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Prop 60 and 90 Information for Torrance Home Buyers and Sellers

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Please note that these propositions are no longer in effect and have been replaced by the information in Prop 19 in signing real estate paperworkCalfornia

**Propositions 60 and 90 are Constitutional initiatives passed by California voters. They provide property tax relief by preventing reassessment when a senior citizen sells his/her existing residence and purchases or constructs a replacement residence worth the same or less than the original. They were enacted to encourage a person, age 55 or older to “move down” to a smaller residence. When a senior citizen acquires a replacement property worth less than the original property, he/she will continue to pay approximately the same amount of annual property taxes as before.

How Do These Propositions Work?

When the senior citizen purchases or constructs a new residence, it is not reassessed, if he/she qualifies. The Assessor transfers the factored base value of the original residence to the replacement residence. Proposition 60 originallyrequired that the replacement and the original be located in the same county. Later, Proposition 90 enabled this to be modified by local ordinance. Los Angeles County enacted an ordinance to provide that when the replacement is located in Los Angeles County, the original property may be located in any other California county.

Who Qualifies?

If you or your spouse that resides with you are age 55 or older, you may buy or construct a new home of equal or lesser value than your existing home and transfer the trended base value to your new property. This is a one-time only benefit. You must buy or complete construction of your replacement home within two years of the sale of the original property. Both the original home and the new home must be your principal place of residence. A claim must be filed within three years of purchasing or completing new construction of the replacement property. If a claim is filed after the three-year period, relief will be granted beginning with the calendar year in which the claim was filed.
Once you have filed and received this tax relief, neither you nor your spouse who resides with you can ever file again.

Eligibility Requirements

  1. The replacement property must be your principal residence and must be eligible for the Homeowners’ Exemption or Disabled Veterans’ Exemption.
  2. The replacement property must be of equal or lesser “current market value” than the original property. The “equal or lesser” test is applied to the entire replacement residence, even if the owner of the original property acquires only a partial interest in the replacement residence. Owners of two qualifying original residences may not combine the values of those properties in order to qualify for a Proposition 60 base-year transfer to a replacement residence of greater value than the more valuable of the two original residences.
  3. The replacement property must be purchased or built within two years (before or after) of the sale of the original property.
  4. Your original property must have been eligible for the Homeowners’ or Disabled Veterans’ Exemption.
  5. You, or a spouse residing with you, must have been at least 55 years of age when the original property was sold.  Back to home buyer tips and FAQs

When Are These Propositions Effective?

The replacement residence must have been purchased or constructed on or after November 5, 1986 if the original was located in Los Angeles County. The replacement residence must have been purchased or constructed on or after November 9, 1988 if the ongmal was located in any other California county. Claims must be filed within three years following the purchase of the replacement residence.

Were Are Claim Forms Available?

They are distributed at Assessor’s public counters, in Room 225 of the
Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, and in district offices. If you need additional information, call (213) 893-1239.

Counties Accepting Prop 90 Transfers:

 

Alameda
Orange
San Diego
Tuolumne
El Dorado * (set to expire 2021)
Riverside
San Mateo
Ventura
Los Angeles
San Bernardino
Santa Clara

**much of the information above and some additional information can be found at the County Assessor flyer at https://assessor.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/E-20.pdf

 

 

August 2017 Home Sales and Home Prices for Torrance CA

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Torrance saw a nice jump in home sales with a 154 recorded property sales for August of 2017.  Overall the South Bay trended up from the previous year in terms of median home prices with only a few local cities seeing a decrease in y over year prices.

Torrance saw a median home price of just under $700,000 and the numbers continue to trend upward.  To see all of the home sales in Torrance and the cities below visit our recent home sales page.

City Homes
Sold		 August
2017 Median		 August
2016 Median		 Year
over Year % Change%
Carson 52 $470,000 $450,000 4.3%
El Segundo 15 $1,235,000 $1,075,000 14.9%
Gardena 53 $495,000 $472,000 4.9%
Harbor City 20 $521,000 $522,000 -.2%
Hawthorne 45 $583,000 $575,000 1.4%
Hermosa Beach 22 $1,358,000 $1,723,000 21.2%
Lawndale 17 $460,000 $498,000 -7.5%
Lomita 19 $610,000 $619,000 -1.5%
Long Beach 404 $490,000 $463,000 5.9%
Manhattan Beach 36 $2,230,000 $1,815,000 22.9%
Marina Del Rey 37 $940,000 $1,059,000 -11.2%
Palos Verdes Estates 37 $1,545,000 $1,413,000 9.4%
Playa Del Rey 27 $625,000 $623,000 .3%
Rancho Palos Verdes 60 $1,088,000 $1,065,000 2.2%
Redondo Beach 118 $975,000 $969,000 .6%
San Pedro 78 $572,000 $481,000 19%
Torrance 154 $698,000 $645,000 8.2%
Westchester 50 $1,180,000 $1,093,000 8%

How Do I find Off Market and Pocket Listings in Torrance CA?

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In this incredibly competitive real estate environment many homes are not even making it to the market.   So how do you find out about these homes?  First it’s important to understand just what we’re talking about.

What does off market or a pocket listing mean?

