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Oct

31

Top 10 Counties For The Highest Property Taxes

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Growing up on Long Island, people did not always talk about the weather when starting a conversation with a stranger. More likely it started out with how high the taxes were and how are they gonna screw us next time.

Now looking at a report from the Tax Foundation and being a taxpayer myself, I can feel the pain that these folks were going through. Of the top 10 highest counties for median property taxes, all 10 are in the metro New York, New Jersey region. The national median property tax bill for the country is $1,854, the lowest of the top 10 is $7,058.

And we are not talking about McMansions. This is the median so it includes every Cape Cod and Ranch house out there. We are talking about some serious cash for paying for the local infrastructure and schools. So when you are in New Jersey or New York visiting and hear someone griping about their taxes, you now know that they have a legitimate complaint.

Top 10 Counties For The Highest Property Taxes

County                  Median Annual Tax Payment

Westchester County, New York    $ 8,404
Hunterdon County, New Jersey    $ 8,347
Nassau County, New York         $ 8,306
Bergen County, New Jersey       $ 7,997
Rockland County, New York       $ 7,798
Essex County, New Jersey        $ 7,676
Somerset County, New Jersey     $ 7,676
Morris County, New Jersey       $ 7,310
Passaic County, New Jersey      $ 7,095
Union County, New Jersey        $ 7,058

National median                 $ 1,854

via the Tax Foundation

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

Top 10 Counties For The Highest Property Taxes

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Oct

31

Two Thirds of Landlords Will Lower Rent For Struggling Tenants

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Apartment-building If you are renting and money is tight, call your landlord and see if they can give you a reduction. A new survey shows that 69 percent of landlords will be willing to lower the rent for tenants that are struggling if they are asked and the request is legitimate.

Most tenants will not pay the rent or pay it late when money is tight. This can hurt their credibility and create long term hardships down the road. From the landlords perspective, eviction and finding new tenants are an expense they would prefer to avoid. So when a good tenant is having rough times and approaches the landlord, there often is a deal that can be worked out.

So don’t blow off paying the rent if money is tight, instead call your landlord and work out a deal It is a win win for both of you.

Nearly one-third of these landlords (32%) say they have lowered rents over the past 18 months, according to an informal survey of association members released today.

Just like everyone else in this recession, landlords are trying hard to pay their mortgage and cover their bills. As long as renters pay on time and take good care of where they’re living, landlords will work with them, Benson said.

Tracey Benson, president of The National Association of Independent Landlords, points out that in today’s tough economy, renters absolutely should approach their landlords if they need help making ends meet.

“Just like everyone else in this recession, landlords are trying hard to pay their mortgage and cover their bills. As long as renters pay on time and take good care of where they’re living, landlords will work with them,” Benson said.

Of those landlords willing to negotiate, 61% said they would drop rents up to 5%, and another 29% said they would take off up to 10%; the handful of those remaining said they would consider even steeper discounts.

read the rest at The National Association of Independent Landlords.

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

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Oct

29

Top 10 Worst Cities For Rats in 2009

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Rat You dirty rat, the great Jimmy Cagney line is being heard more and more around town these days. Especially in the 10 cities that d-CON has announced as the worst cities for rat infestations.

Congratulations to El Paso and Washington DC on making it out of the Top 10 list from last year, even though depending on your political persuasion it is questionable how many rats left or entered Washington in the past year.

So here you have it, this years:

Top 10 Worst Cities For Rodents in 2009

New York City, NY
Atlanta, GA
Houston, TX
Louisville, KY
Philadelphia, PA
Chicago, IL
Boston, MA
San Antonio, TX
Milwaukee, WI
Detroit, MI

via d-Con

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

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Oct

28

Q4 Poll Results: When will the Market Recover?

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Oct

28

New Home Sales Down Even With First Time Homebuyers Credit

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Newhousing New Home sales dropped in September as buyers decided this may not be the time to purchase a new home. Single family homes sales were down nationwide by 3.6 percent.

What is interesting is that the National Association of Home Builders used the downturn as a call for Washington to increase the $8,000 new home buyers subsidy. Now I understand why, that is $8,000 more per home the government will give the builders towards the price of a home, or if we want to be technical, $8,000 that the home price does not need it to be lowered for the house to be priced right.

The inventory of new homes on the market continued downward for a 29th consecutive month, to 251,000 units in September. This is the lowest inventory since November 1982. However, the slower pace of sales kept the months’ supply unchanged, at 7.5.

Crowe noted that the Midwest, which unlike all other regions posted a significant gain in September home sales, was one area where buyers still had a last-minute opportunity to sign a deal in time to take advantage of the tax credit because of the lesser volume of sales in the pipeline.

On a regional basis, new-home sales were down 10 percent in the South, which is the nation’s largest housing market, and were down 10.6 percent in the West. The sales rate did not change in the Northeast in September, but gained 34 percent in the Midwest due to last-minute deals sparked by the tax credit.

Everyone keeps talking about a bottom forming, but how can that truly be if both interest rates and property values are both being stimulated by tax dollars. A bottom is when the market, not the government, decides it is. If the government does not have the confidence in the market that it has to throw money to keep the market from tanking, we do not have a bottom.

And until we have a true bottom, we are not going to have market that most people will feel comfortable buying into. We may stabilize the ship with these subsidies but we will never make it sail efficiently until we set it free.

Thanks for reading this post. If you would like to see more articles like this, please come visit The Real Estate Bloggers. where it was originally published.

New Home Sales Down Even With First Time Homebuyers Credit