There is a silver lining to the slumping real estate market after all. If you purchased your home in the last 3 years or so, it is likely that your home has probably decreased in value. While that is certainly not welcome news, there is a small benefit. You are allowed by law to request a reassessment of your current assessed property value, thereby potentially lowering your property taxes temporarily.

The assessed value can be found in two ways. First of all, the county tax assessor (they are so nice to do this) send you out a NOTICE OF ASSESSED VALUE for the coming property tax year. Remember, the property tax year runs July 1st through June 30th. In the NOTICE OF ASSESSED VALUE, the assessor indicates the new assessed value of your property for the next tax year based on the property value as of January 1st.

If you have not saved this notice, you can also refer to the actual property tax bill when you receive it. Both documents will indicated your assessed value. You can also contact the county assessor’s office and get the information that way.

If you feel the market value of your home is less than the assessed value as of January 1st, then you have the right under proposition 8 to file a Decline in Value Reassessment Application. You can obtain the form from the county assessors office, or by using the link below.

On the claim form, you must provide the Assessor with any information that supports your opinion of the market value. The best information, of course, would be sales comparables. You should provide two comparable closed sales that sold as close to January 1st as possible, but no later than March 31st. Remember, the assessed value of your property is based on it’s value on January 1st of that year. Of course, the assessor is free to consider other sales information at their disposal to arrive at a decision, so it is not an automatic approval. This form should be submitted to the Assessors office before June 2nd.

If the assessor does not agree to your value, you do have the right to appeal the decision. If you decide to appeal the assessed value, you must do so between July 1st and September 15th. The appeal forms can be obtained by contacting the assessor’s office.

Once the assessor agrees to a temporary reduction of assessed value under Proposition 8, the assessors office automatically review the subsequent years assessed value. Again, if you do not agree, you can file another appeal in that tax year. If the property appreciates, the assessed value can never increase above the Prop 13 baseline assessed value (your annual assessed value based on your original market value or purchase price, plus increases). So you will never be worse off for filing an appeal. It is a temporary reduction in assessed value.

Here are links to information and the Decline in Assessed value forms:

Alameda County:

Reassessment Information (PDF)
Decline In Assessed Value Claim Form (PDF)

Contra Costa County:

Reassessment Information
Decline In Assessed Value Claim Form (PDF)

The Pleasanton CA real estate market saw a spike in activity in April, as pending sales for the month rose to their highest level since June 2007. Despite continuing dismal news on the national and regional real estate markets, and shaky economic indicators, many buyers in Pleasanton are deciding that values have reached a point where they are very attractive, and are deciding to act. This is yet another example of why there is no “real estate market”, but rather a series of micro markets that vary in terms of activity, outlook, and strength. Even within the city of Pleasanton there are neighborhoods and areas that are fairing much better than others. But as a whole, Pleasanton saw a strong month of activity in April. There were 67 pending sales for detached homes in April, up from 35 in March, and 43 in February. Inventory rose to 221 homes on the market at the end of April, up from 206 in March. This is perhaps a sign that this summer could see strong activity, certainly welcome news (click on graph to enlarge).

In the under $1 million price range, there were 42 pending sales in April, up significantly from 26 in March and 30 in February. Overall, 2/3 of the sales were in the under $1 million price range. Inventory rose to 118 available single family homes at the end of April, up from 106 at the end of March (click on graph to enlarge).

In the $1 million to $2 million price segment, activity was up significantly. There were 20 pending sales in April, making it the most active month in this price segment since May of 2006. March saw 8 pending sales in this price segment, so it was certainly a good month. Inventory rose slightly, with 70 homes on the market at the end of April as compared to 67 at the end of March (click on graph to enlarge).

In the over $2 million price range, activity was up as well with 5 pending sales in April as compared with 1 in March and 3 in February. Inventory remained unchanged, with 33 homes on the market at the end of April (click on graph to enlarge).

Overall, the spike of activity is certainly welcome news. With many sellers getting more aggressive on pricing, many buyers are getting off the fence and taking advantage of the values available in the marketplace. With interest rates remaining low for the foreseeable future, there is hope that this will be an active summer for the Pleasanton housing market. Only time will tell….