Holy Cow, this little vignette from the article is such bull$h!t, I'm going to gag:
Another San Francisco homeowner, Emily Flores, said she and her family are strongly considering leaving the city after the Outer Sunset fixer-upper home they bought in 2006 increased $90,000 in assessed value even though home values in the neighborhood dropped.
Flores, whose husband provides the sole income for the family of five, said their taxes are set to be $1,500 higher than what they paid in 2006. She and her husband have filed one of the informal requests for re-evaluation.
"For us, what we're feeling now is if we're going to pay almost all our monthly income for housing, we want it to be in a location where property taxes are actually paying for something," said Flores, 28. "To look outside and see all these potholes and the schools are iffy at best, it's crazy to stay here. What's happening to us is not unique. It's probably what most families with kids are feeling."
Prop. 13 caps tax increases to 2% per year. The property tax rate in CA is 1.25-1.5% (not counting Mello-Roos which I'm not familiar with. I think it's mostly a SoCal thing). For her to have her property taxes increase $1500 in one year (barring some kind of huge bond issue) means she has something like an $7-8M house. That ain't no fixer-upper in outer sunset. Maybe they meant that the taxes will increase to $1500/yr. (from $1400/yr).
Despite my hatred of Prop. 13, it does allow a homeowner to plan their tax expenses. Anybody with a command of 6th-grade math can do it. Sounds to me that this family was looking to score by flipping the house. The came to play at the table and lost. Now they're threatening to leave the city. I'm sure Gavin Newsom is shaking. |
