Purchase Your Home With Education in Mind

It is desperate times for New Jersey's school funding according to an article that appear in Tuesday's Times of Trenton entitled "These are desperate times for state's school funding". What that means to buyers is they must buy with their education needs in mind. For example, if you are going to start a family in the next ten years or have school age children then purchasing in a good school district should be a consideration. The money you pay in property taxes will allow you children to go to the neighborhood school rather than having to pay fees to a boarding or private school. Empty nesters can look for home without making the educational system a primary consideration, instead they may look primarily at property taxes.

Whether just purchasing your first home or down-sizing to a smaller home interest in property taxes. The legislature is meeting in special session to examine how to lower property taxes. The first panel was told today that the best option to look at were income and sale taxes. Here's a link to the story:

First property tax panel told income, sales taxes best options

Keeping track of what New Jersey legislature comes up with in the guise of property tax relief is something every New Jersey resident needs to follow. It is not like there are a lot of other places to find the money needed to fund schools and municpal services. That New Jersey has 566 municpalities is something the legislature should look at too. Hopewell township is seeking to consolidate with its neighbors but unfortunately the first the neighboring boroughs hear about the plan was in the media.

Hopewell Twp. eyes consolidation plans

It begs to question how serious the mayor of Hopewell could have been to not talk to the neighboring mayors prior to the media. Still more municipalities are going to have find there own workable solutions if they don't want the to leave it up the the state.

All of these factors will contribute to where you decide to make you home in varying degrees. Having the information available to you is probably easiest if you consult your real estate professional or are willing to spend some time doing some research. Either way what happens with property taxes right now has to do with school system needs. It may not be that way in the near future.

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Technorati: NJ Real Estate News, Real Estate, NJ Real Estate Blogs, NJ Housing, New Jersey, Property-taxes, School Funding, Schools, Property Tax Relief, Property Tax Reform

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For more information on Real Estate in New Jersey visit here.

It’s Out There – Property Tax Relief/Reform Solution

Well Jon Corzine tried something ambitious last week. He charged the legislature to find a viable solution to the ever increasing property taxes or he would give the people a chance to do the legislators job. Sounds like this governor wants what we all want – property tax relief and reform.

In her article, How do you spell (property-tax) relief? C-o-n-s-o-l-i-d-a-t-i-o-n in The Times of Trenton on Monday Joan Verplanck suggested “radical ideas will have to be accepted and the status quo will no longer be acceptable.” The idea of consolidation of municipal services sounds good in theory but I would like to hear more about how it has worked in other places before trusting my burning home (for which I pay increasing property taxes), to say a fire company from two towns away or trusting a police officer from one town over to get to my house in time to catch the burglar I heard breaking in.

For example, John Fiocco Jr. died in the small community of Ewing, NJ on the campus of The College of New Jersey. Now in that community the College has a police department and Ewing Township has a police department yet the crime goes unsolved. Why? Neither police department is very big. The Fiocco case even involved the State police because the search required looking in a land-fill in Pennsylvania (where the body was eventually found). While the skills of policing are the same dealing with the general public and dealing with college students probably requires a different skill set. Still one would think combining the two departments and augmenting officer skill sets would allow both communities access to a better trained police force.

Since here is some redundancy when it comes to policing, I imagine there is a similar problem with fire department. If there were a way to consolidate services that would keep response times around the five minutes or less mark and keep the bulk of a police personnel in areas of heavier crime activity then consolidation makes sense. Consolidating fire departments is a quite different matter. Fire is a living thing in that it breaths and feeds. It packs a deadly punch with its companions smoke and heat. Smoke kills long before fire does so having fire equipment in neighborhoods is essential. Consolidating here will require a careful hand if lives are not to be lost.

Do I think that legislators will be able to come up with a plan that satisfies everybody? Give me a break. Do I think they will come up with something that will replace rebates with -- like Bill Dressel suggests in his Tax process has begun article in The Times of Trenton -- something that will not “necessitate service and program cuts? It is doubtful -- after all sensitive topics like this and angry constituents do not make for long careers. Do I think that Governor Corzine’s threat to support a citizens’ constitutional convention (CCC) next year has merit. Yes, if he will really follow through with it. Do I think the CCC has a better chance of coming up with a solution than the legislature. Yes, because having to pay ever increasing property taxes is a great motivator to finding property-tax relief and ultimately property-tax reform.

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Technorati: NJ Real Estate News, Real Estate, NJ Real Estate Blogs, NJ Housing, New Jersey, Property-tax Relief, Property-tax Relief

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For more information on Real Estate in New Jersey visit here.

Tip of the Day: Buying with a Low Down Payment

Purchasing a home use to require a down payment of about 20 percent. The amount lenders require has changed. A government pamphlet available online does a pretty good job explaining the process of purchasing a home with a low down payment.

The pamphlet many question that first-time home buyers have. There is even a worksheet "Evaluating Financial Resources" which can help determine net and gross monthly income. It is a pdf form so it is convenient to print out. There are other pamphlets that cover financing and sales of property but also home maintenance. Are available online without the usual fee charged for print copies. The site is worth checking out.

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Technorati: NJ Real Estate News, Real Estate, NJ Real Estate Blogs, NJ Housing, New Jersey, Home Buying, Low-Down Payement, Government Pamphlets, Federal Citizen Information Center, Home Maintenance

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For more information on Real Estate in New Jersey visit here.