When buying a home in San Ramon, one of the main questions in the minds of buyers is the property tax rate, what it means, and what it covers.

Here in California, the property tax rate starts at a 1% base rate, then on top of that, depending on where you live, there can be municipal taxes, special assessments, and bonds. There is often a large variance from city to city. For an example, there is some confusion over tax rates in two particular neighborhoods right here in San Ramon: In the Windermere area, the tax rate is approx 1.7% of the assessed value. In the Gale Ranch area, the tax rate is approx 1.4% of the assessed value. Why the difference?

Windermere does not have an HOA. It does have a special assessment that covers things like police services, landscape and maintenance for parks and medians, street lights and street sweeping, and the maintenance of the Library, and Community Center. There is also a proposed Senior Center in the works to be maintained. So there is a lot of infrastructure that is covered by this tax. Gale Ranch does have an HOA. But its tax rate is lower. The builder of that development, Shapell, built those costs of infrastructure into the home prices. After all is said and done, the housing and tax costs in these two neighborhoods may end up being fairly close.

Windermere and Gale Ranch are both beautiful communities with award winning schools, and amenities to suit nearly any preference. There are also a number of other fantastic neighborhoods in San Ramon to consider, some with slightly lower tax rates like 1.2%. (These were built in the 70’s and 80’s therefore don’t have the new infrastructure assessments.) Some do have HOA’s. These neighborhoods like Bollinger Hills or Twin Creeks also enjoy wonderful schools and parks and have mature landscaping, large beautiful trees, and plenty of amenities.

If all these taxes, bonds, special assessments and Melo Roos figures have your head spinning, here is a link for looking up property tax rates in Contra Costa County. Enter the property address you are interested in, and it will give you the rate. https://taxcolp.co.contra-costa.ca.us/taxpaymentrev3/summary/account_lookup.jsp

If you are considering a home purchase, it’s helpful to do some of your own research on what your tax rate might be. This is only one of the many questions potential buyers are faced with. We are here to help. We have lived and worked in San Ramon for 14+ years, and are happy to answer any questions. San Ramon is a highly sought after place to live. We are experiencing very high demand from all over the Bay Area, and historical low inventory of homes for sale! Homes are going on and off the market at a dizzying pace. If you are considering a home purchase here, we are ready to help advise you so that you can move quickly and get the home you really want. That isn’t an impossible dream!

Tags: San Ramon, San Ramon Real Estate

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 7th, 2012 at 5:33 pm and is filed under Blog, Market Updates, San Ramon Homes . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed . You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site .