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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#91
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Quote:

Bamb00zle wrote:
Quote:

Pebble wrote:

The issue here is, you have three decades where some residents were screwed. They were paying a tax rate double that of those living with much better means. The poor were subsidizing the wealthy. A reval one year later would mean that the poorer areas only receive one year relief to earn back the money they lost over those decades.


During the entire time since the 1998 reval anybody who believed their property taxes were ?unfair? had the right to appeal.

It should not be the responsibility of individual citizens to fix an abject failure of by the city to uphold its legal responsibilities to keep property taxes accurate.

It's also my understanding that tax appeals are limited in how much they can adjust your tax amount.


Quote:
As a result of the City?s willful negligence not conducting a reval, DT property values have been inflated by low assessments over the past 30 years. Now, post reval, there?s little doubt DT values will fall, especially with the cap on SALT deductions. Another revaluation will mitigate the damage caused.

Please.

If someone's tax bill went from $10k to $30k, that's because they are living in a $2 million home. The reval and Trump tax fiasco is not going to shrink the value of that home to $675k.

Plus, those people have underpaid their tax burden for years, if not decades (another issue that can't be fixed by people appealing their tax bill). They have done jack **** to deserve a break. (I might add, my tax bill is going up, and I'm not bitching about it.)

Also, see above post for a half dozen other reasons why JC property values have gone up over the decades.


Quote:
The blame for all this mess belongs with Jersey City politicians and administration employees, who knew all along what was going on and did NOTHING for 30 years. They should be held accountable.

Yeah, I don't think so. They held off the reval, because that's what a bloc of citizens demanded. This happens all over NJ, too.

Posted on: 2018/3/7 0:13
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#92
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Quote:

135jc wrote:
The point is that low taxes drove up the market values. High taxes will lower the values and now there will be a flood of appeals unless another reveal happens

Low taxes was only one part of what has driven up property values in DTJC. Other factors include, but are not limited to:

? Intense real estate pressures in the NYC area (including the insanity of buying in Manhattan, which is dominated by co-ops)
? Close proximity to Manhattan, especially the Financial District and much of Midtown
? Low inventory in DTJC (75% is rental)
? Housing stock that's either decent or worth fixing up
? Record low interest rates
? Between ~1995 and 2006, a massive bubble in national real estate values
? Lots of other nearby areas which didn't have such tax imbalances also increased in value

Also, keep in mind that DTJC has been in the process of gentrification for decades -- as in, long before property taxes got out of whack.

Another thing to keep in mind? Hoboken did a reval a few years ago, and it was not Real Estate Armageddon. What a shock.

What is likely to happen is that RE values will drop for a few months, then come right back up. At the bare minimum, the people who own those $1 million homes? Another adjustment isn't going to reduce their taxes back to $10k/yr.

Sorry, Charlie. You got a massive tax break for decades, now pay yer taxes.

Posted on: 2018/3/6 23:57
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#93
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Quote:

135jc wrote:
Quote:

HeightsNative wrote:
[quote]
lecxe wrote:

Your tax bill went up? Well cry me a river. Life ain't fare. No one cares.


Yes, except the reval is actually the epitome of fairness. They're upset that everything is fair now lol. [/quot

It's fair until values fall. Jeez. How hard is that to grasp?

Yeah, thing is? Property taxes have to actually fall first.

I mean, really. Tell us all, how much will home values actually drop over the next 6 months? What happens if they rise up again 6 months later?

The reality is that many of the people who have gotten away with insanely and unfairly low property tax rates don't want to pay higher taxes. It doesn't matter who else has to pay more to give them a tax break. It doesn't matter how much the value of their property went up.

It's just selfishness masquerading as righteousness.

Posted on: 2018/3/6 18:39
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#94
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Quote:

Monroe wrote:
Tbird, you missed where I asked 'can we assume?'

His identity is not top secret information. It took all of 30 seconds to look it up.

So, I'd say that if you were genuinely interested, you shouldn't have assumed.

Posted on: 2018/3/6 18:17
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#95
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Quote:

Monroe wrote:
Florio, Kenney and Raval-can we assume 'Florio' is Jim 'fillm flam' Florio, who is also a partner behind the group developing Canal Crossing in Greenville/BeLa?

