The recent article in Mercury news on handling of property taxes by Corporations in the bay area revealed another aspect big corporations handle around taxes:

Bay Area corporate giants tangle with counties in high-stakes property tax disputes

It is very important that we as individuals should also save on taxes. If it is big bucks for the corporations, it means real money for us individuals.

I have requested appraisal changes for the property taxes after the appraisal on one of my properties came in lower multiple times. Watching property taxes is another way I help build in the design when buying or selling a home.

One of my clients bought in San Ramon and had to buy a special wildfire insurance. All locations with rolling hills, a lot of grass makes the areas susceptible.

These areas are in the Silicon Valley or barely an hour from the valley and the fire danger lurking puts all of us at severe risk and higher insurance premiums. This should be included while understanding the costs of home-ownership.

The risk abounds in areas like Saratoga, Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Los Altos,  San Ramon, Fremont and other areas.

For some this may not even be an issue, but when it comes to actually understanding the cost of ownership, this should be considered as a factor. This one factor itself may result in about 50 to 250 dollars per month in cost of the home per month. This at times may be about 3 to 10% of the cost of the home.

This article in Mercury News underscores this aspect:

Something to think about.