How property taxes affect your monthly payment

This episode goes deeper on the relationship between property taxes and your true monthly housing cost, with a focus on comparing towns rather than comparing list prices. A home in Ridgewood and a home in a neighboring town may be listed at the same price but carry a $400-per-month difference in tax escrow — which is the same as a full point difference in your mortgage rate.

Kathleen shares how to use the New Jersey property tax records tool to look up any address's tax bill, how to calculate the effective tax rate (annual tax ÷ assessed value), and why towns with lower rates sometimes have higher bills because their assessments are closer to market value.

The practical takeaway: always run the monthly payment comparison across multiple towns before you narrow your search, not after you've already fallen in love with one neighborhood.