If you're making a move here to Temecula, California and you don't already know all the specifics and why some neighborhoods have such high property taxes compared to others, you're definitely going to want to watch this video. I'm going to get into the property taxes, talk to you about why some neighborhoods are so much higher than others, how it affects you as a homeowner, and what that means for you on a monthly basis, and then how to stay away from those high taxes if that's something that's important to you. So I'm going to get into all the info and let's go ahead and get into it.

Hey guys. Hey again, my name is Justin Short. I'm a realtor and team leader for the short real estate team here in Temecula, California in Murrieta California. And this video was all about high property taxes, what to know, what to be aware of, what to look out for, and how to find a neighborhood that has low property taxes. That's something that's going to be super important to you as a home buyer. So we're going to get into all the details. But the first thing, if you like videos like this and you want to see more real estate videos, more real estate content about the Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee area, do me a favor, please hit like please sit, subscribe. Obviously it's going to help me, it's going to help my channel. Obviously we're trying to continue to grow it. And then if you guys have any real estate questions, of course, I would absolutely love to hear from you so you can feel free.

You can reach out to me at any time. You can feel free. You can give us a call, a text, or an email. You're going to see all my information down the description below. You're going to see all the contact information at the end. So plenty of ways to reach out. I'm happy to answer any questions that you guys may have. And of course, we'd love to help you out with your search and actually help you out with your home buying out here as well. And then if you are just kind of considering the area, and if you're just making make a trip out here to the Temecula, Murrieta area, we have some really cool downloads as well. So you're going to see there's a link down below in the description, but it's the short realestate team.com/visit. We have three different downloads for the cities of Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee.

We have some of the restaurants that we recommend to check out, some of the best neighborhoods to drive through, some of the best family activities to do while you're in town, all types of stuff for you to check out. So I think if it's your first time here, I think it's a really good resource and something to be able to get a full experience of what the area is like. But I guess we'll go ahead and get all the info here. So again, property taxes, and this is something, this is a conversation that comes up a lot with people that make a move from out of the area. So whether that's other parts of California or other states throughout the United States as well, but in this area, the property taxes can vary greatly from one neighborhood to the other. And really, so what that means is across the board we have a pretty standardized tax rate.

That's pretty much they're going to be anywhere in Riverside County and it's going to be about 1.15%, and that's your base standard tax rate. If you look at it's a $500,000 home, 1.15%. Quick math is probably about $5,600 or so per year in property taxes, which is great. That's going to be standard right across the board. But in addition to that base rate, different neighborhoods also have different special assessments, and those assessments are paid by the homeowner yearly. And so when a home has low special assessments, that would be considered like a low tax area. And when they have high special assessments, that would be considered a very high tax neighborhood. For example, there are some neighborhoods here in Temecula that per year, they pay about $100 per year in special assessments. So a hundred dollars per year. Most people pay their taxes monthly as part of your impound account on their mortgage statement.

So that means it's going to be, it's about, I don't know, is that $8 a month in extra property taxes for special assessments? It's really nothing. It's minuscule not something you're really going to pay much attention to as a homeowner. So that would be a low tax neighborhood. However, some neighborhoods can go all the way from that very, very low special assessment all the way up to a very, very high number. They could be as high as close to $5,000 per year in special assessments. So that's a huge, huge difference. So $5,000 per year, if you break that out over fight it by 12, that's about an extra $400 per month just in additional property taxes for those extra special assessments. That's a huge, huge difference. So if that's not something that you already are paying attention to, you absolutely must that's something that your lender is going to factor in when they are qualifying you for a mortgage.

This is actually something that comes up a lot where we have clients that make a move from out of state, other areas don't necessarily work this way. And so the lender may do loans all over California or all over the United States and they don't understand how this section of Riverside County works and they do not take those higher property taxes into account until we get a week from closing and they get a tax bill or something. And that can really mess things up with your pre-approval. I have seen clients' loans and not be able to go through because the lender didn't understand the taxes because they're using their lender that they used to use back in Arizona or whatever the case was. So that could be a potential issue there as well. But there are some general rules of thumb about how to stay away from the taxes, those higher special assessments and just things to be aware of.

So the first thing, I guess I should just explain what special assessments are. So what those special assessments are is when a builder comes in and they're going to buy a plot of land, they're going to buy a big empty vacant lot and they're going to buy that thing and they're going to subdivide it up and they're going to build a bunch of tract homes. It's pretty common out here. We usually have a big builder that's going to come in and build a tract like that. They're going to build anywhere from six homes to 1500 to 2000 homes. It's a ton of homes that they're going to build all at once over the course of a couple years. Great. Okay. So when they do that, when that builder is buying the land and they're developing it, they are not only just building those 1000 houses, they are also building the infrastructure to support those 1000 houses.

