By Frederick Blum, Broker/Owner of Blum Realty Group
Get a fresh tax estimate for the home you want
Pull the parcel information and ask for a tax estimate based on your purchase. The seller’s assessed value, exemptions and tax history may be nothing like yours. Work from the assessment your purchase is likely to set, and find out which charges on the bill you would still owe.
The County Assessor decides whether you qualify for the exemption and how it is calculated. Ask which value, which income rules and which assessment year apply to you. Keep any general online estimate clearly apart from the figure the Assessor confirms for your parcel.
Our SB 296 guide explains how the exemption changes in 2027 and the end date currently written into the law. Use that guide for the law. Use the records for the specific property for the budget.
The funding fee and the property tax are two separate benefits
The VA funding fee is a charge on the loan. The disabled-veteran property-tax exemption applies to a qualifying home. Being exempt from the funding fee does not by itself get you the state property-tax exemption.
Ask the lender to confirm how the funding fee applies to you, based on your Certificate of Eligibility and the VA paperwork that goes with it. Ask the Assessor to confirm the property-tax claim. Keeping the two separate stops a missed cost or an assumed benefit from running through your whole budget.
For the rest of the money you will need, read the VA cash-to-close guide. Even with no down payment and no funding fee, there can still be other closing charges, plus the cash you want to keep in reserve.
Read the San Diego County Assessor’s disabled-veterans exemption page for the property-tax claim and VA’s funding-fee page for the loan charge. SB 296 changes the property-tax rules starting in 2027, so ask the Assessor which year’s rules and amounts apply to your purchase.
Budget for the months before your payment changes
The tax reduction and the lower mortgage payment do not always arrive at the same time. The loan servicer (the company you send your payment to) adjusts your escrow after the tax change is settled, and that can lag. Ask what tax estimate the lender will use at closing, what proof it needs, and how the escrow account will be adjusted once the Assessor has ruled on the exemption.
Budget for the higher payment until the lower one is confirmed. Say the starting total payment is $4,300 and a confirmed tax change later cuts it by $250 a month. Three months at the starting payment costs $750 more than a budget that assumed the reduction from day one. Those are made-up figures, not an estimate of your exemption.
Keep paying the amount on your mortgage statement until the servicer changes it. The tax-to-payment worksheet helps you track the tax bill and the escrow steps.
Read the closing statement and later tax bills together
Go over the tax prorations, prepaid items and the starting escrow deposit with the escrow officer and the lender. Ask which bills each amount is meant to cover. A line on the closing statement is not a promise that no more bills are coming.
Ask specifically about supplemental assessments, the extra tax bills that follow a purchase when the county reassesses the home after it changes hands. Find out who will receive those notices and whether the servicer will pay them from escrow. Keep the assessment notices, the bills and all the exemption letters in one place.
If you are moving from another home, ask how to end the exemption on the old home and start it on the new one. A benefit already on one property’s bill does not automatically show up on the next one.
Run two versions of the numbers before you decide on an offer
Run one version with the home’s full starting costs, and a second with the confirmed exemption and the lower payment you expect. Put insurance, HOA dues, parcel charges, maintenance and your savings cushion in both.
If the purchase only works when an unconfirmed benefit kicks in on day one, close that gap before you commit to the higher price. You can look at another home, a lower price or a different loan structure without giving up on the home you want.
I can help you set up the comparison and work through the property questions alongside your lender and the Assessor’s guidance. The decision should rest on costs you can carry through the whole transition, not just the best-case payment at the end.
Questions buyers ask
Can I use the seller’s reduced tax bill to budget my purchase?
No. Get a tax estimate based on your purchase and your own confirmed exemption. The seller’s assessed value and benefits may be nothing like yours.
Will the mortgage payment fall as soon as I file the claim?
Not on its own. Filing the claim does not change your mortgage payment. The Assessor has to rule on the claim, and then the servicer has to adjust your escrow. Ask both for the effective date.
Should I rush a purchase just to reach a tax date?
Choose the home and the loan because they work for you, not for a date. Before you decide on timing, ask the Assessor how your purchase date, move-in date and claim date affect the exemption on that property.