Shasta Association of REALTORS®

The General Membership Meeting on January 20 2010 featured Assessor/Recorder Leslie Morgan and members of her staff. David Baker, Bruce Copeland, Wayne Stephens, and Cathy Scott take questions regarding valuation at the County Assessors Office.  Leslie’s office has faced big challenges keeping up with valuation in the declining local market. Prop 8 mandates require them to re-evaluate properties that have declined in value, and then re-evaluate them every year until they reach a new base value. There are 95,000 or so properties in Shasta County. 32,000 properties have been reviewed, resulting in reductions for 16,400 properties. The new valuations mean a reduction in property taxes, and thus also, reduced revenues to fund Shasta County government. The adjustments so far have reduced property valuations in the county by more than a billion dollars. The adjustments resulted in reductions of revenue of $12.5M to the county. Or, depending on how you look at it, over $12M in direct savings to taxpayers. This year they are looking at 47,000 properties. They are accomplishing all this additional work while reducing staff costs by 10%. Quite a balancing act for her office. The people in her office doing valuations face many of the same issues as we REALTORS do in trying to determine actual market value of real estate, so it was important and relevant to hear. We’ve arranged to have a recording of the talk available to you here at this post. It’s an informative talk. Skip Murphy

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Don D Davis began the General MLs meeting, and led a salute to our many members who are veterans on this fine Veterans Day 2009. Thank you Veterans!

Our featured guest was the always informative Earl Salter of Pacific Financial Exchange Corporation. As an Enrolled Agent, he is qualified to represent clients before the IRS, and thus is well informed on the latest changes to complex tax laws.

Hi talk today concerned two subjects: the extension and expansion of the Homebuyer Tax Credit, and the Tax Implications  of doing a Short Sale or Foreclosure. The extended tax credit talk raised many questions from members. It seems that in real life, individual circumstances are seldom as straightforward as this tax law assumes. What about divorce? What if one person in a marriage is first time buyer and ther other isn’t? What if they want to keep their existing house and buy another one? All these questions and more were adressed. If you were unable to make it to this informative meeting we have arranged to have this available to you as Podacst #20 on the Shasta Association of REALTORS Podcast Page.

Earl says that if he gets 10 calls a day, 7 of them will be about Short Sale, Foreclosures, and Reposessions, which are all viewed the same by the IRS. As he says, “This is not and H&R Block type tax question.” Your clients will need the advice of a full time expert to avoid making a costly tax mistake. How does the Tax Credit deadline apply to Short Sales, in terms of the timing? Based on the contract with the seller, or with the acceptance of the lender, hmm? How does a loan modification affect tax liability? Earl also points out that the IRS is really coming after real estate agents with audits this year, and expects that trend to expand. If you were unable to make it to this informative meeting we have arranged to have this available to you as Podacst #21 on the Shasta Association of REALTORS Podcast Page. In these complex discussions, you will have questions. You can’t ask questions of a Podcast, so our meetings provide you with the opportunity to add your voice to the discussion to the benefit of all. Your attendance is encouraged. Skip Murphy

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