Preparing Yourself for a Supplemental Property Tax

When purchasing a home, buyers do not often realize they will be receiving a Supplemental Tax Bill. This is a one time tax that is the sole responsibility of the buyer to pay and is not pro-rated in escrow. It is intended to capture the difference between the old tax base that the seller was paying and the new tax base on which the buyer will be paying. The bill is pro-rated based on the date of change of ownership within the fiscal year. The County Assessor will reappraise the property as of the date of change of ownership at Market Value and the buyer will subsequently receive a Supplemental Notice and Tax Bill.
Something for a buyer to consider, for budget reasons, is how long has the prior owner lived in the home to be purchased? If the prior owner has lived in the property for many years, they probably have had a low tax base under Proposition 13. This means that the buyer will more than likely have a higher Supplemental Tax to pay. A buyer might even take this into consideration when making an offer on a home.

Janis Calkins
(805) 218-7016
www.JanisCalkins.com

Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates are rising. NOT! Mortgage rates have fallen this week to their lowest level since February. Check with your morgage broker or lender for actual rates.

www.HopeGoss

Electronic Signatures

I recently signed up with a company that processes electronic signatures. This is very useful in real estate transactions with clients that either live out of town, or are away on vacation or business during a transaction. The service allows you to package the documents, such as a purchase contract or disclosures, and email it to the client. They electronically sign it, never needing to print it, and email it back to you. There is a charge for the service, however, I find it much less expensive than overnighting a package to them and having them overnight it back to me. In addition to being less expensive, it's also much faster! If you'd like more information on this, visit http://docusign.com/products/features.htm

Now is a GREAT time to buy!!

No April fools about it, Now is a great time to buy real esate!

When is not a good time to buy real estate? I would venture to say that there never is a bad time to buy real estate. In fact, long-term mortgage interest rates fell Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.58 percent. The real estate market is just starting to heat up again and with the decrease in mortgage rates it is a perfect time to make offers on real estate.

I also want to mention that the 30-year fixed-rate average slid to 5.65 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate fell to 5.24 percent. The 1-year adjustable decreased slightly to 3.86 percent. I feel there are more buyers looking for homes which may start the multiple offer craze we saw last spring. The market is not going to take a downward turn any time soon. We all know or feel that housing prices are high, but homes are still moving on the market with no downturn in the near future. With the recent decrease in rates and homes with shorter days on market now is the best time to make an offer. What do you think? I would like to invite some discussion and comments about this.

Ryan Kerzner
http://www.realtorryan.net/