Are Cranbury homes selling below the assessed value now?

[Guest]

By looking at the house listing on this site, I suspect that most home owners are selling their homes below the assessed value now. Can someone confirm my suspicion? Thanks!

[Jeff M.]

I think it depends on the home. I know 3 people who have sold and all are over the tax appraisal. Not by much-10k-15k. However, a lot of the homes that you see sitting have not been updated in years, have issues with them or just simply are overpriced for the area. When you get north of 700K, then people start looking at homes in WW where they may pay more in taxes, but on average can get newer and more updated homes for the dollar. I also would guess that as you get closer to the million dollar mark you may see a tax appraisal being over the market. However, that would mean the new buyer could appeal to the county for a re-assesment. Whether it would be granted is an other issue.

The three people I know who moved, one is downsizing, one is being relocated and the other found a home in another town closer to family. None moved due to the taxes going up or town related issues.

[me]

I don't know the answer to your question. But I know some realtors were selling their Cranbury homes early this year. It struck me then as a bad sign for the Cranbury market, which had done very well in past few years (remember the bidding war for a Cranbury home?).

[Guest]

why cranbury homes were not selling this season? i saw some of them reduced more than 10% from original listing price and still sit there. Is the original price too high? or cranbury is no longer atractive enough that people are willing to pay high premium for excellent schoo (K-8 ), lower tax (still relatively lower for newer homes), small town culture with main street, and easy commute (close to 8A)?

[me]

There are a lot more houses for sale this year than the previous years. And the market overall is not doing well this year.

Although Cranbury has a lower property tax, this comes with a cost.

Let's roughly divide the homes in Cranbury into two groups: one that resides between the Main St. and RT-130 (G1), and the other that is the rest (G2).

In general (there are exceptions), houses in G1 have the following attributes: smaller lot, public water and sewer access, and older (except homes in Cranbury Greene). As the traffic on Rt-130 increases, the major impact to the homes in this group is the traffic noise.

In general (there are exceptions), houses in G2 have the following attributes: bigger lot (~1 acre or more), septic and/or well water, and close to farm land. Traffic noise is less of a concern (homes near Old Trenton Rd. and Dey Rd. may experience traffic noise), but lack of public water and sewer access may turn some buyers off.

Prior to the 2007 revaluation, the low property tax is a big advantage; buyers may not object owing an older home or endure slight traffic noise as long as the property tax is low. Now that the property tax is higher, buyers are likely to look for homes in competing areas like West Windsor, Plainsboro, and even Montgomery. Given the same price, homes there may offer more selections, better location (less traffic noise), bigger lot, public water and sewer access, and/or newer homes.

[Guest]

I bought a Cranbury home because my kids can attend Princeton high school.

[Guest]

Both The Cranbury School and Priceton High School are excellent. Our kids are doing well:

http://www.cranbury.info/viewtopic.php?t=1540

http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeRsphp/STATE_NJ_level_Middle_CountyID_0.html

[home buyer]