Proposition 19: Death Tax & Proposition 13 Slow Elimination

The average Silicon Valley Homeowner used to be able to leave his home to his children as part of his estate planning. There were tax advantages just as there are for inherited 401k plans. Many parents hope to create a family home or business that will help their children and possibly their grandchildren. Proposition 19, promoted as “Home Protection… (for) … Victims of Wildfire” had the more significant impact of making it difficult to create an inherited family home as part of your estate planning. Previously, there would be no property tax reassessment when a principal residence was transferred to a child. Proposition 19 only shelters $1M of increased value from new taxation, and only if the child uses the home as his principal residence. If you have two or more children, one of them would essentially have to buy out the interest of his sibling(s). A mortgage to do this would be much more expensive than a standard home purchase mortgage.

A Silicon Valley estate planning attorney, John C. Martin, discussed this and other issues at a 2023 seminar held at JLee Realty. A recording has been posted at https://julianalee.com/reinfo/proposition-19.htm.

Real Estate Trends – House vs. Condo

Perhaps now is a particularly good time for first time home buyers to buy a condo. In our 2021/01/09 webinar & our 2021/01/10 Chinese webinar we pointed out a difference in Silicon Valley real estate trends for houses vs. real estate trends for condos. House...

Juliana Lee Real Estate Team

Many real estate agents say they are part of a team or part of a group. Rarely would one person try to do everything required to regularly sell real estate. The recent Juliana Lee Real Estate Team Video provides a glimpse into why these real estate agents are a team.

California Good Neighbor Fence Act

When deciding to fix or replace a property line fence, you need to understand the California Good Neighbor Fence Act. It makes both neighbors equally responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing a property line fence. A key requirement is that you have to notify...

Menlo Park Real Estate Trends

Menlo Park house price per sq.ft.

The plot of both average and median quarterly Menlo Park house prices will generally alert you to unusually high or low prices by the separation between the average and median prices changing.

Menlo Park house sales price vs. list price

Changes in the Menlo Park real estate market typically create significant changes in the sales price to list price. The list price is set by looking at recent sales prices. The comparison shows how well sales prices follow expectations.