Anyone who has purchased Ventura County real estate in the last few years may benefit if the current market value is less than the price you originally paid.  The Ventura County Tax Assessor, Dan Goodwin, is proactive about lowering assessed values and most folks will not have to do anything to take advantage of Prop 8.  His department will automatically review each year’s lien date value to determine whether it should be maintained, lowered, or increased.  Unless there is a change in ownership or new construction, your assessment can never increase above the factored Proposition 13 base year value.  If you feel the assessment is still higher than the market value for the lien date you may file an Application for Changed Assessment.  You may also want to download this Assessment Appeals Information Pamphlet. 

Below is a quote from the June 20th, 2008 news release from the County of Ventura notifying Ventura County Property about their right to challenge their assessments.

The Ventura County Assessment Appeal Boards announced today that taxpayers that wish to challenge the value placed on their property by the Assessor may file an application to reduce their assessment.  The time for filing applications during the regular equalization period commences on July 2, 2008, and ends on November 30, 2008.  November 30th falls on Sunday, therefore, Monday, December 1, 2008 is the final day to file an application.  An application received on or post marked by December 1, 2008, shall be deemed to have been filed within the specified time period.  Applications may be request in person, by mail, or by phone and may also be obtained online at: http://ceo.countyofventura.org/cob. All applications must be returned to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Ventura County Government Center, Hall of Administration, 4th Floor, 800 South Victoria Avenue, L#1920, Ventura, California, 93009-1920.

If you wish to file an Application for Changed Assessment, you will also need information on closed comparable sales to support your request.  The best way to get that information is through your real estate agent who can search the MLS database.  If you don’t already have a favorite Realtor (or if I am already your favorite), call me and I’ll be happy to help you.

For more comprehensie information on Proposition 8, visit the Ventura County Tax Assessor’s website at: http://assessor.countyofventura.org/TaxSavings/Declineinvalue.html.

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The Ventura County Star quotes Mike Grimmer, Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card manager in today’s newpaper:

It’s amazing how good the water quality is there (in Ventura County),” said Mike Grimmer, Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card manager.  “If you’re at an open-ocean beach and it’s dry weather, you have almost a 100 percent chance of swimming in clean water,” Grimmer said. “We’re making some strides on wet weather. Unless we live in a society where there’s no trash anywhere, a lower standard is always going to be expected during wet weather conditions.”

For more information on Ventura County “Beach Report Card”, visit:

Heal The Bay Ventura County Report Card Map  
Heal The Bay Ventura County Report Card Text
County of Ventura Water Quality Tests
 

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What was particularly obnoxious about this policy was it did not take into account the extremely diverse nature of the cities making up Ventura County.  Even worse was the danger of the potentially self-fulfilling prophecy of having been declared a declining market. 

Effective June 1, 2008, any conventional conforming loans will require a 3% down payment if the Desktop Underwriter (Fannie Mae’s proprietary loan underwriting software) is used, and a 5% down payment if the loan is processed manually.  This will be uniform across the country. 

Will this have a significant effect on the Ventura County Real Estate market?  For the near term—probably not.  For loans of more that 80% of the purchase price private mortgage insurance will still be required and they have their own separate underwriting criteria.  Current FHA loan limits are $729,750, same as Fannie Mae’s conforming limits under the Stimulus Package until December 31st, 2008.  At the moment FHA is a more attractive option for many borrowers with less than 20% for a down payment.

You can read more by clicking here:  Fannie Mae’s Single National Down Payment Policy Press Release.

