Transcript:
Easan Arulanantham:
So this is a question that kind of pertains to “a lot of people have been doing remodels, kind of updating their houses. …Does that increase my property tax?”
Tom Vaughan:
Yeah. My personal experience with that the house that you’re seeing behind me here in this picture, here in Willow Glen, we bought a home that it actually jumped at least partially off of its foundation in the ’89 earthquake. We bought it in 1995. And the people had continued to live in there. The floors were sloped at a pretty good degree. It was kind of amazing. And so we tore that house down and built this house. My grandparents built a house in 1936 in Willow Glen, it was always my dream to do so also, and there aren’t any open lots really. So what happened was, you know, I paid for the house, and I had a property tax based on that sale. And then when I change the square footage, we basically doubled it, they came out and did an appraisal on our improvements, and they increased our basis. And then that’s where my taxes run off of, is that basis, and they continue to grow as far as that goes. So, yeah, that that’s what would happen. I believe what happens, and I’m not an expert at that particular question. But I believe that if you just do some type of a kitchen remodel or something along those lines, there is no increase in your taxation. It’s triggered by a change of square footage. But I could be wrong on that. But that that’s how it worked for me. And I think that’s, you know, that was fair enough. I was fine with that. I’m pretty happy with my property taxes, because that was done back in 1995. So, good, good numbers.
Easan Arulanantham:
Yeah and also, it depends on your county. …Every county has a different assessor. So, what is considered just like, you know, refinishing like a remodel, or a simple updating could be different, under each county’s laws.
Tom Vaughan:
Yeah, …to answer the question, I do think there’s a possibility of changes to your taxes. So, the answer’s yes. How much or how it does probably depends on what county you’re in as far as that goes. But it’s something to think about as you’re doing a remodel, whether that would have any impact one way or another. And probably something to figure out before, you know, you start the process.