We should not.

Apparently it's a man by the name of Edward J Florio.
http://www.fkrlaw.com/edward-j-florio/

I don't know who the guy is, or if he's related to any other Florios in NJ, but he has no apparent connection to Canal Crossing. From what I can tell, he's just an attorney.

Posted on: 2018/3/6 15:24
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#96
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Quote:

Ralph_Abutts wrote:
The point is the entire city would be better off, including those with reduced assessments, if the state made a one time exception and had a stepup/phase in assessment. If so, the current reval would never have taken as long as it did to finally occur. The incentives to do so were not right under the current law.

And I've already pointed out how that will not happen, and doesn't make any sense. To present it more clearly than before, and add to it:

? Your proposal is almost certainly illegal under current law

? The state legislators would be fools to vote for it, since it will reward this form of negligence, and give other municipalities an incentive to keep delaying revals

? Jersey City doesn't deserve special treatment, since its chief role here is to delay and obstruct and sue and refuse to follow the law, to the bitter end

? Anyone with half a brain will see this as a transparent attempt to add yet another delay to the reval

? This is a problem that JC caused for itself, by going 3 decades without adjusting its taxes, and it's not Trenton's job to fix it

? It is utterly false that the "entire city" will benefit, as the tens of thousands of property owners who are scheduled for a tax cut will need to pay more taxes

? The people who are facing a tax hike had years to prepare, it's not like this was a secret

? The people who are facing a tax hike did nothing whatsoever to earn or deserve any special treatment whatsoever -- in fact, they've benefitted for years (if not decades) by paying less than their fair share

In short: Your "phase in" proposal is deeply unfair; it incentivizes municipal negligence; and it's not going to happen anyway. Pass.

Posted on: 2018/2/15 15:47
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#97
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Quote:

Ralph_Abutts wrote:
"overpaying" is a prejorative by someone else other than the homeowner affected.

No one "overpays" - folks willing pay the tax or appeal it at their *free will*.....

Or, I just mean "overpay." No matter how it happened, thousands of property owners will be getting tax rate reductions. That's not hyperbole; out of the 9200 entries in the current list, nearly 2500 are getting reductions. And this is just a small part of the total.

Were they all supposed to appeal? Would that have magically fixed all the problems? Would it have increased the property taxes for those who weren't paying enough? What about those for whom their assessed value was below market, how does the appeal process work for those individuals?


Quote:
When someone's taxes goes up 4xs overnight - it will be mostly the latter. That is a tax shock....

Yes, I know what you meant.

You're still suggesting that the city tax people at the wrong rates for an extended period of time. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that is wildly illegal. I'm gonna go even further out and say that I cannot imagine NJ state legislature would do anything to help JC with this ridiculous plan, since JC deliberately and repeatedly delayed the reval by an unconscionable amount of time, and had to get dragged into court to just abide by existing law.

Even if it could somehow be done, the city will be telling tends of thousands of property owners that they have to wait for their taxes to drop, because other people -- whose property values exploded over the past decades -- don't want to pay all of their taxes.

You're also spreading this out into a smaller series of "shocks" -- e.g. if done in two years, then that owner will see their property taxes double in the first year, and double again. Congratulations! You've spread out the property tax increase, and property value hit, over two years.

And why should we have sympathy for these people again? They did nothing to deserve a massive tax break. Their taxes are going up because the value of their homes has soared. They're getting socked because the city refused to reval for thirty years -- and that wasn't a hidden fact.

In fact, in the same way that you believe the overpayers were suckers who should have appealed and "freely" chose to pay extra, the people getting socked now knew this was coming for years, and have no excuse to plead ignorance.

Posted on: 2018/2/15 4:16
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#98
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Quote:

dmark526 wrote:
What does Yeah...No mean?

It means "yeah, I thought about it; and no, you're wrong."


Quote:
You aren't the seller so you wouldn't know why they are selling unless you know them.

lol

In case you missed it, you ascribed motives to them too --
by proclaiming they were doing it because of the reval.

