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Real Estate New Year’s Resolutions

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We love the opportunity that the new year brings to reflect upon the past year and set resolutions for the upcoming year. If your goals include buying or selling residential real estate in 2020, here are some ideas to help you get the best outcome in your sale and/or purchase.

Resolutions for Sellers

These strategies will help you present your property in the best possible light which will increase the likelihood of getting the best possible terms from a potential buyer:

  • Clean and organize – In presenting your home for sale, help transition it from your home to a product for sale. How you live in your house and how you present it for sale are two different things. Give your home a thorough cleaning inside and out (you know you’ve been meaning to get to that grout on the kitchen floor…). Remove personal belongings to help buyers imagine how their household would fit in your home (be careful not to depersonalize the home so much that it feels lifeless!) Make needed repairs and if you have questions about what’s worth fixing and what’s not worth fixing, we’re happy to discuss our thoughts about getting the best “bang for your buck” in repairs and renovations you’re considering. If you want to go the extra mile, consider hiring a stager to rearrange furniture to optimize your space or choose colors before you invest in painting (we know some stagers who we think do a great job!)
  • Decide on a timeline – How quickly do you want to move? Do you want to buy your new home before you sell your current one or at the same time? Are you prepared to pay two mortgages? Do you have a home sale contingency? When is buyer demand strongest in your market? When would you have the least competition from other homes on the market? The answers to these questions will help you determine a timeline for milestones in the purchase and/or sale process.
  • Choose your real estate agent – All agents are not created equal. Be sure to interview real estate agents to find an agent a deep understanding of the economics of your market (your town as well as your style of property and price point) as well as a commitment to putting their clients’ interests first. One place to start is recommendations from friends and family who have recently worked with a local agent.

Resolutions for Buyers

If you’re planning to buy a property in 202, these strategies will help you put yourself in the best possible position:

  • Review your financials – How will you be paying for your home? If you don’t have 100% of the purchase price, talk to a mortgage broker about financing options. Be sure to determine how much you will need for a downpayment with different mortgage products you are considering. If you have received a gift of cash recently to help with your purchase, be sure to discuss this with the mortgage representative in case it affects your mortgage qualifications.
  • Bonus points for extra credit – Pay attention to your credit. Review your report for accuracy and correct any errors by asking the reporting company to remove the incorrect information. Be careful about your spending and borrowing. When you’re buying a house, it’s easy to do pre-closing damage to personal credit by running up credit card balances with furniture purchases.
  • Get pre-approved – Figure out how much you are willing to pay monthly toward housing because just because someone will lend you a certain amount doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to borrow that much (there’s only so much boxed mac-and-cheese a person can eat). Also know how much of a monthly payment is for the mortgage and how much is for the property tax payments as that will help you focus your search by only considering properties within the range of what you are willing to pay in purchase price and property taxes.
  • Choose your real estate agent – All agents are not created equal. Be sure to interview real estate agents to find an agent a deep understanding of the economics of the markets you’re considering (by town as well as by style of property and price point) as well as a commitment to putting their clients’ interests first. One place to start is recommendations from friends and family who have recently worked with a local agent.

If buying or selling a home is a goal for you in 2020 (or 2021, 2022, 2023, …), give us a call. If you’re looking in the Leaf, Realtors’ market area, we would be happy to let you know specifics of how we will guide you through the buying and/or selling process. If you are buying or selling outside our market area, we can put you in touch with agents who we think do a great job in that specific market.

‘Tis the Season for Property Tax Appeals

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If you currently own real estate in New Jersey, you have the pleasure of sharing in a property tax system that has the highest property tax rate as a percentage of property value (1.89%) according to www.tax-rates.org.  If you are frustrated about the amount of property taxes you pay, there are a few things you can do about it:

  • Move to another state. (My brother, who lives in Tuscon, Arizona, pays an amount of property taxes that I sincerely thought was a typo when I saw the listing a few years ago for the house he was under contract to buy it).
  • Move to a New Jersey municipality with a lower tax rate relative to property values.  For example, Harding Township and Bedminster Township are at the top of many buyers’ lists of desirable places to buy a home in our area because of their favorable tax rates.
  • Appeal your property taxes.  To decide if you have a good chance of prevailing in an appeal of your taxes, you should collect some information:

1) Your 2019 tax assessment as published on the Tax Assessment Card (the little card that usually arrives in the mail at the end of January or in early February from your municipality
2) Your municipality’s average tax ratio (The New Jersey Division of Taxation website includes the average tax ratios for municipalities in Hunterdon County, Somerset County, and Morris County).
3) Information about the sale prices of three to five homes comparable to yours in your township that sold (i.e., closed) between October 1, 2017 and October 1, 2018.  The closer they are in style, square footage, acreage, and neighborhood to your home, the more likely they are to be considered comparable.  Note that sales that are considered “distress sales,” e.g., foreclosures or short sales, may not be recognized as comparable sales because if they are anomalous in your neighborhood (this may not help you on your tax appeal, but it’s a good thing for your property’s market value if you don’t have a lot of distress sales in your neighborhood).

