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In addition to your basic property taxes, when your property tax bill seems unusually high especially during this housing crisis you probably have a Special and/or Direct Assessment on your property. This will vary based on the area your residence is located, there may be charges needed pay for voter-approved obligation bonds or other indebtedness, special assessments, or direct levies. Such as, a Direct Assessment could be applied to your house if the voters in your community decide to establish a sewage system in a city where the were using residences use septic tanks. The direct assessment is applied pay for the sweage system to the community.

Most of the time, a direct assessment is added on to your property tax bill over years so the taxpayers are not overwhelmed by the special assessment to pay for the improvement. Special and Direct Assessments have a reason they are added on to your basic assessment such as an improvement to a community and when that new improvement has been paid for the special or direct assessment is complete and will no longer be on your property tax bill. Generally, this type of debt is usually fraction of a percent increase in your existing property tax rate.

Special and Direct assessments that you may see on your property tax bill are applied by the county tax collector on behalf the local levying agency or district, not on behalf of the assessor, auditor-controller, and/or the county tax collector offices. Special and Direct Assessments are voter approved taxes so if there is any issue with it, it did not come from the Assessor’s Office. To find out more or to dispute a special assessment on your property, contact the levying district. Usually this information is on your property tax bill.

It is not wise to refuse to pay a property tax bill that contains the special or direct assessment, even when the direct levy amount is under dispute. Remember that even if you disagree with your property tax bill it is always wiser to pay the bill and get refunded later than to have an outstanding tax bill on your home. The processes to delete a delinquent property tax bill and all of the fines, need several signatures and forms within the Office of the Assessor and Tax Collector and is pretty a mess. So keep it simple, pay your property tax bill, any exception to this would be an extreme situation.

About the Author: Valerie Faltas, Property Tax Expert has been involved in all facets of real estate for over ten years including assessments, appraisals, estates and trusts, investing and much more. She is a Certified Property Tax Appraiser, Licensed Residential Appraiser and a member of the International Association of Assessment Officers. As a real estate investor and advisor she is well versed in all aspects of real estate. To contact Valerie Faltas go to her website: www.propertytaxlittleblackbook.com.

Here’s a guide to caring for the most common outdoor furniture materials, aluminum; Wash with mild liquid dish washing detergent in a bucket of water; rinse and dry. Coat with an automotive wax every six months.

Some folks just plainly prefer blinds as opposed to curtains or drapes. Perhaps you want to create a more spacious feel to your room, or perhaps you enjoy that fact that it’s easy to install. Blinds have a great insulation capability and will be an excellent tool to keep the cold outside and the warmth indoors and also will protect your privacy when you need it.

Bring a little of the tropics home to your own outdoor area with the use of wicker chairs and wicker garden furniture. Available in a variety of styles and colors including natural, lacquered, white and red, wicker and rattan chairs and tables have been designed to meet the changing needs of outdoor entertaining. Sit back and relax in comfort and style as your rattan furniture takes you on a journey to paradise, now wicker patio chairs can be used all year round.

This is perfect for garden lovers and entertainers who continually make changes and alterations to their outdoor areas. Now you can enjoy outdoor entertaining all year round!You can restore wicker patio furniture easily if required.

If you are lucky, you might get two years out of cheap covers, but if you buy them every two years, you end up spending more than you would if you just got the good covers in the first place. It isn’t a hard thing to judge, good covers feel heavier and more protective, it doesn’t take a very expert opinion to find good ones.

If you have the storage space to store your furniture indoors during the off season or at least spend the money for a good set of covers, you can be sure that with a little work twice a year, you can help your furniture last from season to season. Using wicker outdoors may be one of the smartest choices you have ever made, wicker is not just popular for its durability – it has been known to be able to withstand harsh weather conditions – it is also economical in the long run.

Having spent a considerable amount of time and money furnishing your outdoor patio area, you would be wise in considering furniture covers. These are specifically designed for each piece of furniture. Whatever it is that makes up your patio set, you will find a cover for it, from chairs, tables, chaise lounges, benches, swings, barbeques, and patio heaters, there’s a cover for each and everyone.

A good quality vinyl will withstand most type of weather that your furniture may be exposed to. They are usually coated to withstand the damaging effects of UV Sun Rays, thus keeping the color of the fabric looking like new. They are water resistant, and impervious to rot, or mildew, vinyl is an excellent material for covering your furniture, and protecting it from the elements for long periods of time.

Summertime is here! It’s hot and miserable outside so we naturally want to find someplace cooler to spend our time. We can stay comfortable and cool in our houses but that means paying high electricity bills due to the cost of running our air conditioners all the time.

If you’re struggling with paying your electric bill this summer then don’t fret, because there are some things you can do to keep your home cool while still saving money. Here are a few inexpensive ways you can help keep your home cooler in the middle of the summer.

Blinds on Windows and Doors: Sunlight pouring in through your windows can warm your house like an oven. You’ll be amazed at how much cooler your house can be with the strategic placement of a few light-blocking shades over your sunniest windows. Regular curtains probably aren’t enough. You’ll want to use a full light-blocking curtain. Most light-blocking curtains actually have a specially designed cloth liner built into them. You can keep your regular decorative curtains in place, just be sure to also use light blocking curtains on the same window or doorway. Blocking out that light during the sunniest part of the day can make a dramatic difference in cooling.

