The Santa Clara County Assessor spoke to our Realtors' group this morning. As expected, his outlook was less than positive. Loss in tax revenue will most likely bring loss in services, and the county is running in a "net negative" for the 5th time. (The first three times were during the Great Depression, and the fourth was right after the passage of Prop 13.) This year, the Assessor's office has automatically reduced the assessed value of 42,000 properties, with an average reduction of $75,000. This accounts for $5.5 billion off the assessment roll. Most reductions were of single family homes,but the 35 commercial properties that were reassessed lost an average of $2.2 million each in assessed valuation.
He said that they base these home reassessments on school district, since it is impossible to formally appraise each house. They also look at the history of transactions in an area for the last several years. High-end neighborhoods will not show losses compared to the "blood bath" areas such as Gilroy, Morgan Hill or East San Jose.
Cards from the Assessor's office should arrive in June this year, and then we will have several months to apply for a reassessment. Keep in mind, though, that the assessed value is what your taxes are based on, so even if a home has lost $200,000 in value...from $800,000 to $600,000, for instance...if your assessed value is $350,000, a reassessment won't help you.
2 comments:
Does the assessed value take precedence over purchase price for the year in which the house was bought? for example, if we bought our house in 2008, do we pay the property taxes for 2008-2009 on the 2008 sales price or on the assessed value?
It takes several months, but you will receive a supplemental tax bill, based on the recorded sales price. If prices have gone down since the close of escrow, you may apply for a reassessment this summer. The exception is for those people who bought a forclosure or short sale property. According to Larry, they may be assessed at the "true area value" of their home.
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