California Proposition 19 Trust Loans
Post Proposition 19 Californians must face certain changes to the Proposition 58 “Parent to Child Transfer” tax break, the “Parent to Child Exclusion”.
Property owning Californians now have to grapple with specific challenges, where property tax relief is concerned. It has to be said that, with all due respect, that the realtor community in California is straining credibility. They backed Proposition 19, so anything they propose going forward, concerning property taxes or property tax relief, we can assume is only going to benefit the California realtor community. Not the buyers, or renters… or owners. This is fairly obvious.
Frequently being the wealthiest of the wealthy, we find it ironic that many realtors in California bleat and moan about one family – the Bridges family in Los Angeles – using the one often repeated example to advance the shaky case that everyone in California benefiting from Proposition 13 and Proposition 58 are fabulously wealthy, are elderly, and are intent on buying up all the multi-million dollar beachfront properties in the state, simply to rent out to other fabulously wealthy people from other states, vacationing in Malibu or Santa Cruz or Santa Barbara, having a grand old time – while the besotted realtor community suffers terribly from the lack of homes available to them to go to market. These claims basically debunk themselves.
Moreover, as the claim goes, all because of Proposition 13… and all those rich movie stars buying up all those luxury properties so they can make a few extra dollars every month, reportedly $10,0000 to $15,000, renting out an inherited investment property, like the Bridges do, or did. Again, Bridges being the only name ever used as an example, repeatedly in articles and editorials. Or are the Bridges the only family ever to be involved in this peculiar practice?
We simply cannot figure out why these rabid critics of property tax relief, practically foaming at the mouth, cannot locate another wealthy show business family to bring up when discussing this supposedly “out of control” practice of renting out inherited beachfront properties to vacationers at fairly egregious prices.
Apparently, according to critics of Prop 13 and Prop 58, it’s all because of the families taking advantage of the “Parent to Child Exclusion” that the real estate market has shrunk a few percentage points over the past few years. Utilized only, they tell us, by wealthy elderly homeowners and their offspring. No one else. No middle class families, no veterans, no retired folks living on a fixed income.
And this argument, involving the Bridges family as the sole example of a family of multi-millionaires using an inherited home as an investment property to make a few extra dollars on the side has literally remained unchanged for going on 35 years now. A lot of people think something is awry with this picture. So let us take a quick look at the history behind all of this…
So what does the realtor community all across the state of California do, after putting up with supposed armies of rich elderly homeowners and their grown children, renting out inherited luxury homes on the beach for decades – along with having the nerve to actually reside in their own home for decades, simply to take advantage of Proposition 13 or Prop 58, so they can avoid property tax reassessment and rent out luxury homes to upscale tourists?
Apparently also further enraging the realtor community AND the Legislature by also taking advantage of a certain Proposition 58 transfer of property – these wealthy homeowners also take terrible advantage of the California tax system by using these Prop 58 tax breaks to buyout property shares inherited by co-beneficiaries as a transfer of property between siblings – combined with the transfer of parents’ property taxes when they are in fact inheriting property taxes from a parent.
Actually “having the gall” as many critics of property tax relief would put it in the Los Angeles Times or San Fran Chronicle, to basically save a small fortune on a property tax transfer, by exercising their right to keep parents property taxes rather than pay full freight with full up-to-date market rates – paying “their fair share” without “taking advantage” of Proposition 58’s Parent to Child Transfer, or Parent to Child Exclusion.
Apparently, the Legislature and the realtor community are so hard-up for cash that all the property owners in California should be expected to pay reassessed property tax rates, adding thousands, often tens of thousands to ones’ tax bill… and not take advantage of Proposition 13 & 58. Eventually, the Legislature and their friends at the California Association of Realtors decided something had to be done about this perpetual injustice!
So the California Association of Realtors and other supporters of a tax measure they called Proposition 19, in 2020, raised $63.8 million ($58.6 million from CAR) and $4.9 million from the National Association of Realtors. Opponents raised less than $50,000 to wage a political-social campaign, and finally these critics of property tax breaks took down the dreaded Parent to Child Transfer tax break – protected by the triple-dreaded Proposition 58 tax measure since 1986. They weren’t actually able to completely remove this tax break… However, they came awfully close.
Yet as residential or commercial property owners found out, after all the hysteria died down across the state, and property owners finally realize that they had in fact been bamboozled into voting for this tax measure that was turned out after all to be a hungry tax wolf disguised as a charming sheep who just wanted to help seniors and school children. BUT – they still had plenty of property tax relief options left… they were just a bit more challenging to access. Yet that really would be a political third rail. Especially after voters in California finally saw they had been deceived.
Therefore, despite all the worrying about this, all these property tax relief options remain intact. If we inherit parents’ property from a trust or an estate we can still take advantage of Proposition 13 & 58 to access a large 6 or 7-figure loan to an irrevocable trust to buyout co-beneficiaries so we can own it solo, and keep parents low tax base… frequently without a credit report, without up-front charges, with low interest, no hidden fees, usually in just a few days, and always with very simple terms – unlike your typical bank or credit union.
As long as we have a Prop 58 friendly trust lender, for example like the Commercial Loan Corp. who can reached at 877-464-1066 so you don’t have to hunt for the number… Plus there are a few Websites besides this blog that explore the often misunderstood process of taking full advantages of Proposition 58 Parent to Child Transfer, or Prop 193 Grandparent to Grandchild Exemption carefully covering Transfers Between Parent and Child or Grandparent and Grandchild.
And of course there is the often used research Website, with up to date news and information on Proposition 13 at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association or for a formal cutting edge look at updated information exclusively vetted and imparted for California property owners, regarding property tax relief for those impacted by Covid-19, at Andersen.com… Moreover, to take advantage of Proposition 13 & 58 whenever and wherever possible! There is no point in ignoring any property tax assistance you can receive, one way or the other!