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I'm Appealing My Little Egg Harbor Taxes-What's My first Step?

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Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore

I want to appeal my Little Egg Harbor taxes.  What's my first step?

Let's be clear, you cannot appeal your taxes.  Property taxes in Little Egg Harbor and all over New Jersey are the result of the local budget process and cannot be appealed.  But the property assessment set by municipality, in this case, Little Egg Harbor can be appealed.

Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment appeals must be filed with the Ocean County Board of Taxation within 45 days of the Township's property tax card bulk mailing or by April 1.

The first step in determining whether an appeal of your Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment is worth your time and money is to examine comparable sales in Little Egg Harbor.  

apples to oranges (sxc Alex Maher)preliminary comparison of similar homes sold prior to October, 2010 is what you'll need to appeal your Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment this year.  Gather comparable sales.  That doesn't include your neighbor's home that was a short sale or one that was sold off after the bank took title.  It's got to be an apples to apples comparison. Comparable sales for the purposes of a property tax assessment appeals in Little Egg Harbor are what we call 'arm's length transactions'.

That's a sale where the buyers and sellers act independently and have no relationship to each other. The concept of an arm's length transaction is to ensure that both parties in the deal are acting in their own self interest and are not subject to any pressure or duress from another party.

The burden of proof in a New Jersey property tax assessment appeal is on you.  The municipal assessment is assumed correct, until you prove otherwise. 

balance (sxc Ula Kapala)  You must to prove to the 7 members of the Ocean County Board of Taxation that your Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment is erroneous, unreasonable, excessive or discriminatory.  You must provide a more appropriate value by showing the Tax Board similar Little Egg Harbor properties, sold prior during 2010 (prior to October) that are like your property. And, to file an appeal of your Little Egg Harbor property assessment, you must have paid all Little Egg Harbor taxes and municipal charges up to and including the first quarter of this tax year. 

The Tax Board wants to see credible evidence.  That's evidence supported by fact not assumptions or beliefs.  Photographs of both the subject property (your property under appeal) and sales of comparable properties are useful in illustrating your argument. Factual evidence concerning special circumstances, if any exist, is necessary.

The most credible evidence is recent comparable sales in Little Egg Harbor.  The Ocean County Board of Taxation will want to see detailed information on 3 to 5 sales supporting your contention that your Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment is too high.

Ocean County Court HouseThe cost to file an appeal of your Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment is not excessive. If your current assessed valuation is under $150,000 the fee is $5.00...and from $150,000 to $500,000 it's $25.00. (No fee or a reduced fee for the disabled, veterans, seniors or their surviving domestic partners/spouses.)

The Ocean County Board of Taxation will hear your Little Egg Harbor property tax appeal within three months, assuming the state issues no extensions.  Your appeal hearing will probably be scheduled during the day, and you will have to be there.

To get a sense of the accuracy of your Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment, I can send you 3 to 5 comparable sales that occurred prior to October, 2010.  After review, you can better determine if a Little Egg Harbor property tax assessment appeal is likely to be successful and worth the time and money involved.

Laura Giannotta
Little Egg Harbor REALTOR®

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Brin Realty Associates Team At Bean Group
Bean Group | Brin Realty Associates - Amherst, NH
Amherst NH homes and Southern NH real estate

Good subject and great explanation of the process Laura.   Property owners need to understand that most of the values of properties have dropped, towns are or will be reassessing and an owner needs to prove their property has an assessment issue.  My point is in our area, ALL values are down and that doesn't mean when the town reassesses that the taxes are going down, the mill rate will simply go up because they need to raise the same amount of money regardless of the property values.

It can be hard for some to understand..

Again, great explanation of the process Laura.

Feb 03, 2011 12:40 AM
Amy Hahn
Pine Knoll Shores Realty - Morehead City, NC
Realtor/Broker - Crystal Coast, NC

Laura - This is excellent!  We just had our new assessments and the phones are ringing off the hook at our office.  I need to follow your lead and post instructions for our area...Hope you don't mind if I copy cat! 

