Hi Ken,

Scott & John are not in California and are not aware of our tax structure. A constitutional ammendment in the 1970's provides that taxes are based on the purchase price of the house. It may only be adjusted upwards by 2% per year and it may be reduced temporarily in times of declining prices.

You're figure of 1.211% is pretty close. What we use is the Purchase Price as reported to the county from the sales contract times 1.25%

Hope that helps.

John Hickey
Dilbeck Realtors, GMAC
818-541-7311
John@JohnHickey.com

Hi John & Scott, many thanks for your quick responses. I very much appreciate. Please allow me to re-phrase my question. I have done some research and found that the property tax rate in my city is 1.211%. Assuming I buy a short-sale home at $180,000 where its estimated market value (e.g. from http://www.zillow.com) is $200,000. The question is do I pay a property tax of 1.211% x $180,000 = $2,180 or 1.211% x $200,000 = $2,422?

You would have to check the property tax in your area for state, city/town and/or county. there is no hogher or lower tax when buying REO properties.

The taxes are established by the county or city the property is in. It is not controlled by the bank doing the short sale and there is not set amount like 1.211%