House demolition question - Posted by db

Posted by Killer Joe on April 26, 2005 at 10:32:24:

Kristine,

Not all of LA CO, I’m referring to Beachtown property where the land is a guzillion dollars and the house is, well, a house.

KJ

House demolition question - Posted by db

Posted by db on April 24, 2005 at 22:04:44:

What happens with the real estate taxes when you tear a house down and just keep the lot vacant? Thanks.

Re: House demolition question - Posted by DW (NC)

Posted by DW (NC) on April 25, 2005 at 08:40:09:

I did some tax valuation work in the past, so I have an idea of how their system works. My guess is that your tax bill should be reduced. You will have to make the assessor aware of what has occurred, but in most cases, removing a house typically reduces the “tax” value (not to be confused with its market value).

Re: House demolition question - Posted by Carl CA

Posted by Carl CA on April 24, 2005 at 22:27:57:

db,

The county should back out the value of the improvements on your
parcel number. You should be paying taxes only on the value of the
land. Contact your local assessor’s office to get the proper procedure
to do so.

Carl

Re: House demolition question - Posted by Killer Joe

Posted by Killer Joe on April 24, 2005 at 23:46:04:

Carl,

Just to add to what you said, and give it some perspective, in my neck of the woods the house is about 20% of the assessment, so your tax bill will still be 80% of what it was.

KJ

around here its the opposite… - Posted by David Krulac

Posted by David Krulac on April 25, 2005 at 06:36:20:

the house is about 80& of the value, so there’s a lot of variance around the country.

Re: around here its the opposite… - Posted by Kristine-CA

Posted by Kristine-CA on April 25, 2005 at 23:35:36:

David: same here where I am in CA. About 80% of tax assessed value
is improvements and land is 20%. You can reduce your tax bill
signficantly by reporting to the assessor the removal of a structure.
However, special assessments are high where I am and are assessed
per parcel, so that doesn’t change. Same 500 bucks for trash removeal
and new sewer even without a house.

Not sure why it’s so different in LA county. Kristine