Good news! Record number of property value reductions in county
Record number of property value reductions in county
The Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office today announced $21.4 billion in property value reductions on approximately 118,000 properties in the county.
The figures, based on an initial analysis of the assessment roll by the assessor’s office, represent a record number of reductions. The numbers won’t be final until the roll is completed on July 1.
The decrease in assessed values means a further hit to already cash-strapped schools as they see their revenue from property taxes drop.Assessor Larry Stone said the number of reductions in assessed value will likely greatly exceed the number of increases.
"The last 36 months is by far the worst economy I’ve experienced in the 45 years since I left graduate school for Wall Street," Stone said in a statement.
The reduction in assessed values is $4 billion greater than last year, Stone said.
To someone who is outside of California, this may seem like bad news… but in reality, this is excellent news. This means that homeowners will have low property taxes from now until forever thanks to Prop 13. This means less revenue for government, which means a smaller government, less services for people, which means more opportunities for businesses and private enterprise to fill in the gaps! And for these homeowners to become landlords and increase GDP.
Woot! Even better, according to the comments for this thread, houses in the Real Bay Area were not impacted at all! Double woot!
May 29th, 2010 at 7:55 am
You wrote “This means that homeowners will have low property taxes from now until forever thanks to Prop 13.” Unfortunately, that is wrong. Any time properties have their assessed values reduced because of market values dropping overall, it is always temporary and it’s as a reult of Prop 8.
The Santa Clara County website (see http://www.sccgov.org/portal/site/asr/agencyarticle?path=%252Fv7%252FAssessor%252C%2520Office%2520of%2520the%2520%2528ELO%2529&contentId=1460bb3166b34010VgnVCMP2200049dc4a92____) explains that this is temporary:
“Prop 8 reductions in value are TEMPORARY reductions which recognize the fact that the current market value of a property has fallen below its current (Prop 13) assessed value. Once a Prop 8 value has been enrolled, a property’s value must be annually reappraised to determine whether its then current market value is less than its Prop 13 factored base year value.”
Once the market recovers, the taxes will go back up.
But that’s ok. Santa Clara County home owners will take any break they can, even if it’s temporary.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Having the property taxes reviewed annually instead of every 2 or 3 years is better for the home owner. So far, my taxes have dropped every year that the home was reviewed.
Since the home’s value will slowly go up, instead of doubling every 10 years, I look forward to paying less taxes for many years. It may be 20 years before the taxes are back to what I originally paid in 2005.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:51 am
So far, my taxes have dropped every year that the home was reviewed.
I see why you’re on burbed now. You obviously made an amateur move to have bought in the wrong area at the wrong price, and all this time you’ve been pretending to be one of those angry renters. Truth comes out one way or the other.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:12 am
I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I am a renter in the Bay Area, not angry, just waiting for the fall so I can buy again at a reasonable price.
The property tax that I’m glad is dropping is for my two rental homes in the Sacramento area. The home prices have dropped at least 20% each. Since they are my retirement income, I don’t plan on selling for another 30 years or more. Having lower taxes is great.
I agree, the truth does eventually come out. Knowing home prices will continue to drop is slowly driving you insane (or already has).
Truth is something you don’t really want to hear.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Looks like I was right. You bought in the wrong area at the wrong price. If you had bought in RBA, you would not be in this situation. In fact, you can go out to Sacramento now and pick up a bargain. Wrong approach, and expected result.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:45 am
Wait, that’s not possible. If someone could “buy at the wrong price” then that means “Now is the time to buy” is not always true. And now is always the time to buy. Even 2006 was the time to buy! And so was 1989!
Because the time to buy is now! Now, now, now, now, now!
Now, who wants to let Mary Pope-Handy know what this website is for? Do you think she wants to buy 409 Fernando? I bet she’s kicking herself for letting Bryant get away. Now.
May 29th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Mary Pope-Handy, maybe you can give me some advice. I’m a janitor and I make good money. I’m currently a happy renter. But I would like to buy one of these days so I can enjoy homeownership and be able to water my own lawn.
Should I buy now or should I wait for prices to drop more? Are houses selling briskly now? If I wait, will I be priced out forever?
May 29th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
madhaus, I don’t think Mary wants 409 Fernando. She’s from my neck of the woods.
May 29th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Of course she does, nomadic! She needs to trade up to the Real Bay area.
Now!
