Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Your math skills are awful. At $950 a month, your annual taxes would be $11,400. And you are upset that it is only $2500?

Read your mortgage loan and escrow closing documents, and IF this is an actual breach of the terms somehow, then you can consult with counsel to see what can be done. Sounds like you got an adjustable mortgage that just went up on schedule. What you 'thought' the terms meant is irrelevant. What they 'are' controls this situation, because that is what you signed on for. If you want legal help, feel free to contact me.

Your taxes should be about 1% of your purchase price a year or a little higher due to special assessments on a per-parcel basis rather than "ad valorem." So, if you paid about $225,000 for the house, the taxes are about right.

When the assessment on a house goes up because of a sale to a new owner showing a higher value than the assessed value to the seller/previous owner, the buyer often gets a lump-sum bill for "supplemental taxes" to apply the new value retroactively to the date of purchase. The following was copied from the L.A. County Tax Assessor's Web site and may be helpful:

State law requires the Assessor to reappraise property upon change in ownership or completion of new construction. The supplemental assessment reflects the difference between the new value and the old value. The Auditor-Controller calculates the supplemental property tax, and prorates it, based upon the number of months remaining in the fiscal year in which the event occurred. The fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.

A change in ownership or new construction completion which occurs between January 1 and May 31 results in two supplemental assessments and two supplemental tax bills. The first supplemental bill is for the remainder of the fiscal year in which the event occurred. The second supplemental bill is for the subsequent fiscal year.

Notices of Assessed Value Change are mailed to property owners before supplemental tax bills are issued.

Remember that supplemental tax bills are in addition to the regular annual tax bills. Supplemental bills go directly to the property owner, and not to an impound account - where one might exist.

For an estimate of your supplemental taxes resulting from a change in ownership, click here.