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Assessments (property taxes) are the highest expense after debt service (mortgage) for taxpayers and knowing property taxes and assessments can only benefit you as a homeowner. The average homeowners who bought a home in the past six years pays at least $7,000 per year in property taxes which equates to almost $600 monthly. After ten years the amount of property taxes paid cumulatively will be more than $70,000! If that homeowner can lower their property taxes by just $2,000 per year over the next ten years, you will save $20,000! Being a knowledgeable homeowners about the three aspects of property taxes, appraisal, assessment and government process, enables you to save thousands in the long run.

I applied with the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office early 2003, I was one of 900 applicants for 25 positions as a Real Estate Appraiser Trainee. I was one of the 25 chosen for the class they hired that year. As a trainee I went through an 18 month probation period and a 12 month training with them including classroom training, many exams, field training in all aspects of real estate appraisal, property tax law and the processes within the Assessor’s Office. If had I failed any one of my series of exams or gotten a bad performance review I would have been kicked out of the program.

In a decreasing real estate market, you are allowed a break in your property taxes. Prop 8 is an exemption to California Property Tax Law which is the basis of property taxes for homeowners in California. Prop 13 was enacted to control property taxes paid by homeowners. Prop 8 Exemption is an exemption to Prop 13 which says that your property tax value should not be higher than market value.

When Proposition 13 passed in 1978, it extremely limited the capacity of local governments to use property taxes to construct public improvements and services. As a result, Californians had to find new methods to pay for public improvements in their communities such as streets, schools, parks, etc. The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 was implemented by the California legislature, the Act enabled Community Facilities Districts (CFD’s) to be established by local government agencies as a way of obtaining this crucial neighborhood funding.

In early 2003 I applied with the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office as one of 900 applicants for 25 positions to be a Real Estate Appraiser Trainee. As a trainee I went through an 18 month probation period and a 12 month training with them which included classroom education, numerous exams, field training in all parts of real estate appraisal, property tax law and the systems in place within the Assessor’s Office. Had I failed any one of my series of exams or gotten a bad review by my field trainer they would have booted me out.