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I donno what you were thinking by paying the 8k youself. The lawyer made a mistake and he should pay for it.
My lawyer made a similar mistake an he called me to apologized and offered to pay the balance if the sellers wouldn't send me the balance
I guess you have a very responsible and good lawyer. I don't have a lawyer so I just contacted this lawyer who my friend used it once. My friend said he was ok and had been in the business for 20 something years. I also didn't find anything negative on him and needed to close the deal quickly.
That sounds interesting but with home rule that will never happen here in NJ regardless of what party is in power. The thing is that can't be the only reason for lower taxes. Sure downsizing the upper management would save us all some money but that cant be the only problem. What state do you live in? Do they have a sales tax that pays for education? Do you have a lot less kids per capita? Thanks.
Thanks for the sympathy and useful advice...or lack thereof. And thanks for the tough-beans NJ attitude. What I don't understand is, why am I paying 10% of the cost of the house each year in mortgage payments? The mortgage itself is barely 50% of the payment. How is it that taxes and surcharges and insurance payments jack this up to $2500-3000 per month? It's as if you need to be making $125,000 a year to buy a dinky little house in NJ, but in this economy most of the people I know barely make half that much. The taxes are so high, its as if people are being taxed as if the year is still 2001, when everyone was rich and employed and flying high. Now that the economy is tanked 70% off that peak, shouldn't taxes be pro-rated to be 70% less? I was looking on the internet, and I found that I can buy a home in Michigan in the Detroit area as big as my own home, for only about $55,000. Instead of being a hamster on a treadmill for the rest of my life here in NJ, barely acquiring any equity because I'm blowing it all on real estate taxes, I can liquidate my NJ lifestyle, buy this $55,000 house with cash, and literally retire right now at the age of 35. What am I doing in NJ?
Yeah because Detroit is just lovely right now. Enjoy your time there.
The reason you can get a home in Detroit for $55,000 is because nobody wants to live there. The crime rate is atrocious and people are fleeing the city like it had the plague. There are realtors that are going and buying homes in bulk to then try and sell it for ANY profit...and BTW, you can probably go and get a home in Camden or Irvington for $55,000 if you are willing to live Detroit.
I do not mean to have the "NJ Attitude" but sympathy is not what you need. You need someone to shake some sense into you. You were irresponsible when you decided to undertake the purchase of the hoe, irresponsible again when you chose not to do your research on the home/taxes/area you were purchasing in and are again being irresponsible now for not finding a solution. Instead of blaming everyone around you (like so many people who chose to get in over their heads) put your big boy pants on and fix it. Either sell the house or cough up the additional monthly payments.
Question: I thought that in new construction the builder was responsible for taxes at the developed rate which went back a few years? So if the land new home owner has paid the taxes on the land and the builder had to pay increased taxes as developed land vs vacant land, would the town not be taxing the same land twice? Considering new developement takes a toll on services ie schools, roads, police, wouldn't it make more sense for the new home owner to pay taxes on the HOUSE only instead of the land?
Wonder if the OP realized that he lives in NJ? I bought a 25-year-old, 940 s.f. condo this year in Monmouth county for $180,000. My taxes are a little under 4200, and coming from Bergen County, I was thrilled that the taxes were that low.
Wow $4,200 sounds awfully high for a condo. I pay $7,000 in Galloway, NJ, but I have a 3,300 sq ft house, 3 car garage, full basement and 2 1/2 acres of land.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnny come lately
And those taxes are going to go up every year.
This isn't necessarily true, my taxes went down over $600 a year after I brought my house. They did a tax reassessment and people who were not paying enough paid more and people that were paying too much paid less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnny come lately
Consider yourself lucky that you are not living in Northern NJ, where the tax rate is astronomical. My friend pays $25,000 per year on taxes on his house.
This is really misleading, I wager you friend has a 2 million dollar plus house. There's no way typical houses in North Jersey are paying that, no way anyone could afford to live there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by monmouthnjguy
... The taxes are so high, its as if people are being taxed as if the year is still 2001, when everyone was rich and employed and flying high. Now that the economy is tanked 70% off that peak, shouldn't taxes be pro-rated to be 70% less? ....
#1 Assessed Value for Tax purposes have little to do with the market value of your house. When the tax assessed value was less the your market value of your house, no one was complaining then. If you tied your tax assessed value of your house directly to the market value, then every month when your house increases in value, your taxes should go up, right?
#2 So what, your house is worth 70% less then peak, but EVERYONE's house is worth 70% less then peak, it doesn't cost any less to run the schools, local and county governments, it cost the same if not more than before and during the bubble. The only way your tax bill is going to shrink 70% is for government to cut services by 70%. If they bothered to reduce everyone's tax assessment to reflect the reduction in market property values, they would just increase the tax rate to make up the difference to balance the government budget. Actually it would be even higher, since the cost of hiring a tax assessment company to reassess an entire township can run into the millions of dollars, and you would have to pay that off that too on top of your regular budget.
I really can't understand why people fail to understand the basics of how property taxes work. Property taxes are the total assessed value of all the property and improvements in the township * the tax rate to equal the amount needed to run the government. The only way your going to pay less then any other town in New jersey is if your township has a lot of industry and commercial buildings worth a lot of $, to help off set what the residential homes are worth.
Last edited by TechGromit; 12-13-2010 at 07:56 AM..
It's as if you need to be making $125,000 a year to buy a dinky little house in NJ, but in this economy most of the people I know barely make half that much. What am I doing in NJ?
This is truth... It's very hard to own a decent (2000 sq ft+) home in NJ without earning six figures. It's the reason I'm trying to leave the state.
You don't need to make $125k to own a small house in NJ, you need to know how to budget. I feel like some posters should venture over to the personal finance forum for some tips. My P&I payment makes up about 2/3 of my mortgage payment. The rest is taxes and insurance. People that want to own a "decent" home (not sure 2000+ sq ft is "decent", i'd call that exceptional) would certainly need dual incomes, and probably need to make a good income between the two people. my home is 1700 sq ft, and we have plenty of space to grow our family.
for the original poster:
how much did you put down on your place?
did you honestly believe that the taxes would never go up? read various news articles about how some towns have had houses double in property taxes over 3-4 year spans (Essex county houses for instance).
is refinancing on the table to lower your interest rate - i.e., do you have enough equity to pull off a refinance deal - this could knock a few hundred off your payment.
TechGromit - plenty of houses worth far less than $2 million with tax bills in the $20,000s. It's sickening, but take a look around some counties.
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