Property Taxes
As mentioned earlier, there will be property taxes at approximately 1.25% to 1.3% of the purchase price, payable to Riverside County in two installments each year.
Land Lease Fees
These are applicable ONLY IF you are buying a home built on lease land. Fees vary per property and typically are paid monthly.
Single Family Homes – Ordinary Homeowner Expenses
Maintenance Expenses – Pool maintenance should be about $100/mo, landscaping maintenance around $100-200/mo, depending on the size of your property and the scope of the work needed.
Utility Expenses – electricity, gas, water, trash/recycling pickup, phone and cable. All of these vary according to usage and the size of your home. We will provide you a listing of phone numbers for the services for the community in which you are buying. Utilities information can also be found on our Web site under Utilities and Resources.
Condominiums – Ordinary Homeowner Expenses
Homeowner Association Fees – HOA fees (Strata fees in Canada) will vary per property; they range from less than $200 up to $600 or higher. Amenities of the complex will dictate the amount of monthly fees. These fees and services provided by the HOA will typically include grounds and community pool maintenance, common area maintenance, trash/recycling services, and gate maintenance. Some communities also include additional amenities such as tennis courts and golf courses, and employ guards at the gate house, which will necessarily raise the fees.
Other complexes include standard cable TV, water, exterior maintenance and sometimes even your roof maintenance. The more services included, the greater the cost will be.
You will be better off in choosing a community with adequate reserves on hand in order to avoid special assessments. This is information to be obtained in the HOA (Strata) documents which you will receive during the escrow process.
Property Management, Special Services and Rental Management Information
We are happy to put you in touch with providers of whatever services you may need, both while you are here, and when you are absent.
Renting Your US Property
Should you decide to rent your property as a vacation rental, it is required that the rental income be reported as income to the appropriate taxing authorities, both the Federal government and the State of California. Tax schedules are used to calculate depreciation, an allowable expense on income properties. On Canadian returns, the capital cost allowance schedule covers depreciation. If you wish more information on this, Dick can put you in touch with a local tax attorney.
In Palm Springs, you will also have to pay a local “bed tax” when renting your property.This is known as the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) to be collected from each guest with the room or house payment and submitted to the city of Palm Springs. For more detail, go to Bed Tax.
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