Property taxes can be a big factor in selling your home on Long Island. They can directly impact how fast it takes to sell your home and how much it will sell for. Here’s what you need to know before listing your home for sale.
New Real Estate Market Trends
While the national economy appears to be strong and growing, more and more data suggests we may have surpassed the peak in this cycle. While Nassau County is busy reassessing all properties for tax purposes at what may be top of the market values, there are rumors of growing inventory levels, weak rents and declining prices in New York. Even in The Hamptons, the average home price has now dropped below $1M. In the second quarter of 2018, sales prices fell by over 5% and sales volume by almost 13%.
Now we have even higher property taxes and tax assessments, when legally these numbers should be going down. That’s on top of the fact that the new tax bill has added a much bigger burden on homeowners.
Using Property Taxes to Sell Your Long Island House
The above means that property taxes are becoming an increasingly critical element in selling homes on Long Island. Specifically in which homes get bought, how fast, and how much buyers are willing to pay for them.
If you’ve got two almost identical property listings, the one with the lower property taxes is going to be the top choice.
Today, there is more pressure and urgency to sell before prices go even lower and more equity is lost. If you are thinking about selling your home, challenging your property tax assessment and getting that lowered can make a big difference in the results. It will get more agents and buyers viewing and bidding on the property. They will be able to pay more and still save compared to having a higher assessment on the same property. Use this as a powerful marketing tool.
It’s also important to be cautious and strategic in making any changes or improvements to the property. Realtors will want you to make their job easier by updating and staging the property. Just be careful not to increase your tax assessment and bills in the process. Improving curb appeal can help, but adding square footage, increase bedroom or bathroom counts, or making conversions can add to the tax liability.
Find out which home renovations can make your property taxes go up here…