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With the new year, comes the annual assessment of a portion of city properties. Done on a five-year cyclical basis, the 2017 focus will be on properties located west of Memorial Drive, officials said in written statement.

The upcoming inspections are not property assessments but information gathered will be used to determine up to date valuations.

Below is the news release in its entirety:

Properties west of Memorial Drive  will be re-inspected for assessment data purposes over the next few months, said City of Asbury Park Tax Assessor Erick Aguiar [at right]. As part of annual in-house reassessment of properties in Asbury Park, each property must be inspected once every five years. The information gathered will go towards the Tax Assessor’s appraisal process, and ensuring that the resulting tax distribution is fair and uniform. 

Inspectors are not appraisers, and are not appraising individual homes. The inspectors are data collectors with Realty Data Systems, who will return to data to the Tax Assessor’s office for the annual reassessment. Data points include, but are not limited to: room counts, dimension and condition of the structure, interior conditions and finished basement and attic spaces. For more information on the 2017 property reassessment, see the Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions.

In the past, properties were only inspected periodically, when a revaluation was done. To remove the need for costly revaluations, the City of Asbury Park now annually reassess properties in-house. For annual reassessments, the law requires the municipality to inspect every property once every five years. In accordance with the law, the City of Asbury Park has contracted Realty Data Systems (RDS) to perform the mandated inspections over a rolling five-year period. Each year, a geographic section will be chosen for the inspectors to verify property data. The purpose of the inspections is to gather proper information on each property so that the mass appraisal process and resulting tax distribution is fair and uniform.

Property owners in the selected section will be receiving a postcard in the coming weeks to notify them of the upcoming inspection. RDS will have a group of inspectors in the area verifying the interior and exterior data that the Assessor’s office has on file. The inspection consists of taking photographs with a tablet, knocking on doors to inspect the interior with a homeowner or adult permission, walking the properties (including rear yards) to perform exterior inspection, as well as sketching the structures.

If there is no answer at the door, a blue door hanger explaining the purpose of the visit and instructions to contact the inspector for an appointment will be left on the door knob (or under a doormat if necessary). The inspector will then continue the exterior inspection, including entering the rear of the property.  Inspectors will not go through locked gates, but will enter an unlocked gate/fence to access the rear of the property and verify the sketch of the structure. If the inspector does not gain access to the interior of your property, they will estimate the interior room counts and conditions.

All inspectors wear RDS logo shirts and high-visibility vests with “PROPERTY INSPECTOR” printed on the tail. They also carry photo ID badges.  The Assessor’s Office and Police Department have a full list of inspectors and their respective vehicle information.

Any questions should be directed to the Assessor’s office at 732-502-5750 or Erick.Aguiar@cityofasburypark.com.

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