| Author | Message | ||
     Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 2711 Registered: 9-2003  |
Thanks, guys. What I don't get, then, is why some are saying the overall pie that the town collects doesn't change -- just everyone's slice. Why would that be? Also, seems logical that current mv would equal reval eval -- or what's the point? What relationship to reality does reval eval have? And why would any house that turns over be subject to reval eval? Much I don't get her. Could your eval be higher than current mv? That's pretty weird. | ||
| hch Citizen Username: Hch Post Number: 248 Registered: 8-2002 |
The revaluation process and the tax budget process are two separate entities. The revaluation will determine how much your home is worth in relation to all of the other homes in Maplewood. This will then determine what percentage of the total Maplewood tax bill you will have to pay. For argument's sake you owe 1% of the total tax bill. This could go up or down, 0.9% or 1.1% for example. Now in the meantime, the TC is deciding what the tax budget will be for year X. The tax budget typically goes up in Maplewood, so let's say it is going to be $1,000,000 this year and $1,050,000 next year (an increase of 5%). Your 1% tax bill this year is $10,000 but next year your 1% tax bill will be $10,500. Let's say, in the meantime, a reval is done and they determine your share of the tax bill should be 1.1% because your home is now worth more in relation to the other homes in Maplewood. Your tax bill next year will be $11,550 instead of $10,500. The assessed value is used to determine the relative worth of your home compared to all other Maplewood homes. | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 7493 Registered: 5-2001  |
In the last reval, there were A LOT of challenges. One sterling example is one of my neighbors. He has a cement path, about 6 feet long, from his back door to his garage. There is roof over this path. The assessor counted it as a "covered porch". Which, I suppose would work if he didn't mind moving the patio furniture every time he wanted to pull his car in & out of the garage. This "covered porch" raised his assessment. He was able to lower it with the challenge. Another neighbor had an argument with the assessor about his young daughter's play house in the back yard. Because it was wood and not one of those plastic things, they wanted to assess it as a shed, which is a pemanent structure. My neighbor won the argument. We have a tiny room (cathedral ceiling sacrifices bedroom space) which can pretty much hold a crib and changing table. We have a big chair and a book case in it. It does not have a closet, just a small cubby which we keep our (small) CD collection in. So, it was not assessed as a bedroom, lowering our value. Our twin house around the corner, with the exact same layout, counted that room as a bedroom, raising their assessment. I believe that they won their challenge, too. So, the bright side is that if they use the same crack-addled rocket scientists as the last time, you can probably be successful if you are assessed comparably to a similar house that has been renovated. | ||
| crabby Citizen Username: Crabbyappleton Post Number: 579 Registered: 1-2004 |
At the reval in 2000, the TC snuck in a tax hike in the middle of all the hoopla, so no one would notice. Well, I did. | ||
| Alleygater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 1817 Registered: 10-2004 |
I live on the East side of town, and judging from this thread this is supposedly the side that has sky rocketed in it's value. Our home is possibly the cheapest home on our street (possibly in our entire area) mostly because it is an unattractive 1950's home and compared to our neighbors a much smaller home and yet our taxes shot up dramatically (right before we moved in) from the last valuation. We now pay over 9K taxes for seriously the smallest home in our area with a 50'x100' normal (for our area) sized lot. So, let me ask a stupid question. Is there any chance that after this new valuation that our taxes would go down? | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 7494 Registered: 5-2001 |
Alley - did you do major renovations? Was it the reval that raised your taxes? I think that you are south of Springfield, no? I know that some houses (north of SA) in my neighborhood pay $8-$10 and that is since the last reval. Have you looked at comps and considered challenging the assessment? It can't go up (from what I understand); it can only stay the same or go down. | ||
| Sarah McNamara Citizen Username: Smcnamara Post Number: 130 Registered: 6-2003 |
Cynicalgirl, Good questions. As far as the first one, "Why doesn't the overall pie change?", I think it's because the tax rate is also readjusted at the time of the reval. I think we can all assume that essentially all property values (mv) have risen since the last reval, so if we used the same rate per $1,000 of assessed value, sure, the pie would get much bigger. But, since the tax rate per $1,000 is re-adjusted to the new town total assessed value (the rate goes down as the assessed values go up), the size of the pie stays the same. As far as reval and mv, yes, the new assessed value based on the reval should be market value. I was in the process of selling my first home and buying my second, both in Maplewood, when the reval took place. We were past both attorney review and any post-inspection negotiations when the