Anyway. It's been on the market for 5 months, they started out asking $1m more than the city's assessed price, and they switched real estate agents after just 2 months. I'm sure there are people more experienced than I am at divining the psychology of sellers, but that doesn't sound like they are getting out because their property taxes are going up. It sounds much more like they are trying to take advantage of an incredibly tight real estate market in DTCJ, and miscalculated.

Posted on: 2018/2/14 21:54
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
#99
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Quote:

Yvonne wrote:
When the 1988 reval happened, it also only affected downtown JC. Here are the results, Hispanic and senior homeowners were not able to sell, they lost their homes in liens. It is the reason Schundler created the bulk lien sale in the early 1990s because there were thousands of properties not able to pay. At least in those days, you had 3 years to pay before you went into lien. Now it is the same year. All taxes and water must be paid by the December due date which is on the tax bill.

Anyone who loses their property over this is officially an idiot.

There are lots of options available to homeowners, such as home equity loans or reverse mortgages. Homeowners should be careful with these products, but if the value of your home has gone up $1m over the past 10 years, you should have enough equity in the house to cover your taxes for decades.

If you don't want to deal with that, then you can sell. It's not ideal, but it's obviously better than the city foreclosing on your property. The market in JC is incredibly hot right now, particularly in DTJC. Inventory is still tight. JC will still have low property taxes compared to most NJ cities, and the costs are laughably low compared to Manhattan.

You might not get the absolute peak value. However, prices have been soaring in most of JC, meaning almost everyone affected will be way up, and you can buy one heck of a home for $1.5m these days.

And as usual, you completely ignore how some people's properties will gain in value, because their taxes will go down. What a surprise that you ignore the people who have gotten screwed for decades by the inexcusable delays in revaluations.

Posted on: 2018/2/14 21:45
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

Ralph_Abutts wrote:
As for another reval next year/12 months later ....For Jersey City & the 1/2 dozen other municipalities in the same boat, the State should have made a one-time exception to the law to allow for a phased-in revaluation to prevent such a disruptive event like going on now.

Yeah, thing is? "Phased in" means that the people who are overpaying their taxes have to continue overpaying, until everything is up to date.

Plus, doing it in steps means repeated shocks with each step. Pass.

This has been coming for years. People have no excuse not to expect it. Delays only make it worse. And if you like the gradual approach, then the better option is to get everything matched up as best as possible now, and revalue properties every 2-5 years instead of every 30 years.

Posted on: 2018/2/14 21:17
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

dmark526 wrote:
The selling has already begun. 272 Barrow was put on the market in December for 3.3 million, the taxes went from 16K to 41K per year. They just lowered their asking to 3 million. I'm sure many more will follow.

Yeah... no

272 Barrow was first listed in 9/2017 for $3.5 million, which is **WAY** above market, and would probably make it one of the most expensive properties in JC. (The assessor put it at $2.5m.)

The owners pulled it from Twill, and relisted it at $3.3m with Boyne in 11/2017. In December, they reduced it again to $3m. All of that is more than 2 months before the updated rates were published.

This is not an example of people dumping properties because of the reval. It's an example of someone trying to sell a home for more than anyone wants to pay, for at least 5 months.

Posted on: 2018/2/14 21:14
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

brewster wrote:
Kudos to Terrence for getting the whole story, unlike some of the broadcast media starting to cover this by just hearing the sob stories.

Indeed. The linked story is still heavy on the losers, but it is good to see a bit of balance.

Hopefully, the people who are getting tax relief will want to share their perspective.

Posted on: 2018/2/14 3:19
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

Yvonne wrote:
Free Ride, Dolomiti happened when the Fulop Administration gave Salem Lafayette another 30 years on their tax abatement....

Spare us your anti-abatement jeremiad. It's irrelevant.

The problem is that JC went THIRTY YEARS without revaluing properties, while property values changed dramatically. THAT is why people paid more than their fair share for decades, while others reaped an unfair benefit. If there wasn't a single abated property in JC, we'd be in this exact same place right now.

Your callous attitude towards the Jersey City residents who overpaid their taxes; your exacerbation of this problem; trying to shift to blame to suit your own agenda... That's unacceptable and inexcusable.

