Property Tax Savings can make a big difference on your monthly House Payment

When prices rose quickly, everybody was exited that they now had "equity". But unless you were checking out of the high priced Orange County real estate market, you now have to contend with ever higher property taxes when purchasing a new home. However, there are several breaks that give long term property owners a lot of benefits over new home buyers. Some of which you may be able to take advantage of even as an Orange County new home buyer.

On June 6, 1978 proposition 13 was signed into law. It limited property taxes to a maximum of 1% and further capped the amount the tax assessment could go up by only 2% of existing value. The effects of this law were many, but mostly it gave existing owners a huge break over new younger buyers who are now disproportionately paying higher taxes. But the following tax propositions may give new home buyers a chance to reclaim these lower rates.

Proposition 60 gives seniors 55 years and older a chance to move "down" in value with out raising their prop 13 tax basis. Under this law, seniors may buy a lesser priced home within 1 year before selling a home and move the tax basis over to the new property. If you sell the original home before purchasing a new home but within 365 days of the original homes sale, you are allowed a 5% increase in the purchase price and you may still qualify. If you purchase within 2 years of the sale, you may allow for a 10% increase. It should be noted that this law generally applies to intra county transfers. However Proposition 90 allows for inter county transfers with participating counties. As of 6/1/2005, 7 counties accept prop 90 and they are Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Ventura.

But you don't have to be 55 to benefit from all of the tax breaks available. Your proposition 13 value may be transferred to your child (proposition 58) and you may be able to transfer up to $1 million in other real estate assessed value to them. Or if your child is deceased it may be able to transferred to your grandchild (proposition 193).

In addition to these propositions, I recently sold a unit in a select historic building that qualified for a massive reduction in property taxes by as much as 60%. This was under the Mills act.

If you get creative, I am sure you can find a lot of ways to take advantage of these tax breaks. In my opinion, it is a shame for any property to owner with children to sell to anybody but their heirs. These tax breaks can mean tens of thousands of dollars in savings and increased wealth.

Wherer do all the doggies live?

The 14th Annual Wag-A-Thon, a fundraising event attracting the usual suspects for the usual reason: area canines and their owners for a fun-filled morning of sniffing and queuing.

This year’s fundraiser was held on Saturday, April 28, at Dana Point Harbor. Though dogs were the subject of the event, the sponsored jamboree supports all animals at the San Clemente – Dana Point Animal Shelter.

Dogs and their owners from various Orange County real estate spots participated in contests, snacked on “safe” doggie bones from various booths, and shopped the bazaar for canine items such as colorful bandanas, rhinestone collars, and doggie photography and chef services.

The dogs arrived by car and on foot, some in baby carriages, dragging their people to the general information table where free bandanas and goodie bags awaited them. Wristbands were clasped onto their owners for a change so doggie parents could retrieve sundry goodies, including a playful stuffed animal, for their pooch and themselves.

There were pet contests, a 4K walk around the harbor to raise money for the shelter, and a great turnout of neighborhood and near neighboring dogs.

There was Elvis, a 12-month-old Shihtzu show dog from San Clemente, a Blue Brindle Pit Bull named Haina from San Juan Capistrano, Rudy, an English Bulldog who lives in Mission Viejo, and Ziggy from Aliso Viejo. These waggers were waiting for results of a pet costume contest.

Then there was San Clemente hound Paco, who was rescued by his owners on a Mexican Beach. They spotted Paco drinking salt water and eating sea weed. “We were talking about adlopting a dog and he found us,” Paco’s owner relayed.

A family of Danes sat on a grassy hill overlooking the jetty. And Roxy, an adorable Beagle from Dana Point showed off her muscles, while Koko, an Alaskan Husky who lives in Monarch Beach, made her way through the canine crowd, munching on free snacks, looking for her friends from Mission Viejo, Bailey (a black and white Great Dane) and Kali, a mixed breed her owners call Dingo.

Sweet Sara, a hairy pooch rescued from the Huntington Beach Shelter back in 1999, was visiting from Sante Fe, New Mexico. Wonder if she got the award for coming the farthest.

Then there were the trio of Pomeranians: Honey Love, Sable Love and Sailor Sky, who were strolled into the event, all in costume. The fiery red dogs live in Lake Forest but their owner brings them for a stroll around beautiful Dana Point Harbor four times a week.

Perhaps the most exotic dogs present hail from a breed bred in Rome: Spinone Italiano. The two tall pooches with bronze-colored noses sniffed their way through vendor booths setup in the parking lot east of the Dana Point Yacht Club.

But what stood out in this canine crowd was the excellent behavior of so many dogs in so many queues. A string of dogs stood side by side and next to their owners at the entrance to Wag-A-Thon. Some dogs were sniffing other dogs, but none were barking or shoving in line or acting otherwise wily.

Pooches were leashed and strolling the promenade, sniffing each other as their masters navigated from one booth to another. Dog owners snapped up literature and frisbees while their doggies nibbled at assuredly “safe” dog bones and other goodies.

