A client asked me the other day if he would get a refund from Sacramento County for buying a short sale home. All those REOs and short sale transactions involve transferring the present tax base until the home is reassessed. If you bought a home for $200,000 that sold for $500,000 a few years ago, your taxes may be presently computed on the $500,000 value. The taxes amount to about $6,250 a year, versus $2,500 on the new value. It means you will overpay the taxes until the assessor's office catches up with the recorded sale numbers.
There will be no refund from the county assessor, I can tell you that, unless you call the assessor. It seems unfair because if you buy a home that is reassessed at a higher tax base, say a $200,000 home that is taxed on a previous value of $100,000, you will receive a supplemental tax bill for the difference owed from the day you closed escrow to the time the tax is due. But if you overpaid, the government gets to keep your money?!?
California has a state deficit of $40 billion.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming soon to a bookstore near you.
Photo: Big Stock Photo
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