It can actually mean a few different things but in general, when we refer to homes sold off market or pocket listings these are homes that are never put on the MLS and therefore unknown to most buyers and many realtors.  That means that searching the Redfins and Zillows of the world may mean that you’re not aware of these types of opportunities.

Why would a Torrance homeseller want to sell the home off market?

In general it’s not a great idea.  Fewer buyers that know about the home usually means less competition and ultimately a lower sales price.  That’s certainly not always the case but usually accurate to some extent.  Sellers have many reasons for not wanting to put their home on the market.  It may be due to privacy reasons such as not wanting the neighbor or even the tenant know that the home is for sale.  It may be that they don’t want to deal with some of the hassles that come along with listing a home…..buyer’s and agents that want to show the home at all hours, open houses on the weekends and more people simply curious with few legitimate buyers.  Whatever the reason it does limit the exposure and again usually limits the price.

That’s why it can be a good opportunity for buyers….less competition, fewer bidding wars which generally leads to a lower sales price.

How do I find out about these homes?El Camino Village homes

Unlike the MLS listings, off market, upcoming and pocket listings are much more elusive.  The key is to work with an agent that has deep connections in the Torrance real estate market and community.  Some of the top realtors in certain areas may share information on these hard to find opportunities and the larger or more numerous the seller and agent networks, the more information the agent can obtain.

We are happy to help you find off market homes in Torrance but this requires a good deal of work, considerable communication with sellers and agents and a readiness to act should the right home come available.  If you would like us to help find off market opportunities and are not currently working with a realtor please feel free to text us at 310-251-2344 or email us with the details of your home search.

Torrance Home Sales and Median Home Prices for June 2017

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June was a big month for home sales in Torrance CA with a fairly huge number of homes selling.  The summer months are always an active market and this year was no different with 184 homes selling..  Thats well above the normal number of Torrance homes selling in a month.  Median home prices were up just a bit over June of the previous year with the median home in Torrance selling at $673,000.  Click here to track all of the important real estate trends for Torrance CA.

City Homes Sold June 2017 Median June 2016 Median Year over Year % Change%
Carson 61 $445,000 $450,000 -1.1%
El Segundo 15 $800,000 $1,135,000 -29%
Gardena 70 $461,000 $430,000 7.2%
Harbor City 19 $465,000 $547,000 -15%
Hawthorne 45 $592,000 $624,000 -5.1%
Hermosa Beach 26 $1,718,000 $1,274,500 34.8
Lawndale 12 $535,000 $519,000 3.1%
Lomita 18 $565,000 $555,000 1.8%
Long Beach 419 $523,000 $470,000 11.2%
Manhattan Beach 57 $2,467,000 $1,924,000 28.2%
Marina Del Rey 34 $968,000 $900,000 7.6%
Palos Verdes Estates 46 $1,679,000 $1,533,000 9.5%
Playa Del Rey 34 $683,000 $603,000 13.3%
Rancho Palos Verdes 75 $1,240,000 $1,200,000 3.3%
Redondo Beach 117 $969,000 $945,000 2.5%
San Pedro 82 $510,000 $500,000 1.9%
Torrance 184 $673,000 $635,000 5.9%
Westchester 42 $1,090,000 $1,050,000 3.8%

See Torrance CA Home Prices for May 2017

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Torrance saw a big increase in the monthly number of home sales in May 2017 with 140 homes closing escrow.  The median home price was an impressive $690,000 for the month.  See the Torrance CA real estate market trends and statistics here.  To see the homes that sold in Torrance CA for May visit our home sales page.

City Homes
Sold		 May 2017 Median May 2016 Median Year over Year % Change%
Carson 41 $458,000 $453,000 1.2%
El Segundo 8 $880,000 $803,000 9.7%
Gardena 65 $523,000 $425,000 23.1%
Harbor City 14 $503,000 $439,000 14.5%
Hawthorne 46 $610,000 $485,000 25.8%
Hermosa Beach 26 $1,738,000 $1,285,000 35.3%
Lawndale 16 $485,000 $455,000 6.5%
Lomita 18 $653,000 $488,000 33.7%
Long Beach 356 $472,000 $485,000 -2.6%
Manhattan Beach 46 $2,175,000 $1,875,000 16%
Marina Del Rey 32 $933,000 $925,000 0.8%
Palos Verdes Estates 47 $1,650,000 $1,499,000 10.1%
Playa Del Rey 31 $720,000 $560,000 28.6%
Rancho Palos Verdes 51 $1,275,000 $1,060,000 20.3%
Redondo Beach 87 $1,054,000 $950,000 10.9%
San Pedro 63 $620,000 $489,000 26.8%
Torrance 140 $690,000 $593,000 16.4%
Westchester 44 $965,000 $1,130,000 -14.6%

Suddenly the Whole Street is On Sale – Camino De Encanto in the Hollywood Riviera

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By Keith Kyle

It’s not often that we see homes come on the market in the lower Hollywood Riviera neighborhood that’s west of Palos Verdes Blvd.  Occassionally we see a home or two and more often than not, there is nothing on the market in this area.

That certainly couldn’t be further from the case at the moment as there are 4 homes for sale on Camino De Encanto in the Hollywood Riviera.

There are current 4 homes on the market and all are within a 1/2 block.  This is pretty unheard of an probably not ideal for any of the homes as when buyers have options….they want to negotiate.