re: Here's a vacant $9M 11,000 sqft lot in Palo Alto, California for your dream home

LINK

The entire home and property next door is only assessed at $3.35MM



You could buy it, bulldoze it, and rebuild it for less than the empty lot next door.

Weird, I park right on that block when I go to Stanford games (to avoid traffic when leaving), but I don't think I've ever noticed an empty lot. And I didn't realize some of those houses sold for so much.

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Palo isn't as nice once you leave the close proximity of the school.

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Palo Alto has some incredible neighborhoods, but I lived there for over 10 years and there is a lot of crime. I prefer boring ol' Cupertino, where the real estate market isn't quite as ridiculous, and it's far safer.

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Palo Alto has some incredible neighborhoods, but I lived there for over 10 years and there is a lot of crime

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Is EPA still a shithole?

The craziest part of the price of houses in Cali is a whole different story.

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California homeowners get to pass low property taxes to their kids. It's proved highly profitable to an elite group

By Liam Dillon and Ben Poston
Aug 17, 2018

Actors Jeff and Beau Bridges, along with their sister, own a four-bedroom Malibu home with access to a semi-private beach and panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean.

They inherited it from their mother, who had owned the house since the late 1950s when their father, Lloyd Bridges, first made it big in Hollywood.

Earlier this year, they advertised the “stunning Malibu dream” for rent at $15,995 a month — a hefty price tag for a house that has a property tax bill of less than half that.

Like other descendants of a generation of California homeowners, the Bridges siblings enjoy a significant perk that keeps their property tax bill low. Part of that is thanks to Proposition 13, which has strictly limited property tax increases since 1978. But they also benefit from an additional tax break, enacted eight years later, that extended those advantages to inherited property — even inherited property that is used for rental income.

In Los Angeles County, as many as 63% of homes inherited under the system were used as second residences or rental properties last year, according to the Times’ analysis. A similar trend was found in a dozen other coastal counties. Prime vacation spots in Sonoma and Santa Cruz have some of the highest concentration of homeowners receiving the benefit. ...

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LA Times.com

If the family that owned the house in late 70's or early 80's has passed it on to their kids, They are still paying taxes for what the house was valued at when they bought the house. Nearly all of the more modest homes in the beach areas are rented out at weekly rates years in advance. Nice trailers, in lots full of trailers across the highway from the beach, rent for $1000-2000 a week.

Those families hardly ever sell those homes. They keep passing them down. With the money they can make from renting, three or four brothers, and sisters, can split the money and still live well. An only child can easily afford hookers and blow.

When a new guy, with a pocket full of money, moves to town, he has to buy at the higher price, and pay taxes on today's value.

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Is EPA still a shithole?

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As you might imagine, because of its location and the Bay Area housing crunch, it's quickly becoming gentrified.

In East Palo Alto, residents say tech companies have created ‘a semi-feudal society’

Im on vacation staying at a rental in La Jolla a block from UC San Diego and it's crazy how expensive property is here. There are literally 50 million dollar houses a few blocks from school. Basic rental apt are 2-6 a month. However...this area is absolutely beautiful.