Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Agreed. There lies the problem. On the way up, spending/taxes followed and often exceeded the rate of property value appreciation. On the way down, there is little appetite on the part of the government to scale down it's size. Voters are now seeing the light as they deal with harsh economic realities that the government still refuses to fully address.
Owning a home used to an asset, now it's a huge liability as future property taxes in a broke state can only go one way.
NJ Homeowners = Bagholders
Agreed. I am currently in a 3 bedroom 1 bath cape, 1300 sq feet, 70 years old, 10 years ago started around $4k, now the value has gone down, assesed at almost $350K but houses like mine with more bedrooms and baths are going for $300-$310K. I put in for a reevaluation of the value, but who knows what will happen.
Towns don't want to give up money they are already charging you, and the tax assessor works for the town. Ironically, our taxes pay for her job but her job is to thwart me.
I pay about $7500K right now and if the new school and municipal budgets pass, I will be up around $8k which is roughly 12.5% of my gross income before any other taxes are taken out.
Then I paid almost $5K in SSI, then there was over $6K in federal taxes, over $1K in state taxes, Medicare, etc. What the hell is left on a $64K income after all that, not to mention gas, utilities, food, etc. ??? Nothing. I can't save anything. It all gets spent. Oh, but I forgot, we New Jerseyans all work in NY and are all rich and making at least $100K each, right?
Mine is the only income in the house, btw. I tried to get my 12 year old and my cat to get jobs to help out, but they refuse!! Something about not being able to get working papers....
Taxes are way to high in West Orange no question about it. The problem all of the nice communities in Essex County pay high taxes. Someone has to pay for Newark, Irvington, EO, Orange. Its just a shame they are so high, 25K in WO is a bit high and it is probably a much nicer house and bigger lot then most. My family is at 16K as of 2009 and its in one of the more expensive sections of town (St.Cloud) while its no mansion the 16K is probably above average for the town. Also the services in WO are great, while people question the school system you do get a lot of good programs in town for the money. Anyway, something needs to be done not only in WO but in all over suburban new jersey, especially Essex County.
I don't get why Newark, Irvington, etc. play into the municipal tax rate of West Orange. Are your COUNTY taxes the factor driving up the overall tax rate? Because as a municipality, WO should have absolutely nothing to do with Newark or paying for anything in any other municipality.
I just can't imagine WHY taxes are so outrageously high in this one specific town.
the property is public record...they bought in late 04 for $700K and taxes were about ~22K in 2006. since you are in WO, can you post the tax rates for the past couple of years?
Researched this recently since I almost bought there. Typical tax rate is about 3% of current market price. The nominal rate (rescaled by the ratio set by the town -- the assessments are still quoted in "old" dollars) is a little lower.
Some places that are listed today carry property tax bills as high as 5% of list price. I suspect with these places, the property taxes really are the factor hurting price.
Let's suppose you have a place that is "really" worth 500k, but it's taxed as if it were worth 700k -- so property tax bill is 21k, or 6k more than the correct amount. Each 1k/year excess tax hits property value by about 20k, so this place is only capable of selling for 380k. The desperate sellers list it for 400k and there are still no bites. There are places sitting on the market meeting exactly that description right now (those numbers are quite realistic too)
es, that's a pretty dumb financial decision. It would be better to save for a few more years and buy a more valuable property with a lower tax rate. When one pays a mortgage, you are paying for tangible property that you own that will (hopefully) gain in value - which is money much better spent than giving it to a local government for the same services you can get in another town for a lot less.
Not just a matter of saving for a few more years. With 20% down, you still need a larger monthly payment to move into those other towns.
High property taxes are terrible for you in the long term -- those property tax liabilities compound, which eat into your equity (whether or not the property appreciates !). But if you're buying in WO, you probably can't afford something comparable in SO, Montclair or wherever.
BTW, one thing to consider is that the place that costs 400k (and has a property tax bill of 12k or so) in West Orange is not comparable to a house that costs 400k (with a "modest" 10-11k tax bill) in SO or Montclair. If you want a place in SO or Montclair on the East facing slope of the Watchung, with a view of the NY skyline on 1/4 acre, it's going to cost you quite a bit more than 400k, and you're probably going to pay more than 12k in property taxes.
I suspect that there are a lot of renters all over NJ who do have money saved up for a down payment on a home, but are so put off by the absurd property taxes in this state. You shouldn't complain about property taxes from hell, because that makes you sound like a "whiner" who is "mean spirited" and just doesn't care about the plight of public employees in NJ.
It's really sad. It is a great area, but that is exactly why we moved. We were looking for a bigger house, but the taxes were outrageous. Now with the school cuts, I am thrilled we moved, lower taxes and better schools. I miss it like crazy, but I can drive there in an hour!
The guy bought an overpriced house in a town with bloated taxes of his own free will. The taxes nudged up from $22k to $25k and he now cries poor? He whines the extra 3 grand is "crushing" him??? What an idiot.
It's like someone buying an expensive luxury sedan, like a high-end BMW or Mercedes, paying high monthly payments on the financing and high insurance premiums for 4 years, and then, when he is faced with a $1000 repair bill he blows up and says, "$1000???!!??! THESE HIGH OVERPRICED REPAIRS ARE CRUSHING ME!!!! I WILL SELL THIS CAR FOR $5000 JUST TO DUMP IT!!! THAT WILL SHOW YOU GREEDY RIP-OFF MECHANICS!!!"
I don't think anyone would be sympathetic to that guy's "plight", nor can I see how anyone would be sympathetic to the "plight" of the guy in the OP.
It sounds to me like just another one of those "Here's a weird situation that we can exploit to promote our agenda by implying that this man is a victim of high taxes" stories.
The guy's plight is hardly typical for NJ. In my town in Northern Bergen County I'm paying less than 1/3 of that guy's $25k taxes, on a home valued maybe a couple hundred thousand less. My town isn't as snooty and overrated but the quality of life (including, or especially the schools) is better.
I have a question about reassessment. We purchased our home in WO last year and the bank assessed it at a certain amount. How much difference is there between when the bank assessess a home and when a town assesses a home? Since WO is reassessing next year I would not expect much change in value either up or down since my purchase last year. Should I be expecting the town to come back with a similar number as what I got from the bank?
The income of residents should not have an effect on property taxes. It takes "X" amount of money to run a municipality whether your residents make $70K per year or $120K per year. In theory, the higher income your residents are, the less services you should have to provide.
If people are actively "choosing" higher taxes, that's a pretty dumb financial decision. It would be better to save for a few more years and buy a more valuable property with a lower tax rate. When one pays a mortgage, you are paying for tangible property that you own that will (hopefully) gain in value - which is money much better spent than giving it to a local government for the same services you can get in another town for a lot less.
You miss the point--these people have high income but not high enough to save alot. This is why they choose the high taxes because they get more house. Luckily in this country we can make our own financial decisions and don't need your approval!
And in general, high suburban taxes are the result of dense residential areas with a small commercial base. Dense population, more people equals more services. Simple arithmetic.
People are singling out WO because of this article, which is obviously just some extreme case. But honestly, from my experience other towns are just the same if not worse. For houses similar to my WO home, in Montclair were 100k more in price and 5k more in taxes. Even similar houses we looked at in Verona and Cedar Grove were more expensive and had higher tax bills than what we have in WO. I also know people out in western Morris county that pay just as much in taxes for a similar sized house and they deal with a 90-minute train ride into the city. It's only 30 minutes for me. High taxes are not unique to any particular town or county. It's a statewide issue as we all know.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
