Property Tax Reassessments in Long Beach & Southern California

Owners of Long Beach Real Estate and other Southern California Real Estate need to contact the County Tax Assessors office as soon as possible to have your homes and condos, as well as any other real estate holdings, reassessed to todays new market values and have their property tax liability reduced. Currently property taxes are based on .125% of purchase price and are then adjusted over time, based on assessed value.

Recently consumers have been inquiring "When will our property taxes be reassessed to the new and lower market values?" Well that is an excellent question and one that was recently addressed in an article in the NY Times, 'Taxes Are Reassessed in Housing Slump'. The article states:

1,800 homeowners is a small fraction of the residents of the Southern California and Long Beach Communities. Reduce your tax liability, contact the Los Angeles County Tax Assessors office as soon as possible to begin the process.

In 1978, California voters passed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that allows a temporary reduction in assessed value when a property suffers a decline-in-value. Information on Proposition 8 can be found here.

If you disagree with the assessed value of your property, you should contact the Assessors Office to request a review of the value. If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may then file an appeal with the Assessment Appeals Board.

Links to other relevent Government Sites:

• Kern County Assessor
• Orange County Assessor
• Riverside County Assessor
• San Bernardino County Assessor
• Ventura County Assessor
• California Assessors' Association
• Direct Assessment Contacts

Posted on December 25, 2007 05:09:28 by Laurie.Manny

Divorce and Real Estate in Long Beach

Divorce and Real Estate

Divorce often necessitates the sale of family homes. Selling your Long Beach Homes does not have to become a damaging event in your lives. Couples coming to terms with the loss of love, past memories, dealing with the present and trying to plan for the future, need to maintain a level head throughout this process; not always an easy task. Well intentioned friends and relatives are offering you advice on your divorce, your children, your careers, the sale of your home, your future; all adding to the overwhelming stress you are already experiencing. It has been my experience that this is best handled when realistic boundaries are set at the beginning of the process.

Over the years many of my clients have become cherished friends. In a divorce situation it is difficult when you like both parties to stay neutral, but is absolutely necessary. Over time I have developed what I now refer to as my Switzerland speech. It has proven to be very effective and goes something like this:

"As your Realtor® it is my job to market and sell your Long Beach Home. This is best accomplished if you both agree to view me as Switzerland. While I am not insensitive to what is going on in your lives, it is best if you both exclude me from your conversations regarding the divorce issues that do not apply to the sale. Over the course of this transaction you will both be called upon to make joint decisions, we need to agree that when we speak on the phone, you come to my office or when I come to your home, we keep the conversation limited to the business of selling your home. It would be most unfortunate if either of you thought that I was biased toward the other, I certainly do not want either of you to think that. Can we all agree on this?"

Recently I read an article on couples seeking kinder, gentler divorces. An approach many couples are now embracing called "Collaborative Divorce", which has been endorsed by the American Bar Association, as part of a broader quest to find more civilized and efficient ways to end a marriage. Thousands of attorneys are realizing how damaging the adversarial process is to their clients, are embracing this new method of divorce and are seeking training in collaborative law. Other couples are turning to mediation as a viable alternative to messy, expensive and damaging processes.

Mediation and Collaborative divorces are much more economical and confidential. Boston Law Collaborative analyzed 199 of its recent divorce cases and found that mediation, collaborative divorce and litigation all produced high rates of successful settlement. Mediation was by far the least expensive option, with a median cost of $6,600, compared to $19,723 for a collaborative divorce, $26,830 for settlements negotiated by rival lawyers, and $77,746 for full-scale litigation.

If you are interested in reading the full article it can be found here. It is a very good read, I highly recommend it.

Posted on December 21, 2007 23:57:44 by Laurie.Manny

Remodeling Your Long Beach Homes? Check out Google SketchUp-a Free Tool

Model Your World

Thinking about remodeling your homes, kitchens or baths, considering a landscaping project, building a deck or any new project can be mind boggling. Just considering how to express your dream to the architect or contractor and knowing that you and they have the same vision can be a stressful experience.

The Google Gods have developed an absolutely great solution. It's a 3D modeling software, it's easy to learn, simple to use and best of all it is free. It's called Google SketchUp 6. Now before you start pulling your hair out, let these 4 autistic children show you how easy it can be.

Isn't that amazing and wonderful?

Google SketchUp also allows you to place your completed models into Google Earth using real-world coordinates and share them with the world using Google 3D Warehouse. You can learn more about Google SketchUp here.

Or you can download the free version here.

Google SketchUp can be found here.

There are tons of tutorial videos on YouTube which can be found here.

I think this is a great tool for both developing and communicating your specifications and hope you do too. Have fun with it, let your imagination go, see where it takes you. Hey, it's free, you have nothing to lose.

Posted on December 19, 2007 10:44:42 by Laurie.Manny

Long Beach Seniors Beware of New Phone Scam

The Press Telegram reports a new threat to seniors in our Long Beach community.

Tom Reeves, City Prosecutor said 2 Long Beach Senior Citizens were contacted on Friday by people claiming to be members of the Social Security Administration. Both women were told that they didn't need to pay their Medicare premiums and were told that the representative would be in their Long Beach neighborhood today to discuss it with them. The women were then asked what time they would be available. But hey, we don't raise fools here in Long Beach; both women hung up on them and contacted the authorities.

The City Prosecutor believes the offender was attempting to find out when the women would be out of their homes that day. Authorities believe this may be a scam aimed at burglarizing Long Beach homes. Reeves said "Nobody from Social Security ever makes house calls"; and asked senior citizens in Long Beach to beware of the scam.

Remember to never give out personal information to strangers.

Posted on December 17, 2007 18:30:08 by Laurie.Manny

Merry Christmas

Posted on December 12, 2007 14:32:34 by Laurie.Manny