Replies

None. Prop 13 in action.
Your property taxes are set at the value of the time of sale and stay there forever. The exception being structural improvements you make to the property that may increase the valuee. The gvt finds that out because you need a permit to do almost anything to your proprty...decks, outbuildings, patio’s, drainage, etc.

Not true at all....hell, here in Riverside County the assessor mailed EVERYONE a notice, even if not requested, stating that reassessments would be done if in order.

In my case, it's not in order because I paid less than 100K in 1987, and although I maybe could have fetched 500K four years ago, it's now probably saleable for less than 3....so a long way to go.

Your statement “Your property taxes are set at the value of the time of sale and stay there forever.” cannot be further from the truth. The structural improvement comments are accurate. Although I believe everytime a permit is pulled you can be reassessed by the state. Thus, you may have to pay for your own assessment and fight the state on the assessed value.

Prop 13 allows a 1% increase per annum of your property tax if the current assessed value of your home is greater than the purchase price. Furthermore, they have back-doored about 20 additional FEES onto a California property owners tax bill since Proposition 13 passed.

Now, the falling prices of homes will allow one to submit an application for reduction of your property tax.

Also, when the last big earthquake hit and depressed homes prices as a result, I filed and received an assessment revaluation without having to actually have the property assessed by a professional. Most homeowners were able to take advantage of that to get their property taxes reduced. I’m not sure if something special was coded into law to allow this or is this was part of Prop. 13 to begin with.

In conclusion, my property tax has moved all over the place and presently stands at over 3.5k a year. I bought my home originally for 220k. Thus, if the tax stayed fixed to 1% of your purchase price, I'd be paying 2.2k a year and not 3.5k.