Your buddies got a sweet deal for decades. Fun time is over. They don't deserve a single iota of sympathy for the new tax rate. At this point, they should be glad they don't have to pay back taxes after decades of underpayment.

Posted on: 2018/2/14 3:17
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

Yvonne wrote:
My former neighbor was not able to rent out her basement since Irene and Sandy. She received only $1,000 from Fema while her basement took a hit of $20,000 to $30,000. Now she has a $35,000 tax bill. I am sure she is not unique with the loss of potential income from basement.

Another sob story, about someone who got a free ride on their taxes for a decade. Pass.

Why don't you find some of the people who are getting lower taxes because of the reval? The owner of 367 First Street will pay about $23,000 less in property taxes. I guess that just doesn't count, huh? They should just keep going on paying tens of thousands of dollars every year, so that one of your buddies gets a tax break? Great system you have there.

Posted on: 2018/2/13 23:35
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

neverleft wrote:
Fox5 NY did a piece yesterday Feb 12th on the JC tax reval:

Property taxes skyrocket for some Jersey City residents

...and still basically no discussion of the people who got a tax cut.

The 74 year old woman whose taxes are going up to $20k a year is probably living in a home worth $1.2 million.

The other woman who is looking at a $41k tax bill is probably sitting on a $2.5 million home.

Both of these people have spent years (if not decades) underpaying their taxes, while their property values should have gone through the roof.

Both of these people have a ton of equity in their homes, which they can draw on. E.g. if Ms Rennar bought her home for $500,000 and it's now worth $2.5m, the equity she's gained could pay that $41k for at least 40 years.

Both of these people should have seen gradual increases in their taxes over the years, and got socked all at once because politician after politician refused to adjust property taxes on a timely basis.

While I fully support the city providing services to help property owners deal with the increased payments (especially for elderly residents), they have had YEARS of underpaying their taxes, while other JC residents have overpaid to cover for them. They will get no sympathy from me.

Posted on: 2018/2/13 18:15
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

biggoron wrote:
Looks like an excel file was posted by the assessment company:
http://www.asinj.com/revaluation/docs ... oposed%20Assessments.xlsx

It has over 13,000 properties listed so far... Any idea what the total number should be around once it is all said and done?

My understanding is there are more than 114,000 housing units in JC. I have no idea of the number of commercial units.

Posted on: 2018/2/13 18:05
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
Quote:

Dolomiti wrote:
Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
Quote:

Dolomiti wrote: NJ roads are fine.


I thought about this today as I was headed east on 78 I?m the express lanes, just before the airport. A cop was parked in the right lane, angled in a way to force everyone into the left. Just after him we?re seven (7!!) cars on the side of the road with blown out tires - the result of hitting a manhole sized hole probably ten to twelve inches deep.

Seriously?

You're trying to claim that one problem, on one highway, that obviously happened right before you got there, proves than an entire state's roads are crap? Yeah no.


Do you get out of town much?

Yep. Lots of hiking and cycling, all over northern and central NJ. I also drive a bit in NY State, as well as periodic trips outside NJ.


Quote:
If you did, you'd understand my experience was emblematic of a widespread problem. I drive 78 and 24 to and from Morristown three to five times a week....

I drive on the Turnpike, 280, 80 78, 287, as well as smaller roads. Almost all of my cycling is on back roads, sometimes county roads.

NJ roads are fine. They aren't pristine, they aren't perfect, but they are fine.


Quote:
The stretch from the airport to about Hillside is unreal.

You mean, the 5 miles on Route 22? Or Elizabeth Ave? Or McClellan? Or do you mean 2 miles on Route 78?


Quote:
24 around the Short Hills Mall has a series of holes you have to slalom around....

And yet, somehow that totally escaped my attention the last time I was there (about 6 weeks ago).

Posted on: 2018/2/12 16:00
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
Quote:

Dolomiti wrote: NJ roads are fine.


I thought about this today as I was headed east on 78 I?m the express lanes, just before the airport. A cop was parked in the right lane, angled in a way to force everyone into the left. Just after him we?re seven (7!!) cars on the side of the road with blown out tires - the result of hitting a manhole sized hole probably ten to twelve inches deep.

