I understand your sentiment, being a grad of UC Santa Barbara. However, before their deaths, it did allow my parents to stay in their home. I know it helped many elderly on fixed incomes to remain in their homes.
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Hear that.
My aunt, my dadâs sister, who had been a young widow and lifelong school bus (and Vegas 
bus) driver, stayed in her home four houses from the beach in Ventura almost until her death in her late 90s.
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Good for CA. In some states, seniors have been forced out of their homes because of taxes. The owners, on fixed incomes, canât pay the ever increasing real estate taxes. So they have to sell their life long homeâŠ
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Ventura is just north of me! Did my first two years of college at Ventura College before transferring up to UCSB. Itâs a lovely town.
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I have no problem with people and businesses that have lived in their own home since '73. What I do have a problem with are said properties transferred into LLCâs into perpetuity and they then use those properties for income (i.e a rental property) while the taxes are kept low. For example, a house rented for 4k/monthâ48k/year (not a nice house btw) but the owner (who owns other properties where they reside) pays only 100.00 (that is one hundred dollars PER YEAR) on a property that would sell for 1.7M and the taxes associated with it. The owner, in their LLC gets ALL the profit, meanwhile schools and other civic entities are starved. The house next door may pay an entirely different rate. I understand an elder not being able to afford some huge property taxes BUT they shouldnât be able to keep that tax advantage for decades if they arenât alive nor cease living at said property. The tax abatement should expire when the original home owner passes or give it a 20 year âleaseâ Even better, accrue the taxes so when they do pass and sell the state can reap some reward. Same for a business (i.e Apple, and many other huge corporations who enjoy a low tax rate)
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I hear you. Prop 13 started the ball rolling. It was like a bunch of rich property owners in CA said âMeh, we are all in our chairs. Letâs make the game of musical chairs/property tax hikes stop⊠now.â
That said, I am not sure one can put their home into an LLC without triggering a reassessment. I could be wrong about how things worked there in the past. But you are correct about how low-for-some and wildly uneven property taxes are in California. And until very recently, you could pass on that grandfathered tax status to your children! That means houses whose value have increases literally 20 or 30 times have unbelievably low tax bills.
Your wish about ending this âlegacyâ stuff was granted in 2020 with proposition 19: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/california-proposition-19-what-does-30766/
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Obviously I havenât lived there in awhileâŠgood to know things are slowly changing. Thanks for the update! And to the OP, I would look at Ohio (like a previous poster suggested), Kentucky, Tennessee or other places that have water because the West wonât have much water if things continue like they are going.
Greensboro, Raleigh, Durham have always strong economies. The Southern Pines area is good horse country and easy access to facilities for veterans. They used to have steeplechase races. There were still large acreage homes with equestrian facilities. Duke University is located in Greensboro. Asheville is listed as a friendly retirement city and that area is beautiful. The Tryon area is lovely. I havenât lived there in decades so others can chime in on the dressage community. Beaches, sand hills, mountains, lakes, snow and water skying, horse clubs, etc. the Cape Fear Valley Trail Riders was very active. In the 80s the man was assumed to own everything if property was not in both names. That may have changed but just be aware. It is not a community property state.
Edited to add the Southern Pines/Pinehurst area is also known for golf. For trails, there is a Walthour-Moss Foundation that preserves a large area of land with trails for horseback riding.
I know itâs been a month since you wrote this and your other replies about Southern Pines/Pinehurst, but . ⊠Do you know anything about the boarding situation in those areas? Are there good options for full board with lots of turnout? Good dressage trainers nearby? Itâs an area my husband and I have been contemplating, though I have a lot of reluctance about the thought of leaving Maryland.
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My comments in bold
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There are many trainers in the Pinehurst - Southern Pines area with beautiful and plentiful facilities.
I urge you to post specific questions on the NCDCTA (North Carolina Dressage and Combined Training Association) FB page. You will get quite a few responses Iâm sure. NC as a state is VERY equestrian friendly and active. If there is a weak area for Dressage, it is along the coast but that is changing rapidly. Western Dressage has become very popular as well.
Check the NCDCTA.ORG website and take a look at the calendar. NC has a active show management professionals in all areas of equestrian events.
Come on down before the land values escalate further!
Edited to add NC ALWAYS has teams in the NCAA Basketball Championships with many, many major pro basketball legends coming from our Universities - Duke, Carolina, and NC State and the major teams for sure. Most equestrian spouses love NC because of basketball!
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I was not at Tryon but I see I could have written that line more clearly. I meant North Carolina in general.
Thanks for the other updates.
