Property Taxes (San Diego, Chula Vista, Oceanside: real estate, house, buyer)

[agusia25]

In my search for home I have noticed that some areas have much higher property taxes than others. Does anyone know what areas have lower property taxes and what affects the rate? For example Carlsbad had high taxes and Oceanside much lower for the same home price?

[oddstray]

Your property tax is a percentage of the value of the property when you acquire it. If an area has higher property taxes in general, then it has higher property prices in general.

[snpdragr]

Rates homeowners can expect to pay vary by city. In the city of San Diego, property tax rates are around 1.179%. In Chula Vista, which sits to the south of San Diego, the rate is lower at 1.118%. In Oceanside the rate is 1.062%, not very much higher than the baseline rate of 1%.

from https://smartasset.com/taxes/califor...tax-calculator

Also watch out for Mello-Roos taxes which are additional: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mello-Roos

[GuyInSD]

Originally Posted by snpdragr

...Also watch out for Mello-Roos taxes which are additional: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mello-Roos

THIS
In particular, be wary of developments built from the 2000s onward (e.g. Del Sur, 4S Ranch).

If you know a property address, you can find out what all the Special Assessments associated with that property are by following the directions that the County set up here.

[someguy10]

Originally Posted by agusia25

In my search for home I have noticed that some areas have much higher property taxes than others. Does anyone know what areas have lower property taxes and what affects the rate? For example Carlsbad had high taxes and Oceanside much lower for the same home price?

To put a bit finer point on others' comments: real estate taxes are roughly 1-1.1% of the last purchase price and can only go up by a certain modest amount a year -- I believe CPI or one of the other common inflation indexes. These two things combined are why you might see two listings literally next door to each other, both for say $700K but one listing states taxes of $1000/year while the other is $7000/year. The former seller probably paid roughly $100K some time ago while the latter seller paid roughly $700K (same as current list price). If you buy the former house for $700K, the taxes will increase $6000/year.

Bottom line is ignore "current real estate taxes" listed and use 1.1 or 1.2% of potential purchase price for your budget.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by someguy10

Bottom line is ignore "current real estate taxes" listed and use 1.1 or 1.2% of potential purchase price for your budget.

To reiterate the Mello-Roos issue as part of the Bottom Line, if the house is less than 30 years old, it probably has the additional Mello Roos. However, Mello Roos usually only lasts 20 or 30 years after construction. So, with a house built in 1990, Mello Roos will probably only last another 3 years.

Mello Roos are bonds issued by the developer to pay for all of the pubic improvements (fire station, streets, sidewalks, parks). If they weren't paid through the bond, the costs of these improvements would be built into the price of the house, and the buyer would pay property taxes on public improvements which were not necessarily a part of the property.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by kettlepot

To reiterate the Mello-Roos issue as part of the Bottom Line, if the house is less than 30 years old, it probably has the additional Mello Roos. However, Mello Roos usually only lasts 20 or 30 years after construction. So, with a house built in 1990, Mello Roos will probably only last another 3 years.

Mello Roos are bonds issued by the developer to pay for all of the pubic improvements (fire station, streets, sidewalks, parks). If they weren't paid through the bond, the costs of these improvements would be built into the price of the house, and the buyer would pay property taxes on public improvements which were not necessarily a part of the property.

They pay for it either way, the developer just does not have to first with Mello Roos.

[kettlepot]

They pay for the improvement either way, but with Mello Roos carving the cost of the improvement out of the purchase price, then they don't have to pay property tax on that additional bump up.

[Cardiff Kook]

1.25% of the purchase price is a good conservative estimate to use

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by agusia25

In my search for home I have noticed that some areas have much higher property taxes than others. Does anyone know what areas have lower property taxes and what affects the rate? For example Carlsbad had high taxes and Oceanside much lower for the same home price?

There may be a mello Russell or a bond measure in effect. Like stated your property tax is based on the purchase price not what the current owner is paying. There may be additional costs besides the base property tax