Seriously?

You're trying to claim that one problem, on one highway, that obviously happened right before you got there, proves than an entire state's roads are crap? Yeah no.

Posted on: 2018/2/11 23:31
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

hero69 wrote:
i wonder if landlords in the less affluent areas will be lowering rents on their tenants?

Hahahahaha


Quote:
also, does any one have some chart, figures indicating overall overall under/over valuation for different sections of the city?

You'll have to wait until all the figures are out.

Then, someone would have to map the addresses (or block numbers) to sections of the city.

The city or local media might already have that kind of database set up. If not, setting that up would be a bit... time-consuming.

Posted on: 2018/2/11 19:03
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Re: JC Real estate Ar·ma·ged·don - Supply glut!
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Quote:
JCResidente wrote: I noticed that JC real estate listings on Zillow and other sites have sky rocketed. I am talking about 1000% plus supply flooding the market.
Yeah, not so much. For all JC, listings that are 7 days old or less: 76 homes Listings 14 days old or less: 141 Listings 30 days: 244 Listings 90 days: 452 Oh, and there are 113,000 housing units in Jersey City. I'm pretty sure that: a) adding 76 new listings in a week is not a "1000% increase" b) 76 new listings is a drop in the bucket c) this is not going to make a dent in the JC market Also, here in the real world, the reval is not all negative; thousands of homes will see property tax cuts, which means the value of those homes is about to increase. Quote:
My prediction, We are venturing into 10+ years of Jersey City real estate depression.
<< rolleyes >> Sorry, but that is sheer nonsense. 1) The economy is fine 2) The worst economic and real estate downturn in 70 years didn't cause a "10 year RE depression" 3) Inventory in JC (especially DTJC) is incredibly tight 3a) JC is still 75% or more rentals 4) Interest rates will not get so high that it destroys the JC market 5) JC doesn't rely heavily on foreign buyers, certainly nothing compared to the high end NYC RE market 6) JC is still a bargain compared to NYC 7) As mentioned, it's not like every single home in JC is about to get whacked with a 300% property tax increase 8) Anyone who sells right now still has to live somewhere, and if they want to live in the same area, that's going to maintain prices on mid-range properties (e.g. if you own a $2m home, and want to live in JC, you will now go after $1.5m homes, whose prices will go up if there's competition for it) Quote:
Everyone invests for one reason, Returns!!!! There is no meat left in our RE market.
Returns is only one of many reasons to buy. They want to live in a specific area; renting is less secure, costs more every year, and does not build equity; they want more latitude to modify the home. But hey, if you want to dump everything you own at a cut-rate price, who are we to stop you?

Posted on: 2018/2/9 15:30
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

dcourts1984 wrote:
Last house on there. Facing Van Vorst, on market for $3mm with a $41k tax bill (previously $16k). Who on earth is going to pony up for such a place??

No one, apparently. They're asking way too much for it, which is why it's sat on the market for almost 5 months.

The city appraised it at $2.5m. Only 3 properties appraised so far were at or above $3m.

Posted on: 2018/2/9 1:00
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

terrencemcd wrote:
Quote:

Dolomiti wrote:
Quote:
I wonder why they didn't post the 10 properties with the biggest tax cuts. Hmmmmm.


That's next. Right now the properties with the biggest tax cuts are actually all Downtown too.

Well, I'm not holding my breath.

For those who don't want to wait:

367 FIRST ST. -23,654.28
323 FOURTH ST. -20,354.70
249 GROVE ST. -19,424.82
401 THIRD ST. -14,106.24
399 THIRD ST. -14,106.24
240 SECOND STREET -12,279.06
351 FIFTH ST. -11,129.58
264 COLUMBUS DR. -10,400.46
86 SUSSEX ST. -9,596.04
385 FIRST ST. -9,334.98


Posted on: 2018/2/9 0:43
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:
I wonder why they didn't post the 10 properties with the biggest tax cuts. Hmmmmm.