May 29th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
madhaus says,
>>And now is always the time to buy.
That’s Pralay’s bullsh**, perpetuated by you. I never said now is always the time to buy, and here you see an example. Consider your question answered.
May 29th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
“I never said now is always the time to buy…”
When is now not the right time to buy?
May 29th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Read the thread.
May 29th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Typical RE bullsh*t. Never once have you given a time when it’s not the right time to buy – unless you count your “reasons” like being busy with the holiday season or waiting for interest rates to come down just a little bit more.
May 29th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Of course he answered the question. Now is always the time to buy… provided you are buying in the RBA.
If the house went down in value, then you made an amateur move by failing to buy in the RBA. Prices always rise in the RBA. Always.
wftf bought in Sacramento. Is that the RBA? No! If he had bought in the RBA he’d be on the higher end of the spectrum and be sleeping with RE’s trophy wife.
I bought in Sunnyvale, and my shack is no longer worth a million. If I had sold it when it was, I could have traded up to 94301, which is also no longer in the RBA! By staying in my house and paying off my mortgage, I have made an amateur move, since refinancing my non-RBA shack to the hilt would give me lots of cash. Debt is wealth, remember that.
nomadic, you didn’t buy in the RBA either. Your place was in the RBA when you bought it, but the moving parts worked against you. You bought at the wrong price at the wrong time.
Now is the time to buy: provided you only buy in the RBA — and what you buy in the RBAstays in the RBA.
May 29th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Yeah, madhaus, my place rolled down a hill and is practically in a slum now.
Maybe it was in the RBA once upon a time. But was 94087 ever there?
May 29th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
When I read the thread it is not a good time to buy a home, but all other times are good?
May 29th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
nomadic,
Your situation is basically similar to Mr. waiting_for_the_fall. You bought a house on the spur of the moment, and now you’re regretting your purchase. As a result, you started your career on Burbed. Am I close?
In any case, you’re still doing much better than waiting_for_the_fall, because after all your house is in the Bay Area.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
Boy, the more I think about it, the more I sympathize with waiting_for_the_fall. He screwed himself by buying in Sacramento, and now he’s preying for the Bay Area market to bail him out.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
nomadic, you should have had the Law of Gravity repealed to ensure your house would stay on the RBA hill. As to my shack, it was clearly in the RBA when I bought it, as it indeed doubled in 10 years (1993-2003). My amateur move was expecting it to double again by 2013. It would be worth $1.6M by then were this the case, so clearly it has moved to a non-RBA census tract. Now I am Priced Out of Palo Alto Forever.
SEA, you have told us you own a house that is not in the RBA. So you bought in the wrong place paying the wrong price. The only right place is current and future RBA. The right price is whatever it takes to buy in current and future RBA. The wrong price is any positive number when purchasing outside the RBA.
I hope this has been helpful.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
I’m thinking I want to buy outside of the current RBA and sell inside of the future RBA.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
No, RE, you aren’t close on either of your conclusions.
madhaus, I think your post may give rise to a new acronym: POPAF. Priced Out of Palo Alto Forever. Or better yet, POOPAF.
May 29th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
BTW, was “preying” a Freudian slip or just your poor spelling, RE?
May 29th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Mongol, mongrel
It’s all the same.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
I heard about the housing bubble after I had already bought two rental homes in the Sacramento area in 2005. As soon as I realized how bad it was going to get, I sold my home in Fremont for almost double what I bought it for in 1999.
My cash sits in the bank earning almost nothing, while I wait for the government programs that prop up housing prices to end. When things finally return to normal, I can buy at a decent price. That may not happen for another 5 years at the rate the bubble is deflating.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
nomadic,
You are not being honest now. My statement is based on your own admission that your home purchase was an emotional buy. In other words, you didn’t think it through before making the move. From your writings here, it’s amply obvious that if you could do it again, you wouldn’t have bought this house.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Maybe SEA needs to buy in
MongoliaSanta Clara before the hoards of Yahoo employees are moved there from Sunnyvale. The property tax will help Santa Clara schools, which in turn will push the area into Future RBA. Be sure it is in the RBA less than ten years from your date of purchase or you will have wasted your money.As for me, I am still POOPAF: Priced Out Of Past Area Forever. I lived in Past, not Future RBA.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
>>I heard about the housing bubble after I had already bought two rental homes in the Sacramento area in 2005.
