Caldwell and West Caldwell share a school system and as demonstrated have had modest value changes over the years compared to other towns.

New Jersey Monthly ranked Caldwell as the 3rd best place to live in New Jersey in 2010.

To purchase or sell a home in this area http://www.realtyinside.com/index-sales.htm

Caldwell and West Caldwell median sale prices

I have searched the Internet like most home owners and tested the many sites that claim they can tell you what your home value is. I used my address and was given a range of over $90,000 between just 5 of the highest ranked (by Google) websites. Each of these sites had the following in common:

1) None of them had any detailed information on my house except for the year built and only one site had the size of my home as listed in the tax records.

2) None of them had any details on the sales they listed in my neighborhood.

3) All of them were reflecting a value not supported by the sales they listed.

I must mention that two of these sites gave the good advice of “you should contact a professional real estate agent to get a true home value estimate. A real estate agent will take into consideration local market conditions and recent home sales” and “Always consult a licensed appraisal professional for an appraisal”. I would like to add that there is only one other source to get a true home value estimate and that is from an experienced licensed real estate appraiser. So do you want to find the value of your home from a computer generated website that has little to no information on your home or neighborhood or hire a professional real estate agent/appraiser that will view your home, and consider all factors that may affect the property value of your home?

When you want to sell your home, buy a home or invest in real estate, hire a real estate agent who has the knowledge and experience in the real estate market.

Here is a humorous video clip that was sent to me due to a modification in the law that appraisers should be paid “normal and customary fees”.

http://www.video.me/ViewVideo.aspx?vid=9368

Please watch this, the Hitler Economic Fuher (AMC’s) is at it again.

If you were a property owner and did not have an expert witness to testify as to the value of your property and are planning to continue to the tax court, hire a certified appraiser. Hiring a certified appraiser to testify as to the value of your property adds to the credibility of your case. Home owners who have an appraisal and an expert witness who is knowledgable about the tax appeal process tend to get better results.

As a certified appraiser who has been testifying for property owners for 15+ years now in the NJ County tax boards and tax courts, I have observed how cases have leaned for a petitioner with an appraiser expert and petitioners without an appraiser expert. I have also seen cases when an appraiser was utilized but were not familiar with the appeal process. So, word of advice when filing a tax assessment appeal and presenting your case to the tax board and tax court: Hire a certified appraiser who has many years of experience. Hire a certified appraiser who knows the appeal process from start to finish. There are many appraisers who know how to appraise your property, but don’t know the appeal process, procedures and what is allowed in the tax boards and tax courts.

When you receive your tax board decision and decide to appeal to the tax court, contact the Appraisal Authority. http://www.realtyinside.com/contact.htm

Many people who have filed their appeals on time have not followed all the rules as outlined in the instructions. Most importantly is getting the appraisal report or list of sales to be used as comparison not only to the tax board but ALSO the tax assessor, no less that 7 days prior to the hearing date. If the tax assessor does not get a copy of the sales which are going to be used for your case, they do not have time to prepare and will ask the board to dismiss the case on this basis.

The tax board also does NOT want to hear about how your neighboring properties have higher or lower taxes or are assessed differently. They want to know how much your property is worth and any thing that may impact on the value of your property.

I watched as many home owners proceeded with their case, as they followed the instructions and testified to the board by themselves. The unfortunate problem is that many had no expert testimony from an appraiser. They presented a list 3-5 sales as indicated in the instructions which they thought were comparable, only to find out at the hearing that they were not really as comparable as they thought or were considered as unusable (short sale, estate sale, etc.) and in some cases helped support the tax assessment.

Now some towns had offered a settlement to some home owners, and many home owners accepted these settlement offers. In these cases I wondered if the home owners realized how much or little these minor reductions the town was offering would change their property taxes.

If you are filing a NJ tax assessment appeal remember these simple things:

1. Follow the appeal process instructions completely!
2. Present evidence and testimony proving what your property is worth as of October 1 in the pre tax year.
3. Hire a NJ State certified appraiser to prepare an appraisal report and testify on your behalf. This typically increases your odds of getting a better reduction in your assessment.
4. Know the tax rate and ratio. This way if the assessor offers a settlement you can calculate how much you will save in taxes, and decide if presenting your case to the tax board commissioner(s) would be worth while.

Contact Appraisal Authority for help in your property tax assessment appeal. www.realtyinside.com

A real estate agent looks at the property with the task of marketing the property for sale.

An appraiser looks at the property with the task of estimating its market value.

Realizing that the sales price is not always the same as the market value, it is important to understand the process used by the appraiser and the process used by a Realtor.

Kevin Burkhardt is owner of the Appraisal Authority and a sales associate with Century 21 Cedarcrest Realty. As both a State Certified residential appraiser and a licensed Realtor associate, he can guide you through the process and help you in your real estate needs.

I am Kevin Burkhardt. I have been a NJ licensed real estate sales associate since 1986 and currently working at Century 21 Cedarcrest Realty in Caldwell, NJ. I am a NJ, NY and PA State Certified Residential real estate appraiser, appraising properties since 1988. I own and operate the Appraisal Authority LLC in West Caldwell, NJ. My company has over 2 dozen certified real estate appraisers who specialize in specific market areas.

If you have questions, I have answers. Contact me and have the correct professional work for you.

More information can be found at www.realtyinside.com

The HVCC has many negative effects for buyers and sellers. These include putting experienced appraisers running appraisal companies out of business or close to out of business. Even though it is not required, many lenders have directed all their business to 3rd party appraisal management companies (AMC) which pay the appraiser considerably less than their full fee and then charge the lender more for the appraisal, which gets passed onto the borrower. The AMC’s have made it a practice to finding the appraiser willing to do the work for the lowest price and not necessarily the appraiser who is the most knowledgable or local to the property being appraised. This has caused many deals to fall through. When this happens, loan officers try another lender which starts the cycle all over again, costing the borrower more money and time, since a new appraisal will need to be done for the next lender since appraisal reports can not be transferred. Either that a buyer of a property may cancel a sales contract which may be for market value but was appraised incorrectly, causing home sellers to also lose money due to slow market conditions.

This is why it is important to have the correct appraiser, who is experienced and knowledgable in their market area perform an appraisal on your property. If you are having your property appraised for any reason, ask the appraiser some questions before setting the appointment. Find out how long they have been licensed, how far are they from your property and if they know your market area. Most lenders used to require the appraiser to have 5+ years of being licensed and their office within a 30 mile radius of the property being appraised in order to be approved. Unfortunately a home owner, buyer, real estate agent, loan officer or anyone else can no longer request a certain appraiser for a loan.