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Current California Property Tax Law does apply today to all property owners in California. Prop 13 was enacted in 1978 to control the amount of property taxes paid by homeowners. Prior to Current California Property Tax Law there was no limit on property taxes. The assessed value was based on the changing market value every year and because the market values increased significantly over time in California, the amount of property taxes increased significantly. As the values of the homes increased over time, older folks were being driven out of their homes unable to pay the property tax increases.

Current California Property Tax Law was passed to assist seniors on fixed incomes who could not adjust to increasing property taxes. This amendment was initiated by Howard Jarvis was a result of a ballot initiative passed by voters in June of 1978, called People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation. Current California Property Tax Law is an amendment to the California State Law and is still a hot topic today because of its limiting nature and the imbalance it has created in terms of how much each taxpayer pays. Property Owners who bought thirty years ago dont pay nearly as much in property taxes as those who have acquired homes recently and as a result of this many taxpayers feel Current California Property Tax Law is unfair and should be repealed.

Prop 13 applies to all who own property in California even those who have bought recently. What Current California Property Tax Law does today is establish a cap on the amount of property taxes the government can charge you. The initial amount you paid for your property, as long it was a market transaction, becomes your base value.

A market transaction means that as long as your purchase price was market value it will be accepted as your taxable base value. If you paid well below market value for your home the Assessor will assess you at market value because that is what Prop 13 states. Your assessment is based on market value as of the re-assessable event and if your purchase price was market value the Assessor will accept it as market value. If not, the Assessor will determine a value for you.

Most California Residents pay close to 1.25% of their assessed value in property taxes per year. A simple example is if your assessed value is $200,000 you would pay about $2,500 per year in property taxes. The difference between your base value and your assessed value is very simple. Your base value is the value established as of the date of a re-assessable event usually when your purchase your home. The assessed value usually increases each year since all base values in California have a 0-2% increase per year based on Current California Property Tax Law and the Consumer Price Index.

Generally, most Californians pay about 1.25% of their assessed value in actual property taxes per year. So as your base value increases every year raising your property tax value year to year, accordingly what you pay in property taxes increases. Remember the amount you pay is limited based on California Property Tax Law. When the market goes up and your market value increases substantially, your property tax base wont go up along with the market, it is limited to the 2% increase based on State Law.

About the author: Valerie Faltas has specialized in Property Taxes for the past 5 years and has produced a free report that exposes the truth about Prop 13 and Prop 8. Check out our FREE California ebook which explains Prop 13 in more depth with examples! Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have! Get your free report on Prop 8 and Prop 13 now. You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.

Frequently the Assessor’s Office property records are not accurate since the Assessor’s Office is a massive processing government organization and possibly the work was done very fast, or the information varied without their knowledge or there was documentation that slipped through the cracks. The reasons are endless, however the great thing is that the answer to this problem is simple. Every property there is a building record with the Assessors which includes a drawing of the shell of the house and details about the home.

Assessors Offices maintain very detailed records based upon their tools, staff and workload. The records on your home are for the purpose of valuation even though other industry professionals use the data provided by the Assessors Office to substantiate house records. From the sketch of your home the square footage of the home is calculated, then the description includes the type of property, the use type, and any other details that may be pertinent to the assessment of the residence.

The Assessor’s records are in reality is generally used by real estate professionals as official. Essentially, making sure your records are accurate will more than likely affect the value of your house since the banks, buyers, sellers, etc. all use these records to confirm the structures on your property. The Assessor’s records affect most real estate transactions despite the fact that the Assessor makes no representation of having information for anything other than assessment purposes.

So often building information for your residence are wrong, it easy to have the Assessor’s Office update them and often this will not result in an increased assessment. Get in touch with your county Assessor and your request will create a public service inquiry to have your records updated. The public service inquiry will be forwarded to an appraiser who will converse with you and/or maybe visit your house for dimensions or discover from you over the phone what the differences are in the records and adjustment accordingly. Commonly, the Assessor’s Office will use the data you give them over the phone or internet for a straight forward update such as a bedroom or bathroom count adjustment. Typically, this is uncomplicated for the Assessor to deal with. If there is new contruction to your property that you built and has not been assessed, it possibly could result in an increase in propety taxes however, if the reason it hasn’t been assessed is the Assessor’s fault there is likely a statute of limitations. When you speak to the Assessor about this find out if you will have an increase in your property taxes and make sure you document their response and the person who gave you that information. Remember, there are many facets to assessments and you want to be covered should you be misinformed.

