Yes, 2010 tax assessments have been published. And yes, they are lower than they were last year. Mine dropped almost 7%. But this does not mean that all listings currently on the market are overpriced! (okay, I will admit that there are probably lots of listings on the market that are overpriced, but that’s not because of the 2010 tax assessments and we can talk about that later.)
Tax assessments in Basking Ridge follow the market – NOT the other way around. I wrote about this in June and I do often analyze sale price to tax assessment when working with buyers and sellers – either to set a list price or to make an offer. But – we only have past data to look at. We KNOW how properties are selling relative to 2008 and 2009 taxes, we do not know yet how properties will sell relative to these new 2010 tax assessments. I have told all of my current seller clients that my pricing recommendations will not change just because we got our new green tax cards. And to any potential buyer who brings up the new assessment, my counter offer will be this: “we cannot base a current sale price on the new 2010 tax assessments, we can only look at what we know – which is relative to 2009 tax information, not 2010.”
Another angle – Jeffery Otteau, at his last seminar, stated that prices have dropped approximately 4% this past year. My tax assessment dropped 7%. There’s a 3% discrepency there – why would I base a negotiation on the lower number? I’d rather base it on recent comparable sales.
Visit Basking Ridge Real Estate for information on the value of your Basking Ridge home – relative to current tax assessment or not.