So what do you do with this information? When you divide the total assessed value on your 2019 Tax Assessment Card by the average tax ratio for your municipality, you arrive at the property value that your municipality thinks your property was worth between October 1, 2017 and October 1, 2018 (which is the relevant period for this valuation for 2019 taxes).  The same New Jersey Division of Taxation website will also give you the high and low margins of error for each town (+/- 15% around the average ratio).

Here’s an example:  A homeowner in Tewksbury Township has a property for which the total assessment is $416,500.  The average tax ratio for Tewksbury Township for 2018 is 81.46%.  This means that the township thinks her house was worth $511,293.89 between October 1, 2017 and October 1, 2018.  She believes this is not the case.  However, the township is given a little latitude in its +/-15% margin. Because 1.15% of the township tax ratio (the upper limit of the tax ratio with the 15% margin of error) is 93.68%, this hypothetical homeowner must show that her house was worth less than $444,603.38 in that period in order to prevail in her tax appeal.For additional resources in appealing your taxes, a straightforward guide to property tax appeals in New Jersey is available in a brochure published by the state.  If you have questions regarding the market value of your home as reflected by recently-closed properties similar to yours, contact Leaf, Realtors at 908-975-9756 for information specific to your property.   Of course, if you want to move to Harding or Bedminster, or if you live there already and decide to move to Tucson, Arizona or anywhere else, contact us to find out about the Leaf, Realtors’ solutions for selling or buying a property in New Jersey in today’s real estate market.

SOLD! 17 Beavers Road, Tewksbury Township, New Jersey — $610,000

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17 beavers exterior high shotThe sale of this home has a special place in our real estate hearts.  Prior to connecting these buyers and sellers, the sellers had been frustrated with the outcome of their efforts to sell their property — after lots of agent showings and well-attended open houses, they still didn’t have an offer that was acceptable to them, so they took their house off the market for a break.  Relocating from overseas, the buyers had viewed scores of properties in the Tewksbury/Mendham/Somerset Hills area and were frustrated that they couldn’t find a property that fit what they were looking for.  After introducing the buyers to the sellers, it was clear that we had a match that benefitted everyone — the buyers found a home that was a far better fit than anything else they had seen before and the sellers were able to complete their move without disrupting their household to market their home.
Congratulations to P.B. and J.D. on the sale of their home and we welcome A.W. and S.W. and their family and congratulate them on purchasing a home in Tewksbury.
If you’d like to learn more about finding buyers for your home without listing your home on the Garden State Multiple Listing System or finding properties not currently on the market, let us know.
 

How Are Those Tax Returns Looking?

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From the mortgage interest deduction to energy tax credits, here are tax tips to help you get a jump on your returns. Read

SOLD! 7 Lenore Road, Tewksbury Township NJ — $505,000

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This architecturally-interesting international-style home is beautifully-sited on a wooded lot on a cul-de-sac of other contemporary homes.  Rectilinear lines, multiple exterior balconies, extensive arrays of windows, and an open floor plan distinguish it from other contemporary homes typical of our area.  The sellers of this home benefitted from Leaf, Realtors’ extensive network in finding international relocation buyers who appreciated the superior location and architectural values of the property.  As a result, the sellers of this home were able to achieve their goal of finding a buyer quickly so they could move forward with their plans for their next home.
Congratulations to the sellers,  K.K., F.K. and M.K.!  We’ll miss you as our neighbors and wish you well in your new home!  Congratulations to buyers J.S. and M.S. and your family on finding a new place to call home!  Welcome to the neighborhood!

An Opportunity for a Random Act of Kindness

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Do you sometimes wish you could do more to help someone in need?  Here’s your opportunity to do a little thing that means a lot to the recipients and their families.  The Young Professional Network Committee (YPN) of the Hunterdon/Somerset Association of Realtors will be conducting a blood drive for the Community Blood Council of New Jersey on Thursday, August 2nd, 9am-12pm. The blood drive will be at the board offices at 3461 Route 22 East, Building B in Branchburg, New Jersey.  Please pick up your phone now to call Annette at 908-725-3117 ext. 12 to schedule a time to give a little of yourself and potentially save a life.

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66 Old Turnpike Road
PO Box 237
Oldwick, NJ 08858
Office: (908) 975-9756
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