If the changes were done prior to your purchase of the house it may be seen as construction before transfer and since you bought the property with the structures already there, very likely no increase in your property taxes would result from the record update. The reasoning for this is that you paid for that construction when you bought the property and consequently there is no change in value. On the flip side, if you enhanced your residence then there may be a change in the worth. The Assessor may ask for data relating to the construction information or documentation as to what the property was when you bought it such as the listing data this will be different on a case by case basis. Often, the Assessor will go based on your word and will update the records through a phone call.

Always remember when thinking about this is that the Assessor’s Office is a different government entity from your city. The Assessor needs correct records so the assessments of your home are accurate. Generally they don’t care if what you have on your property is permitted or not because even when not permitted it may add worth to your property. The Assessor’s Office is not generally in the practice of telling your city what is on your property so this can be much simplier than you may think. When homeowners think of the Assessor or the City they often think these government entities as being in communication with one another, generally they aren’t. This would be good to find out for your own knowledge.

About the Author: Valerie Faltas, Property Tax Expert worked in assessments for over four years and assessed over 6,000 properties. Valerie is also a licensed appraiser, real estate investor and consultant. She left the Assessor to make information public she could not disclose while she worked there.

When Proposition 13 passed in 1978, it really limited the capacity of local governments to use property taxes to construct public improvements and services. Consequently, California Homeowners had to discover different methods to pay for public facilities in their neighborhoods such as roads, schools, parks, etc. The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 was enacted by the State legislature, the Act enabled Community Facilities Districts (CFD’s) to be put into place by local government agencies as a means of getting this crucial community funding.

Each Community Financial District has is different Mellow-Roos Property Tax. Normally|Generally|Typically, an approved formula that pertains to the residence size or parcel size is utilized to determine the amount of specific assessment. So a smaller house in a community will pay less than a larger home in the same neighborhood. Often, the special property tax and assessments do not go above 1% to 1.5% of the market value of new homes. Additionally, the total quantity of all yearly property tax normally do not go above 2% to 2.5% of the house’s taxable property base value. If you take action to lower your taxable base value meaning, your property taxes you will save a significant amount of money especially, if you have Mellow-Roos Taxes on your residence because of the higher percentage in property taxes you pay. Most likely you will save thousands every year because even though the percentages are low values in California are high enough to make them substantial.

In California many homeowners in most urban areas have lost in excess of $200,000 in market value on their homes and at the normal rate of 1.25% in property taxes they will save $2,500 per year for every year they keep their home! Yet, that same homeowner at a 2% property tax rate because of Mellow-Roos taxes will save over $4,000 every year in property taxes! If you are paying Mellow-Roos and have lost $200,000 since you purchased your home and let’s say you intend to stay in your home for the next 10 years, you will save $40,000! Don’t settle for Proposition 8 the temporary decline in property taxes, its only temporary. Learning to PERMANENTLY lower your taxable base value in California is the key to saving thousands over the course of your home ownership which is disclosed in the California Little Black Book.

Frequently Mellow-Roos Property Taxes are applied to newly built neighborhoods such as large Planned Unit Developments (PUD) where there have been many new homes built in a short period of time and the taxes are needed to establish city services. Ive seen Planned Unit Developments that had more than 5,000 homes built! So, the county and city municipalities need to scramble for financing to establish the roads, sewage systems, schools, recreation centers, parks and so much more. Prior to buying a home with Mellow-Roos property taxes you will be notified in the initial negotiation stages of buying the home and during escrow that these property taxes apply. You will never be blind sighted by Mellow-Roos Taxes, it is required that you are informed before buying.

About the Author: Valerie Faltas, Property Tax Expert has been involved in all facets of real estate for over ten years including assessments, appraisals, estates and trusts, investing and much more. She is a Certified Property Tax Appraiser, Licensed Residential Appraiser and a member of the International Association of Assessment Officers. As a real estate investor and advisor she is well versed in all aspects of real estate. To contact Valerie Faltas go to her website: www.propertytaxlittleblackbook.com.

These three organizations deal with various aspects of your property taxes. Some counties join these organizations when they are smaller and don’t have a necessity for three different organizations. All of the work begins with the Assessors Office, first in deciding what is assessable and then handling the valuation of that re-assessment and all of these determinations are made by your state law.

Assessments go through a process within the Assessor, to determine the value for that assessable event or assessment year. At the end of the fiscal year all of the values for the year are sent to the Auditor-Controller to apply the correct tax rate (percentage) to each parcel which varies in each tax rate area and determines the actual dollar amount you owe. The tax rate is set based on the area you live in and the local taxes applied to your local community in addition to the state levied taxes. The tax rate is usually a percentage of the value determined by the Assessors Office.

