Property Perspectives Local Insight
Insights, Trends, and Strategies for Today's Home Buyers and Sellers. Page 5 of 27.
Can You Keep Your VA Home and Buy Another? How Remaining Entitlement Works
Yes, you can often keep the home you bought with a VA loan and buy another one with a second VA loan, as long as you can afford both loans and the new home will be where you live. What you can borrow with no down…
Living at the Jersey Shore Year-Round: What the Off-Season Looks Like
Living at the Jersey Shore year-round means the beach and the boardwalk are still there after Labor Day, with fall festivals, Halloween parades, holiday events in historic villages and winter trails in county parks…
Where Do You Live While Your Home Is Being Repaired? Loss-of-Use Coverage Explained
If a covered loss like a fire makes your home unlivable, most New Jersey homeowners policies pay your additional living expenses under Coverage D, loss of use: the extra cost of living somewhere else, above what you'd…
Where Are Monmouth County's 55+ Communities? A Town-by-Town Guide
Monmouth County's 55+ communities fall into two groups: a western cluster in Manalapan, Freehold Township, Howell and Marlboro, and a string of mostly smaller communities from Middletown and Holmdel down through Tinton…
Getting a Mortgage on Retirement Income: Buy Before or After Your Retirement Date?
Lenders can count retirement income such as a pension, an annuity or regular distributions from a retirement account, but they qualify you on the income you'll have, not the paycheck you're leaving. Under Fannie Mae's…
Moving From a House to a Condo or Townhouse in NJ: What Changes
When you trade a house for a condo in New Jersey, you hand the shared parts of the property to an association: it maintains the common areas, carries a master insurance policy, charges a monthly fee and sets the rules.…
Moving to New Jersey Checklist: What to Do in Your First 60 Days
Start with your license and your car. The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission gives new residents 60 days from the move to transfer both, or less if your current license or registration expires first. Then file your…
Moving to New Jersey Mid-Year: Part-Year Resident Income Tax Basics
If you move to New Jersey partway through the year, you file a regular NJ-1040 and mark the part of the year you were a resident; there is no separate part-year return. You report only the income you received while you…
Moving Within New Jersey: The Address Changes to Make After You Close
Start with the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission, because New Jersey requires drivers to report an address change within one week, and you can do it online. Then update your voter registration, the NJ Division of Taxation,…
New Construction or Resale in a NJ 55+ Community? How the Two Purchases Differ
New construction gets you a new home, New Jersey's new home warranty and a seven-day right to cancel after you sign, but the community is still run by the builder and its track record is short. A resale gets you an…
New Jersey Property Tax Relief in Your First Year: ANCHOR, Stay NJ and Senior Freeze
Usually not right away. New Jersey's ANCHOR benefit goes to residents who own and live in their home on October 1 of the application year, and Senior Freeze and Stay NJ both require you to have owned and lived in a…
New Jersey's Smoke Alarm, CO Alarm and Fire Extinguisher Certificate: What Changed in 2025
Before a one- or two-family home in New Jersey changes hands, the owner has to get a certificate from the local fire or code official showing the smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms meet state rules. Since February…
New Job in Another State: Should You Sell or Rent Out Your New Jersey Home?
Sell if you're not planning to come back, you need the equity for the next home, or you don't want to be a landlord from far away. Rent it out if the rent covers the full cost of owning it, you're ready to manage it or…
New Jersey's 100% Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption: What to Know When You Buy
If VA has certified you as 100% permanently and totally disabled from your active-duty service, and you were honorably discharged, New Jersey exempts your main home from property taxes. When you buy, you file Form…
New Jersey's $250 Senior Citizen Property Tax Deduction: Who Qualifies and How to Apply
New Jersey's senior citizen and disabled person deduction takes $250 a year off the property tax bill on your home. You qualify if you're 65 or older or permanently and totally disabled (or a qualifying surviving…
New Jersey's $250 Veteran Property Tax Deduction: Who Qualifies and How to Apply
New Jersey gives honorably discharged veterans with active-duty service a $250 deduction off their property tax bill every year, and you apply on Form V.S.S. with your town's tax assessor or tax collector. The detail…
NJ Property Tax Deferment for Deployed Service Members: How It Works
New Jersey lets a resident service member who is deployed for active service in time of war, or a Guard or Reserve member mobilized for federal active duty, put off the property taxes that come due on their home during…
The NJ "Exit Tax": What Happens at Closing When You Sell and Move Out of New Jersey
New Jersey doesn't have a separate "exit tax." What people call the exit tax is an estimated income tax payment a nonresident seller may have to make at closing: the gain times 10.75%, but not less than 2% of the sale…
NJ Inheritance Tax on a House: Who Pays and How Much?
In New Jersey, inheritance tax depends on who inherits the house, not on the house itself: a spouse, child, grandchild, parent or stepchild pays nothing, while a sibling, niece, nephew or friend can owe between 11 and…
Does an Inherited House Need a NJ Inheritance Tax Waiver to Sell? (Form 0-1 and L-9)
Yes, in most cases an inherited house in New Jersey needs a tax waiver before it can be sold: the state's written consent, called Form 0-1, which only the NJ Division of Taxation can issue. If every beneficiary is…
NJ Mansion Tax Exemptions: Which Transfers Don't Owe the Graduated Percent Fee?
New Jersey's law lists three exemptions from the Graduated Percent Fee, the fee most people still call the mansion tax: a buyer that's a 501(c)(3) organization, certain transfers incidental to a corporate merger or…
Do You Need a Permit for a Dock, Boat Lift or Bulkhead in New Jersey?
In most cases, yes. NJDEP says you need a permit before you build in New Jersey's coastal zone under most circumstances, and it names docks, boat lifts and jet ski lifts as common examples. A dock, lift or bulkhead…
Is a Transfer of the House Between Spouses Subject to New Jersey's Realty Transfer Fee?
Usually not, as long as the timing fits. The NJ Division of Taxation lists a deed "Between husband and wife" and a deed "Recorded within 90 days following the entry of a divorce decree which dissolves the marriage…
Ramps, Grab Bars and Stair Lifts: Reasonable Modifications in a 55+ Community
Under federal and New Jersey fair housing law, a 55+ community's association can't refuse to let a person with a disability make reasonable changes to their home, such as a ramp, grab bars or wider doorways, when the…