John M. Lee; Hot real estate topics

Normally in November, I write a column regarding real estate issues that appear on the ballot. But guess what? There are only five measures on this year's ballot and none of them deals with real estate.

As a practicing real estate broker and your local columnist, I can gauge the important issues and questions the public have by my phone calls on various topics. In the past couple of months, there have been some recurring issues that weight heavily on people's minds.

One hot topic has been how to reduce a property tax assessment. Those calls came generally from people who purchased their properties the last few years.

The general procedure is to file an assessment appeal with the Assessment Appeals Board and present your case at a hearing. The burden of proof is upon the homeowner, and he or she needs to present sales data from the first quarter of the year that supports lowering the property assessment.

At the hearing, a representative from the Assessor's Office will present documents to justify what they believe is the true market value of the property and the owner does the same. The hearing officer makes a decision and that becomes the assessed value for the property tax assessment for the year.

I am happy to report that of all the property owners that I have heard from, the majority found the process to be simple and, with the downturn in real estate prices, the assessor was fair in lowering their assessments. In fact, some owners were pleasantly surprised that they received a much lower valuation than they expected. On the flip side though, perhaps their property did drop more in value than they realized.

Another hot topic has to do with property taxes. This year, I received many more calls on what the "direct charges" and/or "special assessments" were on the property tax bill. Perhaps it is the economy and a sign of the times that everyone is more sensitive to where their money is going.

Most people are not aware of what the fees are for and, especially, how they become special assessments. Some of these fees are a result of what voters approved at the ballot box and some are approved by the SF Board of Supervisors.

What is interesting to me is that after a while, we forget what the fees are for and why we have to keep paying them. And, it seems that the number of fees or taxes we have to pay are increasing each year. That was the reason for most of the calls I received, with people asking:"Why am I paying for this and what is it?" The easiest solution is to call the phone numbers listed next to the charges and ask.

The lesson learned here is if we vote for a tax increase or a bond measure, somebody will have to pay for it down the road, and some are structured to be collected along with the property tax bill. So, do not only read the purpose of the measure, but look at how we will be paying for it in the future.

Even though there are only five measures and two uncontested races on the ballot, don't forget to vote on Nov. 3.

John M. Lee is the incoming president of the San Francisco Association of Realtors and specializes in the Richmond and Sunset districts. For real estate questions, call him at (415) 447-6231 or sent an e-mail to johnlee@isellsf.com.