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thank you for th GSMLS site - very helpful - can you tell me what does it mean if the total assesment is less than the price of the house? Excuse my ignorance, I would be a first time home buyer. I have no idea what these things mean.
pay ZERO attention to that. NJ is a still strange when it comes to that - the assessed value doesn't change until there's a townwide reassessment, which happens typically every 10 years. i know a lot of places change the assessment based upon sales price, NJ does NOT do that.
as far as your other question about acceptance, I'm no authority, but I tend to think there would be no problems....
pay ZERO attention to that. NJ is a still strange when it comes to that - the assessed value doesn't change until there's a townwide reassessment, which happens typically every 10 years. i know a lot of places change the assessment based upon sales price, NJ does NOT do that.
as far as your other question about acceptance, I'm no authority, but I tend to think there would be no problems....
It's incorrect to pay ZERO attention to that - let's say the house is selling for $350K, and let's say the assessed value is $50K - that means the town hasn't reassesed the value of the house/land in umpteen years. Now lets say the current year taxes on the house is ummm...7,500, if you take the 7,500 and divide by assessed value of 50,000, the tax rate is: $15 per thousand dollars of value (.15*50000). Okay, now you're looking to purchase a property, you know the value of a house is more than $50K, but you don't know how much more or "less" - well, a recently reassessed town - within the last 5 years, will tell you more or less what properties were valued at by a professional appraiser (not a real estate broker or agent) hired by the town. Now, with all that has been going on in the real estate market these last two years - you should be able to find out from either the real estate agent and/or state records (check out app.com - data universe - if u type in the town, it will list recent sales, under the property section) what homes have been selling for. Some towns have homes selling for between 10-20% below assessed value, depending upon if the town was reassessed at the height of the bull market in real estate (2005-2006) like mine was. That also means that since property taxes are based on the assessed value of the home/land, if it was reassessed at the height, that the property taxes are based on "inflated" values.
My advice to you is not to rush - take your time and do plenty of research - and don't fall for....their not making anymore land bs."
It's incorrect to pay ZERO attention to that - let's say the house is selling for $350K, and let's say the assessed value is $50K - that means the town hasn't reassesed the value of the house/land in umpteen years. Now lets say the current year taxes on the house is ummm...7,500, if you take the 7,500 and divide by assessed value of 50,000, the tax rate is: $15 per thousand dollars of value (.15*50000). Okay, now you're looking to purchase a property, you know the value of a house is more than $50K, but you don't know how much more or "less" - well, a recently reassessed town - within the last 5 years, will tell you more or less what properties were valued at by a professional appraiser (not a real estate broker or agent) hired by the town. Now, with all that has been going on in the real estate market these last two years - you should be able to find out from either the real estate agent and/or state records (check out app.com - data universe - if u type in the town, it will list recent sales, under the property section) what homes have been selling for. Some towns have homes selling for between 10-20% below assessed value, depending upon if the town was reassessed at the height of the bull market in real estate (2005-2006) like mine was. That also means that since property taxes are based on the assessed value of the home/land, if it was reassessed at the height, that the property taxes are based on "inflated" values.
My advice to you is not to rush - take your time and do plenty of research - and don't fall for....their not making anymore land bs."
a reassessment does not increase the amount of monies coming in...so if there's a townwide reassessment at the height of the market, it doesn't matter - everyone's assessment is inflated.
I would still recommend Maplewood and South Orange as well as Cranford. I don't think a high water table should be the top reason to disqualify a town. If you buy a property with water issues it will probably have a sump pump in place. If not you can have one put in. Regarding taxes. If you were to buy a property for $300,000 and pay $8,000 in taxes. Would that be doable for you? What if you were to pay $275,000 and pay $10,000 in taxes? These come from current and available listings in very nice neighborhoods in Maplewood and South Orange. Do those numbers work for you?
Maplewood and South Orange have a number of mixed race couples and lots of mixed race children. Both towns have nice walkable downtowns. Tons of Brooklyn transplants and artists. Plus, the train ride for you would be 40 min or less.
a reassessment does not increase the amount of monies coming in...so if there's a townwide reassessment at the height of the market, it doesn't matter - everyone's assessment is inflated.
Agreed - but this is a first time home buyer who doesn't know the market or town, and what will she use as a benchmark for what homes are really worth? $50k? Also, alot of the towns use the re-assessment as a tool to jack the rates up, above and beyond what the adjusted rate would be. NJ politics is nasty business - they love to stick to the taxpayers!
Hey Chelsea, I notice you live in Woodside. I grew up in Woodside and moved to NJ two years ago. Let me tell you I am NEVER going back! I love Woodside and have many fond memories of growing up there, I stayed until my early 20's and loved it. But we moved to Jersey when we had a child and decided we were ready for the "burbs", I've never regretted our choice. No more driving around all night looking for parking, gas is much
Cheaper AND I don’t have to pump it myself! Woodside is not an unsafe area but you definitely are not going to let your young kids roam the street there and it has that typical New York thing where you have SOO many neighbors that you’re just as isolated as if you lived in the middle of no where, no one knows anybody. Here in Jersey we’ve found that places typically have a much better “community” feel. Whenever I have friends come out to visit they are always shocked at what we get for the money and that I am now a self-proclaimed “Jersey Girl” J You couldn’t pay me enough to go back to Queens! I even quit my job in the city and found one in Jersey.
I don’t really have many town suggestions for you since the town we live in now doesn’t have the best of school systems (Lyndhurst) which hasn’t been a big deal for us since we have a toddler, but Rutherford is the next town over, great town! A lot of the homes there have so much character and the downtown area is small but very cute and the commute is VERY doable.
We are Latino as well and initially shared your concerns but I’ve never experienced ANY kind of racism here. I think as long as you don’t act like ghetto trash people will not treat you like ghetto trash. We rented for the first two years which I feel like was an excellent way to go since we got more familiar with Jersey and were able to figure out exactly where we wanted to be long term before buying. If you can do this I would strongly suggest it, but of course with low interest rates, lowered home prices and not wanting to keep changing your kids schools every year I would see why you may not want to go that route. We’re now in the process of buying a home in Ringwood, a very beautiful lake community in Passiac county, but I don’t think it’s for you, waaaay too far.
Anyway just wanted to chime in and let you know from one Woodsider to another, you will NOT regret the decision to cross the river!
And lastly, you may already know about these but greatschools.net and schooldigger.com will give you a ton of information on each town’s schools from test scores to racial breakdowns of the students, check them out! Good luck!
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