Posted on: 2018/2/7 23:55
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

mfadam wrote:
who in their right mind sees value in paying 40k in taxes to JC?

Who in their right minds thinks it's fair for other homeowners to pay an extra $30,000 so that someone else can pay a low property tax rate?

Who in their right minds thinks that a $2.5 million home is really only worth $200k?


Quote:
I think most would rather pay more per SF and build equity than pay a bit less and throw money into the JC tax sinkhole.

I think most people would prefer not to pay any property taxes at all. That does not justify making someone else pay your property taxes for you.

Posted on: 2018/2/7 23:53
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

Y'know, I like Fulop overall. However, I have no qualms whatsoever in saying that his resistance to the reval is a bad policy for NJ, which he has pursued for short-term political gain.

We need to get on a regular schedule, every 5 years or so, rather than push it off for decades, and fight it when it's already well overdue.

Posted on: 2018/2/7 17:01
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
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Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
Quote:

Dolomiti wrote:

NJ has high taxes mostly because its constituents want lots of services. Trash pickup twice a week; snow ploughed instantly; pensions paid, roads maintained, the list goes on. People in Kansas don't get all this stuff, y'know.


"want" and "receive" are very different words. Snow plowing in less densely populated areas is anything but instant.

Erm... My point is that people in the NYC metro area lose their **** if they aren't plowed out immediately. For example, a few years ago, NYC got hit with 11-16" of snow, and it took over a day to dig out pretty much every part of the city. As a result, outer boro residents demanded Bloomberg's decapitated head on a pike. I'm reasonably certain that residents of Idaho don't demand that level of service.


Quote:
Pensions? Those not receiving them would probably much rather have the road maintenance you point to that isn't happening.

NJ roads are fine. We're even getting some big infrastructure work done near JC, such as raising the Bayonne Bridge, replacing the Wittpenn Bridge, and thanks to Christie ripping off the federal government, work on the Pulaski Skyway. A few streets with a bunch of potholes (yes, I drive over them on occasion) does not mean the entire state road system sucks.

And those receiving pensions? We offered them a tradeoff: Lower wages during their working years, in exchange for decent benefits and pensions later on.


Quote:
Kansas is an extreme example (as is Oklahoma).

Actually, NJ is the extreme. Kansas is average. For total tax burdens:

NJ total tax rate = 10.14%
Kansas = 8.72%
Average for all 50 states = 8.57%


Quote:
We have a broken state-run rail system, public schools that range from elite in a few cases, good in some cases and poor to third-world in many more and roads that my Afghani Uber driver was complaining about being "worse than home" the other day.

Well, if you say an Uber driver said it, it must be true....

NJ Transit isn't "broken." Last I checked, most of its problems are a result of using Amtrak lines. PATH isn't "broken" either. Keep in mind that few cities in the US (or the world) have any sort of 24/7 regional transit.

NJ's schools are #10 in the US (per US News & World Report). Kansas, by the way, is #45.


Quote:
That Governing article you point to doesn't really apply - big cities like St. Louis and Louisville spread over large geographic areas annexing neighbors doesn't lead to efficiencies.....

Sorry, but that specific point is not sufficient to ignore the entire article.

St Louis County is larger than Bergen County -- but the population is the same, and so are the issues. You still optimally want the same number of teachers, police, fire, parks and so on. A smaller geographic area doesn't make government services cheaper or more efficient, except for transportation costs (which are not that significant).


Quote:
You need look no further than Princeton - even critics of their recent consolidation are only complaining that it could have been implemented better but acknowledge that it worked.

Yeah... no. The advocates are the one crowing about it, since it let them fire 23 employees. The critics point out that services are slightly reduced; they haven't harmonized a lot of town laws; that they had consolidated many services before merging; and that none of the surrounding communities have any interest in following suit.

That's not surprising, since the two cities could have fired 11 employees each and gotten the same result.


Quote:
Just look within the county - tell me with a straight face why East Newark, Guttenberg and Weehawken exist?

East Newark already works with the Harrison school district; they share other resources with Harrison and Kearny. Gutenberg -- which is geographically tiny but has more than 10,000 residents -- also shares resources, does not have its own fire department, sends students to North Bergen. Weehakwen also has 10,000 residents, and again shares resources with North Bergen. Its schools are small -- and well-regarded. Usually, that's a good thing.

