Long Beach Real Estate-Long Beach Condos

Property Tax Scam - Long Beach Homeowners Beware

 

The Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor has made an important announcement. 

If you receive mail from private companies offering to pursue a reduction in your property taxes for a hefty fee please contact the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs by phone at (800) 973-3370 or visit their website.

There is no reason to pay for a review that has been done for free.

 

Property owners should be aware that their property may be included in a review the Assessor's Office has done for 2009. The review included single-family homes and condominiums purchased between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2008. In some particularly hard hit areas of the county, the review included properties purchased as far back as 2000. 473,000 properties were reviewed, resulting in lower assessments on 333,000 homes and condos. Please click here to see if your property has been reviewed for a decline-in-value.

All 473,000 owners whose property was included in the proactive review will be notified of the results in writing by the end of June. Owners who disagree with the results of the review or were not included in the review, may file an application through December 31. The Decline-In-Value form is simple to complete and readily available online or at one of the Assessor's District Offices. We will review the application and if a reduction is warranted, the taxable value will be reduced. Please note that there is no charge for a review. Owners are urged to wait until July to decide whether to file an application.

 

• Click here to see Public Service Announcement with Assessor Auerbach and County Supervisor Gloria Molina.
• Click here to see public service video, "Don't Get Ripped Off."
• See related news stories on KNBC Channel 4, KABC Channel 7, KCAL Channel 9 and Fox Channel 11.
• Click here to read Assessor's Op-Ed article in the Daily News.
• Click here to see if your property has been reviewed for a decline-in-value.

 

Read Also:

 

 

• Property Tax Relief for Long Beach and Los Angeles County Homeowners?  Not Without An Appraisal!
• Property Tax Reassessments in Long Beach & Southern California

 

 

 

Laurie Manny Professional Group

244 Redondo Avenue
Belmont Heights
Long Beach, California 90803

(562) 212-5420

 

 

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/0098DA

Property Tax Relief for Long Beach and Los Angeles County Homeowners?

Not Without An Appraisal

 

 

The Los Angeles County assessor's office on Monday announced completion of their automatic "decline-in-value" reassessments that reviewed 473,000 homes purchased between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2008. This review resulted in 330,000 county residences qualifying for automatic reductions in their October 2009 tax bill.

Homeowners with qualifying properties will be notified of the results in writing by June 30. Those who were not reviewed can file for free with the Assessor's Office until December 31.

According to the assessor, the average reduction in assessed values for single-family residences was $126,000, for an average tax savings of $1,400 per year. Condos saw averaged reductions of $96,000, for savings of about $1,100 per year.

Just how generous the savings will be on an individual basis is hard to say. Presumably, homeowners that purchased between 2005 - 2007 will see the bulk of the savings, while others may not see as large a reduction. But with budgets on the brink throughout the State, should anyone should expect assessor largesse?

Not without your own appraisal.

Two reasons:

1. The assessor's automatic valuation used market data in 2008-pre January 1 2009 cut-off.
2. Homeowners applying for review can submit their own appraisal with sales data through March 31, 2009.  

If you've been watching the news, you know prices continued sliding into this year. So homeowners accepting their auto-assessment might not be maximizing the savings they otherwise could see.

In two recent tax-reduction cases, the homeowners handed me their reduced-assessment notices sent to them by the assessor. Both assessments were --- get this --- high by about $150,000. (Which explains why they called me to begin with.) If either case reflects at all the data the assessor's using to calculate 2009 taxes, you want to get a second opinion.

To know if you property was reviewed, click here. If your property was not reviewed, or you didn't qualify even though you bought your home between June 30, 2003 and July 1, 2008, download a copy of the Decline-in-Value Reassessment Application then call for us a consultation-it's free.

PS. You want to get your options out of the way quickly, the deadline to file an appeal with the Assessment Appeals Board is November 30.

 

Los Angeles County Tax Assessors Office

500 West Temple Street Room 286

Los Angeles, CA  90012

Rick Auerbach, Assessor

213-974-3211

assessor.lacounty.gov

 

Also see: LA Times: Property tax relief coming for more than 330,000 L.A. County homeowners

Read Also:

Property Tax Reassessments in Long Beach & Southern California

 

 

 

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/009824

Long Beach Real Estate News

 

Newspapers are DEAD!          Long live the WEB!

