Stock Market

[dioxide45]

I was telling my hudband about the low property taxes in California and he was shocked! We always here about how expensive California is.

I guess it's the real estate prices then? The income taxes? Sales taxes?

I believe of all places, the state with the highest property taxes is actually New Jersey.

 

[wilma]

I was telling my hudband about the low property taxes in California and he was shocked! We always here about how expensive California is.

I guess it's the real estate prices then? The income taxes? Sales taxes?

Property taxes are low only if you bought your house years ago. My parents bought their house in the 1950s and paid less than $1000/yr in property tax. When they sold it for more than $1.5 million (in the heart of Silicon valley) the new owners then are paying more than $15,000 in property taxes. The new buyers of homes in Calif are paying the bulk of the property taxes. My neighbors bought their house in the 1970s and pay around $1000, they both are in their 70s, still work, and make around $400,000. The people next door just bought their house last year and pay about $16,000. It's crazy.

 

[Icc5]

Property Tax

Property taxes are low only if you bought your house years ago. My parents bought their house in the 1950s and paid less than $1000/yr in property tax. When they sold it for more than $1.5 million (in the heart of Silicon valley) the new owners then are paying more than $15,000 in property taxes. The new buyers of homes in Calif are paying the bulk of the property taxes. My neighbors bought their house in the 1970s and pay around $1000, they both are in their 70s, still work, and make around $400,000. The people next door just bought their house last year and pay about $16,000. It's crazy.

My Mom in Santa Clara,Ca. pays right around $800 a year in property tax for the house they bought in 1948 and is covered under prop. 13. I live nearby in Cupertino and my next door neighbor who bought his house about 15 years ago for one million pays over 17,000 a year. They get the same benefits for their property taxes.
We bought our house out of my wife's families trust mainly for keeping prop 13 on the house. We pay $2600 a year instead of over 19,000 a year. We had a house down the street that cost us 400,000 in 1970 and when we sold it we were at almost 9,000 for property tax because we weren't under prop 13.
By moving we went from 1650 sq. ft. to 3200 sq. ft. and save $6400 a year just in property tax alone.

 

[John Cummings]

I was telling my hudband about the low property taxes in California and he was shocked! We always here about how expensive California is.

I guess it's the real estate prices then? The income taxes? Sales taxes?

Property taxes are not really low compared to other states. It all depends on when and where you purchase your home. There can also be additional fees, like Mello-Roos, depending on the neighborhood. We have never had to pay these additional fees on our 5 homes we have owned in Southern and Northern California.

 

[WinniWoman]

My Mom in Santa Clara,Ca. pays right around $800 a year in property tax for the house they bought in 1948 and is covered under prop. 13. I live nearby in Cupertino and my next door neighbor who bought his house about 15 years ago for one million pays over 17,000 a year. They get the same benefits for their property taxes.
We bought our house out of my wife's families trust mainly for keeping prop 13 on the house. We pay $2600 a year instead of over 19,000 a year. We had a house down the street that cost us 400,000 in 1970 and when we sold it we were at almost 9,000 for property tax because we weren't under prop 13.
By moving we went from 1650 sq. ft. to 3200 sq. ft. and save $6400 a year just in property tax alone.

Still. $17,000 on a one million dollar house is nothing. The county right below mine- people are paying $25,000 and up for homes in the $300,000 - $400,000 range. I am talking nice big MacMansion type homes in developments in a good school district.

 

[WinniWoman]

Property taxes are not really low compared to other states. It all depends on when and where you purchase your home. There can also be additional fees, like Mello-Roos, depending on the neighborhood. We have never had to pay these additional fees on our 5 homes we have owned in Southern and Northern California.

What is Mello-Roos?

 

[John Cummings]

Wjat is Mello-Roos?

"A Mello-Roos tax is a species of parcel tax that circumvents Proposition 13 (which limits property taxes based on the assessed value of real property) because it is not levied on the assessed value of real property."

Basically it is a bond that pays for the infrastructure in new developments.

Not all new developments have it as it depends whether the builder paid for the infrastructure or not. I never have nor ever will buy a home which has the Mello-Roos tax.

http://www.californiataxdata.com/pdf/Mello-Roos2.pdf

Note: "A Mello-Roos CFD cannot be formed without a two-thirds majority vote of residents living within the proposed boundaries."

 

[klpca]

Still. $17,000 on a one million dollar house is nothing. The county right below mine- people are paying $25,000 and up for homes in the $300,000 - $400,000 range. I am talking nice big MacMansion type homes in developments in a good school district.

Wow. That is just shocking. The property tax rate in CA is roughly 1% of the original purchase price and can go up a maximum of 2% (of the tax, not the home value) per year. We also live in a neighborhood without Mello Roos. In some areas Mello Roos adds another $5k to their annual bill, but still nothing compared to what you are paying.

 

[VacationForever]

Wow. That is just shocking. The property tax rate in CA is roughly 1% of the original purchase price and can go up a maximum of 2% (of the tax, not the home value) per year. We also live in a neighborhood without Mello Roos. In some areas Mello Roos adds another $5k to their annual bill, but still nothing compared to what you are paying.

Mello-Roos allows adding an additional 1% tax on property value. For most part it is a fixed value and the smaller and less expensive home pay as much mello roos as the more expensive homes - it includes bond for schools, payment to get fire department and police services, roads etc. My current home in CA has Mello-Roos and it can add up very quickly. I did pay down on the most expensive component of the mello roos (pay ahead) which was one of the school district bonds when I first bought my home and Mello-Roos was discounted based on net present value, plus it avoided the built-in inflation that got added into the bill each year. My neighbors are crying "bloody murder" when they get their property tax bill each year. While I have a more expensive home, my annual property tax ends up less than my neighbors'.