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C.L.U.E. stands for the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange

Ventura County home buyers should find out if the C.L.U.E. report has negative information as soon as possible during a real estate transaction to ensure you don’t receive an unpleasant surprise at the last moment. Imagine the following scenario:  A young couple signs a purchase contract for a nice starter home.  With all the things involved with buying their first home, they put off getting homeowner’s insurance until just before the closing only to be denied coverage because of a water related insurance claim the sellers had filed a couple of years before.  Although the damage had been fixed, the claim had flagged the house as a high risk for mold.  Only after contacting several insurance companies do the buyers finally find one that will insure them-at double the standard premium.  In the end, it could have been worse; some buyers have obtained insurance only to have it cancelled a couple of months after escrow closed because of negative information in the C.L.U.E. database.  If this happens to you, you might be forced to use an insurer obtained by your lender costing many times more than you were paying, and with coverage not nearly as good.

This started to become an issue around 2003.  The insurance industry was facing tough times. In the 1990s, insurers were hit with an extraordinary number of catastrophes, including earthquakes and tornadoes, requiring them to pay out some $700 million a month in claims.  Another issue was the nations housing stock is aging.  With age comes the need for more repairs and costs for home repairs and rebuilding continue to rise each year.  And perhaps most importantly, insurance companies suffered some big investment losses.  The stock market is no longer providing insurers the handsome returns on invested premiums it did in the past.  As a result of all this, insurance companies have tightened up on the types of policies they will write.  The information in the C.L.U.E. database plays a major role in their decision making process.

How to do you order a C.L.U.E. report for a Ventura County home you’re buying?  Some Natural Hazard Report companies now provide this option.  Choice Point is the name of the company that maintains the C.L.U.E. database.  Homeowners can visit their website at www.ChoiceTrust.com and order a C.L.U.E. report online for $19.50.  You may want to ask for one when you make an offer to buy a home.  The current California Association of REALTORS’ Purchase Contract contains a clause that requires sellers to disclose to the buyers the claims history of the property, but a seller can only tell the buyers what they know.  If they’ve only lived in a home for a short time, they may not be aware of the entire claims history and the C.L.U.E. report may contain information that they are unaware of.

As an aside, I was selling a Ventura home for a client that had purchased it only the year before.  The buyer’s agent called to ask me about the two people who had died in the property.  Huh?  She claimed that information was on the C.L.U.E. report and the buyer’s had been turned down for a home owner’s policy.  Fortunately, I knew the family who had owned the home for many years previous to the current owner.  She assured me that her family was all accounted for and no one had died in the home.  To this day, I have no idea why that would even be on a report much less why it mattered!  (The buyers did get insurance from another company and we closed as scheduled.)

You may also want to consider opting for a higher deductible on your homeowner’s policy to avoid smaller claims that could give your insurance company reason to cancel you.  A deductible of $1,000 can decrease your premiums by as much as 25%.  Be aware that even talking to your insurance company about damage to your home or a potential claim could cause an entry to be made in the C.L.U.E. database-even if you never make a claim!  This could cause a major problem for you if you get cancelled and have to obtain new coverage.  It could also complicate the sale of your home if the buyer cannot get an insurance policy.  Remember that it is better not to wait until the last minute to arrange your homeowner’s insurance.

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The speakers gave a Powerpoint presentation with each taking turns presenting the slides.  We learned that the city had commissioned a survey last October that showed that 70% of Oxnard residents would support a half-percent sales tax increase if it went to improve and enhance vital city services.  We were told that Oxnard has had a A+ rating from Standard & Poors since 2003 and the city is very sound financial position and the survey indicated that 57% of Oxnard residents feel the city is well managed financially.  It was pointed out that the sales tax in Santa Barbara was 7.75% and in Los Angeles it was 8.25%.

If the tax increase is passed it would fund: 

• Police-More Officers on Street.  Neighborhood Patrols.  Enhanced anti-gang activity.  School resource officers.
• Fire-Additional personnel.  Disaster preparedness.
• Recreation-More youth enrichment and intervention activities, mentorship programs, City Corps gang prevention.  Pre-school to you programs
• Parks-New parks, sport parks, Campus Park, College Park, Ormond Beach
• Library-Enhanced services for youth. Online tutoring services. New Colonia Branch Library
• Street and Alley Repair-Increased Streets Budget.  Quicker repairs to streets, alleys and potholes. 