 

 

Newspaper readership has been dying on the vine for several years now as more readers abandon print versions for news on the web.  Recent announcements by the Long Beach Press Telegram stating that the PT plans on charging for their online news version have stirred up a bit of controversy.  Yesterday the LBpost published an article wondering why anybody would pay for an online version that contained mostly articles from the Associated Press (AP), and they are right, many locals piped up and left their opinions in the comments.  

Back in February of 2007 Arthur Sulzberger, owner, chairman and publisher of the NY Times was asked in this article:

Given the constant erosion of the printed press, do you see the New York Times still being printed in five years?

 

His response:

 

"I really don't know whether we'll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don't care either," he says.

 

When asked if it would be free Sulzberger commented:

 

No, Sulzberger says. If you want to read the New York Times online, you will have to pay.

Fast forward to September of 2007, just a few months later, and the Times announces that it will no longer charge for its online version siting for the reason:

The move is an acknowledgment by The Times that making Web site visitors pay for content would not bring in as much money as making it available for free and supporting it with advertising.

"We now believe by opening up all our content and unleashing what will be millions and millions of new documents, combined with phenomenal growth, that that will create a revenue stream that will more than exceed the subscription revenue," Schiller said.

If the New York Times realized that a pay to read model wasn't going to work, the Long Beach Press Telegram doesn't stand a chance!

In response to the February article I wrote an article and posted it on a large social networking site, open for comments, The article received 72 comments - some hilarious, all with very interesting viewpoints on pay for online news and the future of print news and advertising. 

 

Do you really think it is not possible to find reliable news for free? I cannot imagine anybody paying for news service or feeds five years from now, we can already access this information through feeds for free. I can only imagine the innovations in the tech world in the next five years.

 

The news industry has a long history with the real estate industry nationwide.  A huge chunk of their income has traditionally been earned from real estate and related companies and Realtors® placing ads for services and advertising clients properties. This is occurring on a vastly smaller scale currently and continuing to shrink.  One would immediately think that the reason real estate advertising and marketing revenues have dropped is because of the current state of the economy and the real estate industry.  While this would be partially correct, the real estate industry began to gravitate away from print marketing and advertising long before the current state of the economy and the industry.  The advent of the Internet and the reception and adoption by the general public/consumers is staggering. 

 

In 2006 Time Magazine's Person of the year was "YOU"!  An interesting observation from the article:

 

It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

 

Before the economy and the real estate industry began its decline it was becoming painfully obvious that paper advertising and marketing were no longer having the impact or garnering the reception they had in the past, the effectiveness was waning at an incredible rate.  Business was dropping off rapidly making it an expensive and undesirable form of promoting both businesses and client listings.  Consumer contact from print media had dropped to a dribble making this an ineffective business tool and expense.  Many in the real estate industry realized that major change was in the wind, the way we marketed and advertised our business and client properties was about to undergo a major overhaul. It was time to start investigating other options and avenues.  

 

As the real estate industry began to crumble the news industry, having problems of its own, made matters worse by sensationalizing the troubles of the industry and reporting their misguided opinions as facts adding further fuel to the fire.  The real estate industry, feeling scathed by the media found themselves no longer wanting to pay to advertise in their rags and began to turn to the Internet.  So did the consumer. 

 

While it is entertaining, sensationalized news is not informative and skews real facts.  A great example of this can be found in this fantastic article involving Stephen Gandel a senior writer for Money Magazine, where he completely misguided real estate buyers into "going it alone", infuriating the real estate industry nationwide, and sending the market into an absurd tizzy for weeks.  Be sure to read the comments, they are very enlightening. The discussion regarding Mr. Gandel's faux pas continues in this article from the blog site of one of the agents he interviewed for the aforementioned article (one of Spencer's top read posts).  It's a really good read if you are interested. 

 

Dennis Miller joked about this as well. From The O'reilly Factor :

 

Used to be "All the News That's Fit to Print."

"Now it's "All the News That Fits," We Print!"

 

Maybe better stated as "All the news that's fit to twist"!

 

As a result of all of this turmoil surrounding the news industry, the real estate industry moved online as did the real estate consumer, further drying out the revenues of the news industry.  Today it is said that over 80% of all buyers are searching the web for both homes and Realtors®. The heavy traffic received on our consumer sites is a testament to this. 

