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How to appeal your Real Estate Tax assessment in New Jersey

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Education & Training with Best School of Real Estate

How to appeal your Real Estate Tax assessment in New Jersey

 
 DEADLINE FOR FILING YOUR TAX APPEAL IS APRIL 1, 2012

FYI: ONCE YOU HAVE FILED YOUR  PROPERTY TAX APPEAL FOR 2012 YOU STILL NEED TO GET A CERTIFIED RETROSPECTIVE REAL ESTATE APPRAISAL DONE ON YOUR HOME WITH AN EFFECTIVE DATE OF OCTOBER 1, 2011 TO PROVE YOUR CASE.

  

AS YOU ALL WELL KNOW PROPERTY TAXES ARE GOING UP AND HOME VALUES ARE GOING DOWN.. HAVE YOUR TAX ASSESSMENTS BEEN REDUCED EQUALLY? TAKE CONTROL NOW! IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILTY TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE PAYING ONLY YOUR FAIR SHARE.

With home prices down 25-30 percent from peak levels you may be paying more property taxes than the home is worth. Some homeowners may be entitled to a reduction in property taxes Now is the time to reduce your property taxes and save hundreds maybe thousands of dollars now and into the future with a property tax appeal. You do not necessarily need a lawyer, but you do need a real estate appraisal. An appraisal of the property is the most credible evidence of recent sales comparables in your area. Why pay a lawyer who in turn will hire an appraiser. Eliminate the middle man and start saving from the get go.

 How to Lower Your Property Taxes in New Jersey

 

This won't work for everyone but it may work for you. Property Taxes are based on the assessed value of your home. Properties with higher assessed values have higher property taxes. If you can prove to your municipality that the assessed value of your home is too high, they will lower the assessed value, and this lowers your property taxes.
Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions
Things You'll Need:
Internet Connection
Calculator
Your Tax Assessor's assessed value of your home.
Every January or February, homeowners in New Jersey get a postcard from their Tax Assessor with the assessed value of their home. Look on the postcard for the Assessment Total. This number is NOT an estimate of your home's value. For that, we have to do a little math.
Your Tax Assessor is allowed to be wrong by up to 15% when estimating the value of your home. To calculate 15% below what your Tax Assessor estimates your home's value to be, divide the Assessment Total by the highest of the 3 Tax Ratios. If the Assessment Total is 200,000 and the highest Tax Ratio is .3364, the result is 200000/.3364 = 594,530
The result from Step 4 is your magic number. If you think your home's value is less than the result from Step 4, you may be able to appeal your home's assessed value and lower your property taxes. In this example, the result from Step 4 is 594,530. If the home in question is worth less than $594,530, then the home's assessed value can be appealed.
Your county's Tax Board is where you file the appeal of your home's assessed value. You can hire a real estate attorney to file the appeal for you, or you can file on your own if you own the property yourself and not as part of a business with other co-owners. The deadline to file is April 1.
Recent comparable sales are the best evidence to bring to the Tax Board. These are recent sales of properties similar to your own, preferably from around October 1 of the previous year. You can also contact RHL Appraisals to ask about ordering retrospective appraisal report as of October 1 for tax appeal purposes.
There is a filing fee to go to the Tax Board.

Seldom times, you will have a hearing on your assessment appeal and will need for the appraiser you've hired to testify on your behalf. Be assured that at RHL APPRAISALS, we are able to professionally and persuasively testify at appeal hearings. If a court hearing is needed you might want to hire an expert witness. 

If you need a Real Estate Broker to help you with Comparables go to RE/MAX Best. 
 

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