How to estimate property taxes in LA county??

[Henry Murray]

Hi BP! So I’ve tried several avenues already and I’m actually shocked I haven’t been able to find this info anywhere yet, so I’m turning to the trusty BP community.  (Disclaimer: I’m not asking for tax advice, just for someone to point me to an official source.  Hopefully from LA county or city websites)

Does anybody know how to estimate (calculate) what my tax bill will be for a particular property that I’m looking at making an offer on in LA county? How do you estimate/account for taxes in your deals in LA county or is there a common way to do it?

So far I’ve:

• 1) Looked a prior tax history for the property.  However, because of Prop 13 the seller’s tax basis could be MUCH lower than the sale price and my taxes would jump up when the property was sold and the tax basis was reassessed so I’m not sure how much the tax history tells me.   
• 2) Looked all over the Assessor’s website for a property tax calculator and come up empty.  Other counties (outside of CA) have online calculators where you can input the address, if it’s a primary residence, the new sale value, etc and it’ll tell you almost exactly what tax bill to expect.
• 3) Asked my friend who recently bought a condo here in the south bay.  He told me he honestly didn’t know exactly what his property tax bill would be before making the offer and closing and he didn't know how to estimate it either.
• 4) Asked a real estate agent who I recently started talking to.  She’s been in the business for 10 years but didn’t know either and also didn’t know of anywhere I could find that info.  She did tell me that it varies between cities in LA county and off the top of her head, told me to estimate 1.5% of the purchase price.

I saw on forums/online somewhere a while ago that 1.25% is a good ballpark but I’d really rather have a more official source.  A $2k difference in yearly taxes (the difference between 1.25% vs 1.5% on a $800k property) would have a significant effect on my cash flow that I’d like to understand when I’m running numbers on potential deals. 

Thanks for your help or any sources you can point me to!

[Shaun Weekes]

Originally posted by @Henry Murray:

Hi BP! So I’ve tried several avenues already and I’m actually shocked I haven’t been able to find this info anywhere yet, so I’m turning to the trusty BP community.  (Disclaimer: I’m not asking for tax advice, just for someone to point me to an official source.  Hopefully from LA county or city websites)

Does anybody know how to estimate (calculate) what my tax bill will be for a particular property that I’m looking at making an offer on in LA county? How do you estimate/account for taxes in your deals in LA county or is there a common way to do it?

So far I’ve:

• 1) Looked a prior tax history for the property.  However, because of Prop 13 the seller’s tax basis could be MUCH lower than the sale price and my taxes would jump up when the property was sold and the tax basis was reassessed so I’m not sure how much the tax history tells me.   
• 2) Looked all over the Assessor’s website for a property tax calculator and come up empty.  Other counties (outside of CA) have online calculators where you can input the address, if it’s a primary residence, the new sale value, etc and it’ll tell you almost exactly what tax bill to expect.
• 3) Asked my friend who recently bought a condo here in the south bay.  He told me he honestly didn’t know exactly what his property tax bill would be before making the offer and closing and he didn't know how to estimate it either.
• 4) Asked a real estate agent who I recently started talking to.  She’s been in the business for 10 years but didn’t know either and also didn’t know of anywhere I could find that info.  She did tell me that it varies between cities in LA county and off the top of her head, told me to estimate 1.5% of the purchase price.

I saw on forums/online somewhere a while ago that 1.25% is a good ballpark but I’d really rather have a more official source.  A $2k difference in yearly taxes (the difference between 1.25% vs 1.5% on a $800k property) would have a significant effect on my cash flow that I’d like to understand when I’m running numbers on potential deals. 

Thanks for your help or any sources you can point me to!

 I would look up closed sales in past 30 days and pull those tax bills.  This will give a great estimate on what taxes are in each city.  Most cities in LA county are around 1% but many cities have higher taxes.  For example, I believe Compton is 1.6%.

But pulling newer sales and doing the math from sales price to tax amount is a for sure thing.

You can also contact escrow officers as they have a great pulse on tax rates since they see tax bills all the time.

I hope this helps and have a good one.