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REAL ESTATE TRENDS by Samia Cullen
Property Tax Advantage When Downsizing Your Home For many homeowners downsizing makes sense as they get older and family needs change. Although downsizing can be difďŹ cult and emotional with memories holding you back from selling your home and taking your life in a new direction, there are advantages to downsizing. Freeing the equity in your home and having a simpler lifestyle can bring the thrill of new adventures, more travel or other activities that you were not able to indulge in before. However, paying higher real property taxes on the prospective new home often acts as a deterrent to downsizing. In California, Propositions 60, 90 and 110 allow qualiďŹ ed homeowners over the age of 55 or persons of any age who are severely and permanently disabled to transfer a property’s base value from an existing residence to a replacement residence, under certain conditions. These propositions apply to homeowners who relocate within the same participating county or between participating counties
(currently, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Diego, Alameda, Los Angeles and Ventura). Additional requirements for this tax treatment include: (1) the cost of the replacement property can’t exceed the current appraised value of the original property, (2) the replacement property must be acquired within two years of the sale of the original property, (3) the owner should ďŹ le an application for this tax treatment within three years of the sale of their residence, and (4) the original residence and the replacement home must be the taxpayer’s primary residence or the taxpayer must have received or be eligible for a Disabled Veteran’s Exemption on both residences. The overview of the tax laws and treatments described in this article is for general information purposes only. You should consult your tax attorney or your accountant regarding how they may apply in your particular circumstances.
If you have a real estate question or would like a free market analysis for your home, please call me at 650-384-5392, Alain Pinel Realtors, or email me at scullen@apr.com. For the latest real estate news, follow my blog at www.samiacullen.com
This car was seriously damaged by a huge oak tree limb that broke off and fell on the vehicle, parked in a lot near the gym at the Menlo Park Civic Center. This photo was submitted by an Almanac reader.
Huge tree limb falls on car A huge oak tree limb broke off and landed on a car parked near the gym at the Menlo Park Civic Center around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, July 28. The car was seriously damaged. Menlo Park police spokeswoman Nicole Acker said the owner of the car was outside the vehicle when the tree fell, and initially he wasn’t sure if
he’d been hit. Medics evaluated him for a complaint of knee pain. Is the city of Menlo Park liable in this case? City Attorney Bill McClure said that, generally, car insurance policies pay for the damages, which could be recovered by the insurer only if the city was at fault or negligent. While Menlo Park does
periodically inspect its trees, he wasn’t sure when this one had last been looked at and noted that with oak trees, “you cannot tell whether there is some weakness or problem oftentimes until after a branch breaks off or the entire tree comes down.� — Sandy Brundage
Six show interest in council race By Dave Boyce Almanac Staff Writer
T
he November election for three Town Council seats in Portola Valley may be shaping up to be a contest now that two more people — SallyAnn Reiss and Taylor Hinshaw — have taken out candidacy papers. That brings the total to three who have taken out papers plus these three who have filed them: incumbent John Richards, an architect and the current mayor; software entrepreneur Craig Hughes, who sits on the town’s Architecture and Site Control Commission, and incumbent Maryann Moise Derwin, who joined the council in 2005. Mr. Richards would be running for his second term; Ms. Derwin has been mayor twice and would be running for her third term. Ms. Reiss recently championed the unsuccessful bid to
N PORTOLA VAL L EY
use artificial grass on the new soccer field at the Woodside Priory School. She co-chaired the $18 million fundraising campaign for the new Town Center that opened in 2008; has been on committees advising the council on parks, recreation, trails and paths; and ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2005. As for Mr. Hinshaw, Town Clerk Sharon Hanlon said she will have no additional information on Mr. Hinshaw until he files his completed candidacy papers. The Almanac was unable to reach him for an interview. The other person who has taken out papers is attorney Judith Hasko, a member of the Trails and Paths Committee and recently a member of an ad hoc committee that looked into the issue of planning
affordable housing to comply with state mandates. Incumbent Ted Driscoll, who has served on the council for five terms (20 years), told the Almanac that he has a lot on his plate in his private life and is “strongly leaning toward not running again.� The candidate filing period closes at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9. For offices without an eligible incumbent seeking re-election — as will be the case if Mr. Driscoll does not run for reelection — the filing period will be extended another five calendar days and will close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14. All terms are for four years. Candidate rosters are updated by the elections office every day at 5 p.m. Go to tinyurl.com/Elect-202 for roster updates, or to shapethefuture.org for more information on San Mateo County elections. A
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