At the bottom of every house file on the New Jersey Multiple Listing Service there is a section for financial information on the property. It contains data on the property’s land assessment and building assessment, its taxes and its tax rate. Since Verona has completed its property tax revaluation, that rate ought to show up as 2.422, Verona’s new rate.
But some listings are still, inexplicably, displaying the old rate, 9.917. That rate was applied to homes that were not fully valued, as they are now, which means that a listing using the 9.917 rate could be way off on the home’s actual taxes. One home, which appears on Trulia.com as having taxes of $10,383, really now will cost you $14,288 in property taxes.
Not every real estate agent Web site displays the financial information on its listings. But if it does, look to see that the tax data is from 2010 and the rate is 2.422. The same holds true for the data sheets that are handed out at open houses. Caveat emptor, as they say.
Although the rate of 2.422 is the projected tax rate for Verona, it is not official yet. Therefore, we can’t update our rate in listings until it is officially accepted. The new assesments are in, and should be reflected in the listing. When dealing with buyers, we as Realtors explain the situation with regard to the tax re-val and the anticipated tax on individual properties.
Yes, all true, and I wish the certification could be speeded up so that we’d be able to look at property taxes in Essex County on an apples-to-apples basis. But because some listings use the new rate and some don’t, it is important to point out the difference to potential buyers.