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My taxes are at those levels per quarter. Westchester and Long Island are worse. I had a family member sell their life long house (2500 SF on a quarter acre) in lower westchester. The buyer knocked it down and built a larger house and the taxes skyrocketed to 80k...on a quarter acre...
Or, wait for it: a smaller single family home on a smaller lot.
If you want to pay less in taxes buy a smaller home. Yes, you're going to be missing out on the large room to put the wet bar in and there's not going to be space for the hot tub next to the pool, but when taxes are going to be a huge part of the equation, buying a smaller house that is actually affordable means you can actually make it work.
Yes, we do not own the biggest house in town, but I'm super happy that my taxes are half that of the guy around the corner who purchased two lots side by side and then plunked a massive McMansion on it. He admits he never uses his great room and is annoyed by the cost of the maid they had to hire to keep the entire first floor clean in case anyone stops by, but those are choices they made. Nobody else has to make those choices, and in the meantime I use the same library, the same schools, and spend half as much on lawn care and everything else. Not to mention that he's already talking about downsizing in a few years when the kids are out of high school.
You can buy the Porsche but not afford the insurance or you can get the Ford and be able to drive it. It's all about the priorities. There are houses with less than seven grand in taxes per year.
at the end of the day, if you cant afford it; you cant afford it.
We rent below our means, and I don't plan on being a homeowner unless family circumstances change which would require more space and/or a different neighborhood. This allows us to save with discretionary income left over, and it's comforting knowing that though home ownership in NJ may seem unattainable, having savings makes it possible to buy a property outright in a cheaper COLA as a result.
$6400 this year, 1250 and I think it's .06 of an acre.
I'm also remembering that we have a volunteer fire service and the police department isn't huge. Everyone also has their trash service separately as well, so there are a number of things not covered by taxes.
I've been looking for a house for almost 6 months now in Central/North Jersey. Most places I look, the property taxes are ridiculous. Unless I move to South Jersey or to the west closer to PA, I can't afford the average $8,000 a year in taxes. The average median income in NJ is $80,000 which is in my income range but a mortgage on top of the property taxes will mean half of my net income will be towards housing.
Any advice? Or just continue renting? I've lived here almost all my life and love NJ but I feel like it has been getting more expensive over the past few years.
Ours taxes are a bit above where the OP wants, but our house has a larger yard - something that outweighs other things for us, since the kids and dogs spend so much time out there. There's one house in town with taxes under $8,000 right now. Warren's taxes are pretty low, too. Several there under 8.
The high property taxes threads is on of the most popular in this forum. I think the answer is that the taxes in NJ are not any higher and are perhaps lower that in other suburbs commutable to NYC. Westchester, Nassau County of Long Island, Fairfield County in CT probably have higher taxes than NJ's.
I think everyone should really be complaining about healthcare costs. I hope not to see the day when healthcare costs would become higher than property taxes...
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