inspector came to each house, so the market value was very clear. The actual sale price on each house was, in fact, the new assessed values. As far as houses turning over being subject to reval, I don't think they are. Once the assessed value is set, it isn't re-examined when a house is bought or sold, which is why the question is being raised now - has the market changed differently in different parts of town over the years since the last reval, and if so, should another reval be done to bring assessed values in alignment with market values? As Greentree pointed out above, re-assesments are made to individual homes if you make major improvements to your house. And if your improvement results in your house's market value increasing at a faster rate than those without improvements, then yes, I'm guessing your taxes would increase with a reval. Hope other's imrovements have been bigger and better than yours! For those who weren't here the last time, note that part of the confusion was due to the fact that the town also voted for a tax increase at about the time the new valuations were put into effect - that is, they raised the total amount being collected. So, the pie DID get bigger at the same time the reval was done, but not BECAUSE of the reval. If the budget had stayed flat, or other funding was available, leaving the total tax being raised from the homeowners level, it would have been easier to see the effect of just the reval. For instance, on my old house the taxes (total dollars paid) should have gone down with the reval, but with the new increase in taxes, it ended up staying about the same. | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 7498 Registered: 5-2001 |
I still think that it's ridiculous that I pay $12k for a two-bedroom, 2000 SQFT house near Boyden. I'm not allowed to tell TS how much our taxes are; it shoots her blood pressure up. | ||
| Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 11383 Registered: 5-2001 |
Sarah, you were lucky. Back during the reval wars a guy closed on a house on October 1, the date that market value was to be frozen for the reval. His tax assessment was bout $50,000 more than what he paid for the house and the assessor would not reduce the assessment to the sale price, feeling that the sale was atypical. I think he eventually got some relieve, but not the entire amount. This was west of Ridgewood. | ||
| Sarah McNamara Citizen Username: Smcnamara Post Number: 131 Registered: 6-2003 |
BobK - I might have been lucky, or he might have been unlucky. I also had a friend who bought her second Maplewood house (also west side) in the fall just after the reval. We all thought she got a major bargain. Her new assessed value (just set) was over what she paid. She challenged the new assessment based on what she paid, and an adjustment was made. The point is that the new assessed value should, in theory, equal market value. As to the quality of the service provided by the last contractor who performed the assessment, I'll leave that to others to debate. | ||
| ffof Citizen Username: Ffof Post Number: 4682 Registered: 5-2001  |
Here's the question. How much do you think you could get for your house today? Now, compare it with your assessment. I think in today's market i could get close to double what my assessment is and that is west of Ridgewood Road. What about anywhere else in town? If other homes have seen a tripling of their assessment, then I'd be all for a reval. If it's basically doubled everywhere, then there's no point. | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 7502 Registered: 5-2001 |
I'd say about double. | ||
| Rick B Citizen Username: Ruck1977 Post Number: 1089 Registered: 8-2003  |
Perhaps a poll is in order. We can settle this for the TC right here on this message board!  | ||
| Alleygater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 1824 Registered: 10-2004 |
We fixed our roof which was in shambles (and put in 3 sky lights at the time). Other than that we haven't done ANY major renovations. Were not counting major renovations as me painting the walls and me doing the work of stripping our wood floors, right? I was told it was a bad idea to ask for a revaluation (because it could go up). | ||
| mtierney Citizen Username: Mtierney Post Number: 930 Registered: 3-2001 |
Joan: "Revaluations should not add to the amount of taxes that need to be collected (changes in tax rate accomplish this) rather, they should result in redistributing the portion of the taxes paid (based on comparative real property value) of each property subject to paying real property taxes." I really hoped I would not have to think about this subject again after the trauma of the last reval. The above statement was made often five years ago. At that time, my taxes went from $12K to $17K overnight and are now over $20K. Whenever I complained that I thought $1,000 a month was enough already, I often heard about the "fairness" of a new reval, where there would be equity! Believe me, if your assessed value goes up, your taxes will follow suit. Thus, the great exodus of long time residents began, people who had lived in town, raised their kids, and had hoped to enjoy their homes in their retirement years were forced to move. Fixed incomes did not support those taxes. Some posters at that time said the seniors should be happy to take the money and run. I know from a number of friends, there was far more sadness related to being forced out. These