Have you been thinking that this may be the perfect time to sell your current home that you've owned for years and "buy down" in price? Your "kids" may be grown and out of the house and you would like a smaller home with less maintenance or, perhaps, you would love to put some of that equity that you've built up to work in other ways? However, you can't bear the thought of paying higher property taxes for the replacement property based on today's market prices.
Did you know that certain people can "buy down" while retaining their Prop 13 base-year value of the original property for property tax purposes? Here's some of the important requirements toward achieving this:
- You OR your spouse must be 55 years of age or older when you sell your original residence;
- Your replacement property must be located in the same county in California as the original residence (see exceptions below);
- The replacement residence must be equal to or lesser in market value than the original residence is currently;
- The replacement residence must have been (a) receving or eligible for a Homeowner's Exemption, or (b) have been receiving a Disabled Veteran's Exemption on the original and replacement residences;
- This benefit is only available once in a lifetime;
There are some counties that will accept the property tax base of the original property that is outside of their county so long as the originaly property is within the State of California. Those counties are: Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Ventura Counties. Other counties will only allow replacements to be within its own county.
Proposition 60 was passed in November 1986 by California voters.
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