From: robin_listas@es.invalid   
      
   On 2026-01-21 04:46, Lars Poulsen wrote:   
   >> On 2026-01-20 22:22, Lars Poulsen wrote:   
   >>> But it suffers the curse of Paradise: Those who can afford to live   
   >>> ANYWHERE they like, like to buy a home here; that has driven the   
   >>> prices up to where a mobile home in a rent controlled senior park   
   >>> now routinely sells for $750,000. On my cul-de-sac an 1100 sqft   
   >>> home sold for $1.8M; the buyer tore it down to build a 2400 sqft   
   >>> house while retaining the old garage that had been turned into an ADU.   
   >>> City council talks nicely about wanting to build affordable housing,   
   >>> but the truth is that a reasonable 2-bedroom apartment rents for   
   >>> $3000/month (on a 12-month lease, with no pets) and it goes up from   
   >>> there pretty fast. And those modest home owners who have discovered   
   >>> that the inflated home prices have made them millionaires do   
   >>> not want that problem fixed.   
   >   
   > On 2026-01-20, Carlos E.R.  wrote:   
   >> Ah, you maybe do not have a tax on the property.   
   >   
   > California taxes on real estate are kind of crazy.   
   >   
   > During the heavy inflation in the 1970s (interest rates went to 18%   
   > on a regular household savings account), house prices were going up   
   > fast, and with them the property taxes, squeezing many retired people in   
   > fixed incomes who had not planned for this extra expense. A taxpayer   
   > revolt ensued, resuling in a voter initiated law ("Proposition 13")   
   > being passed into law in 1980, stating that even when property values   
   > rose, the tax appraisal would be frozen until the house was sold   
   > again, and the tax rate could not exceed 2% of that (frozen) value.   
      
   Oh!   
      
   >   
   > Unfortunately, they created an immense loophole: Commercial properties   
   > were included, and owners of commercial properties transferred their   
   > properties to holding companies (one per property), so when the   
   > property was transferred to a new owner, the building was still   
   > owned by the same company, even as that COMPANY changed owners.   
      
   Ouch.   
      
   >   
   > So if like me, you bought your house in 1985 for USD 140K, your   
   > property tax is still 2% of your purchase price, even though its market   
   > value is now well over 10 times that. But if I were to sell it   
   > and buy another one for the same price, I would now pay more than   
   > 10 times as much property tax on the same house.   
   >   
   > So people do not move nearly as much as they used to.   
      
   Understandably.   
      
   --   
   Cheers, Carlos.   
   ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)