homes, of course, were quickly filled by those who coveted the Midtown Direct connection and were fed up with their tiny apartments in NYC and Brooklyn. Real estate bidding wars caused many to pay way over what they should have. Will these same folks who are mortgaged up the hilt, now panic at what will definitely be increased taxes? Will the rest of us die-hard Maplewoodians who have clung to their homes — through many ups and downs in property resale value while paying very high taxes over the years — finally be forced out? What sort of social engineering will take place this time? As an aside, I was with a group of people at a reunion event on Sunday. There were people from several towns in NJ and a couple from Long Island. The topic of real estate taxes came up. I quietly mentioned that I paid over $20K and the conversation stopped! Mouths dropped open! No one could believe me. And these people were living in nice towns in very nice homes! Millburn has delayed doing a reval since witnessing the disaster in Maplewood in 2000. I guess its deja vu all over again.  | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 7504 Registered: 5-2001 |
MT - I recently looked at some census figures for Maplewood and noticed that the average age dropped considerably over 10 years (can't remember the exact years). I can't help but think that some of the older folks selling to younger folks with children was based, in part, on the reval. My brother's house in East Hampton is worth twice as much as mine & his taxes are 40% less. Without some sort of reform, eventually, NJ will be nothing but investment bankers from the city. The whole state can then be incorporated into NYS, resulting in a drop of property tax rates. But none of us will be able to move back because we won't be able to afford our houses. Which, for those of us who live on the east side, will probably be serf quarters.  | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 2712 Registered: 9-2003 |
Agree, greenetree. There's no way past retirement we'll be living here, with is "only" 13 years away. We sometimes talk about moving in 5 years, when our kid is out of high school. I used to pay $900/year on a house valued at $165K (which is roughly the same size as our house here for which we paid twice as much). Honestly, if one doesn't need to be Manhattan, the amenities here are hard to justify against the property taxes. I do imagine selling our little cape cod cottage to some Manhattanites required to live within a decent commute to the mothership. I've come to quite like Maplewood, but home costs are too out of whack. | ||
| Alleygater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 1826 Registered: 10-2004 |
Well I can't help wondering if the people who pay twice as much taxes as me 19k+ have twice as nice of a home. Since VERY many homes are hitting the high end of million, I suspect that the answer is yes. We bought our home for just over $300K (3 years ago) and it may have gone up in value (a little) but with the interest rates ballooning I doubt it went up THAT much. Point being... I doubt anyone is paying 20K in taxes on a home that cost only 600-700K -- I assume their house is worth even more than that. Also many of those homes are desirable (not an ugly small 1950s home) and probably in MUCH nicer shape than ours inside and out. We dream every night of renovating our pink tiled 1950s bathrooms with leaky faucets and decrepit kitchen and finishing our basement. Gosh, maybe we do need to ask for a reval. How would I know if I should? Are we sure there is no penalty for asking for one? | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 14027 Registered: 1-2003  |
The money has to come from somewhere. A tax reform like one I would like to see would reduce property taxes for everyone and increase income taxes for people above a certain level. The effect would be that those at the bottom would pay less in taxes and those at the top would pay more, when combining property and income taxes. We should be careful of what we ask for. Some of us will end up paying more once such a reform is done, if it is ever done. The upside of that sort of thing for upper income folks is that once we retire, our incomes will decrease and our income taxes will decrease correspondingly. | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 2713 Registered: 9-2003 |
Gosh, alleygator. Sure we don't have the same house? Me -- 2 br cape cod, ugly pink tile, decrepit kitchen... | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 7509 Registered: 5-2001 |
Tom - my brother and I have this same argument. But I would sure like to be able to retire someday. Right now, I'm not sure how I would fare if we switched to income-based school funding. How would I go about calculating the income tax percentage? | ||
| Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 11385 Registered: 5-2001 |
Ffof, you must live in Roosevelt Park and have been watching the $1mil plus listings going on the market the last couple of weeks. When we sold our house last fall we got about 65% over the assessment. From data I reviewed before we sold this seems about average for the neighborhood we lived in, between Ridgewood and Wyoming south of Roosevelt Park. | ||
| C Bataille Citizen Username: Nakaille Post Number: 2581 Registered: 5-2001 |