You bought 2 homes in Sacramento in 2005? Looks like you took it on the chin. I am shivering…
>>I sold my home in Fremont for almost double what I bought it for in 1999.
Good that you saved yourself on that one, but I think the real lesson here is that just because something is cheap doesn’t mean it’s a good buy. Fremont is another example. You would’ve crashed and burned if you had stayed there.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
tsk tsk, RE. Your reasoning skills are failing you again. Let’s take a look:
You bought a house on the spur of the moment,
)
Correct. You stated a fact or close facsimile. (I’m flattered you remembered.
and now you’re regretting your purchase.
False conclusion.
As a result, you started your career on Burbed.
Again, false. I believe I started reading burbed in mid-2008 – almost a year after housing prices began to fall.
May 29th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Was any part of Fremont in the RBA? I know Real Estater discussed the Toyota’s investment in Tesla Motors after NUMMI was abandoned. Maybe I need to buy in Fremont today to sell in the future RBA? What’s next? Oakland?
May 29th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
pshaw – what professional would want to live in Fremont?
May 29th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
The RBA is where professionals want to live. Not where they live, where they want to live.
By this definition, RBA = Woodside.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:02 pm
>>You bought a house on the spur of the moment,
>Correct. You stated a fact or close facsimile. (I’m flattered you remembered.)
You asked me to remember things you said, remember?
>>and now you’re regretting your purchase.
>False conclusion.
Could’ve fooled me. You don’t seem all that excited about your house.
>>As a result, you started your career on Burbed.
>Again, false. I believe I started reading burbed in mid-2008 – almost a year after housing prices began to fall.
Don’t take it literally. My point is, you’re essentially siding with the rentards because you hate the purchase you made. You may not even realize it yourself, but it’s pretty clear to a neutral 3rd party observer.
The other point of reference is the fact that you hesitate to get a fixed rate mortgage despite the rate being at record low. Generally, that’s an indication you don’t have long term plan for staying in your house.
May 29th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Generally, that’s an indication you don’t have long term plan for staying in your house.
Congratulations, you got one. Given that hindsight is 20/20 and that prices have come down nearly everywhere (even your zip code), financially it would have been ideal to sell my house in the spring or summer of 2007. I like to move (hence the name). But I would certainly argue that I do not “hate” my house and I am not feeling any pressure to move. I don’t have any reason to move: I can afford my house and both my spouse and I have easy commutes to work.
I would also say that saying I “side with the renters” is an exaggeration. You simply go to far by never conceding it isn’t always a good time to buy and that people are always better off owning than renting. Any absolute position like yours is indefensible (as you should have noticed by now).
May 29th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
One day professionals may want to live in Fremont–you know that massive $50M investment. (yes, I know it’s an M and not a B, but let’s remember it’s the world of Real Estater where big things might not be so big.)
May 29th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
nomadic,
I think it’s a matter of semantics. Maybe you don’t “hate your house”, but even in #33 your lack of enthusiasm for your house is written all over the place. It’s another way of saying, “I didn’t exactly buy the right house”. Saying you like to move is just an excuse. It’s equivalent to saying, “I prefer to get a different wife, but I like my wife, and I don’t have to get rid of her.”
May 29th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
lol, RE, at the end of the day, a house is place to live. It isn’t my identity. I also like to renovate. Once it’s done, I get bored. Now let’s see how you can turn that into more analysis of my situation.
-
Surely you jest, SEA. Could you see Elon Musk living in Fremont?
May 29th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Admit it, nomadic. If you enjoy renovating, then your trophy wife has had even more plastic surgery than RE’s.
But seriously, what the heck is this “lack of enthusiasm” for your house? It’s funny, I’ve been posting here a little longer than you and I’ve always called my place a shack, and not once have I been accused of showing a lack of enthusiasm about this place. Maybe it’s because I love those Cupertino schools so much.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:05 am
If you enjoy renovating, then your trophy wife has had even more plastic surgery than RE’s.
Hmmm, if I admit that, would I lose my hippy/ponytail/Birkenstock persona?
You may live in a shack, but I refer to my locale as Los Ghettos. You’ll have to amp up your lack of enthusiasm.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:07 am
>>I’ve always called my place a shack
That’s exactly it. You are proud and confident enough about your house to call it a shack, because everyone knows a shack in the RBA is equivalent to a million dollar check.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:21 am
That’s exactly it. You are proud and confident enough about your house to call it a shack, because everyone knows a shack in the RBA is equivalent to a million dollar check.
