No. You cannot use assessed value as an estimate of loan balance. You can pull title records and look for the balance recorded against the property. This however can also be misleading as a HELOC for example, may be recorded as the entire balance available, but if the owner has not used the entire amount of money available, it does not record the lower amounts used.

The assessed value often does not correspond with how much is owed on the property. Under Prop 13, the assessed value of the property can only be increased by 2% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Therefore, if a property was bought years ago it may have a very low assessed value, and the owner may have refinanced and increased the amount owed far past the assessed value. Additionally, if the property has been owned for many years, the loan may have been paid down or paid off while the assessed value continued to increase.

The quick answer is no, the assessed value does not roughly correspond to how much is owed on the property. Your agent can get a copy of property information and documents that may show a more accurate picture what is owed on the property by the owner.

Jeremy Lehman
Century 21 Beachside Realtors
(714)580-3274
Jeremy@LehmanHomes.net http://www.LehmanHomes.net

No, but if you have any improvements on the property you could get a reassessment that may bring on a new tax bill. That would rasie your property taxes.

No.

Consider: Say Buyer A and Buyer B both bought properties for $200,000 15 years ago, with a 15 year mortgage. Say each property is now worth $800,000, and that the assessments reflect that.

Buyer A kept that same mortgage, and paid it off last month. He owes nothing. Buyer B refinanced at the top of the market two years ago for $800,000. Buyer B still owes nearly $800,000. So Buyer A owes nothing; Buyer B owes $800,000. Both on properties that'll be assessed about the same, and worth about the same.

No, in California under prop 13 the property taxes and the assessment only takes place upon the transfer of title. In the past, the assessed value was traditionally much lower than the appraised value. However in this market, the assessed value could be much higher than the appraised value.

If county records show liens on the property that would be a more accurate indication to what's owed on it.