Highest property Taxes in the country? (Newark, Irvington: real estate, insurance, low crime)

[Robzherenow]

My wife and I want to move to NJ. We currently live in NY (Westchester County) and so far we looked into moving to central NJ- Monmouth county & Essex County.

From reading these messange boards, all I have been hearing is that New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country, and the highest auto insurance in the country too! Is that all over NJ or just in North Jersey (Bergen County area)?

We dont want to make a move and then regret it. Please advise.

[saganista]

Auto insurance is high everywhere in north Jersey, but it's probably not low in Westchester County either. Call your current carrier and ask for a rate quote based on moving to Verona or Red Bank. That should give you some ballpark numbers.

Taxes are county and local issues. They vary. But if you were in Essex County, they'd be pretty high alright. Might want to compare the taxes in those west Essex communities to those over in Morris County, just a little farther along. Might make a difference.

[BobKovacs]

From what I hear, Westchester's taxes are no bargain either, so you might not notice a big difference. People coming from Podunksville, Arkansas are shocked by the deltas in home prices, taxes, insurance, etc., But I'd say you'll probably barely notice a difference.

Bob

[Robzherenow]

Are there any parts of NJ. spefically in Monmouth or Essex counties, where there is lower property tax? this will be my first home so I want to keep it around 500K. I dont know if that is reasonable.

[BobKovacs]

Sure there's places with lower taxes- Newark and Irvington come to mind...lol.

In general, you'll find that the more business/industry in a town, the lower the residential rate, since the town gains revenue from the commercial uses.

I'm curious as to why you're considering Monmouth and Esses counties specifically- they're separated by Union and Middlesex counties, and are pretty different, both geographically and demographically.

Bob

[DavLau4]

Originally Posted by Robzherenow

My wife and I want to move to NJ. We currently live in NY (Westchester County) and so far we looked into moving to central NJ- Monmouth county & Essex County.

From reading these messange boards, all I have been hearing is that New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country, and the highest auto insurance in the country too! Is that all over NJ or just in North Jersey (Bergen County area)?

We dont want to make a move and then regret it. Please advise.

YES,it's a fact, New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country! Although,plenty of towns/counties are lower than others.
Can't say the same for auto insurance though, that depends on comparison!

[nsa162]

The average tax bill for new jerseyans in 2006 was $6400. It seems that north jersey has higher property taxes than other parts of jersey. If you want to commute to NYC, you dont want to go to far south in Jersey. You are not going to really get around high taxes in NJ. even the ghettos of nj have high taxes.If you dont need to commute to NYC, consider PA. Real estate is much cheaper and taxes are much lower.

[NNJCarpenter]

NJ in general has very high property taxes, they spend spend spend. Bergen County is the highest in the nation, higher than Marin County, North of SF. BUT the schools are the best in Northern Bergen County. 98% of kids continue onto College.

So great schools = high taxes. If you do move to Bergen County and need a carpenter to do remodeling - visit my website Moderator cut: advertising

[saganista]

Originally Posted by NNJCarpenter

So great schools = high taxes.

Glad to see a little of that. It's actually fairly purposeless to talk about taxes without also talking about services. Do you like clean streets, good schools, the convenience of public transit, some nice parkland with jogging trails? You don't get any of those things without paying taxes. I look around the areas of the country that I spend the most time in, and what I see more often than places where the taxes are exhorbitant is areas that simply don't have enough public services to make them as livable as they ought to be...

[Robzherenow]

My wife and I do not need to commute to NYC. She is a Pharmacist and I am in Banking. We can get jobs and work anywhere within the city/county. This gives us the freedom to consider Central NJ where the cost of homes are less than Northern NJ.

Now its just a matter of deciding on the areas in Central NJ. We dont want to go too far down south. We would like to keep it under 90 minutes to New York (specifically Westchester where most of our family and friends live).
And of course the usuals- low crime, affordable housing (we are first -time home buyers,etc)

I have a 2 year old so although school sytems are important, its not on the top my list since I plan on moving gain in another 5-7 years.