There’s something there for everyone.  The city estimates the tax would raise $10,000,000 a year to fund these programs.  Since this is a general tax, the measure would only have to get a simple majority.

I’ll grant you that these valuable services would enhance the quality of life in Oxnard.  So, you may ask, why the trust issues?  First of all, that 70% of Oxnard residents could possibly be in favor of a tax increase is hard to believe.  Our presenters made the point that polling only 400 people may seem like a small number but you can get an accurate reading from a sample that size.  I agree.  Problem is, we don’t know the wording of the questions.  Polls are conducted all the time with a specific outcome in mind and the questions are formulated to lead the peson being polled  to give a favorable response. 

Second issue: Oxnard City Manager, Edward Sotelo said many times that they were here only to provide information and were not taking a position in favor of the tax increase nor were they trying to convince us to support it.  Really???!!!  Seven of the highest ranking officials take time out their busy schedule to just give us a little information.  (I see you’re starting to have some trust issues, too.)  After the meeting I did a little research and learned that the Oxnard City Council had previously approved $150,000 information campaign to educate the citizens of Oxnard on the benefits of the tax increase.  That’s a lot of money to educate the public for a ballot measure you’re not taking a position on.  If the tax is approved, it will take $30 million dollars of taxable sales in Oxnard before that sum is recovered.  

Third issue: The City is calling it a half-cent increase.  It is not.  It is a half-percent increase.  It may seem like I’m arguing semantics but that language wasn’t chosen by accident.

Fourth issue: What the money will be spent on is not clear.  The presentation covered a lot of ground but it’s unlikely that the money will be allocated evenly across the board.  Once this tax is approved, the council can use most of the money for just one of those issues.  You might vote for the measure because you’d like to see more police and instead most of the money goes towards a sports park. 

Last issue:  How long is this tax for?  When asked, Sotelo says the ordinance hasn’t been written yet and the City is still trying to “find out” what the citizens of Oxnard would prefer.

It may seem like I’m arguing against the tax increase.  Not necessarily.  I just don’t think it’s being presented honestly.  This is a carefully orchestrated campaign that is being presented as if the City were only responding to Oxnard resident’s desires to pay more taxes.  Most people can see right though that.  Regardless of the possible merits of this tax increase I don’t believe it will be successful.  The economy is in bad shape, gas prices are soaring and folks are tightening their belts.  I’ll be surprised if 51% of Oxnard voters support a tax increase much less the 70% the City is counting on.

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Last year I was invited to participate in the newly forming Ventura chapter of the CMA Real Estate Networking Group.  CMA is a mutual benefit business league founded to provide high level professional real estate service providers an environment to network, exchange business opportunities, build relationships and create an advantage in the market with other CMA members who share common standards of integrity, excellence and accountability.  CMA has been in existence for more than seven years in other areas of the county and there are chapters in Camarillo and the Conejo Valley.  CMA stands for “Complete Marketing Advantage.”  We have members from many different Ventura real estate companies working together.  Our membership also includes many other real estate professionals; Escrow Officers, Title Insurance Representatives, Termite Companies, Insurance Agents, Natural Hazards Disclosure Companies, etc.  

With our combined resources we have been able to achieve some real benefits for our members and their clients.  One example is the ability to take out ads using joint resources to promote ourselves and our listings.  Recently we started running this full page ad in Ventana Magazine each month.  We also jointly promote our Broker Caravans of new listings in a unique fashion that guarantees more agents through our client’s homes.  (That’s a topic for a whole article in itself!)

There is also a huge advantage to surrounding one’s self with other positive, hardworking, and ethical people. 

