foundation. Then the state placed them on an uncertain waiting list for a grant to elevate the structure. Now the Diehls are faced with what they call the toughest decision of their lives.Do they stay or do they go? They are leaning toward leaving, walking away from their mortgage and their life on Eighth Street. “We would love to go back there, just knock it down and build something and be able to go home,” said Stephanie Diehl, 43, an office manager for a carpet importer in Secaucus.