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That's not how it works. You can look up properties on the tax website and see how individual units cover the taxes as opposed to the condo association. Maybe you are thinking of co-ops?

Pure speculation on my part, but....kind of an extreme change to make without doing your homework first.

Are you trying to rent it out? Sell it? Live in it?

It sounds like you didn't get permits and that your new bedroom might be illegal.

Did your condo association approve the change? If not, you might have violated bylaws (both in terms of adding a bedroom and electrical work).

Did you have a licensed electrician do the work? The fact that you would so easily suggest taking the electric out leads me to suspect that you didn't...which is scary (and the reason that the city and your condo association would be rightfully concerned as it could be a fire hazard).

I'm also thinking that adding a bedroom would potentially impact your tax status (i.e., your taxes should increase--possibly considerably--as three bedrooms are more valuable).

Step 1 might be checking your bylaws to see if you were even allowed to make the change in the first place?

Is it also possible that they are phasing you up toward your future tax state (if, as someone mentions, your abatement is ending soon)? I understand from older threads that they do that so it's felt gradually instead of the taxes suddenly skyrocketing. They 'forgot' to do that for Port Liberte and there was a lot of churn around that a year or so ago.

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That should absolutely be the expectation. But, like in the OP's experience, reality is that it can take years to catch up.

Sounds like the former owner didn't do the kitchen legally (i.e., with permit), and it's finally catching up. In other words, your taxes should have been higher for the past 5-years as a result of the remodeling (not to mention as a result of the reval). But $140K improvement based solely on a kitchen seems excessive and might be worth researching how to appeal.

Along these lines....does anyone know if the Australians are getting hit with increased assessments after their gut remodels? They've done some impressive upgrades on a number of homes. How long does it take for the upgrades to be incorporated into their assessments? Seeing some of these places they've upgraded still paying a fraction of the taxes they should is frustrating.

There are occasionally spaces for rent at Dixon Mills, but you have to be a resident to rent the space. If you are a resident, check out building link.

My bad. I assumed you guys were talking about 240 2nd. Which was converted into a 6 bedroom 5.5 bath and rented out immediately for $7k a month. If that's the comparison, then I guess *only* getting 5 bedrooms for the same price seems like a bad deal. LOL

Also, pretty sure the bars one the garden units have been on most downtown properties for many decades. I lived in Harsimus Cove for 12.5 years and never heard about a single break in near me. The window bars often accommodate AC units for the garden unit.

240 st. Was bought by the Australians, completely gutted/remodeled, and rented out in under two weeks of being posted. So clearly there was a market for it, even though I questioned the sanity of turning a 3 family into a 1 family and the corresponding $7k rent.

Pretty sure the landlord's rights to occupancy don't outweigh the tenant's rights. I've heard horror stories along these lines.

If you want to understand tenant's rights and whether or not the tenant has to move at the end of a lease, review this:

NJ Tenant's Rights Manual

I would ask the seller to take care of it. When we bought, a part of the contract was that the building was vacant at closing. The burden was on the seller to get the renters out (they all happened to be on month-to-month leases, and it was pretty uneventful).

If the seller is motivated, s/he will buy out the tenant or what have you to end the lease early. Otherwise, you'd be taking the tenant on, and it's possible that you wouldn't be able to move in for some time. Renters have a lot of rights in NJ, and it may not be as easy as assuming that they will simply vacate when the lease is up. If they have a great deal and it's a competitive rental market, they won't have any incentive to make your life easier so you can move in.

An example...someone bought our neighbors building, and he wanted to remodel the apartments and jack up the rents. The renters were on month-to-month but liked their space as is, and it was super cheap and they wanted a long term lease similar to what they were currently paying. They could have strung the new landlord on for many, many months. So the renters proposed a buy out. I think it was in the neighborhood of $2k (plus their security deposit) to move out asap. It worked out great for both parties. Not sure if all three apartments worked out that deal or just the ones that we knew. But potentially, the new landlord had to pony up $6K to clear the place out.

We dealt with several different attorneys when buying a condo in JC (not by choice--our original one who was handling our sale was the seller's attorney for the place we wanted to buy; then the next one had a conflict as had met previously with the seller; etc).

