Property Perspectives Local Insight
Insights, Trends, and Strategies for Today's Home Buyers and Sellers. Page 3 of 27.
Who Pays the Mortgage, Repairs and Costs While the House Is Listed in a New Jersey Divorce?
Your settlement agreement or a court order decides who pays the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities and repairs while the house is listed, and until one exists, your attorneys should settle it in writing. The lender…
How to Buy a Foreclosure in New Jersey: Sheriff Sales vs. Bank-Owned Homes
You can buy a foreclosure in New Jersey two ways: at the county sheriff's sale, or afterward as a bank-owned home. At a sheriff's sale you bid at a public auction, pay a 20% deposit the moment you win, get no…
Can You Buy a Home Together With Different Credit Scores? What New Jersey Couples and Co-Borrowers Need to Know
Buying a home together is an exciting milestone, whether you're married, engaged, purchasing with a family member, or teaming up with someone to make homeownership more affordable. But what happens when one borrower…
Can You Use a 1031 Exchange for a Vacation Home at the Jersey Shore?
Yes, if the home works as a rental property that you also use now and then, and no, if it's a vacation home you only use yourself. The IRS safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2008-16 covers a home owned at least 24 months…
55+ Community Clubhouses and Amenities: What the Association Fee Pays For
A 55+ community's monthly fee pays for whatever its documents make the association responsible for, which can be as little as the clubhouse and the grounds or as much as your lawn, snow, trash, roof, bus service and…
55+ Golf Communities in Monmouth and Ocean County: What the Golf Includes
Ten age-restricted communities in Monmouth and Ocean County describe a golf course inside the community on their own websites: nine in Ocean County and one in Monmouth County. They range from a private nine-hole par-3…
Will an Addition or Finished Basement Raise Your Property Taxes in New Jersey?
It can. When an improvement like an addition or a finished basement adds value, New Jersey lets the municipal assessor bill an "added assessment" for the part of the tax year after the work is completed, and the…
Moving From One NJ Home to Another: What Happens to ANCHOR, Senior Freeze and Stay NJ?
A move from one New Jersey home to another can change all three programs. ANCHOR follows whichever home you owned and lived in on October 1, Stay NJ looks at whether you owned and lived in a home for the full year and…
Selling and Buying on the Same Day: How Back-to-Back Closings Work in New Jersey
Yes, you can sell your home and buy your next one on the same day in New Jersey. Usually the sale closes first, and the money from it goes toward the purchase later that day. It works when both contracts, both sets of…
Bigger or Smaller? How to Figure Out What the Next Home Needs After a Life Change
Start with how you'll use the next home every day for the next several years, not with the square footage. Write down what the change added or took away, then test every house against that list and against what it…
Breaking a Lease on Military Orders to Buy a Home
Yes, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) lets you end a residential lease early, without an early termination charge, when you receive orders for a permanent change of station or a deployment of at least 90…
Your Buyer Backed Out While You're Buying the Next Home: What Now?
Call your attorney the same day, because the deadlines in your purchase contract are still running, then sit down with your lender to see whether the purchase can go ahead without the sale, and get your home back on…
Buying a Home in a 55+ Community for a Parent
You can often buy a home in a 55+ community for a parent, but whose name goes on the deed matters: the community's rules decide who may own and who may live there, a lender decides whether your loan counts as a home…
Buying a Home While Deployed: VA Loan Occupancy, Power of Attorney and Closing From a Distance
Yes, you can buy a home with a VA loan while you're deployed: federal law lets your spouse's occupancy count when your active-duty service keeps you from moving in, and the signing can happen through a power of…
Buying a 2-to-4 Family Home With a VA Loan in Monmouth or Ocean County
Yes, you can buy a two-, three- or four-family home with a VA loan, as long as the property is going to be your home. VA lists homes of up to 4 units among the things its purchase loan can buy, and its underwriting…
Buying a Second Home at the Jersey Shore: Second Home or Investment Property?
It depends on how you'll use the house. Under Fannie Mae's rules, which many lenders follow, a second home is a one-unit home you live in for part of the year, suitable for year-round use and under your sole control,…
Buying New Construction With a VA Loan in New Jersey
Yes, you can buy a newly built home with a VA loan, either by purchasing it from a builder who finances the construction or by using a VA construction loan to build one. The VA appraisal still has to support the price,…
Can a Younger Spouse Live in a 55+ Community in New Jersey?
Under federal law, yes. A home counts toward a 55+ community's required 80% as long as at least one person living in it is 55 or older, so a 57-year-old and a 51-year-old spouse can live there together. Whether your…
Can Adult Children, Grandchildren or a Caregiver Live With You in a 55+ Community?
Often yes for an adult child, and the community's documents decide. Federal law only requires that one person in the home be 55 or older, and each community writes its own rules for everyone else, such as a minimum age…
Can You Use a VA Loan More Than Once? Restoring Your Entitlement
Yes, you can use a VA loan more than once. VA restores your entitlement when you sell the home and pay off the loan, when a qualified Veteran assumes your loan and substitutes their own entitlement, or one time if you…
Capital Gains and the Home Sale Exclusion When You Sell in a Divorce
Often, no. If you meet the IRS ownership and use tests, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain when you sell your main home, or up to $500,000 on a joint return, and a divorce doesn't take that away. What a divorce…
Do You Pay Capital Gains Tax When You Sell an Inherited House in New Jersey?
When you sell an inherited house in New Jersey, capital gains tax usually applies only to the increase in value after the date of death, not to everything the house gained while the person who died owned it. IRS…
Capital Gains on a Home You've Owned for Decades: Figuring Your Gain Before You Downsize
Most people who downsize from a home they've lived in owe no capital gains tax, because the IRS lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly. A home owned for decades is the…
Changing Jobs While Buying a House in New Jersey: What Does Your Lender Look At?
You can change jobs while buying a house, but talk to your lender before you accept the offer or give notice, because your approval is built on your income and lenders check your employment again right before closing.…