I cannot get double the reval amount for my house, much less triple. How laughable. I'm in the part of town that some of you think has shot up out of line with the rest Maplewood. Our uncloseted 3rd room got counted as a bedroom last time around, despite our protest. We have one old bath (think cracked octagonal white tile floor) plus "Maplewood toilet" in the basement, literally a 40's DIY kitchen (honest - we just went to IKEA and Lowe's again today, still trying to figure out how to make the $ work), no fireplace, no deck, unfinished basement, etc., etc. Unfortunately we are not the best at advocating for ourselves (great for others, like many social workers) and probably should have screamed bloody murder the last time. We expected the process to be fair. Yeah, yeah, naive first-time homeowners, and compared to the FAIRTAX, etc folks we had little legal or property savvy. And no taste for the bloody fight. In my experience some of you are seriously overestimating what those of us on the low end can get for our homes. Yes, if I put 75-100K in now I could get more but my would I get that amount back? No, not really. I hate that we seem to be starting this fight all over again. | ||
| mtierney Citizen Username: Mtierney Post Number: 932 Registered: 3-2001 |
Maybe if some of the folks over Springfield Avenue had "screamed bloody murder" last time, we all might have had a better chance at getting our mutual concerns heard. However, I remember how the TC bunch responsible for rushing this flawed reval through had the east side sold on the image of lower taxes. (I'm on the east side, too, but think of myself more as the forgotten and undiscussed middle of Maplewood). We heard loud and clear from the highly organized westside of town residents and many areas there received lower assessments as a result. Seniors throughout town were made to feel like thoughtless, greedy fat cats because we had hoped to spend our "golden" years in the homes we had cared for over decades. The result of raised assessments is raised taxes. Pure and simple. Maybe not the way the number crunchers look at it, but it happened! Many eastsiders who saw an initial drop in taxes have since seen them go back up. Also, I do remember that after the 2000 bloodletting, we were assured software would be in place so that there wouldn't be a need for another expensive town-wide reassessment. What happened? Can we really afford two assessments in five years? I think the time has come again to seriously re-consider dumping our association with Essex County. Newark hasn't had a reval in some 40 years and, almost weekly, we read of milliions of dollars turning up missing in that city alone. There seems to be enough empirical evidence around that there are communities which can exist and thrive without confiscatory taxes. Perhaps towns which have mega malls or corporate headquarters can share some of their largesse with those of us less fortunate? Not likely to happen, of course, but we need to put our thinking caps on for the benefit of the entire town! | ||
| Alleygater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 1839 Registered: 10-2004 |
Cynical, our Capecod home has 3 bedrooms, but in my neighborhood, we are most certainly the newest (read ugliest) and smallest home. The guy who made our house did it all by hand, and because of that the trims and mouldings (dare I even call them that) use all cheap materials to look like real mouldings. If I had any money I'd replace all the windows and trims in the entire house. But that sort of thing seems less important than renovating the kitchen and baths. I'd ask if you and I are neighbors except that the home next to ours (which was built at the same time as ours) had it's second floor built out, adding at least an additional 2 rooms to it's upstairs, and I'm guessing increasing the size of their master bedroom. At least that's what I would do if I had an extra $30k+ to do such work. | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 2716 Registered: 9-2003 |
Ours has 2 up, and a bath with shower. Downstairs, a liv room, pass through dining room, non eat in kitchen, full bath and a room that's probably meant to be a master br but we use as a sort of computer, study, you name it room. I feel your pain on the trims. In that regard, ours is sound and a right little bunker of a house. Ours is the baby on the block, all the other houses being more typical Maplewood center hall blah-bah or similar. Yeah, I'd like to build out the 2 dormer things (whoever invented those, barely a window wide, is a jerk) to make the bedrooms up a tad bigger. Original tile throughout which is to say early 50's/late 40's. Not old enough to be cool 'n classic, just old. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 14031 Registered: 1-2003 |
I know it's a matter of taste, but I love the tile in your house, Cynicalgirl. In fact, I like your house! I guess it's too bad you don't like it enough. | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 2717 Registered: 9-2003 |
I've come to like it ok but we'd had so many hopes of bigger and older that it's hard. Wanted a front porch house (like yours) or a center hall colonial, or an eat in kitch, or !!! Plus, we moved from a newer with all the mod cons, so feels like we got the worst of both worlds. Fewer rooms, no d/w, smaller yard, etc. But really, it's far from the worst of things, and it's very sturdy. Our yard's pretty good, too, by Maplewood postage stamp standards. | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 7530 Registered: 5-2001 |
