All right, so this video is all about high taxes in the city of Murrieta, California that you need to be aware of if you're thinking about buying a home here. Let's go ahead and get into it.

Hey, guys. Hey, again, my name is Justin Short. I'm a realtor and team leader with the Short Real Estate Team here at Keller Williams in Temecula, and this video is all about the city of Murrieta, and we're gonna talk about some of the high taxes that you need to be aware of if you are thinking about buying a home in Murrieta.

But before I get into all the information, if you are looking for more real estate videos like this, please do me a favor. Please hit like, and please subscribe to the channel. Obviously, it helps me, and it helps my channel as we try to continue to grow it, and then we have new videos that we put out each and every week that are all just kind of local-based real estate content and information.

So we talk about the cities of Temecula, Murrieta, and Menifee, California. We talk about best neighborhoods, worst neighborhoods, different recommendations that we have, and all kinds of local-based information.

And then if you guys have any real estate questions, you can feel free to reach out anytime. You can see my information either at the end of the video or down below. You can call, text, or email me. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, help point you in the right direction, or, of course, if I can help you out with your search, I'd love to be a resource for you. Obviously, that's how I earn a living, so I'd love the opportunity to help you and your family.

So let's go ahead and get into all the information. Again, we're going to talk about the city of Murrieta and some of the different high taxes that you need to be aware of if you're purchasing a property here. I'll give you kind of a long-winded response about property taxes in Murrieta, what some of these higher taxes mean, how they came to be, and then, on a practical level, what you should really pay attention to when buying a house and how you can evaluate it quickly.

When you're buying a home in Murrieta—and really this applies anywhere in Riverside County—the base standard tax rate throughout the city of Murrieta is pretty much the same across the board. Whether you're buying a home on the west side or another home on the east side, any single-family home is going to have more or less the same base tax rate.

We'll round that off to right about 1.1%. It might be 1.15% or a little bit lower, but more or less it's going to be around 1.1% across the board. That's going to come from Riverside County and is fairly standard throughout the area.

Now, where tax rates can vary—and where you can end up with high-tax and low-tax areas—is in the form of special assessments. Some people may be more familiar with the term Mello-Roos. They don't really use that term much anymore, but these different special assessments will vary from area to area, neighborhood to neighborhood, and sometimes even from one side of the street to the other.

Because of that, you don't really need to be too concerned about the base tax rate. What you need to focus on is the total amount of special assessments attached to a property. For example, you may see a home with very low or almost no special assessments. On the tax roll, that might be $40, $60, or $100 per year. That's essentially just a few dollars a month.

At the same time, you may look at a property right across the street with the same purchase price—let's say both homes are $600,000—but one of them has an additional $4,000 per year in special assessments. That's roughly an extra $350 per month in taxes. That's a big deal.

Most people buying a property are getting a mortgage, and they're calculating what their monthly payment is going to be. If two homes are both priced at $600,000, but one costs an additional $350 per month because of higher taxes, that could be a deal breaker. It might push someone beyond their comfort level, make the payment unaffordable, or even impact loan qualification.

That's why you need to pay attention to special assessments and understand how much higher taxes are going to be in one neighborhood compared to another. This is something that isn't very common in many parts of California. You'll often see it in newer suburban communities throughout places like Arizona, Nevada, and Riverside County. But if you're moving from San Diego, Orange County, or Los Angeles, many of those neighborhoods don't have these special assessments.

As a result, a lot of people move here without knowing to ask about them. Then, when it comes time to purchase, they discover their mortgage payment is going to be $300, $400, or even $500 more per month than expected because of these additional taxes. So yes, it is important.

One way to check is by visiting the Riverside County Tax Assessor's website. You can enter the property's address or APN number and pull up the current tax bill to review the special assessments. That said, it's pretty cumbersome. I can count on one hand the number of clients I've had who actually took the time to do that.

The easier option is to ask your real estate agent. For us, it's extremely simple. We have tools directly through the MLS that allow us to pull up the special assessments almost instantly. We can quickly tell you whether a property has high taxes or low taxes and give you a general idea of what to expect.

Another rule of thumb I share with clients is that newer homes generally have higher special assessments, while older homes generally do not.

Typically, homes built before about 2002 tend to have little to no special assessments. Once you get into homes built around 2003 and newer, you start seeing these additional charges appear. Maybe it's $1,000 per year, maybe $2,000 or $3,000. Generally speaking, the newer the home, the higher the special assessments tend to be.

For example, there are homes built in 2023 that have special assessments exceeding $5,000 per year. There are certainly exceptions, but as a general rule, newer homes tend to have higher taxes and older homes tend to have lower taxes.

I also want to point out that these special assessments generally only apply to tract homes. You typically won't see them on a custom home built on a large lot where an individual owner purchased land and built the property themselves. Usually, these taxes are tied to large-scale developments where a builder purchases a significant piece of land, subdivides it, and creates an entire neighborhood.

When they do that, they aren't just building homes. They're building roads, curbs, gutters, sewer systems, parks, fire stations, and other infrastructure. In many cases, builders are able to pass some or all of those development costs on to future homeowners through special assessments. That's why this is usually something you'll encounter when purchasing a tract home. If you're buying a custom home on several acres, you're probably not going to have to deal with these additional taxes.

However, if you're buying a newer home—especially new construction—there's a very good chance you'll be dealing with special assessments, and you'll want to understand them before making a purchase. The other thing I want to mention is homeowner's insurance.

This has become a much bigger issue over the last several years, and it's something every buyer in Murrieta should pay close attention to. Because of the major California wildfires we've seen over the last five or six years, insurance rates have increased significantly.

I've had situations where clients were considering a home in Murrieta and received homeowner's insurance quotes ranging from about $1,800 to $2,400 per year. That's generally on the lower end of what we're seeing today. But then we compare that property to another home located in a higher fire-risk area, and suddenly the insurance quote jumps to $4,500 or even $5,000 per year.

Again, that's a major difference. An extra $2,000 to $3,000 per year translates into roughly $200 to $250 per month in additional expenses. If you aren't prepared for that ahead of time, it can absolutely affect affordability and throw a wrench into your plans. That's why I always recommend getting insurance quotes early in the process.

If you already know which neighborhoods you're interested in, get a few sample quotes and see what insurance costs are likely to look like. Make sure the numbers are affordable, attainable, and something you're comfortable with long term. So those are the two biggest things I would pay attention to: First, pay attention to the total special assessments on a property. Second, pay attention to homeowner's insurance rates.

And don't wait until the end of escrow to get an insurance quote. It may come back higher than expected. If you need a referral to an insurance broker, I'm happy to point you in the right direction. I have several great contacts that many of my clients use.

Nowadays, if you simply contact one or two insurance companies directly, they may have very limited coverage options available or offer extremely high rates. Because of that, we go through insurance brokers about 95% of the time. They can shop dozens of different companies and hopefully find more affordable coverage options. Anyways, if you guys have any questions, feel free to reach out. You can call, text, or email. Hopefully, talk to you soon. Thanks.