The Union County market
Union County is small enough to drive across in half an hour and varied enough that the municipal boundary is a real adjustment.
Westfield, Summit, Cranford, Scotch Plains and Fanwood sit close together and do not price alike. In places the school district line runs mid-block, and two houses a few hundred feet apart belong to different markets.
That is the trap a radius search sets here. A sale half a mile away can be less comparable than one two miles away in the same district.
Elizabeth, Rahway and Linden hold most of the county’s two-to-four family stock. Those are income properties, and unit legality against the certificate of occupancy is the usual point of failure — an unregistered unit generally cannot be given income credit.
Proximity to Newark Liberty and to the port matters on the eastern side. Overflight noise is priced by the market whether or not a seller mentions it, and it is measurable in the sales.
The county’s industrial history also shows up on individual parcels. An appraisal is not an environmental assessment; where contamination is suspected, the report either states the hypothetical condition it relies on or waits for a Phase I.
Appealing a Union County assessment
Appeals are filed with the Union 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 Union 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 Union County
Elizabeth · Union · Plainfield · Linden · Rahway · Westfield · Cranford · Summit · Roselle · Hillside · Clark · Scotch Plains · Fanwood · New Providence · Berkeley Heights · Garwood · Kenilworth · Mountainside · Springfield · Roselle Park · Winfield