Property tax assessment in California (2015, 2%, prices, value)

[gummybear00]

Hi all,

I was hoping if you guys can help me with my property tax assessment. This property is in San Jose, California in Santa Clara County.

This year the Assessed Value for LAND went from $261,300 to $300,780, and the county wants an extra $465 in property taxes. Isn't Prop 13 supposed to limit this to 2% increase per year?

Year - Land Value - Property Value
2012 - $169,000 - $91,000
2013 - $190,600 - $102,600
2014 - $261,300 - $140,700
2015 - $300,780 - $140,700

It seems the land and property values were significantly increased every year.

I also looked at my two neighbors next door and their TOTAL home values were only $75k and $175k. Our homes are roughly similar sizes in land. There is no reason that my land is worth 4-5 houses worth of land compared to the neighbors.

How can I get my assessed values down in-line with the neighbors? The house was purchased for around $300k 5 years ago and I don't think I can get the assessed value down to to $75-90k like the neighbors.

It's possible the neighbors bought their house a long time ago and kept it, so their assessed value was low to begin with. But still, their land values have stayed low while mine has increased significantly.

[NinaN]

First of all, don't look at the land value. Only look at the total value. The rest doesn't matter.

Read the whole tax bill, the method to appeal is on there. Might be easiest to just call the tax assessors office and ask. There is a limit on yearly increase so ask them what happened.

Also, how long have you owned the property? If your value went down during the bad years, the 2% per year max is based on the original value so it can increase dramatically if you had higher values before.

[DMenscha]

You can appeal an assessment using the county's appeal process.

[Ultrarunner]

My guess is the property was granted a temporary reduction in value due to the market downturn... now the prices are up... all Bay Area Property is at or soon will be at full Prop 13 calculated value for assessment purposes.

I'm in the same situation... Based on what I paid in 2002 and adding the Prop 13 2% annual inflation factor, my home should be 700k

Thing is a was granted a temporary market decrease for a couple or years when I won my appeals.

My Value was lowed to less than I paid... lowered to 450 k... and the last two years has seen dramatic increases because prices are up...

So in two years I went from 450k 675k and I'm sure next year will be 714k... the full max under Prop 13.

What your neighbors pay or are assessed means nothing... Prop 13 is calculated based on fair market value at time of transfer...

The only way it could correlated is if you and neighbor both paid the same price at the same time and made no improvements...

[Ultrarunner]

If 300k was the fair market value for home and land when title transferred... your assessed value should be roughly 331k after 5 years.