Why RE, I had no idea that you were so literary.
>>If you enjoy renovating, then your trophy wife has had even more plastic surgery than RE’s.
Hmmm, if I admit that, would I lose my hippy/ponytail/Birkenstock persona?
nomadic, persona is as persona does. Hippy married to a trophy wife? Works for me. Only in Los Ghettos.
I’ll do my best to curb my future enthusiasm. As to my confidence, anyone can be confident if they can play an electric guitar. That’s because I am NOT playing the accordion.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:23 am
SEA: Maybe I need to buy in Fremont today to sell in the future RBA? What’s next? Oakland?
Nope. The RBA grows by expansion from its core. If Palo Alto is the core of the RBA, then the logical place to expand would be East Palo Alto. Therefore, you should buy in EPA now so that you can sell it in the future RBA.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:24 am
Then again, nothing shoots your confidence down like forgetting to close a tag. Sorry.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:30 am
Could the RBA ever cross the bay? Hard to imagine.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:33 am
Could the RBA ever cross the bay? Hard to imagine.
If Alex is correct in his prediction, the Dumbarton will be the transmission vector. I suggest we blow it up immediately.
May 30th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Expansion occurs through the path of least resistance, just like disease spread. It is much easier for the RBA to grow north and south, but certainly not across the bay. Therefore, Fremont will not be part of the Bay Area…at least not before Gilroy.
LOL
May 30th, 2010 at 1:03 am
Therefore Oakland will not be part of the RBA before, um, Paso Robles.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Correction.
Oakland will not be part of the RBA before Mexico.
May 30th, 2010 at 1:40 am
Which comes first, Richmond or Tierra del Fuego?
May 30th, 2010 at 1:50 am
a new Mr. Mortgage post, at long last. not one of his most entertaining; I liked it better in the old days when he was ranted. however he is one of Denninger’s main housing info sources. and it is kind of him to post his stuff after his clients have had the first look.
http://mhanson.com/archives/602
May 31st, 2010 at 12:10 am
But seriously, what the heck is this “lack of enthusiasm” for your house?
—–
Example of lack of enthusiasm?
1. Not bragging about one’s own zip code of your home for the purpose of getting respect from co-workers.
2. Not using Drano when plumbing get clogged. And not replacing bulbs when they go bad.
Nomadick, you must be living with in a home that stays dark at night and has overflowing bathrooms. And nobody at your workplace knows your zip code. Such a lack of enthusiasm!
May 31st, 2010 at 12:22 am
That’s Pralay’s bullsh**, perpetuated by you. I never said now is always the time to buy,
—-
So what exactly you said, Faux Estater? Let’s check them out.
2008: right time to buy
2008-2009: right/best/better/perfect time to buy
More 2009: More right time to buy
Now many “nows” are there?
Do you want me to make a list for 2010? We are only halfway of this year, but I am sure I will find plenty of “right time to buy”.
Oh, yes we get it. Not every days of 2008 and 2009 you said that right time to buy. Let’s say you said “right time to buy” 15 times in 2008. That means there were 350 says when it wasn’t right time to buy.
May 31st, 2010 at 12:36 am
I see why you’re on burbed now.
….
….
you started your career on Burbed.
—-
Faux Estater,
What’s your motive for posting comments on Burbed? Are you still going to claim followings as your motive?
1. Helping “people who need the most help”.
2. Motiveless and argument-less neutral guy merely posting “news item that’s floating all over the media”.
May 31st, 2010 at 6:39 am
Real Estater- “…because everyone knows a shack in the RBA is equivalent to a million dollar check.”
Uh, maybe I find the wrong people, like Worried Mom, but why is it so many find that “a shack in the RBA is equivalent to a million dollars in DEBT?”
May 31st, 2010 at 8:16 am
SEA,
Thank you for getting up at 6AM on Memorial Day just to write to me.
May 31st, 2010 at 8:33 am
Insecure Pralay the techie,
Thank you also for staying up past midnight to write about me on Memorial Day.
May 31st, 2010 at 8:59 am
Thank you also for staying up past midnight to write about me on Memorial Day.
—-
Translation: I am busted and proven a liar again.
May 31st, 2010 at 10:13 am
Real Estater- “Thank you for getting up at 6AM on Memorial Day just to write to me.”
The only reason I got up was to write you.