Avoid PROPERTY TAX / ASSESSMENTS Going even Higher After Buy (CA)

[Neil G.]

Being from NY, when I relocated to CA I was quite shocked to see properties being taxed based on newest sale price, irregardless of what previous owners were payin for their last month etc.

Ie, when I queried why my 1M home's tax went from 1,000/yr to nearly 20,000/yr overnight, was told by the assessor's office rep 'Well if it isn't worth 1M why did you buy it for 1M?!'

But gosh, seeing/knowing what the previous owners were paying all the while is/was such a bloody teaser, though! And to top it off, the primary residence discount is just around $100 if i'm reading my tax bill correctly. Somehow I thought it would be hundreds or thousands, since I remember it being stated somewhere as a % but obviously so not the case.

The property's listing agent mentioned since it's a fixer, to avoid the tax going EVEN higher by simply rehabbing/renovating the property rather than pulling permits to remodel and/or to add beds/baths/etc.. which would cause the tax to skyrocket even more due to added assessments on improvements. Oh, great.

Seriously?! What about tax being based  on the most recent purchase price as it were? Sheesh. So if I were to remove beds/baths/sq footage etc, then that would potentially LOWER tax?! Or the assessor would reiterate 'Well if it isn't worth 1M why did you buy it for 1M'?!

=L