Simply go to the town hall and ask to see the tax card, as well you can then go to the building department and see if there are any permits on file. it could be that the assessment was done prior to the addition or it was built without a permit as stated, Here you will get the answer to put your mind at rest. good luck with working things out

Dee: I'm not sure where you got the square footage figure that does not include the addition. Quite often the public record available to the real estate community through their MLS does not contain ANY square footage at all! Even if the addition was properly registered and inspected and approved by the building department, the tax department my have no idea of the change. Communication of the change may have been missed between departments.

You have two hazards here that I can think of:

First, (and the biggest HAZARD,) if the addition were not properly approved, the building department could demand expensive opening of walls, etc. to see the underlying construction. If the whole addition is so far off code or zoning laws, they could demand that the whole thing be demolished. OUCH!

The second thing is that even if the building department approved the construction, you may find the tax assessor has not revalued the property and that may not come to their notice until the next general assessment. It may even be missed at that time. Nevertheless, there are also spot assessments allowed in this state and, if the tax department notes that your sale price exceeds the values in the neighborhood or the whole neighborhood seem to be appreciating faster than the rest of the municipality, you may find that, because of one thing or another, you have higher property taxes than you anticipated. As long as the tax is fair and you are in the position to pay any increase, this may not be a big deal for you. Otherwise, beware.

If the tax assessment is proper, and changed when the addition was completed, you might find that the sq. ft in the record simply didn't get updated.

Bottom line: This is something that you need to get to the bottom of.

Good Luck.

As Paul said, if the addition was built without permits it could be a real headache. A simple check with the building office and you can find out the history of permits issued on the property, and if those permits have been closed (meaning a successful final inspection)

Sometimes updates to the tax records are not as timely as they should be. But check this out. If you've already signed a contract, get an attorney involved.

Laura Giannotta
Keller Williams Atlantic Shore

It may have been added on without permits. Check with the construction office and the assessors office. If that is the case and you buy it anyway you might end up at some point with a reassessment and a higher tax bill than you expected. That is best case. They might make you take it down if it isn't up to code.

Your agent should be helping you with this. So should your attorney. Hopefully they both know what they are doing. This kind thing is missed all the time by inexperienced agents that don't have the knowledge necessary to help their client. I assume you HAVE a buyer's agent that isn't working for the company that listed this house.

Good luck,

Paul Howard,Broker
NJHomeBuyer.com Realty
MEMBER: NAEBA http://www.naeba.org (National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents)