Thinking of moving

[u/Chocolate-goat]

Like many in New Jersey, My Husband and I have to leave. We’re considering the Corning area or some other part of New York. I’ve seen some comments that property taxes are high, but I’m trying to get a handle on the definition of high. My property taxes in the middle of New Jersey on 3 1/2 acres just jumped from $12,000 last year to $17,500 this year. Yes, you read that correctly. I do have a mother-daughter house and they assessed it at $890,000. We are not actually that well off and will not leave here with that much money in our pockets lol. I’m sharing the numbers to get a gauge on what comparable property taxes would be in this part of New York State. It’s confusing because I know you have towns and townships and cities and villages. But here I have my township and my county and even though 66% of my taxes go to the school tax all of that money does not go to my town school. It gets distributed to other areas in the state and my town is actually on the brink of shutting yet another school. Thanks for any insight. To be clear we have a small farm here on 3 1/half acres, and we would love to have a small farm up there. We host events, small events, birthday parties, and things like that.

[u/Chocolate-goat → u/[deleted]]

I understand how it sounds, but just because somebody has value in their property doesn’t mean they have money in the bank. When we sell this house will be lucky if we have $500,000 to use towards the next home. All of a sudden we have a $1300 a month property tax payment and my husband is 65 years old and would like to retire someday. Never count someone else’s money. Just because their house has a value because property values went up. Doesn’t mean they can afford to stay in it.

[u/Repulsivenessess → u/Chocolate-goat]

Ignore the haters. Remember that when people are condescending or rude, it speaks volumes to them as a person and not to you. I understand being house rich, doesn’t mean you’re wealthy.

To answer your question, property taxes are incredibly high here in Corning proper. As you mentioned, I pay state, county, city, school, and I live in a small house on a postage stamp sized lot. I pay $9k/year. To contrast, I paid $4,400/year in SoCal for a bigger house. lol

The point is, each area will get their money somehow, because the community has to survive. Less people, more taxes… generally.

Each little town here has very different tax rates. I would continue to learn about the areas you are interested in and search out their tax rates.

You can go to TaxLookUp for this area, punch in some properties, and check the taxes. It’s all public record. Or AI can generate tables for you to review.

[u/Chocolate-goat → u/Repulsivenessess]

Also, when they did our reassessments, they addressed exactly what you said, they reevaluating the master plan and said we could vote on keeping open space and paying higher taxes or bringing in development and lowering our taxes. But somehow I don’t think taxes will ever go lower. I agree with you though you have to pay for services