All Forum Posts by: Steve Boianelli

Here's my experience with tax appeals. I have appealed taxes in Atlantic and Burlington Counties. In Atlantic County I used an attorney to do all the work, in the end it cost me 20% of the savings. For example I saved over a 1000 per year and paid a little over 200. Not bad!

In Burlington County I did it myself and saved hundreds! There website provides all the information you need to do the appeal yourself. I didn't even have to set foot in court. I appealed, provided comps, provided what I believed the land and improvements were and then received a letter noting my taxes were lowered. Very simple. 

That being said, it's based on comps. Your sales price in addition to the sales price in the surrounding area can help you appeal your taxes. But on the flip side a multifamily with taxes at only 8k in NJ is AWESOME! Some single family units have taxes at that price. 

My recommendation is go to Burlington County website, get the information you need to appeal and get the process going. You won't see the reduction until this time next year but that doesn't matter since it's a rental and tenants are essentially paying taxes. Good luck!

Thanks Kurt. I'm in Pleasantville now. Looking to invest closer to the Philly area, Burlington or Camden county. 

I'm reaching out to my fellow South Jersey Landlords/Investors. I'm looking to change markets and looking for recommendations. I'm searching for C/C+ towns. Currently I'm have a number of properties in a D/D+ town but I'm looking for something new. Any insight would be much appreciated. Typically I invest in single family and multi-family homes but I'm open to new ideas.

Thanks Kyle

On the duplexes I own I have one water main that runs into the basement of the property. From there it splits off to two water heaters. Both the 1st floor and 2nd floor have their own water heaters that they pay electric for. I keep the water in my name and charge the tenants a reasonable water fee. As for the furnace, have you considered equipping one of the units with baseboard heat? This could get costly as Ray mentioned. However, with my duplexes both of the units were stripped down to the studs so pipes and wires were easily run. If your building is occupied and generating cash flow you may want to consider not making this major renovation could it will get expensive and could potentially upset the tenants. 

On units I have that can't be split between 1st and 2nd floor I hold onto the utility bills and charge the tenants a fee for usage. I'd caution against this if you don't have to do it because tenants could take advantage and use more than needed, leave appliances running non stop, etc. and that means money out of your pocket.

On a recent pod cast I was listening to, the guest discussed having a system that allowed him to place cell phone calls directly to someones voicemail. Does anyone remember the name of the service that does that? 

Thanks!

Great information Tom! Thank you for the advice.

Thanks for the information. So it appears from what you're saying, let's say I invest in an area with low purchases prices (i.e.: 25k). A property could be purchased straight cash without a lender but then when you do a title search you could find out there is a large mortgage on the property. If you pay cash then do a title search you would be responsible for cleaning up the title? 

A partner that I worked with in the past purchased a house with cash. Now he shared with me that the title isn't clean. Is this typical? Would it be wise to do a title search before paying cash for a property? If you buy the house with cash then find that the title isn't clean what can you do? What cause a bad title?

When you do pull the title that would show any additional cost that could be associated with the property?