As New Jersey and other states around the country discuss in their legislatures how to best address eminent domain, the legislatures must make a decision. Are the rights of the homeowner or property owner more important to them than the opportunities for development and growth of their tax base? For a politician this is a tough question. For a New Jersey politician this is a VERY tough question.

New Jersey is essential built out. There is very little land left  to be developed. The builders and developers are one of the most powerful lobbies in the state and eminent domain is their tool of choice.

Imagine if you will that you are a developers and  want to develop a new condo complex. There are 10 pieces of property that need to be put together to make the deal happen. You put out  feelers and 7 of the people you think will sell quickly, 2 want to hold out for extra money, and 1 does not want to sell. What are you gonna do? The project could die.

Well, the writers of the constitution would say let the  project die, or get the developer to make them an offer that is so lucrative to get the homeowner to sell. Folks who defend eminent domain rights would say let the project die. But a developer sees a good deal of money to be made, so he goes to the local politicians, donates to their campaigns, attends the chicken dinners, and then makes a proposition.

“Mr. Politician, you have the  power to create an economic development council that can put together the properties through eminent domain and then sell them to me. If you do so, the donations to your campaign will continue and your tax base for this part of town will double, and odds are you will see some gentrification of the area and taxes to work with will go up even more. You will be a hero to many and get re-elected in the  process if we do it right.”

So Mr. Politician thinks that this a wonderful idea. Only three voters will be upset, and they will be forced to move anyway, it is a win win.

But the problem is that the property rights of the one person are abused. They trusted our system to protect them. And everyone in the community has the sinking feeling that they may be next, because the government always continues behavior that brings in money. Have you ever seen a tax taken off of the books? So the people in the community have a sick feeling in their stomach as they know something is very wrong.

And they are right. Private property is one of the factors that made this country great. We need to have the total trust that the government can not come and just take our property at their desecration. If someone wants to buy it bad enough, make them pay a price that is high enough to entice me to sell. Do not pay that difference to the politician to make him do you bidding with the force and power of the government.  

New Jersey is now having this discussion, which I will discuss in a later post. They are trying to figure out where the line is. If New Jersey starts recognizing that eminent domain is a right, and gets the politicians out of bed with the developers, odds are then  the  rest of the country will recognize that eminent domain is to be respected and this part of the constitution will be protected.

We will continue to discuss how the battle over eminent domain  is shaping up in New Jersey is playing out in our next post on the subject.

Related posts:

1. New Jersey Loses One Third of Real Estate Agents In 2008
2. Buyers Rebate Program Under Consideration For New Jersey
3. Top 10 Counties For The Highest Property Taxes
4. Rebuilding New York’s World Trade Center Hampered By Credit Crunch