All Forum Posts by: Carrianne Mucho

In my area, MLS will give you access to much more than just active listings like Realtor.com. You can see all the photos and comments for closed sales (comps), you have greater control over search criteria, and you have the ability to run customized trend reports for various areas based on zip or neighborhood code, square footage, etc. you can also map listings (or sales) which makes planning a series of drive-bys much easier.

Gabriel Ugarte I'm glad you introduced yourself! Welcome to BP from Placer County. You are more brave than I am to invest out of state. Glad to hear it is working for you! Although, Sacramento is a good place to invest as well (IMHO). Perhaps we will meet in person at one of the local groups. Happy investing!

@Jay Hinrichs - Right!  and besides that, there are fixed costs like say, an appraisal...on an investment property which requires a rent survey, that fee alone would be over 1% of a $50,000 loan!  When you spread fixed costs over a larger loan amount, it becomes more cost effective and the Lender is sharing risk with the borrower (vs. an all cash deal).  IMHO, leverage is one of the main reasons real estate is an attractive investment over other options!   

@Jay Hinrichs - I can imagine!  Unfortunately, Nevada County doesn't participate any longer.  

Hello Andrew Luong and welcome to THE most informative location on the web for real estate! It sounds like you've got a great head start already but that's what is so fun about real estate: there is always more to learn!!

Zach Quick , Jay Hinrichs is correct re: the impracticality of financing such a low price point. There are certain fixed costs of processing a loan and for this price point in a stagnant area is not feasible. For someone who has 50k to put down, compare instead to a $200k property in and area with just Average appreciation; the loan costs could be covered by appreciation in 12 months or less because the return is on the leveraged value, not just the initial investment. Disclaimer: I'm in California so I may be jaded toward an appreciation market and using real estate as leverage rather than the idea of hoping for a couple hundred in cash flow each month...I've done better than that in more liquid markets (stocks).

@Jay Hinrichs - probably not as many 2.5 mil properties to choose from in TX as in CA! ;) Okay, sorry, now I sound like a snob haha.  I actually love TX, just doesn't make sense for me to invest there for reasons you stated.  

Regarding your question on portability, yes and no.  It is a bit complicated.  Under Prop 60, within the SAME county, and if you (or your spouse) are over 55 years old, you have access to a one time transfer of property tax basis.  However, the new property generally cannot have a market value more than the sold property; although it can be less.  I believe the idea was to assist California residents on a fixed income who wanted to downsize or needed to relocate closer to family or exchange that bit two story for a single level home.  There are a handful of counties that "cooperate" ie; you can transfer from any other California county to that county, but there are many that do not. 

InterCounty transfers fall under Prop 90 and currently, according to the State Board of Equalization website (where there is lots more information for anyone interested), the counties which allow this type of transfer include: 

Alameda 

Orange

San Diego

Tuolumne

El Dorado * (set to expire in Oct, 2016)

Riverside

San Mateo

Ventura

Los Angeles

San Bernardino

Santa Clara

It is at the individual county's discretion; there used to be more on this list, but it seems many of them are sun-setting this option.  

@Stan Hill Thanks.  It is actually a max of 2% but is based on an inflation index set by the State Board of Equalization, so in many years where inflation is not much of a factor (as in recent years), it may only be 1-1.5%.  I think this last year was the first time in the last 10 that the factor was even close to 2%.  I was just looking at a property yesterday whose assessed value was 150K below market because they have owned it for awhile.  

Beyond that, for anyone looking to pass property to their heirs, children get to inherit the assessed value even if the market value is significantly higher!  There are value limits on investment property (the first $1M), but it is unlimited on your primary res.  Talk about a great tax shelter! 

@Account Closed & @Jay Hinrichs - I have been known to complain about my CA state income tax, but overall you are right!  Much easier to take deductions and avoid or defer income tax...property tax is uncontrollable and unavoidable (barring abstinence).  

Rob McGahen great advice to network with experience people in your area! Steven Bruce , Sacramento has several REI groups where you can meet other investors with varying levels of experience as well as industry experts. Look up Real Estate investing on Meetup. There is one in Roseville, next meeting is in September. Also be sure to check out the real estate Summit in San Francisco next month. J Martin has the deets.

Matt R. You are right, people forget about the "small stuff" which can end up being big!! Stan Hill as you know, California's proposition 13 is one of the beautiful things about buy and hold RE in CA. Your friends probably had a reduced tax assessment under Prop 8 while values were down, and now, their value is probably back at or near that $550k except, if they bought in say, 1990, they are still not paying property tax on anywhere near market value since it can only increase 2% annually. Yes, values may go down more in CA than TX during recessionary times, but they also go UP a heck of a lot more when things are good, or even just ok. Can you say "opportunity"? California investing definitely takes a different risk profile than slow and steady. My advice to anyone, anywhere is: know your local market! You can't time it perfectly, but you can save yourself a lot of heartache if you take its pulse.