In addition, if in a tax rate area has a special assessment or a direct assessment it is added by the Auditor-Controller. Finally the data is sent to the Tax Collector who distributes the bills, collects the money and deposits it in the County Treasury. These three departments compse the property tax branch of your county government and each handle their responsibilities separately.

For example, if you discovered you had a lien or delinquent taxes on your property, you need to go to the Tax Collector’s Office to pay them and have the lien removed and the records brought up to date. However, if you had an issue with the amount of property taxes or the value in which your property taxes are based on you would contact the Assessor, because that is what the Assessors Office is responsible for. For example, if you had a value issue, you would go to your Assessor, and how to do this is detailed in both the California Little Black Book and also the National Little Black Book.

When the value is corrected by the Assessor it is sent to the Auditor-Controller who would correct the actual dollar amount owed, and then the Tax Collector corrects the bill and then your adjusted bill is generated. Generally, the two offices that handle public service are the Assessor and the Tax Collector, the Auditor-Controller is the silent partner of the property tax banch. Usually, public service is resolved before it gets to the Auditor-Controller’s Office and is requested by the Assessor.

This is an intricate process and at times values are adjusted by the Assessor and the actual bills sent out by the Tax Collector are not corrected. This occurs when the Auditor-Controller, for whatever reason has not corrected the right bill or there was a procedural mistake. Always keep in mind all of these departments are mass processing organizations and do the best they can and it is your responsibility to make sure that your values are accurate. When this happens a special request needs to be sent by the Assessors Office to have the value corrected and then it is forwarded to the Tax Collector who will issue a new bill. Remember all problems can and will be fixed with a little bit of effort, understanding and patience.

About the Author: Valerie Faltas, Property Tax Expert has been involved in all facets of real estate for over ten years including assessments, appraisals, estates and trusts, investing and much more. She is a Certified Property Tax Appraiser, Licensed Residential Appraiser and a member of the International Association of Assessment Officers. As a real estate investor and adviser she is well versed in all aspects of real estate. To contact Valerie Faltas go to her website: www.propertytaxlittleblackbook.com

The simple answer to this question is: they are processing your property taxes! Be nice!

If there is a mistake|an error in your building record or a value that is far above than what it should be, it is not intentional nor is it personal. Mistakes happensince there is such a volume of work for them to complete and so many residences to appraise! Always remember the Assessor is a mass assessment organization and they do not necessarily have the time or the staff to make sure every single value is what it should be. All government organizations are overwhelmed with work and the Assessor’s Office is no different. So, cut them a little slack, they’re not out to get you.

The employees of the Assessor can make your life extremely easy and they can also make it more complicated. If you’re frustrating to deal with, no one will want to assist you, even if the error is the Assessors mistake. The personnel do not like being treated as people who are out to get you, since they arent. The employees are unaffected by how much you pay in property taxes, or your records and values, so be pleasant. Be a person they want to help so that you can get the most of how they can help. Remember, even if the person you are speaking with can’t help you, most likely they know the person who can and have influence with that individual.

As an employee of the Assessor there were front doors slammed in my face, I was yelled at by the public. Sometimes I was treated like I had no knowledge of property tax law or even appraisal and I was not excited about to help people who treated me like that. Part of myresponsibility to help them, to be a civil servant. Yet, after working for years in an environment where the homeowners resented me and the job I did it was very taxing. Remember, the Assessor himself is a person and the staff are human beings and they have been yelled at enough already. They are yelled at everyday and most of the staff work there for years.

Imagine what its like to work in a place for years where your clients hate you! Its not fun! Don’t be one more homeowner they add to that list! The staff you encounter who work for the Office of the Assessor, handle and influence your property taxes, always keep that in mind! They have worked with thousands of property owners and can read you like a book, so be kind and patient and understand they are not out to screw you. The staff of the Assessor, are doing their jobs. Being frustrating and antagonizing will not get you what you are looking for. You may be surprised at what being kind and patient will get you.

About the Author: Valerie Faltas, Property Tax Expert worked in assessments for years, is a Certified Property Tax Appraiser, Licensed Residential Appraiser and a member of the International Association of Assessment Officers. As a real estate investor and adviser she is well versed in all aspects of real estate. To contact Valerie Faltas go to her website: www.propertytaxlittleblackbook.com