Garwood NJ Tax Reassessment

[Phillip Costa]

Hey BP community,

I am looking into small multifamily properties in Garwood, NJ in Union County and was wondering what is happening with the new tax assessment for the area. How does it work? Why is there a reassessment? What can you expect from it? How should one plan for it? 

[Natalie Schanne]

@Phillip Costa - Tax assessment 101: the current owner gets a notice from the town that a third party is going to come by to inspect the home within a date range. It is your choice to let them in or not for an interior inspection. If they cannot see the inside, they will make assumptions based on anything they can see in windows, online, or a recent house sale price. If you do not let them in, you lose your right to appeal your tax assessment with the town. After the guy came and didn’t see inside, we got a stickie that said to call and they will reschedule a tour. When we didn’t, our house was assessed at about what it was during the previous cycle. (191k). We had bought it for 180k about 12 months before the reassessment. Our taxes actually went down $700 because the other values in the town went UP.

For our other property we let them in to our foreclosure before we redid the flooring. It took 10-15 minutes and the guy measured the outside of our house. I don’t remember if they took interior photos but probably. Our taxes went down a little maybe $500.

Each year as the budget changes and the town appreciates, they can modify your tax assessment.

When I was talking to the tax lady immediately after purchase about getting a lower valuation because I paid 180k on a 191k assessed house, she said they don’t really consider unless it’s 10-15% off. On a $7000 bill, even saving 6% would have been hundreds back in my pocket but she told me they didn’t do it. Probably helpful on the flip side that they don’t automatically jump your taxes based on purchasing at a price above the assessment either.