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Most places I look, the property taxes are ridiculous.
...and the situation becomes truly bizarre when a homeowner has to deal with incompetent/unscrupulous/just plain crooked municipal tax authorities. In this case, a Maplewood homeowner was screwed with both incorrectly-inflated assessments and triple billing for his taxes:
Buy a smaller house. We certainly pay less than seven grand for our 3br in Cranford
Really? 7 seems to the bottom here in my town (average NJ suburb) That's for a 1300 sf ranch on .25 acres. To go lower you need to go to a townhouse or condo
We've made lifestyle changes. Hard, but worth it to have the kids in a good school and be close enough to NYC for my husband to commute. We bought a 3 bedroom, even though we have three kids (and two big dogs). Boys complain sometimes about sharing a room, but oh well. They have a place to sleep that's warm. We don't eat out/order in more than twice a month. I'm really careful about stocking up on groceries we use while they're on sale. I don't get pedicures anymore. We just found a trash service that charges 40% less than the one we previously had. I shop at a consignment store for a lot of my kids' clothing. You get the idea.
I would advise you not to buy until after the next governor take office. While under Christie 2.5% cap, my tax has increased over 30% in 7 years. Just imagine when the cap is removed and rate go to 6 to 8% a year.
2.5% is only state, then towns will gladly takes it's own pie.
Really? 7 seems to the bottom here in my town (average NJ suburb) That's for a 1300 sf ranch on .25 acres. To go lower you need to go to a townhouse or condo
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.
Mine are $6k and there was a time that taxes in my area were reasonable. Lots of blue collar families with a decent school. At the time, we were considered a little too far west to make it desirable for NYC workers. Unfortunately, the area has gone a change over the decade+ and the affluence has climb quite a bit. Part of the reason is we live in a town with direct NJ transit service to NYC. That has coincided with the rise of property tax.
My wife and I don't want to leave so we've made the lifestyle choice to simply make our starter-home of 1000sq/ft, 2 bed, 1 bath work for our 5 person family. Leaves a lot of discretionary income and savings. We've also resisted the idea of expanding renovating simply to avoid the jump in property taxes. So while a lot of people who have newer built, recently built homes have doubled in property tax, ours has gone up $2k over the last 15+ years. We fought the last re-assessment and lost even though our home has had zero renovations.
A lot of the people that moved in about the same time we did or earlier are leaving. Being displaced because even a few hundred rise year over year is difficult for people who are retired or working lower skilled jobs that simply haven't kept up with the rise of COL.
I live in Middletown Township and my 2017 property assessment = the land value increased $55,000 and the house less than $1,500. My taxes were ~$8,000 for 2016. With the new assessment, I will exceed $10,000 based on 2016 ratable rate. For the last three years since the 2% standard was enacted - my taxes increased 6, 10 and now 20% year over year, respectively. I moved here in 2003 and my taxes were ~$3,800.
The biggest loophole is they now change your assessment annually and people moving in the area purchased homes at significantly higher prices due to low interest rates. So your taxes are assessed based on comparable rate in Monmouth County. I can appeal but the lawyer will charge me $375 and I will save ~$450 on my taxes. It is not worth it considering the time of going to the lawyer and tax appeal process.
I will be moving out of NJ within the next two years, most probably to SC or Northern GA coastline.
My taxes are $1500 a year. But then again, I don't live in New Jersey any longer.
In 2001, I purchased a home in Medford (Southern NJ) and the property taxes were $3700 a year when I moved in. 4 years later they hit 7k. I surrendered. Life's too short.
Or, wait for it: a smaller single family home on a smaller lot.
How do you go much smaller than a 1300 sf lot on .25 acres? I guess you can go to a smaller lot size. Our lots in this town don't go smaller than 0.2. Again, I'm talking single families only
I just looked up our old house in a southern Bergen County town
800 sf on 0.1 acre...over $7000 a year in tax!
What are your taxes, square footage and lot size?
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