So what that means is they are bringing out the utilities, they're bringing out gas, they're bringing out electric, they're building the streets, they are putting the lighting in for the streets, they're building the sewer, they're building a lot of times, parks, sometimes they have to build public schools that the city is going to require. They have to do all these extracurricular things besides just the house, besides just the frame and the roof and all that type of stuff besides just the structure, they have to do these other part, these other enhancements as part of building their community. So what used to happen is the builder would go ahead and they would just, when they'd build those infrastructures, the builder would foot the bill for all of those costs. So they'd pay the sewer bill, they'd pay the fee to pay the park, to build the park, to build the fire department, all these different types of things.

And that was just kind of part of their cost of being a contractor and constructing the community, right? However, starting in about 2003, 2004, at least in our area, these mass builders figured out that, hey, we don't necessarily have to pay for these costs out of our pocket. We can maybe keep the housing prices a little bit lower and actually pass this expense on onto the new homeowner. So they do that in the form of those special assessments, taxes or taxes. So that's why the new homeowner has to pay those higher special assessments. Like I said, they could be, especially on a newer community, they could be 3000, 4,000, $5,000 per year. And those are bonds for all that infrastructure that the builder did not pay upfront and that they managed to pass off onto the homeowner. So it sounds a little bit silly, you're right, you would think the builder would kind of have to swallow that pill as part of their cost to build, but that's just not the case any longer.

So because of that builders, they found that avenue and they started to maximize that more and more and more. So in our area, we started seeing this in about 2003 and newer. So 2003, 2004, 2005. And over time we have seen more and more of those costs passed off into the homeowner, which gives higher and higher special assessments, which gives higher and higher taxes. As a general rule of thumb, if you do not want to pay those special assessments, you are going to need to find an older home that was constructed, constructed pre 2003, so like 2002 and older. And in that case, typically they're not going to have those higher special assessments. That's not a hundred percent fact. That's a good solid rule of thumb 98% of the time, but there's a couple exceptions here and there. But typically it's those older homes that are going to have those lower special assessments.

So those lower property taxes. And then 2003 and newer, we started seeing those higher property taxes, those higher special assessments. And then over time, as you got to 2008, special assessments got a little bit higher. 2012 they got a little bit higher. 2018, a little bit higher. My house is actually a 2022 build, so it's only a year old and they're super, super high. They're super high special assessments as far as I know. I think they're actually the highest in the area. So over time they're getting higher and higher. So the older the home, the lower the taxes, and then also pre 2002, you're going to get away from those actual special assessments. So something that clients do bring up to me a lot, if they have some general knowledge about what those special assessments are, they used to be referred to as Melarose, they don't really use that term anymore.

I think it just kind of has a bad connotation. But special assessments, Melarose, are basically the same thing. It's those cost that the builder has passed off over to the homeowner. But a lot of times clients ask me, well, hey, I believe eventually those special assessments are going to be paid off. Is that correct? The answer is yes. So like we mentioned, those are bonds that are on your tax bill that were passed off onto the homeowner, and those bonds eventually are paid and are satisfied and will drop off of your tax bill. The problem is they're long-term deal. So those bonds are usually anywhere from 25 to 35 years is how long they last. So unless your home is 20 to 25 years old, it's really probably not going to be in a consideration for anytime soon. So usually my advice to clients is, Hey, yes, eventually these bills are going to be paid off and these bonds are going to drop off, but it's hard to bank on that today and think about that extra $1,500 you're going to save in 15 years, right?

It's not really a realistic thing to think about. If you do have any specific questions about your property taxes and want to know more of the details, anytime you buy a house, you do actually get a full itemized breakdown of what each bond is, and you can always call the county and ask for specific information and ask for a payoff date. When is that bond going to be satisfied and when is it going to be dropped off? But general rule of thumb, like I mentioned, they're going to last anywhere from 25 to 35 years. Don't count on anything jumping off too soon at least. So anyways, I thought that was going to be some good information for you guys.

This is not how most of the United States operates. Most other areas do not have these higher special assessments. So if you're in an area that does not have them, you definitely want to factor this in before you make the move out here, before you buy a home. This is definitely a conversation that you want to have with your loan officer. Make sure they're understanding of that. Each property has a little bit different property taxes and make sure they take that into account with your pre-approval. And obviously your real estate agent needs to be aware of it because they need to help guide you in the right area to make sure you're going to find an affordable home. So of course, if we were going to help you, we would help point that out to you. But whether it's me or somebody else, you want to make sure you have an agent that is knowledgeable, is local out here, is kind of a local expert, has that expertise and can guide you to those low tax neighborhoods if that's going to be important to you.

I can tell you, I just mentioned myself, we live in a house that actually has those higher special assessments. So it's not the worst thing in the entire world, but you just have to know that hey, it's going to cost you more each month and each year to live here as opposed to the home, across the street. So you need to make sure you take that into account, make sure you fit it into your budget and make sure it's something that you're really considering. So hopefully that's good information. Like I said, do me a favor, hit like on the video, please hit subscribe if you want to see more real estate content and of course would love to hear from you guys and you can feel free to reach out anytime. Thanks.