[nurseg]

Hi,
I would like to add my fiancé to the title/deed of "our" home. We have three children together, 14, 6, and 2. We have been together 16 yrs and bought our first brand new home three years ago. At the time I was actively working as an RN per diem at the county jail, he's a boiler operator at a plant. We both made great money(he still does) however its hard getting work in NJ as they want all RNs to have a BSN degree, I only have a associates! So I was an still am having trouble finding work! I had come into a large amt. of money from a bad car accident years ago so we paid cash for our home and at settlement I was told by the builder and realator that my taxes were about 4500.00. We put it in my name because my fiancé had some IRS issues that he was taking care of from a previous company he and a friend owned years ago, we thougt it was safer! I never received any booklet or anything for my taxes at settlement so I called the twp. Not too long after settlement and they said I should have? So they sent me stubs in themail an to my surprise my taxes were 8,000.00 a year plus I had to pay around 275.00 every quarter(we pay four times a year) for the next year for land taxes!! Which I didn't understand and they explained it I still didn't get it but supposedly had something to do with the time frame of the house being sold, it wasn't built for us someone else was to buy it an it fell throug then I came alomg months later so I don't know if any of that was even legal or true? Why I have to pay land taxes on a house I just bougt in addition to my regular taxes? Anyway basically with me not working and our taxes being so high, not what we had planned on, we are really behind! The only way to save our dream home from sheriffs sale is for my working husband to get on the house deed and apply for a loan to get us out of the hole an buy us some time! We realize this is crazy, it's a dream for people to have a paid off house but what's the difference you never really own your home anyway! If you don't pay taxes then the govt takes it anyway! So I'm sorry for the long post but I'm trying to explain our situation thoroughly! Please no negativity, I'm very depressed about all of this! Just honest helpful answers please! My house was 300,00 we bought it in July of 09 We paid our taxes but only a little when we could we probably owe about 10,000 now!! At this point twp is getting short with us saying we have two or three months before tax sale! Thank You

[joypulv]

None of this makes much sense, sorry. I don't understand how someone can buy a house and not know what the taxes are. Prorated taxes are on the settlement statement, for one thing. You say you weren't getting tax bills (generally the town will send them once a year, for either 4 quarters or twice a year) and it's your responsibility to find out about them. Yet you say you were paying 'some amount' each year? Or you just did? Why are you only asking 3 years later? Why is this a surprise NOW?
You add your fiancé to the deed by going to the deed office and adding it. Call them to see what they need, if anything, and if there is a fee. I'm not sure he will be able to get a loan based on his history though.
Your best bet is to stop in to the tax collector's office while you visit the deed office, and work out a payment plan.
Also - it seems highly unlikely that a house you bought for 300K would have taxes of 8K+. Is it possible that is 1 1/2% interest compounded monthly? Or that this was a million dollar house, and you got a huge bargain, and should have talked to the town about reducing the assessed value?

[LisaB4657]

You can add your fiancé to the deed at the time you finance the property. Start contacting banks and mortgage companies to get information about a mortgage. However try to avoid having them run a credit check until you know that you are going to be applying to that lender. Too many credit checks will hurt your credit rating.

But you also need to get yourself a real estate attorney. The builder who sold you the house may be responsible for a large portion of the taxes that you paid for the first year you owned it, depending on when the town reassessed the property and issued the certificate of occupancy.

At least sit down with an attorney for a free consultation (many of them offer it) and bring copies of all of your prior tax bills as well as the closing statement from when you bought the house. They may be able to tell you if the builder is responsible for any of the taxes.