- quote -

And, based on personal experience, the local assessor may or
may not catch on to the fact that an addition has been made.

We've done three remodels on a Calif Prop 13 house over the
years, with proper permitting, etc., each time. Two did not
seem to be caught by the system; the most recent one was.

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Carol Copeland wrote:

- quote -

Base rate of tax: 1% of the assessed value (after
homeowner's exemption). With all the additions (some are
flat fee) and voted indebtedness, it usually comes out to
1.4% of the assessed value, half due on November 1 and half
on February 1.

For years subsequent to the purchase: The assessed value
(before the homeowner's exemption) increases (generally) but
not more than 2%/year.

For the addition: The addition is valued at FMV for its
component share, NOT CONSTRUCTION COST. [Really, it is the
computed by taking the FMV before the addition and after,
and adding that difference to the assessed value.]

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carol.cope[at]verizon.net (Carol Copeland) wrote:

- quote -

Property tax bills when you do an improvement are based on
the value of the improvement, which is added to your
previous assessed value and raises your taxes in proportion.
The cost of the improvement is a good starting point for
guesses at the value the assessor will assign it.

Say your property was assessed at $225K in 1989. With the 2%
annual escalation, it should be about $303K now. If you
spend $75K on your room addition, and the assessor values it
at construction cost, your new assessed value will be $378K,
and your taxes will increase in proportion.

The current market value, or the estimated market value
after construction is completed, will be of interest to your
banker, but not to the assessor. The assessor goes by
assessed value when the property changed hands, plus the
escalator, plus the value of improvements.

Partial-year taxation is handled by the supplemental
assessment system. You are taxed from the month following
the completion of new construction. Depending on when
construction is completed, you may get one (June 1 through
Dec. 31) or two (Jan. 1 through May 31) supplemental tax
bills. Taxes in the following year will be at the new
assessed value.

Your county assessor may have a Web site, which may or may
not be helpful. Kern County has a particularly good one at
http://www.assessor.co.kern.ca.us/as..._valuation.cfm

--
Been there, done that, still living in it,

Chris Green

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arol Copeland wrote:

- quote -

Your county assessor can answer your question a lot better
than we can. I have found the CA assessors departments to
be very responsive. Here's a link where you can find links
to all the assessors:
http://www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/assessors.htm

They will add the appraised value of your improvements to
your assessed value. This will come to you in a
supplemental bill.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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Carol Copeland wrote:

- quote -

The general rule: Let X be the present value before
improvements ($650K); Y be the tax basis (~$380k), and Z be
the value after improvements. The new tax basis is then Y +
(Z-X). There would be some complexity if X is less than Y,
but that doesn't seem to be your problem, now, does it.

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Carol Copeland wrote:

- quote -

In general the tax is initially calculated based on a
percentage of your original purchase price (known as the
assessed value). (It's actually based on value when you
purchased, but it's normally the same amount.)

When you add on, the assessor will determine what percentage
of your house was affected. Then that percentage will be
reappraised based on the increase in value.

For example, say you have a house you bought for $20,000 and
now it's worth $100,000. You put $20,000 into the kitchen,
increasing the value to $120,000. I don't remember the
calculation, but somehow some or all of the increase is
added to your assessed value.

- quote -

It will depend both on the amount of money you put into it
and how much the work increases the value of the home.
Check with your local assessor's office to find out exactly
how they do the calculation.

Stu

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Hello, I plan to post a short series of questions to this
group re:CA property taxes. Thanks in advance for any
information you can share.

The first question is very basic, but may not be so simple
to answer. What I want to know is how my property taxes are
calculated. I'm thinking about adding on to my house and I
would like to be able to predict in advance what the
property taxes will be.

I understand that some history of the house is necessary in
order for Prop13 basis to be taken into account, so here's
an example:

1200 sq ft house, 7500 sq ft lot apprx. Purchase price
$225K, purchase date 1989. Current estimate value $650K,
taxes apprx. $3800/yr.

I am considering adding 600 sq ft room next spring and would
like to be able to predict what my new property taxes would
be for this specific example.

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