Our current REALTOR members include:

Fernie Campos-Coldell Banker
Pearl Reyes-Coldwell Banker
Julie Taylor-Coldwell Banker
Joe Virnig-RE/MAX Gold Coast REALTORS
Corina and Don Thoresen-Troop Real Estate
Cheryle Estes-Troop Real Estate
Brooke Smith-Coldwell Banker
Barbara Ashby-The Real Estate Company
Art Perez-Troop Real Estate
Veronica Licea-Coldwell Banker
Karen Campbell-Ventura Property Shoppe
Linda Ward-The Real Estate Company
Monica Hurtado-Select Properties
Lauren Lee Henry-RE/MAX Gold Coast REALTORS
Monique Webster-RE/MAX Gold Coast REALTORS
Lei Eberhardt-Coldwell Banker
Julie Zermeno-ERA Cusick Realty
Ellen Halverson-Coldwell Banker
Carolyn Herrera-Prudential

Our Affiliate members include:

Frank Acosta-StateFarm Insurance
Bob Curtis-Property ID
Joe Dotzler-United Title Company
Tress Golden-Aliso Escrow
Cheryle Hall-Aliso Escrow
Linda Hall-GMAC Mortgage
Pat O’Dell-BPC Pest Control
Vanessa Rice-Aliso Escrow
Tamara Rossie-First Amercian Home Buyers Warranty
Vicki Warren-BPC Pest Control
Rhonda Wharton-Aliso Escrow.

If you are a real estate professional in Ventura and are interested in getting by with “a little help from your friends”, contact one of the members of our group.  Any of us would be happy to tell you more.

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Okay, the fish are cool, and I’ll get back to them in a moment but the birds hanging around run-off creek caught my attention right away.  Most of the time it is hard to get close enough to herons and egrets to take good photos but these were accustomed to people and ignored me as I snapped away.  There were also some monster Rainbows hanging around in the water pooling outside the fence.  I saw several (see photo above) that I thought were carp at first glance.  They were huge!  Good thing for them no fishing is allowed between the hatchery and a private farm downstream that uses the creek for irrigation.  Those fish were pretty hard to take photos of since the automatic focus on the camera kept locking onto the surface of the water and not the fish.  I eventually had to turn off the auto-focus and focus manually.  I spent almost half an hour watching and photographing the birds.

I turned my attention back to the fish tanks just in time to get a couple of photos at feeding time.  The truck at the right traveled along the length of the tanks shooting out food as he went.  Despite the fact the fish had just been fed, I could not resist buying a quarter’s worth of food from a vending machine and feeding them myself.  If you decide to visit (and you should) take your camera.  The Fillmore Fish Hatchery affords a rare chance to see wild birds up close.  The facility is located between Piru and Santa Clarita along Highway 126.

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The best escrow is a closed escrow.  Job well done…satisfied clients…all is well and it’s time to focus on the next one. Sometimes, though, like a zombie from a B-movie, a closed escrow will not die requiring some extra attention to put things right.

This particular example starts with a panicked phone call last month from Mrs. X, who just received a notice that she’d had a lien recorded against her by the Ventura County Tax Collector for the home she sold in April 2006. It was for less than $300 but there was no clue on the bill why she owed it and she wasn’t inclined to pay it. Especially since, from her view, escrow should have made sure that it had been taken care of. Right?

Mrs. X. is a charming lady with a thick Eastern European accent. Very nice and appreciative but watch out when she gets excited. She talks so fast; it’s hard to keep up with her. I sold her Ventura, California home for her in the spring of 2006 and she moved to Florida. She wasn’t mad at me—she just needed some help getting the matter resolved.

The mystery was quickly solved when I contacted Larry Matheny, Ventura County Tax Collector. Turns out that Mrs. X had an unpermitted addition on her house. Someone alerted the county and code enforcement came out to inspect it.  They required her to tear it down or take out the neccessary permits and bring it up to code. She decided to get it permitted and had just completed the process prior to calling me to list the house for sale. The Ventura County Tax Assessor eventually reassessed the property based on the “new construction” which is what caused the assessed value to go up and the Supplemental Tax Bill to be issued by the Tax Collector. The trouble was the process was so slow that it didn’t happen until months after escrow had closed.