We backed out of the first contract after some inspection issues (thus attorney review was not exited). Next place we were just starting attorney review of the contract and then it was flooded in Sandy. Third one was a charm. The only who got paid a dime (at closing) was the one who represented us at the final closing. The first guy did the most work and didn't make a dime. All three were explicit that they only got paid if the deal was finalized. But it was also something we made sure we knew before starting the process with each one.

They only pay $11k in taxes on that place!? REVAL! My guess is they never got permits for renovations. Such bullshit.

If you go on the tax assessment search page and look up "WA GOLF COMPANY, L.L.C." under owner, it gives a list of lots that seem to be associated with the golf course. I'm not sure that it's a complete list (e.g., if other entities own chunks of the course), but that group pays a little over $212K.

There are other LLCs and developers who own on Caven Point. Not sure if any of those are related to the golf course.

A lot of will depend on what you mean by 'basement.' Is it fully below ground level? If so, it's pretty unlikely that you'd meet code requirements for proper egress. I think the ceiling height also comes into play.

No one disagrees that the Pulaski is important if not critical to transportation in the area. But you seem to have missed the point, which is that Port Authority has nothing to do with the Pulaski, that Port Authority repeatedly said that they could not transfer the funds to this project, and that it was 'sold' as being critical to Lincoln Tunnel access.

My concern when I read the NY Times piece this morning is that the Pulaski funding will now be yanked. After the project has already begun. I assume NJ taxpayers will be on the hook.

Great! Thanks everyone for the links. I wasn't coming up with anything in my search online.

very interesting, bodhipooh. I understand that the plane rule varies from state to state. Can you point me to something that shows that this is the rule in NJ? Thanks!

I made a bad choice to enter an intersection (Kennedy/Montgomery) on a yellow light this afternoon, and the light immediately turned red. I admit it...I deserve a ticket, so I'm not here to be like 'feel sorry for me.' (if you want to feel sorry for me, consider that I started my day with a flat tire on I-80 at 6 am, so the ticket is not actually the low point of today either financially or emotionally LOL).

I will not be surprised when a ticket shows up in the mail. I am here to try to understand the consequences associated with a red light camera. Is it zero points and $85? My understanding is that it still can impact my insurance, right?

Thanks for any insight! :)

And as you can see from the other threads related to this pool, they also have adult lap swim from 7-10 am.

In the afternoons, they've usually had 2-3 lanes reserved for lap swimming and then the vast majority of the pool open for free play. I think in the past, the mornings have been for adults-only lap swimming.

If you guys haven't been there before, it's a wonderful facility. I think this is the third year it will be open.

Very excited that it's open for lap swimming in the morning. My husband and I will be there going forward!

Have they given a sense of what kind of volume they need to stay open in the mornings?

Also, I can't recall...do they have kickboards?

Lafayette Pool - Google Maps

I think last summer it was usually open until around 7?

The tax assessment search shows that the Australians (US masters) bought it. As a first step, i recommend talking to the new neighbors. If that doesn't work then call the cops on the renters?

We used PostNet for several years. Got the box just so we could have packages delivered. It was great! (only reason we stopped is that we moved to a building with a concierge to sign for and hold packages). We paid about $150/year for the box.

My theory is that Bochka hacked the system to remove evidence of his complete asshole-iness demonstrated on the two parallel illegal driveway threads yesterday. ;)

Nice try, Bochka. We all still know you are an asshole.

I think your title is misleading. It doesn't sound like you are saying you got a 'fake' ticket. It sounds like you are saying that you got a real ticket that you don't feel is valid.

I assume you took pictures of where your car was parked, so that if you choose to fight it in court, that you have evidence to provide.

If you can provide more specifics regarding the location, I'm sure others on this site can provide insight into whether it's actually legal to park there. Just because you see cars there regularly doesn't mean it's legal.

Your best bet might be walking around, noting possible lot addresses and looking up the owners info on the tax website so you can reach out directly?

I assume having only one bath will limit how much the unit will go for

My guess is that having only one bathroom will limit how much the unit will go for.