Clean your Air Conditioner Filters: Both window AC units and central AC units need to have their air filters regularly replaced. A blocked air filter can stop cool air from being blown efficiently by your air conditioner. You’ll want to check your air filters once every other month and follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for cleaning and replacing your air filters regularly. A dirty air filter can even cause your air conditioner to stop working. If your AC has is not working properly, you can also try some other AC repair tricks to get your home cool again.

Make Your Home Airtight: One way to keep your home cooler is to make sure you’re not losing any cool air from your AC where you shouldn’t be. You can check all your windows and doors searching for gaps where cool air could seep out. If you have a central air conditioner then you should check as much of the aluminum vent system as you can. Use aluminum foil tape to seal up any pin holes or gaps that may be releasing cool air. If you have window air conditioning units you may want to make sure they are installed securely and have no gaps around the installation hardware. You may also want to close the air duct registers and close the doors in rooms you don’t use so that your AC doesn’t have to try to cool those rooms too.

All of these energy saving methods will help keep your house interior cooler and help your air conditioner keep running well this summer. These are just some of the many home air cooling methods you can use to stay comfortable inside during the heat of the summer months. Using these energy saving tricks together can really help you save money on your electric bills and keep you comfortable during the summer!

In the state of California, there are essentially two triggers for re-assessment: change in ownership and construction. A change in ownership occurs when a deed or deeds are filed at the county Recorder’s Office, the Recorder will forward the deeds to the Office of the Assessor for assessment purposes. The Assessorss Office will then evaluate the change in ownership to see if it is assessable. If it isn’tassessable then the process stops there, however if it is an assessable transfer it is forwarded to the appropriate staff to give or review a market value and adjust the base value accordingly. A change in ownership that would not be assessable would need to fall within one of the various exemptions allowed by the State such as a transfer into a revocable trust or an inter-spousal transfer which are all explained in our Inherited Property and Exemptions Guide which is part of the California Little Black Book.

When a change in ownership is exempt, the ONLY way the Office of the Assessor knows this is through forms and/or applications which are recorded along with the deed or later requested by the Assessorss Office to confirm an exempt transfer. So when there is no exemption, the transfer is considered assessable per Prop 13. Which means if you do not apply for the exemption, submit a form or offer accepted documentation for an exemption, the transfer is considered assessable automatically. The Office of the Assessor is a mass assessment organization and unless you tell them what you need preferably through forms and documents they wont know what may or may not apply to your change in ownership.

The other trigger for assessment based on Prop 13 is construction. The Office of the Assessor is told by the city or county building and safety offices. The city or building and safety give the information about issued permits to the Assessors’s Office for property tax purposes. Keep in mind, your city receives some of your property tax dollars so though its primarily a state tax your local municipality benefits from it. The permits are given to the real property appraisers to update the building record and change the base value if warranted based on Prop 13. Normally, it takes the Assessors’s Office a fair amount of time to get to because field work is needed to find out what was done to your house and then a valuation process. If there is a demo, your property taxes will likely be reduced, if there is an addition there is likely going to be an go up. So, if you demo a pool your property taxes will go down and if you add a pool, your property taxes will go up. Construction varies from home to home and it will be reviewed based on the value that was added or taken away. This is clearly explained in the California Little Black Book with examples and scenarios. When was employed by the Assessor I assessed countless homes where various types of construction was done and would be happy to answer any questions you may have pertaining to this!

Similar to new construction there is re-assessment of a property if the use of it has changed. For example if a complex of own-your-owns is converted into condominiums the Office of the Assessor will review and reassess the value of each unit since the use change affects the market value of the community. Normally in California there are two events that trigger re-assessment based on Prop 13: change in ownership or new construction.

About the Author: Valerie Faltas, Property Tax Expert has been involved in all facets of real estate for over ten years including assessments, appraisals, estates and trusts, investing and much more. She is a Certified Property Tax Appraiser, Licensed Residential Appraiser and a member of the International Association of Assessment Officers. As a real estate investor and advisor she is well versed in all aspects of real estate. To contact Valerie Faltas go to her website: www.propertytaxlittleblackbook.com.

Its understood that buying dining room furniture is something that you dont want to take lightly, that youll want to get the best fit and the best deal for your money. And it doesnt matter whether you think that youll want formal dining room furniture or casual dining room furniture, there is a checklist that you can refer to help the decision process along.

Look for the right online retailer. And right away here its good to remember that the Internet has made the shopping experience easier than you might have ever imagined. When youre searching on the Internet for a place that can assure you that theyve got all the best products at the right prices, there are several things that you need to look for especially when youre looking for the best deal possible on dining room furniture.

Start with the customer service. When youre paying out a fair amount of money for any of the top of the line glass top dining sets that you can find online, youll want to be sure that there is a world class customer service department standing behind the purchase. Youll want to talk with highly trained professionals that will take a personal interest in seeing your order straight through to completion.

Packaging

Now you really are taking a leap of faith when youre entrusting that brand new formal dining table to a firm on the Internet, but when you see what a top notch firm like homefurnituremart.com incorporates into their packaging department, youll see how the bar is set high.

This is the firm that doesnt use the drop shipment method. All the items that are shipped from their facility are carefully inspected and repackaged for their journey to any one of a number of residential locations across the United States.

Credentials

Of course looking for that specialty item like any formal dining room furniture means that youll want to see the credentials of the place where you order from and the Internet makes checking up on that kind of reputation easy.

All you need to do to see what people are saying about these places is log onto their sites and look at the testimonials. The places that handle the delicate items like the most elegant dining room furniture will get great accolades from customers that are more than satisfied with their services.