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Unless you are operating a hydroponic marijuana growing system, or harboring illegal aliens, or running some other type of illicit operation, you really have nothing of a concrete nature to lose--except possibly a lot of dollars, courtesy of a higher valuation--by allowing this person to take a very quick look at the inside of your home.
When we lived in Northern Jersey in a very large apartment building there would be health inspections done of every unit every year. I was happy to let them see our apartment, check smoke detectors, etc.
I was glad that they checked these things for the safety of everyone living there.
Went through re-evaluation last year/ early this year in Monroe, NJ. I live in a development built in 2001. A couple of my neighbors were not home the day the appraiser came for the assessment (We did get letters in the mail giving us the heads up about this visit). Fast forward 3 to 4 months, those houses got appraised at higher value since the township assumes that in a house that old you have made improvements to/upgraded kitchen and bathrooms. The neighbors went to the town to dispute their assessment since they had not made any improvements to kitchen, bathrooms. The township sent the appraiser for a second time and after verification reduced the accessed value of the home.
Well as I said, they've got me over a barrel, so I'll comply-begrudgingly anyway...
Quote:
Originally Posted by daliowa
When we lived in Northern Jersey in a very large apartment building there would be health inspections done of every unit every year. I was happy to let them see our apartment, check smoke detectors, etc...I was glad that they checked these things for the safety of everyone living there.
FWIW that's different. If your apartment catches fire it could easily spread to others. This is an inspection in order to justify hiking my already absurdly high property taxes.
justify hiking my already absurdly high property taxes.
That doesn't always happen Badfish. Some homes go up a little, some go down, and many remain about the same. I felt like you did but I didn't want to roll the dice and have them go up more than they are. The town contracts with a firm and they have in hand your house layout which is on file in the tax assessors office. The guy that came to my house looked like a kid on college break and didn't look around much. He look at the info that was given to him and asked me if it was correct and went on his way. If you put in an extra bathroom or addition don't tell them, let them find it. The guy they sent to my house couldn't find the New Jersey Turnpike. Good luck.
West Orange did a revaluation in town a few years ago. It was no big deal. The guy came into my house for about 5 minutes and basically just counted the rooms. My taxes ended up staying the same.
If you put in an extra bathroom or addition don't tell them, let them find it. The guy they sent to my house couldn't find the New Jersey Turnpike. Good luck.
LOL... Well let's hope they stay the same. No improvements here other than cosmetic/correcting the jacked up work of previous owners
I worked for a company that did the tax revaluations. If we didn't get inside the home, we had to estimate the interior condition, if the basement was finished, bathroom count, etc and we tended to overestimate. So unless you did a bunch of major work without permits, let the inspector in.
I think I let the guy in....I don't remember. My taxes went up over $2K. But went down again after they did another reval b/c the first reval was during the height of the market.
I think you can always not the let the guy in and fight it afterwards - your choice. There's a window where mass appeals will occur.
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justify hiking my already absurdly high property taxes.