Feb 03, 2011 12:41 AM
William Feela
WHISPERING PINES REALTY - North Branch, MN
Realtor, Whispering Pines Realty 651-674-5999 No.

Laura...In Minnesota we can appeal out tax valuation of our property when will change the amount of tax owed.

Feb 03, 2011 01:05 AM
Barbara Hensley
RE/MAX Properties - Rockwall, TX
Homes for Sale in Rockwall County, Texas

Laura, this is such a timely post.  Home owners in this area are also going bonkers...and want to protest there evaluation.  Thanks to this great post, I am going to send something out for my area also.  Thanks.  BTW - I did suggest as this is timely for all to read!  Good job.  

Feb 03, 2011 01:14 AM
Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore - Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Your Realtor Down the Shore!

Rene-In Little Egg Harbor ratable are down 6.5% since 08!

Amy & Barbara-I think it's going to be great Google juice!

William-I'm sure it takes time and attention to detail there as well.

Feb 03, 2011 01:43 AM
Steve Loynd
Alpine Lakes Real Estate Inc., - Lincoln, NH
800-926-5653, White Mountains NH

Laura...Everyone feels the tax assessment should reflect the current market value, but a town can't afford to re-assess every 6 months. The only thing going for a property owner is when a simlar property (comp) is assessed much lower than the subject property, pointing that out may be your only hope in a re-evaluation.

Feb 03, 2011 02:02 AM
Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore - Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Your Realtor Down the Shore!

Steve-You're right, and the town's got to make it up somewhere!

Feb 03, 2011 03:04 AM
Robert Hammerstein
Christie's International Real Estate - Hillsdale, NJ
Bergen County NJ Real Estate

Laura - Steve is correct... Towns are feeling the pinch right now as Christie has been slashing everything even locally.... Great explanation and a timely post indeed.... I guess we can work on this while we hunker down for the next storm.. ugh

Feb 03, 2011 09:55 AM
Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore - Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Your Realtor Down the Shore!

Robert-Cristie's got a tough road ahead.  This state has some real money problems!  

Feb 03, 2011 10:05 AM
Toula Rosebrock
Diane Turton, Realtors, Forked River, NJ - Lacey Township, NJ
Broker/Sales Associate, Realtor, Lacey Township,

Hi Laura:

Great explaination of the process.

This is the time of year that we get a lot of calls with assistance for comps.

Feb 03, 2011 02:59 PM
Barb & Sal Dragotta
Macomb, MI
Macomb County Michigan

Laura...may I add to your praise--this is a timely & well presented posting;  this is a difficult and can be a long process for those who want to have their assessments adjusted.  I was struck by the 'prior to Oct. 2010' note,
Here, we are given the dates [probably coming soon to our mailboxes] but I must note that our township did lower our assessments last year or last 2 to reflect the changes in Home Valuation. 
You stay warm--may NJ not receive this cold, white stuff of which many of us have been gifted .
Have a good rest of the week.
Barb

Feb 03, 2011 03:11 PM
Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore - Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Your Realtor Down the Shore!

Toula-It's that time of year!

Thanks Barb...In New Jersey the state and local governments set the adjusted valuation numbers prior to October 1, hence the date.  Hope your digging out safely (or rather Sal is digging out safely)!  

Feb 03, 2011 08:54 PM
Sally K. & David L. Hanson
EXP Realty 414-525-0563 - Brookfield, WI
WI Real Estate Agents - Luxury - Divorce

Either the assessment will go down and the rate goes up or vice versa...no matter what size the eggs are...it all costs money to run a municipality....stay warm have a good weekend !

Feb 03, 2011 10:17 PM
Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore - Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Your Realtor Down the Shore!

Sally & David-That's why residents should take more of an interest in local and school elections.  That's who sets the budget and spends the money!

Feb 03, 2011 10:55 PM