I think we all have a tendancy to see the problems with our homes. I love what we've renovated but spend a lot of time brooding over the upstairs bathroom and basement. | ||
| Cynicalgirl Citizen Username: Cynicalgirl Post Number: 2718 Registered: 9-2003 |
My thing was that we wanted a house with possibilities and space. It could need work, provided that the work would enhance its value. We lost a bid war on a center hall colonial near Mtn station (that the new owners put yucky yellow vinyl siding on). Wanted it bad, and even the realtor said yeah, this baby could triple with a little care. But, we got the bunker instead. Squat, smallish. And now we make the best of it. And if anybody wants to up my taxes I'll go ballistic as the value hasn't gone up hardly at all. | ||
| Lydia Supporter Username: Lydial Post Number: 1804 Registered: 5-2001 |
I wasn't going to weigh in on this topic, but I'll dip my foot in the shallow end. A reval doesn't change the total amount of revenue collected through property taxes, what a reval does in a perfect reval is bring all the property taxes in line with their assessed value. A "good" reval should hold for 8-10 years barring extenuating circumstances such as a mid-town direct, a booming business district or an amazing school that serves a specific section of a town. The problem with the last reval was not that it was overdue (it was) but that the model used was the "land extraction" method. Revals can use about 20 different methods, the land extraction method is effective when most houses are the same (Levitt-town, gated communities) and the land predicts the value. The problem that we hit with the last reval was that houses do have brand-new $100K kitchens vs. WWII kitchens, which when selling meant the difference between two houses next door one selling for 800K and another for 400K - same square footage, same curb appeal. But the two houses were assessed for about the same. That's why the COD quickly climbed out of whack. That's why for people with falling apart houses with old kitchens will likely get a better assessment more in line with the actual (sellable) value than the old land-extraction assessement. The old assessment didn't "count" finished basements and attics - hopefully the new one will. I think that when interviewing assessment companies and evaluating the ideal method for Maplewood, the TC should establish a board of local realtors who know the market. Just my 2 cents. | ||
| MAPLE Citizen Username: Maple1234 Post Number: 19 Registered: 7-2003 |
I say no reval!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I refuse to pay more than the $20,000 a year I am already paying. I am paying my fair share are you? | ||
| Lydia Supporter Username: Lydial Post Number: 1806 Registered: 5-2001 |
Maple - Maybe you'll pay less. As long as some people are over-paying and some are under-paying, if the reval is done correctly your slice of the pie will be fair. | ||
| Factvsfiction Citizen Username: Factvsfiction Post Number: 248 Registered: 4-2006 |
If you people are going to march on townhall to protest , can you do me a favor and march over here to protest too? Millburn is having a re-assessment in 2007. BTW, you all get stuck if the budget increases afterwards, but the unlucky ones will be those in areas who were under-assessed or whose appraised values grew most significantly. Their taxes will increase. If you don't have a friend that is a realtor who can tell you, you can usually pop over to the Tax Assessor's office in a town and look at what sold in your area in their sr-1a books. | ||
| kathleen Citizen Username: Symbolic Post Number: 499 Registered: 3-2005 |
Nothing like revisionist history. The assessments given in the last Maplewood reval by CVI were overwhelmingly dead-on accurate. Their model worked just fine. A few of the people who suddenly had to pay more taxes screamed vitriocally, told falsehoods about their assessments and their ability to pay their new taxes, cried, hollared, and threatened, either out ignorance, fear, neurosis or political malice -- and all that angry screaming frightened the assessor into giving neighborhood-wide assessment reductions in a few very high-priced areas of town. That immediately sent the COD climbing. Location, location, location will still be the biggest determining factor in the estimated SELLING price of your house -- meaning, its market value -- not whether you have tiles falling off in your bathroom. A potential buyer would think that is trivial and fixable, just like you did when you paid the going rate for your house when you bought it, and the assessing company knows that. That's his/her job to know that. Not some Fairtax sorehead's. What some people could never accept in the last reval, and they wrote letters to the newspaper saying so, is that their CVI assessment was correct -- it was the market value of their home -- but the assessment sheet or property card incorrectly *described* their house or a neighbor's house. What didn't these people understand? That the description of a house doesn't matter. The market value does. Once the assessment company correctly identifies the market value of your house, your pointing out you haven't got a finished attic but your neighbor does means they will erase the word "finished" from your property card and add it to your neighbors -- and will give both of you the same market value assessment as before. OK? However, what we learned from the last reval is that an outfit like CVI can't be intimidated or made to give you anything less than a market value assessment. But if you intimidate the town's part-time hired assessor with threats, juvenile name-calling, fist-shaking, crying, screaming, inundate him with baseless appeals or file bogus lawsuits, he or she is likely to cave and start whacking down assessment just to get some peace. It's not a high-paying job. So political pressure works. So that's precisely why we don't need "local people" doing the assessments. We need a professional assessment company without local ties and vested interests. And the people who live in the "east" side of town should be very wary of talk of needing "local people" to oversee the assessment process. In fact, you should be demanding that not happen, as we all should. | ||