 

If you are considering selling your Long Beach Home or Condo, it is imperative that your property is found on the Internet.  You will need to hire a tech savvy Long Beach Realtor® to promote, market and advertise your property.  Internet marketing is what drives traffic to your listing.  Traffic is what you need to drive offers in. 

 

We at the Laurie Manny Professional Group enjoy organic positioning at the top of the engines driving massive buyer traffic to your Long Beach and Southern California listings.  If your Long Beach home or condo is properly priced and presented, professionally marketed on the Internet and you are represented by a seasoned and well versed Long Beach Realtor®, you have best positioned yourself to sell your Long Beach home.  If you are considering selling your Long Beach home or condo contact us today to learn what we can do for you which is above and beyond what all others can and why. Or just call to find out what is going on in the Long Beach Real Estate Market, we would be happy to chat with you. 

 

Laurie Manny Professional Group

244 Redondo Avenue
Belmont Heights
Long Beach, California 90803

(562) 212-5420

 

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http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/009813

 

City Council proposes an OUTRAGEOUS 800% increase in fees.....................

 

 

Long Beach home sellers are hit with many fees when selling their Long Beach Homes.  One of those fees is for a mandatory Garage Inspection by the City of Long Beach.  These inspections currently cost $85.00, the city is considering increasing this fee to over $200.  Basically a city employee visits the garage makes sure it is not being used as living space or storage, can be used to park a car and is structurally sound. They go back to their office and issue a certificate.  Job is worth about what it costs right now. 

The city is also considering increasing fees from $25 to over $200 for a parking exemption.  The parking exemption is required when an actual garage is not present and no garage inspection is called for, as in the case of a condominium complex with underground parking or a home or income property with outdoor parking, but no actual garage.  Beat that, they want the same amount of money without doing anything but issuing a certificate.  Now that's a racket. 

These proposed increases reflect a proposed 800% increase in fees.  How's that for chutzpah in this economy?!? 

800%     800%     800%

I think if I say it enough times that number may sink in..............800% !

 

While I understand that a moderate increase in fees was probably inevitable I wonder if the City of Long Beach has noticed that people are losing their jobs and their homes in record numbers?  The economy is in shambles, businesses are folding, restaurants are closing thier doors and there just doesn't seem to be enough money to go around these days.

 

800%  800%  800%  feel that number, let it get under your skin.  Have you ever received an 800% increase?  No, well neither has hardly anybody else.  800%  800%  800%

 

How about we all haul our behinds down to that City Council meeting and tell them how outrageous it is to initiate an 800% increase and remind them who they are working for.

 

The Long Beach City Council will meet on Tuesday, April 21st to consider this outrageous proposal. You should be there too to make them accountable, this is ridiculous.

Attend the meeting: Tuesday April 21, 2009     5:00 PM City Hall Council Chamber 333 W. Ocean Blvd. (Lobby Level) Long Beach, CA  90802 Click here for a map to City Hall

Watch the City Council meeting live on your compter here.  Cant make it? Contact the City Council - Voice your opinion! (562) 570-6101 (562) 570-6789 (fax) cityclerk@longbeach.gov (email)

 

Show up !      Say NO !

Tell them that 800% is absurd !

 

City Council Meeting Agenda of April 21, 2009

City Council Supplemental Agenda of April 21, 2009

 

 

Related posts: 

Long Beach Own Your Own-OYO-Owners Are Organizing for Condo Conversion

Downtown Long Beach - Belmont Shore - Vertical Parking Solutions

 

Laurie Manny Professional Group

244 Redondo Avenue
Belmont Heights
Long Beach, California 90803

(562) 212-5420

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/00967B

LONG BEACH REAL ESTATE FOR SALE

The Turret House

Historic Victorian Bed and Breakfast For Sale

4/15/2009 $100,000 Price Reduction

Downtown Long Beach California

 

The Turret House, a successful historic bed and breakfast in the heart of Downtown Long Beach California is For Sale.  This elegant Victorian bed and breakfast provides its guests with a comfortable environment to unwind with period pieces throughout, and provides separate owners quarters, offering the new owner a comfortable and convenient lifestyle.  Location is in the Wilmore Drake Historic District, one of 17 historic districts in Long Beach California.  

