Property values compared to Texas - What am I missing? (Oakland: bank owned, short sales)

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

It is a pretty hard loophole to close as there is no paper trail that is a public record.

Audit the home builder and cross-reference their gross sales against the assessed value of the houses sold.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Audit the home builder and cross-reference their gross sales against the assessed value of the houses sold.

Some builder upgrades are paid for directly to the sub contractor. That is common from floor upgrades and some other things.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

Absolutely untrue. If you buy a brand new home and add builder's upgrades like granite counter tops, ceiling fans, etc., etc. the cost will not be included in the assessed value if they are not included in the mortgage...

I didn't know that you were referring to a brand new home....in that case, the prior assessment before the upgrades doesn't really factor in. (How many people fall into the category of buying a new home and purchasing top of the line upgrades? Not really what this thread is about....)

I have bought and sold 8 new homes in California so have been through this many times.

Maybe you should post this in the Real Estate subforum. Most people aren't able to afford to do what you're doing.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

I didn't know that you were referring to a brand new home....in that case, the prior assessment before the upgrades doesn't really factor in. (How many people fall into the category of buying a new home and purchasing top of the line upgrades? Not really what this thread is about....)



Maybe you should post this in the Real Estate subforum. Most people aren't able to afford to do what you're doing.

I stated very clearly on my post that started this discussion that it was a new home. Here is a quote from my post of February 15th. "We bought our home brand new in 2002.". Also builder's upgrades only apply to new homes.

Many people buy new homes with lots of builder's upgrades. There are new home developments in San Jose and Morgan Hill.

I don't know what you think I am doing. I didn't own all 8 homes at the same time. We have happened to live in different locations in California, both Southern and Northern.

Since when do you decide what this thread is all about? It is quite applicable to this thread which is about property values.

[imaterry78259]

LA has nothing on Houston or Dallas when it comes to housing stock. No brag just fact.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Texas has no income tax and a good chunk of the state is funded off of property taxes. It's much better to be a renter in TX! My parents had a nice four bedroom house with a pool valued at around 120k in a nice, suburban area, their property taxes were about 3200 a year! They are high earners and would likely pay that in income tax to the state living in a place like California.

What neighborhood is this? Are you sure it's worth $120k? That's the value of tiny houses in the most desolate suburban developments in Katy (no trees and very small lots).

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

And they'd be paying $5000-6000/yr in tax on a similar house in a similar neighborhood in SoCal.

Maybe, but they also wouldn't be able to afford that much home in that nice of an area in the LA area. But if they bought something worth double what they paid in TX, they still wouldn't pay as much in property tax out here.

If Texas ever had a real estate bubble like CA or NV, people would lose their homes. Or maybe not since in TX your assessed taxable value can only go up 10% a year and you can fight it every year in court. I have friends who pay a small fee for a property lawyer to go and fight the value every year so that over the long term they end up paying less than if they just let the district raise it the max every year. But for anyone buying a new home, they'd have to go off that new assessed value and a bubble would be killer.

Texas is a bargain state and the current administration prides himself on how underfunded he can keep the state.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

What neighborhood is this? Are you sure it's worth $120k? That's the value of tiny houses in the most desolate suburban developments in Katy (no trees and very small lots).

Yep, it was in Clear Lake City. They sold it a few months back for 135 and had multiple offers. Clear Lake isn't Katy and the NASA crash has left its mark on the market. It doesn't have the energy corridor pumping out jobs. They moved to a new development in Pearland and paid 205.

[imaterry78259]

There are some homes in coastal LA real estate values should be expensive and other locales as well. The other areas are just dumps- Lynwood, Downey, San Marino in comparsion to the housing stock in Texas cities, I can't believe the realtors sell that crap for the price or people dumb enough to buy them.

[9162]

Originally Posted by 9162

A 1.2M house in LA with property taxes $6890 doesn't sound right?

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

Nothing unusual about that at all because of Prop 13. If you read my previous post, you would understand why this is so.

1.2M house with only $6890 in taxes? This is less than 1%, also what about a change in ownership? Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems even with prop 13, taxes on this house should be at least double the $6890 rate...