Paying off Mello Roos early (San Diego, Poway: house, school district, property tax)

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by futbol

We know people going to some of those schools listed. Academics are important, but at the top of their list are the environment in which their kids spend the week.

Some of those private schools top out at a 'family' rate (3+ kids). That is, there is a maximum that you pay.

That said, we are very happy with the public option here.

I went to one of those "La Jolla County Day School type places" from K to 8 and although the education was great. I really preferred public schools. By the time high school came around I was begging my parents to send me to the public high school. The environment in those private expensive schools can be a "bubble". There isn't too much diversity of backgrounds, socio-economic status, etc.

Even if they top out at a family rate of 3 kids. That's still a tremendous amount to spend for grade school tuition for a family of 3 kids.

Like you futbol, I'm very happy with the public school option here in the PUSD. I hope I continue to be impressed with the school district until my kids are done with school.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by MovingAloha

Most of Eastlake/Otay Ranch has Mello Roos!!

Ah ha, now I remember. The wife fell in love with the new houses. After looking at the drive times and then the average MRs we decided elsewhere..

[earlyretirement]

Someone else posted this on another board but it is VERY informative so I thought I'd repost the link to the file here:

http://www.orrick.com/fileupload/1180.pdf

My feeling is there is a clear lack of transparency regarding Mello Roos taxes. Plus, it's very clear to me they will definitely increase the Mello Roos taxes the maximum amount each year as allowed by law. It's also disturbing that these entities can extend the bonds from the original finish dates. So you can think you are done paying in 2041 but then the bond can get extended it sounds like. The entire thing sounds very hazy.

Paying off the Mellow Roos (CFD) ahead of time seems to eliminate all of these potential headaches and ever increasing tax burden in the future.

[earlyretirement]

Just an update for those of you keeping track at home.

So I just got my annual property tax bill from the City of San Diego today and I was SHOCKED to see that my Mello Roos CFD #2 actually DECREASED from last year's bill by the tune of over $900!

I figured that the bond must have been refinanced at a lower interest rate. That could be the only explanation in the back of my mind. So I called in to the administrator to confirm that the bond got refinanced at a lower rate. Sure enough, the customer service agent confirmed that the bond got refinanced last year at a lower interest rate, thereby reducing the annual payments for CFD #2. She said the CFD #2 is still scheduled to be paid off in the year 2030.

I'm sending off to get an exact payoff balance. The procedures for that are to send in a $500 check to this address below:

David Taussig & Associates
5000 Birch Street, Suite #6000
Newport Beach, CA 92660


You need to send in a $500 check made payable to the entity listed above. Also, include your Parcel # and request for a payoff quote for CFD #2.

They said they will send in the pay off balance within a week or so. The $500 will be deducted from the pay off amount.

It's refreshing to hear about them taking advantage of the low interest environment and refinancing this bond at a lower rate. Good to know not everyone is as reckless as Poway!

[futbol]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Just an update for those of you keeping track at home.

So I just got my annual property tax bill from the City of San Diego today and I was SHOCKED to see that my Mello Roos CFD #2 actually DECREASED from last year's bill by the tune of over $900!

I figured that the bond must have been refinanced at a lower interest rate. That could be the only explanation in the back of my mind. So I called in to the administrator to confirm that the bond got refinanced at a lower rate. Sure enough, the customer service agent confirmed that the bond got refinanced last year at a lower interest rate, thereby reducing the annual payments for CFD #2. She said the CFD #2 is still scheduled to be paid off in the year 2030.

I'm sending off to get an exact payoff balance. The procedures for that are to send in a $500 check to this address below:

David Taussig & Associates
5000 Birch Street, Suite #6000
Newport Beach, CA 92660


You need to send in a $500 check made payable to the entity listed above. Also, include your Parcel # and request for a payoff quote for CFD #2.

They said they will send in the pay off balance within a week or so. The $500 will be deducted from the pay off amount.

It's refreshing to hear about them taking advantage of the low interest environment and refinancing this bond at a lower rate. Good to know not everyone is as reckless as Poway!

Yes, very refreshing. Also shows good governance that they would take the initiative to do this and to apply that $500 to the payoff.

I guess they require the $500 to make sure they get only serious payoff inquiries.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by futbol

Yes, very refreshing. Also shows good governance that they would take the initiative to do this and to apply that $500 to the payoff.

I guess they require the $500 to make sure they get only serious payoff inquiries.

Yes, that's why they require you to send a check for $500. I guess they don't want to fool around with people that aren't serious about it. The Poway CFD #4 they only charge $100 but they also apply that payment towards the payoff so you're not out anything if you prepay it.

Also, just a correction. It didn't go down $900 in the past year. It's gone down $550 from last year and $900 over the past 2 years. I mistakenly was looking at an old property tax bill from the 2010/2011 year. So it looks like the CFD #2 has actually decreased the past two years in a row. And the Poway CFD #4 has indeed gone up the maximum 2% each of the past few years.

[earlyretirement]

Also, this is a good link that has all the documents for the various PUSD Mello Roos CFD tax bonds. Lots and lot of information there.


CalifoniaTax Data

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by futbol

Yes, very refreshing. Also shows good governance that they would take the initiative to do this and to apply that $500 to the payoff.

I guess they require the $500 to make sure they get only serious payoff inquiries.

How bad would that suck. You work your butt off to retire and BAM that bond kicks in.

[earlyretirement]

Just an update for those interested in prepaying off their Mello Roos. I went ahead and paid off both CFD's. It will be a good feeling not to have to worry about paying Mello Roos anymore in the future.

I realize it might not make sense for many families that don't know if they will be in their homes for the long haul but I definitely know we'll be here until the kids are out of high school so it seems like a no brainer to pay it off early.

I contacted David Taussig and Associates and sent them the $500 check and they were very quick to email me out a payoff quote breakdown a few days later. They had the name and address of the person to send the check to with the City of San Diego. The CFD #2 (Santaluz) came out to around $46,000. My CFD #4 (Poway Unified) came to around $15,000. Both entities emailed me to confirm they got the payment and won't have to deal with this again in the future.

[hitman619]

Good for you man congrats!