Just bought two more properties

[jmd_forest]

matter,

I agree with your sentiments regarding overtaxation and being "over serviced" by the police and other wastefully administered municipal services. According to my discussions with a retired police officer, one of our tiny (2 sq mile) local towns has its own police force of 26 that are constantly complaining about funds needed for radios, police cars, etc. I say just stand one officer at each intersection in the town and they easily could just yell to each other and still have a few officers left over.

However, in NJ the assessed value and the market value are so skewed that the assessed value tells you very little about what the property might be worth. In one town with an assessment ration of 1:1 the assessed value of $117K means the property MV is pretty close to $117K. In the next town over, the assessment ration  might be 1:3 and a property with an assessed value of $117K might be worth closer to $350K. In my opinion, even a a MV of $350K does not warrant an annual property tax bill of $4K. 

My personal residence is worth around $400K (nice but not particularly special for this part of NJ)  and the annual property taxes are over $8K. My wife and I are seriously considering moving out of NJ to a state with a lower tax burden.