The event was sponsored in part by Ralphs and Pet Project Foundation (PPF), a merge of Animal Rescue Foundation of Dana Point and Friends of San Clemente, sponsors of the event. The PPF misson is to improve the quality of life of all companion pets through fundraisers such as Wag-A-Thon. At this year’s Wag, PPF brought in a movie star: Coal, who starred as in the movie “The Shaggy Dog,” was on hand to pose for photos with the visiting pets through Birds and Animals Unlimited. PPF uses donations to feed dogs, cats, bunnies and birds who live at area shelters while waiting for new homes.

At this fair you could adopt a pet, sponsor a pet, groom a pet, or donate part of your salary to an otherwise good cause.

If you missed this year’s Wag-A-Thon, it’s not too late to donate through PPF. For more information, log on: http://www.petprojectfoundation.org/ or visit your local animal shelter and adopt a pet or sponsor someone else to give a home to a dog, cat, bunny or bird.

Old Tustin Marine Base Transformation Offers Great Tustin Real Estate Opportunities

Anyone that’s passed through the Tustin/Irvine real estate area on the 5, 405, or 55 freeways has probably seen the two huge blimp hangars on the old Tustin Marine Air Base—it’s sort of hard not to see them. Well, the base is closed now, and in its place is Tustin Legacy, an under-construction 1,600-acre complex of homes, parks, shopping, and entertainment.

Ultimately, there will be some 4,600 new Tustin homes for sale. Many of them are already complete, including homes in Tustin Field I, Tustin Field II, and Columbus Grove. The hope of the housing developers is to build medium density, pedestrian friendly neighborhoods. To this end, there are a large variety of home styles in varying price ranges, including 160 units (15%) slated for low-income home buyers. Just to give you an idea the wide variety of home choices, here’s the break down of homes being built in Tustin Field I:

• 126 Detached Cluster Homes
• 52 Paired Homes
• 58 Row Town Homes
• 140 Clustered Homes
  

In addition to all these homes, construction is underway on the District, an 87-acre commercial center. The center will have three zones: a lifestyle and entertainment village, anchored by an AMC movie theater; a promotional retail district with shops, stores, and a gourmet grocery store; and a restaurant cluster. All three zones will have pedestrian accessible walkways. The center—or a good portion of the stores and restaurants, at least—should be open this June!
Perhaps the coolest part of Tustin Legacy will be the two-mile linear park running diagonally through the entire community. The park will have walking spaces, playgrounds, nature areas, and sports facilities. The park will serve well to tie together the entire complex, and as the planners say, preserve “the unique and storied history of the Air Station, the historic core of Tustin, and the nostalgic past of the agriculture industry in the region.”

Three brand-new schools are also in the works for the complex: two elementary schools and one high school. As for the blimp hangars themselves, one will be raised to make room for the planned development, and the other will be turned into a sports complex and veteran’s memorial.

All in all, Tustin real estate Legacy looks to be a beautiful place to call home and a very promising Orange County real estate opportunity.

Ocean Front Condos + 60% Tax Break (Mills Act) = Big Win for Ocean Front Home Buyers

I can't tell you how often I get calls from dreamers wanting to live in an ocean front condo on a normal budget. Most of the time they are pie in the sky ideas that never work out. In southern California you cant touch this type of product for under a million dollars. But I have to tell you, there are still some incredible opportunities available thanks to the Mills Act. And I have found an incredible deal in the Orange County/LA area that will blow your socks off.

What if I told you that I have a Gorgeous historic building on the sand. Condo units were only selling for $300k to $400k, you only had to pay 40% of the normal tax bill and all utilities were included in the normal association fee including cable TV. Plus you can walk out your back door onto an awesome sandy beach. Sounds too good to be true right. Well it gets even better. There is a beautiful lobby, and you will have a spectacular city lights view from your unit. All for less than you would pay for your average drywall 2 by 4 box in the burbs. No its not in Mexico. Its here in the Orange County/LA area.

Well you don't have to dream anymore because I have your deal. This must be the best kept secret ever and I am going down to buy one of my own. Give me a call and I will reserve one for you also.

Just so you know this is for real, check out this information on the Mills act. The Mills act is a little know piece of California legislation administered by local cities. Owners of designated historic buildings can make a 10 year automatically renewable contract with the city to apply for 40% to 60% tax savings. In exchange they must go through an extra approval process when applying for permits from the city to do improvements on the property. The city will insure that the improvements will preserve the historic nature of the building. While it might be a little extra hassle, I think it is well worth it for the thousands of dollars in tax savings, and in the end, doesn't everybody want to preserve the original beauty of these magnificent buildings?

Well what are you waiting for? Get on the phone now. In 9 years in the business, I have never seen an ocean front deal this good. When the buildings renovations are done, I expect the prices to be a lot higher.