If you are considering downsizing or moving to a new area to be closer to family and friends, one factor to consider before you sell your old home and buy a new home is the property tax implications.  Often times when a homeowner sells a home that has been owned for a number of years and purchases a new home, the homeowner receives “sticker shock” in the form of substantially increased property taxes.  This might be true even where the purchase price of the newly purchased home is about the same as the sale price of the old home that was sold.  The reason for this is Proposition 13, which places a cap on property taxes by permitting property to be taxed at a maximum rate of 1% of its assessed value.  The assessed value may be increased by only 2% per year until the property is sold.  Thus, the old home’s assessed value and its property tax was kept artificially low, while the new home is taxed at the much higher reassessed value based on the market value or purchase price. The law does provide, however, certain exemptions from reassessment and, in certain instances, allows a taxpayer to transfer the base-year value of his or her old home to a newly purchased home without being reassessed.  One of these exemptions is given to taxpayers 55 years of age or older.  Under certain conditions, a taxpayer who is 55 years of age or older may transfer the Proposition 13 base-year assessment value of his or her principal residence to any replacement dwelling of equal or lesser value in the same county and, sometimes, in another county. This exemption is available for any dwelling owned and occupied by a taxpayer as his or her principal residence, unless the dwelling is receiving a different real property exemption.  The dwelling may be a single family home, a unit in a common interest development (such as a co-op, condo or townhouse) or a mobilehome.  The new replacement dwelling must have been purchased or constructed either two years before the sale of the original dwelling or two years after the sale of the original dwelling.  The key consideration is that the newly purchased home must be of equal or lesser value to the sold home. The savings could be substantial particularly where the old home was owned for a long time.  There may be other restrictions and qualifications not discussed in this article that may limit or restrict your ability to receive the exemption.  If you think you qualify for such a tax treatment, please consult with your tax professional or advisor.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Real Estate News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.