These tiny municipalities are already doing things that reduce their costs, and improve efficiencies. Large municipalities, as the Rutgers study points out, are not more efficient than larger ones. People also seem to like local control.

As a result, there are visible downsides and few upsides to consolidation -- unless you're going to use it as an excuse to cut staff, which also means you're going to reduce services.

The promise of big gains through consolidation is an illusion.

Posted on: 2018/2/7 16:53
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
Home away from home
Home away from home


Quote:

Yvonne wrote:
I just heard from 3 former neighbors in the Van Vorst neighborhood. New taxes, $31,000, $35,000, and $41,000.

If they got whacked with a big increase in taxes, then that means they spent years (if not decades) paying lower taxes... and forcing others to pay more than their fair share.

Request for sympathy: DENIED.

Posted on: 2018/2/7 3:20
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Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
Home away from home
Home away from home


Quote:

bjay wrote:
More food for thought: Will the reval help instigate a property tax rebellion?

Hahaha... nope.

NJ has high taxes mostly because its constituents want lots of services. Trash pickup twice a week; snow ploughed instantly; pensions paid, roads maintained, the list goes on. People in Kansas don't get all this stuff, y'know.


Quote:
Town consolidation to reduce redundancies?

Yeah, no. That doesn't really work.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014 ... _rutgers_study_finds.html

http://www.governing.com/columns/eco- ... plintered-governance.html


Quote:
A pushback on municipal jobs that come with generous pension deals?

Fewer civil servants = fewer services. So... What do you want to cut? Teachers? Police? Transportation?

Posted on: 2018/2/7 3:19
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Re: Rent increases in light of revaluation
Home away from home
Home away from home


Quote:

KOCTEP wrote:
The amortization deduction is best to be perceived as a loan. You will have to pay back at the sale time.

...yes, but the value of the building(s) has undoubtedly grown over the past 11 years.

Plus, loan payments aren't usually indexed for inflation. E.g. if you started paying $5000/month in 2006, in terms of purchasing power, it costs you about 25% less to make that payment today than in 2006.


Quote:
Plus you neglected to mention that I paid $100,000 in taxes, easily another 100k in repairs and legal fees in heavily tenant-sided legal system. The RE is not equity where you just buy and sit on it.

You paid an average of $9000/yr in taxes, for a building with multiple apartments? Sounds like you did pretty well most of that time.

Plus, it wasn't really you who paid those taxes; it's your tenants, since you collected the rent from them.


Quote:
I understand income taxes when people realized gain and have income to report cool. Here I am taxed for the future gain that is not realized and quite ephemeral. Why don't they tax everyone who has two legs and two hands based on their potential to earn money?

What in the wide wide world of sports are you talking about?

Everyone pays property taxes. You pay those taxes, because you own the property -- the actual property. Not potential.

Nor is that value locked up beyond all reach, as you can easily access it via an equity loan. Last I checked, no one is willing to lend me $50,000 based on my likely future earnings.


Quote:
The investment in DT RE is the biggest mistake I made. The cost of ownership goes up and equity goes down.

Y'know, I am not a lifelong landlord. I know very little about your situation. I even agree that a smart, dollar-cost-averaging, diversified, low-fee investment in equities is a good idea.

But I'm pretty sure that if your equity has gone down on an apartment building in JC over the past 11 years, then you're doing something wrong. Just a guess.

Posted on: 2018/2/6 21:10
 Top 


Re: New Tax Rate is Insane!
Home away from home
Home away from home


Quote:

JCman24 wrote:
I'm seeing a ton of downtown properties for sale on Zillow right now, whereas it seems like the market has been super tight for the last few years. Of course they're all going for more than a million, but still interesting.

Looks pretty normal to me.

In 07302, there are 160 units for sale. 29 came on the market in the past 7 days, and 9 of those are new construction.

Oh, and there are over 22,000 housing units in 07302. I.e. there is no stampede in progress.

Posted on: 2018/2/6 20:55
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