Wanted to move to Berkeley but.... (Oakland, Alameda: assessor, broker, house)

[andybuildz]

I finally narrowed it down to Berkeley to make our move from here on Long Island in NY. I do renovations and the last job I did for myself was a sort of spec house we lived in as I renovated and restored. (see my profile for my web site if you wanna see the house that I finally finished which is now on the market...its the Goose Hill Rd. Project) anyway...so we're speaking with this agent from Berkeley on the phone this past weekend and she enlightened us about doing another reno, flip there. Something I could finish in about a year and sell in two. She said that the taxes in Berkeley were about 2% of the selling price after allz said and done..YIKESSSSSSSSSS.

That stopped me right in my tracks!! so for a crappy little $700,000 house the taxes would be about $14000 a year? Thats alot more than it is here on the Gold Coast of Long Island.

Whats up with that?????????

[cvanripe10]

I'm not very sure on this topic, but i read something about an 'anti-developlement' law. This would explain why property is so valuable. It would also explain why it looks so rural around the golden gate bridge compared to the GWB and would also explain why so few people live in the region compared to other places.

[sonarrat]

Real Property Records (broken link)

Says there it's 1.2299% which is still high.

[andybuildz]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Real Property Records (broken link)

Says there it's 1.2299% which is still high.

Here's something from 04' PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE / The Berkeley backlash
The RE broker told us that there's all this other stuff they add on which brings it up near 2%. Its just what she told us. I have no clue but thatnks for YOUR link.
I'll have to go through it.

[andybuildz]

Add everything up in that link...its far from 1.2+%

If you add up all those separate taxes it comes to 1.84408 plus another tax for "run off drainage" that is based on the square footage of the lot. (sq. footage of lot x .4 x 2196 x $50) PLUS another tax for garbage pickup so when the agent said closer to 2% she is accurate (unfortunately)

So does that mean everyone in Berkeley is wealthy?

[18Montclair]

1.229 seems high but remember the Alameda County Assessor valuates the home and they really lowball. CA in general is that way.

My parents house in neighboring Oakland(same county as Berkeley) has a market value of about $1.4 Million, but the tax bill says its assessed at $835,000...which is substantially less.

I suspect at a market value 700K, it'll assess for a bit less as well.

[andybuildz]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

1.229 seems high but remember the Alameda County Assessor valuates the home and they really lowball. CA in general is that way.

My parents house in neighboring Oakland(same county as Berkeley) has a market value of about $1.4 Million, but the tax bill says its assessed at $835,000...which is substantially less.

I suspect at a market value 700K, it'll assess for a bit less as well.

Yeh but if I go and buy a house that costs say $700-800,000 thats what they will set my tax from in Berkeley.

I'm on LI now in an extremely expensive highly taxed hood. I'm on 2 acres about 50 minutes to Manhatten on the North Shore. My taxes were about $14,000.
The house value is probably between 1.7-2.1 depending on how RE swings.
Since I added on my additions and made the house 5000 sq ft the taxes now will be $18,000. If this was Berkeley the taxes would be over thirty grand a year Its just so odd that its sooooo different than Berkeley.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by andybuildz

Here's something from 04' PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE / The Berkeley backlash
The RE broker told us that there's all this other stuff they add on which brings it up near 2%. Its just what she told us. I have no clue but thatnks for YOUR link.
I'll have to go through it.

Ohhh, I think I see where I fell down. The 1.2299% figure is all of the taxes based on value.. but there are also additional taxes levied that are based on property size. So it is higher than that.

[andybuildz]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Ohhh, I think I see where I fell down. The 1.2299% figure is all of the taxes based on value.. but there are also additional taxes levied that are based on property size. So it is higher than that.

It comes out close to exactly 2%. Whewwwwwww..thats outragous.

But stilll

As for me...depending on what I sell my house for here on the right coast I still would consider Berkeley if all the numbers in the equation work out so that when I go to sell whatever it is I redo there to flip in 2 years brings me in a decent paycheck...nothing earth shattering...just decent works for me.
I think RE agents hardly ever let newbes know the taxes are that high...except the honest ones.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

1.229 seems high but remember the Alameda County Assessor valuates the home and they really lowball. CA in general is that way.

My parents house in neighboring Oakland(same county as Berkeley) has a market value of about $1.4 Million, but the tax bill says its assessed at $835,000...which is substantially less.

I suspect at a market value 700K, it'll assess for a bit less as well.

This is incorrect. That's how things are done in most other parts of the country, but in California your assessed valuation is based on the price you pay for the house, plus a 2% yearly escalator. So a 700k house would in this example pay 1.23% of 700k ($8610) plus the various non-value based fees that were mentioned previously. In most other cities these other fees would be inconsequential, but Berkeley being Berkeley, taxes are of course much higher. In the case of your parents $1.4m house, their assessed valuation in the 800k range is based upon the price they paid way back when, plus 2% for every year they've lived there. People who have lived in the same house for 30, 40, 50 years, have assessed valuations that are drastically less than Fair Market Value. People who have purchased in the last couple of years may actually have assessments above Fair Market Value, but that can be appealed to the Assessor's office.