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Hi, Hubby and I are looking to buy a home on the water (bay, lagoon, large puddle, etc)in the next year or so. We're trying to figure out which town would be better for us as far as taxes go. Our realtor is a bit evasive when it comes to property taxes and she said that property tax rates depend on the town. Does anyone know of any town where taxes aren't too high?
LBI isn't *too* bad given the lack of year round residents. An average, older, cape coddy type home in Long Beach Township would probably run about ~4K ish?
LBI isn't *too* bad given the lack of year round residents. An average, older, cape coddy type home in Long Beach Township would probably run about ~4K ish?
The taxes don't vary based on the location of the house, they vary on the value of the house. Generally, houses on the water are valued higher than those inland, so the value x mil rate yields higher taxes. My MIL has an older cape on LBI, minimal improvements, not on the water and her taxes are higher than 4k (she is not in Long Beach Township though). Not much, but higher. Don't forget, even LBI has several different townships/boroughs so the mil rate varies even between Beach Haven and Ship Bottom for example.
Take a close look at Lavallette. Among the many reasons we purchased there, the taxes are very reasonable compared to surrounding communities. The sales prices are a bit higher as a result.
This is the second home we have owned in the town, so we know it well.
If interested, I can give you a few realtor recommendations by direct message.
Thank you all so much for your input. . Since I first started my online search two months ago the houses that I've seen so far have been very reasonable and within our price range but they've been on lagoons or rivers. Now I even see reasonable homes on the bay and ocean that have come down in price so much that they're affordable to us. Unfortunately, the property taxes are anywhere from 11k to 14k yearly on them, and I can't afford that and still eat. It's a little unsettling to see these homes drop in price so much so quickly, and to see how many homes for sale on the water there are. One of the homes I saw just dropped 20k. Is there something that I don't know? Are property taxes going up again?
Anyway, I'm looking to keep my taxes in the 4k to 5k range, and looking for a nice 3 bedrm, ranch type or cape coddish ( I like that phrase) type home. Since we'd be paying cash I'd rather pay a little more now than have to lay it out yearly on taxes. I'd also like a regular neighborhood and not some place where there are a lot of summer rentals. Although, maybe having a home with a summer rental income too would be better for us to offset property taxes? I'm so confused. For the first time in my life I'll be living on a fixed income and it scares the heck out of me.
I'll check into Lavalette homes and see if that area would work for us, and the other areas that were mentioned, and again, thank you all for your input, and any suggestions or input are greatly appreciated.
oh, Rhys, yes, please send some realtor names.. thanks
Will do. But one caution, be careful looking in Lavallette, especially in lagoon neighborhoods.
A lot of the "waterfront" homes on lagoons are advertised by real estate agencies as being in Lavallette, but they are not. They are in various sections of Toms River Township, and taxed accordingly, usually at a substantially higher amount. Or they use phony-baloney names like "North Lavallette", which doesn't exist.
The only thing these neighborhoods share with Lavallette is a border and a post office, so they technically have a Lavallette mailing address. If you go to Realtor.com, zillow.com or trulia.com, you'll see that this is a rampant problem. Even the realtor magazines and newspaper ads do this, and it's very confusing as a potential buyer if you don't know the actual streets in town. Realtors blame it on the multiple listing service, who goes by mailing address, but I think more of it is done deliberately than they are willing to admit.
Thanks so much for mentioning that Rhys. I have the website that gives property tax info for addresses, as long as I have the county and the town. Some of the addresses I can't find tax info on because the towns don't exist. It's been frustrating. I guess they do that all over.
I live in Toms River. I am on a Lagoon. The town re-assesed everyone last year and some areas actually saw a decrease in taxes while the waterfront properties saw an increase. My house is still assessed 100K over what homes are actually selling for. But to give you an idea, a lagoon property valued at about $475K will have taxes in the area of about $6000. Toms River has traditionally done a better than average job keeping taxes down. The town did just pass the school budget which will mean about a $200 increase this year.
There are a lot of homes available because it's like evey where else, nothing is selling. There is very little industry down here. Many of the waterfront properties are second homes which people may not be able to afford due to the increase in taxes.
Keep in mind, the homeowners and flood insurance is extremely expensive down here as well.
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