Property Assessment Information

Westcoe Realtors, Riverside California…There is a lot of buzz these days about property assessments…specifically about re-assessing a property given the decline in property values over the past 2 years.  Much has been said, and as a result, there is a massive amount of confusion on this subject.  Today, we will attempt to clear the air, but more importantly, we will give you the website so you can find out specifically if your home qualifies for this re-assessment, and if so, has it automatically already been done.

In a general sense, property taxes are assessed at approximately 1% of the sales price a homeowner paid for their home, and then they can be increased between 1-2% annually from there.   A simple example:  You pay $250,000 for your home, and your annual property taxes are around $2,500.  This is the result of a California proposition (referred to as Prop 13) passed many years ago…a proposition to limit the annual increase in property taxes that, at the time, were running rampant annually.  It was not uncommon at that time for a homeowners tax bill to rise 100% or more in a year.  This helped many families keep their tax base in a rising real estate market.  Property taxes could now be planned for everyone, with no annual surprises.

There is also a provision in these assessment procedures that allows a homeowner the right to have the property taxes reduced when the value of a home drops below the price a buyer originally paid for the home.  It takes a really declining market for this to kick in, but guess what?…We’re there.  The only problem is that there are many rules for what happens, how much the taxes can be lowered, and for how long (see previous Westcoe blog on Proposition 8).  There are lots of details, and trying to explain all the fine print is very difficult…and better done by the County Assessors office.

Therefore, please check the following web address for any information you may need regarding whether your home is qualified for a re-assessment.  Automatically, any home that was purchased between January 1, 2001-December 31, 2008 will be re-assessed…and on this website, you can type in your own address and see whatever status your home has at the moment.  It will also tell you what to do if you simply want an annual, temporary review of your value in case you do not fall into this time frame.  Sometimes government web sites can be more daunting than the problem itself, but not this time…and Westcoe is happy to pass this along to anyone reading this blog.

So…the website is…  riverside.asrclkrec.com   (no need for the www, just begin with the word riverside) This site should be very helpful to you with any questions or issues you may have about the assessment value of your home.

Good luck, and as always, let us know if there are any questions you would like to see addressed in this blog.