Over 55? Your property-tax base can move with you. Most people leave it behind.
A six-page guide to Prop 19 for longtime Bay Area owners: the five rules, two worked examples at real Silicon Valley and Santa Cruz prices, the timing rule that changes your bill by about $3,000 a year on the identical house, the six mistakes, and a one-page worksheet to find out what your transfer is worth.
Written by a California real estate broker with a CFO’s background. Every figure sourced to the BOE rule it comes from. Not legal or tax advice.
Download the Prop 19 guide
You own two assets. Your equity — and a tax base nobody puts on a net-worth statement.
Under Prop 13 your assessed value has grown no more than 2% a year since you bought. Bay Area prices did not. On a Sunnyvale home bought in 1994, that can mean a $185,000 tax base on a $2,600,000 house — a difference of roughly $27,000 a year in property tax at a 1.15% rate.
Since April 2021, Prop 19 lets a homeowner 55 or older carry that base to a replacement home anywhere in California, up to three times. It is one of the largest tax benefits most families will ever qualify for, and it is routinely lost — to a missed two-year window, to a form nobody filed, or to advice that said it would not help because the next house costs more.
The guide is the part of the conversation I have with every client over 55 before they list. It is written so you can have it with yourself first.
Same house. Same $3,000,000 price. Three different tax bills.
| Bought the replacement… | Threshold | Annual tax |
|---|---|---|
| Before the sale closed | 100% | $6,727.50 |
| Within a year after | 105% | $5,232.50 |
| In the second year after | 110% | $3,737.50 |
| No transfer | — | $34,500.00 |
$185,000 base, $2,600,000 sale, 1.15% rate. Rule 462.540(c)(2). The guide shows the arithmetic.
Six pages. No filler.
Why the base is worth so much
Prop 13, the 2% cap, and why the old once-only, same-county rule kept people in houses that stopped fitting them.
The five rules, stated precisely
Age on closing day, principal residence both ends, the two-year window, all 58 counties, three lifetime uses — and the one that costs people everything: it is not automatic.
Example 1 — the trade-down
Sell in Sunnyvale, buy in Aptos. What transfers, what the bill is with and without the transfer, and what ten years of the difference adds up to.
Example 2 — the trade-up and the 100/105/110% rule
Moving near the kids to a house that costs more. The threshold table, worked three ways on the same purchase, and the honest trade-off about buying first.
The six mistakes, and what Prop 19 does not do
Capital gains, rentals, out-of-state moves, inherited homes — each one a different rule.
The worksheet and the filing
Ten lines, from the assessed-value line on your tax bill to what the transfer is worth per year — and exactly which form goes to which county by when.
The guide is the written version of this video.
If you would rather watch first: the same five rules, the same two examples, the same threshold table, in thirteen minutes. The guide is what you keep on the kitchen table when it is time to decide.
A broker’s strategy. A CFO’s math.
I have been licensed in California since 2006 and a broker since 2021, with 150+ transactions and more than $100 million in sales on both sides of the hill. Before real estate I was a CFO, which is why my work with owners over 55 starts with the tax math rather than the listing price. I sit on the Board of Directors and the Finance Committee of the Santa Cruz County Association of REALTORS®.
I am not an attorney and not a CPA, and the guide says so. What I can do is put your base, your likely sale price, your replacement price and your timing on one page — and tell you, plainly, if the right answer is to stay.
Verified Zillow reviews
“I didn’t need a hyper-aggressive, flashy agent; Lance offered a grounded, steady confidence… he relies on hard data rather than empty sales pitches.” — Melissa W., sold a single-family home, 2026 · ★★★★★ verified Zillow review
- “Lance took on the sale of my property at the most traumatic time in my life… I felt like I had a family member helping me, rather than a realtor.”— Seller, 2024
- “I’m now the proud owner of my beachy little dream home in Aptos, and I’m already working with Lance again to sell my previous home. That says everything.”— Buyer, Aptos, 2026
- “Lance truly was a light in the dark for us… A true professional with the utmost integrity.”— Leila F., bought in Santa Cruz, 2025
How three longtime-owner sales actually ran → · All reviews on Zillow
Three things. None of them is a sales call.
- The PDF opens on the next page. Instantly, no email to wait for. It also lives on the Tools page, permanently, so you never have to fill in a form to get it back.
- Your note lands in my inbox, not a system. I read it myself. If you left a phone number I may call to ask one question; if you did not, I will not.
- When you want numbers, ask. The free tax-base transfer assessment puts your base, sale price, replacement price, timing and capital-gains picture on one page. If the answer is “stay put,” you will hear it.
Before you download
Is the guide really free, and what happens with my email?
Yes. You get the PDF on the next page, instantly. Your name and email come to me personally — not to a drip campaign or a call center — and I use them only to follow up if you ask a question. Nothing else on the site is gated behind a second form.
Who qualifies for a Prop 19 base-year-value transfer?
A homeowner who is 55 or older on the day the original home sells, where both the original and the replacement are the owner's principal residence in California, and the replacement is bought or built within two years of the sale. It can be used three times in a lifetime, in any of the 58 counties.
What if the new home costs more than the one I sold?
The transfer still works. The amount by which the replacement price exceeds a threshold — 100% of the original's market value if you buy first, 105% in the first year after the sale, 110% in the second year — is added to your old base. Only the excess is added, never the full difference. The guide works the example three ways.
Does Prop 19 reduce my capital-gains tax?
No. Prop 19 is about the annual property-tax bill. Capital gains is a separate, one-time tax on your profit, governed by IRC §121 and California income tax. The guide explains the difference, and the free assessment puts both numbers side by side.
Is this the same as the Prop 19 rules for inherited homes?
No. Inherited homes follow different and stricter rules — the child generally must move in within one year, and the exclusion is capped. This guide covers the over-55 transfer. The inherited-home rules are covered at /sell-or-inherit/ and /inherited-home-deadlines/.
Is this legal or tax advice?
No. I am a real estate broker, not an attorney or a CPA. The guide is general education with its sources cited; confirm anything that matters with your CPA and the county assessor before you act on it.
Find your assessed value. Then find out what it is worth.
Six pages, two worked examples, the threshold table, the worksheet. Free, instant, and yours to keep whether or not we ever speak.
Prefer to talk? 408-375-1223 — you get me, not an assistant.