| kathleen Citizen Username: Symbolic Post Number: 500 Registered: 3-2005 |
Oh -- and if you don't like your property taxes, and you shouldn't, you should elect people to the TC who are willing to work politically and know how to work politically to reform the property tax system. Those are people who can think beyond Maplewood and who aren't at a loss to work with others at higher levels beyond Maplewood. There is a widespread movement for political and tax reform throughout the county and the state. Maplewood needs to be represented effectively in that movement. You don't want to get run over by it or fail to steadily and energetically support it because of ignorance in local leadership. | ||
| Dogbert Citizen Username: Dogbert Post Number: 96 Registered: 1-2006  |
Interesting state brochure: HOW PROPERTY IS VALUED FOR PROPERTY TAX PURPOSES (PDF) | ||
| Lydia Supporter Username: Lydial Post Number: 1808 Registered: 5-2001 |
Kathleen is coming after me again so this will be my last post on the reval. WIth Kathleen, it's always nasty and contentious - exactly what we don't need this time around. I think it's very cool that the TC saw the COD was too high, and all 5 people are rolling up their shirt sleeves and taking on a task that I'm sure no one wanted to re-visit. Cynical and Greenie, we can talk about it over coffee or maybe it's time for a girl's night - I'll serve Reval Red and we can drown our sorrows. Seriously, I don't think anyone will be hit too hard, nor do I think anyone will see any big windfalls. If you're really nervous, e-mail any or all the TC members, or talk to our tax assesser after 4 on Wednesday nights and get the skinny on the process and what to expect. Good luck! | ||
| Alleygater Citizen Username: Alleygater Post Number: 1841 Registered: 10-2004 |
Cynical, maybe we do have the same house. Two bedrooms, with a tiny (shower only) bathroom upstairs. Downstairs is a big living room which is open to the dining room which leads to a useless anteroom with 5 doors (and the big entranceway to the DR makes it 6 really) which lead to a big bedroom (which we use as our computer room/guest room), kitchen, bathroom (same tiny size as upstairs but with a bath tub this time), closet, and basement. We have a half bath in the basement which one day I hope to use after I empty out our basement of boxes (moved in 3 years ago but we are still cluttered by boxes), paint the attrocious dark wood panelling, finish the ceiling, replace the crumbling linoleum floor and put up a wall to separate the boiler, water heater and washer/dryer. As for why we picked this house: Well the gorgeous old 3 story house near Seton Hall which we upped our bid to much higher than our budget, we didn't win. All of the other ugly homes we bid on we also lost out on after having raised our bid more than our budget. And then this house came up. It had big sized rooms (which we liked more than the rabbit warren of small rooms in the older homes) and was in a really beautiful area -- as I said our neighbors all have gorgeous homes even if we don't. We liked how the front yard was small so that the backyard was bigger (for entertaining family...something we still haven't done). We liked how it wasn't pressed up against any bad areas or directly on a busy street. And it was a brick home that didn't seem to be falling down -- pretty much move in condition. And the kicker was...it was close enough to our budget...where we THOUGHT (wrongly) that we would be able to do some work on the house to fix the things we didn't like. We were DEFINITELY dreaming there. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 14048 Registered: 1-2003 |
Alleygater, considering that you lost the bids which would have gotten you in too deep, you are lucky. And the house is a reasonable compromise. Overall, it sounds like the right house. We have a nice house with lots of rooms, which is good, but all the rooms are pretty small. The living room (which is really supposed to be a dining room) crowds up quickly. The music room (which would have been a living room) is bigger, but Carol uses it for teaching lessons. This leaves us with no dining room. We only eat in the kitchen, which is laid out abysmally. We've had to put a ton into the house in repairs. And there are many more to do. A lot of the house was neglected badly. We've done small changes, all small enough not to need a permit, to give you an idea of the scale. It's farther from town that we wanted to be, but overall, it's a reasonable compromise, given the circumstances of reality at the time. We moved in three years ago, and we might not be able to afford to move to Maplewood if we were arriving this year. |