 

Built in 1906, by a Kansas carpenter, this Historic Inn retains its charm to this day. Walking distance to the Downtown Long Beach business district the Victorian B & B provides a homey welcome to avid business travelers tired of spending the bulk of their time in typical hotels. The Inn was last renovated in 2003 with much attention spent on a beautiful restoration. 

 

Business travelers account for over half of the room bookings.  The Inn offers a unique travel experience for weary road warriors.  A short walk into the Downtown business district the Inn has become a favorite for many business travellers tired of being on the road and wanting a more homey and comfortable environment.  The Inn is also a favorite getaway for Anniversary celebrations and weekend getaways.  Many Downtown locals book rooms for visiting family members.  The Turret House also rents out the Inn for the use of Showers, Tea Parties, etc.. 

The business is solid, the Inn is usually fully booked.  Even in the slower months of the year (November-December) the Inn is usually about 75% booked. The hotel has built expansive internet exposure, is highly rated and enjoys a friendly relationship with referring vendors.  The Turret House provides a nice healthy, steady income for its current owners, it can for you too. 

 

The Turret House has 5 themed guest rooms; all rooms have private baths, fireplaces, claw-foot tubs and showers, are lovingly decorated and are fully booked most of the year. 

The Turret Room   Five leaded-glass windows frame this cozy room, complimenting its 12 foot high turret from which the house derived its name. Full-size antique bed. A private bath with stall shower and slipper claw foot tub is steps from the Turret Door.
	Provincetown Room Embracing the Inns diversity, the Provincetown Room is the jewel of the house, with antique four-poster queen bed and matching carved wood dresser sink. Artwork by prominent P-Town artist Doug Marr graces the walls and French doors lead to a private balcony where guests may sit and enjoy their mornings or cool evening breeze. Private bath.
Queen Mary Room Named after our citys historic ocean liner, this room features sky blue walls and artifacts from the ships sailings. Queen bed, private bath.
	Vagabond Room As its name indicates, the Vagabond Room features a world traveler decor with mementos of far-away places and faces. King bed, private bath.
Dreamcatcher Room   Slip away into surreal dreams in this relaxing room. Earth-tone colors with an eclectic mix of paintings and prints. Queen bed, private bath.

Each room currently includes television with DirecTV including free HBO, Cinemax and Showtime, fluffy bathrobes and free passes to nearby Golds Gym.  Internet access is also provided. Guests may also relax in the Inns private outdoor spa. The Turret House is a pet friendly bed and breakfast that feels more like a grand old home.

 

The Turret House won the 2005 Long Beach Heritage Preservation Award and has been voted the best bed and breakfast by the Press Telegram.  It is no wonder, a tour of The Turret House will leave you with the sense of having stepped back in time with every nook and cranny lovingly restored.

   

This fine bed and breakfast offers its new owner more than just a steady income stream, it offers a lifestyle. The on site, separate owners quarters make this lovely Inn an extension of your home. You will have to see this wonderful haven to understand the warmth it exudes.

Southern California, Long Beach and the Downtown Long Beach areas offer unlimited resort amenities and endless entertainment.  Centrally located, Downtown Long Beach is just 6 miles from the Long Beach Airport, 20 miles south of LAX, 22 miles north of John Wayne Airport and 51 miles east of Ontario Airport. 

Downtown Long Beach is a highly evolving urban redevelopment area. Over the last few years many new high rise condominiums have been built; historic buildings have been converted into highly desirable Manhattan style lofts and new business has been moving into the Downtown area.  Plans for continued development continue into our future.  More information on the redevelopment in Downtown can be located on the City of Long Beach Site here. 

Guests can walk to area beaches, the Long Beach Convention Center, The World Trade Center, the Downtown business district, Pine Avenue, area restaurants, local galleries, the East Village Arts District,  The Aquarium of the Pacific,  Rainbow Harbor and The Pike.

If you are searching for the perfect Historic Bed and Breakfast, The Turret House may just be the perfect choice for you. 

 

Contact Laurie today to explore the possibilities. 

Offered at:     $995,000     $895,000

 

Listing Agent: Laurie Manny - Main Street Realtors Long Beach 562-212-5420

 

 

Laurie Manny Professional Group

244 Redondo Avenue
Belmont Heights
Long Beach, California 90803

(562) 212-5420

 

 

 

http://www.longbeachrealestatehome.com/00905C