Here’s the complete explanation from Larry Matheny:

My staff reports that they have talked with Mrs. X to explain that the “mystery tax bill” is an unsecured supplemental bill triggered by new construction on her property. So, the two most obvious questions (at least to me) are, “why did it take so long to generate a bill?” and “why didn’t she get a bill before the lien recorded?”

As to the first one, in cases like this we are entirely dependent upon the Assessor’s office first doing the important job of assessing the added value of new construction. I don’t presently have any information as to how long it took from the time when they first became aware of the new construction and when they entered the new value on the roll. We can’t print a bill until at least 60 days have expired from the point when the Notice of Assessment is mailed to the property owner.

As to the second question, if a property owner closes escrow on the sale of property that is being examined by the Assessor for a supplemental assessment, we almost always end up with an undeliverable tax bill. That deed of conveyance that transferred Mrs. X’s interest to the buyer did not include a forwarding address for the seller. It is, unfortunately, not a rare situation to have a taxpayer sell the property before either the Supplemental Bill or the Notice of Supplemental Assessment can be delivered. In such cases, the existence of the tax obligation is not learned until the recorded lien pops up…often at an inopportune moment near the close of an escrow.

I’ll offer the take-away lesson that a Realtor who is representing a seller who has held title for less than a year would be doing the client a tremendous service by getting in touch with the Assessor (805-654-2181) to see if a supplemental assessment is being worked. In our current market, that resulting supplemental “bill” may well be a refund that is pending, but can’t be delivered for the same “can’t find the former owner” reason that applied when we are trying to deliver a bill that calls for a payment.

For whatever it is worth, our office, in cooperation with the Assessor and the Auditor-Controller, has started a project to replace our current 20-year old plus land tax system. The new system will incorporate many streamlined features that should have a positive impact on the processing time for supplemental. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the task is sufficiently complex as to likely require in excess of $20 million to build and probably will not be ready for 3 to 5 more years.

Sorry that this became so long-winded. I wanted to give you a full perspective that you can, hopefully, share with others.

Now that Mrs. X. understood the reason for the bill, she paid it. Perhaps this transaction can now rest in peace.

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Last week I stopped by the Fisherman’s Wharf in the morning to take a walk around. I was amazed at how much worse the disrepair and damage was from the last time I had visited.  These four photos (above) are just a sampling of what I saw.

If I sound a little bitter, it’s because Fisherman’s Wharf has a special place in my heart.  Even before I moved to Oxnard in 1986, I enjoyed Fisherman’s Wharf.  Always a nice place to take a stroll, enjoy the atmosphere and maybe snack on a little fresh seafood.  I’ve taken many a buyer relocating to Oxnard there for lunch.  Every time I bought a new camera (pretty often), I’d visit and and test out my new toy.  I took the photo above Labor Day weekend in 2002.  Restaurants and shops were open and colorful banners adorned the light posts.  Back then it was still a bright and cheerful place and folks were enjoying the last weekend of summer just as they have done for so many summers before.  Little did they know that it would never look this good again nor did they realize that almost a year would pass before the faded remnants of the banners hanging from the light posts, tattered and shredded, would be finally taken down.

It’s clear that Fisherman’s Wharf’s days are numbered.  A developer has acquired the lease from the county (who owns the land) and has big plans for the site as I learned last week at presentation on the future of the wharf.  (I will discuss that in an upcoming article.)  It’s obvious that there is so much damage to the buildings that restoring it would require rebuilding major portions of it and is not economically feasible even if there was the will to do so.    

In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Fisherman’s Wharf that will be  celebrated nowhere except right here, (at least in this universe) please enjoy a few of my favorite photographs of a place that holds many fond memories for me—and perhaps you too. 

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