The Morris County market
Morris County contains three property types that a conventional sales grid handles badly, and most of the difficult assignments here involve one of them.
Large-lot estates. Harding and Mendham zone in multiples of acres. Beyond a certain point additional land contributes at a much lower rate, and the excess has to be valued separately rather than multiplied through.
Lake communities. Mountain Lakes, Denville and Boonton price on lake rights as much as on the house.
Association membership, dock and beach access, and whether the right runs with the deed are separate questions. Two houses on the same street can answer them differently.
Outbuildings. Barns, arenas and detached garages rarely return their cost. What they contribute depends on whether the local market is actually buying them, which is a matter of evidence rather than of replacement cost.
The rest of the county is more conventional. Madison, Chatham and Florham Park behave as ordinary suburban markets with deep sales data, and Morristown’s condominium stock prices on building, floor and walk-to-station distance.
Randolph, Chester and Washington sit between the two — newer subdivisions next to historic farmsteads, where the nearest sale is often not the most comparable one.
Appealing a Morris County assessment
Appeals are filed with the Morris County Board of Taxation. The filing deadline is April 1, moving to May 1 in any municipality that implemented a revaluation or reassessment for the tax year.
The appraisal supporting the appeal needs an effective date of October 1 of the pre-tax year — not today's date — and the board applies the Chapter 123 Common Level Range, which can mean no reduction even where the property is worth less than its assessment. How the Chapter 123 test actually works .
Every Morris County municipality has its own certified average ratio, and it decides the outcome before any appraisal is commissioned. The Chapter 123 calculator works out where a given assessment lands — including whether an appeal would raise it.
Municipalities served in Morris County
Morristown · Dover · Madison · Chatham · Florham Park · Summit · Bernardsville · Mendham · Chester · Long Hill · Harding · Morris Plains · Wharton · Rockaway · Denville · Mountain Lakes · Boonton · Butler · Kinnelon · Lincoln Park · Montville · Parsippany-Troy Hills · Randolph · Roxbury · Washington Township · Mine Hill · Victory Gardens · Netcong · Mount Arlington · Hopatcong · Stanhope