SANTA CLARA VALLEY (High School) ATHLETIC LEAGUE

SANTA CLARA VALLEY ATHLETIC LEAGUE Originally established in 1973 the SCVAL consisted of 13 schools; Awalt Buchser Cupertino Fremont Homestead Los Altos Lynbrook Monta Vista Mountain View Peterson Santa Clara Sunnyvale Wilcox In 1974 the league split into two divisions; the De Anza League (DAL) and the El Camino League (ECL). Over the course of the last 30 years the SCVAL has undergone many changes: •In 1976, Saratoga transferred from the West Valley Athletic League (WVAL) to the DAL. •In 1981 Sunnyvale closed its doors and St. Francis joined the Girls Division. •Around 1982, Mt. View closed and took up where Awalt was housed. •Also around 1982, Santa Clara did the same by replacing Buchser. •Circa 1983, Peterson was turned into a Middle School. •In 1988 Los Gatos joined the DAL •In 2002 St Francis left the DAL to join the WCAL (West Coast Athletic League). Today, the league is a 14 school super league with Boys and Girls teams divided into two leagues (or divisions). The DAL (strong) and El Camino (weak) leagues are different for every sport within the SCVAL. Current members include: Cupertino High School 10100 Finch Avenue Cupertino, CA 95014 Fremont High School 1279 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd. Sunnyvale, CA 94087 Gunn High School 780 Arastradero Road Palo Alto, CA 94306 Homestead High School 21370 Homestead Rd Cupertino, CA 95014 Los Altos High School 201 Almond Avenue Los Altos, CA 94022 Los Gatos High School 20 High School Court Los Gatos, CA 95030 Lynbrook High School 1280 Johnson Avenue San Jose, CA 95129 Milpitas High School 1285 Escuela Parkway Milpitas, CA 95035 Monta Vista High School 21840 McClellan Rd Cupertino, CA 95014 Mountain View High School 3535 Truman Ave Mountain View, CA 94040 Palo Alto High School 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301 Santa Clara High School 3000 Benton Street Santa Clara, CA 95051 Saratoga High School 20300 Herriman Avenue Saratoga, CA 95070 Wilcox High School 3250 Monroe Street Santa Clara, CA 95051

Detailed Property Tax Component Breakdown Comparison 2015-2016

For buyers who are numbers driven, I did a detailed comparison of the property tax charges between sample houses in the 3 neighborhoods below:
1. Cupertino address with Cupertino schools
2. Santa Clara address with Cupertino schools
3. San Jose address with Berryessa schools

The overall property tax rates are very similar for all properties in Santa Clara County. The minor variations are mainly due to the differences in Special Assessments added on to the bills for different communities.



Some Special Assessments are based on mailing address CITY (not school district):

The house with Cupertino address (based on address city not school district) is charged special assessments for the following:

1a. Cupertino Sewer Services = $411.70
1b. Cupertino/Environment/Storm = $12
2. County Library CFD 2013-1 = $33.66

In comparison, the house with San Jose address pays:
1a. SJ Current Garbage Services = $384.84 (newly added to San Jose Property Tax bills)
1b. SJ Sewer/Sani/Storm = $499.44 (newly added to San Jose Property Tax bills)
2. San Jose Library Measure B of $31.34 (up from an Assessment of $27.80 back in 2011)

and the houses with San Jose + Santa Clara address (but not the house with Cupertino address) pay:
1. SCCOSA ASMT DIST 1 assessment of $12 (same as in 2011) +
2. SCCOSA Measure Q of $24.00 (newer charge that was not present in 2011).

Some Special Assessments are based on SCHOOL DISTRICT (not mailing address CITY):  

For instance, regardless of address, homes in the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) and Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) pay CUSD Measure A of $250 (up from Parcel Tax of $125 in 2011) and FUHSD Measure B of $98 (same as Parcel Tax of $98 in 2011). In comparison, homes in the Berryessa School District (BSD) only have to pay the Berryessa School District Measure K of $79 (same as Parcel Tax $79 in 2011).


The Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) charges:
1. SCVWD Safe, Clean Water = $59.24 fixed for all properties
2. SCVWD FLOOD
    a) North Central = $13.18 for Cupertino and Santa Clara
    b) East = $20.92 for Berryessa neighborhood of San Jose

Mosquito-Vector charges the same for all 3 properties:
1. Mosquito Vector Asmet #2 = $8.36
2. Mosquito Vector Control Assmt = $5.08




In summary:
1. Cupertino address with Cupertino schools = Total Assessed Value*(Tax Rate 1.1792%)+ Special Assessments $891.22
2. Santa Clara address with Cupertino schools = Total Assessed Value*(Tax Rate 1.176%)+ Special Assessments $469.86 
3. San Jose address with Berryessa schools = Total Assessed Value*(Tax Rate 1.2521%)+ Special Assessments $1,124.22

The final conclusion is that the property tax rates are only slightly different between different neighborhoods within Santa Clara County. If you are evaluating a potential purchase of investment property and need a rough property tax figure to enable you to compute cash flow then use a rough number of 0.0125 * Assessed Property Value (i.e. 1.25% * purchase price for year1)

Fremont Unified School District > School Locator

Fremont Unified School District > School Locator

http://schoollocator.jasabe.com/fremontusd/

Selling or Buying a Short Sale Rental Property in a Rent Control Neighborhood

Be careful when you are selling or buying a short sale rental property in a rent control neighborhood.

Below is a list of California Bay Area Localities With Rent Control Ordinances:
City of Campbell
City of East Palo Alto
City of Berkeley
City of Fremont
City of Hayward
City of Oakland
City of San Leandro
City of San Jose
City of San Francisco

Before buying or selling a rental property in a city with rent control, you should consult a real estate attorney familiar with the Rent Control Board of the particular city in which the rental property is located.

For example, what happens if in the months leading up to the short sale, the tenants threaten to move out and in response the landlord drastically reduces the tenants' rent? Will this set a new monthly rental base with which the new owner must use in calculation of his future potential monthly rental rate? Or does a long history of higher market rental rates take precedence over a few short months at the drastically reduced rental rate? One real estate attorney associated with the Oakland Rent Control Board stated that as soon as the owner dropped the rent, he created a new rental rate that was subject to rent control.

The new owner would inherit the drastically lowered rent as his base and could not raise the rent for the existing tenants back to market rate. This killed off any interest from real estate investors.

In one case study, the seller did drastically lower the rent to his tenants soon after putting his investment property on the market. Did the seller unwittingly hurt his own chances of selling? Maybe that was exactly what the seller wanted. It was a short sale, and the seller might have simply been trying to collect as much rent as possible before losing his property to the bank.

To the seller faced with renters who are threatening to leave, then it might be in the seller's best self interest to lower the rent. This has two advantages in the mind of the short sale seller. #1) Better to collect some rent rather than no rent, and #2) The owner collects free rent for longer before losing his home. Making the property less attractive to buyers effectively delays the sale of the property. Since the deal no longer appeals to real estate investors, it will take longer to find a buyer. Only buyers willing to buy and live in Oakland as their primary residence will still be interested.

Every extra month of delay is extra rental income for the seller. However, when faced by an owner attempting such tactics, the banks would probably save a lot of money by simply foreclosing, booting out the tenants, and selling the property as a vacant unit. That seller is counting on his hope that a bank will not respond in this manner.

Disclaimer: I am not a real estate attorney. This discussion is just so you know what issues to think about and what questions you should ask. The bottom line is whether you are selling or buying a short sale property in a rent control neighborhood, you should consult a real estate attorney familiar with the Rent Control Board of the particular city in which the rental property is located.

S.T.A.R Testing for Cupertino Union and Fremont Union High School Districts: You can opt your child out according to one parent

S.T.A.R Testing for Cupertino Union and Fremont Union High School Districts: You can opt your child out according to one parent

Posted Under: Quality of Life in Cupertino, Schools in Cupertino, In My Neighborhood in Cupertino | April 10, 2011 8:13 AM | 120 views | No comments

Star Testing took place during the first 2 weeks right after spring break in the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD). Star Testing is administered for kids 2nd grade through 8 grade in CUSD and for high school kids in Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD).

According to one of the parents, you can opt out your child from Star Testing if that's what you want. I personally think you should let your child get accustomed to standardized testing while they are young, but if, for some reason you are against it, follow this parent's steps outlined below:

Write a handwritten letter to the principal at your School, making sure to include the following information:

1. State that you like to opt out your child for all or part of the star testing this school year.
2. Mention your child's name, grade, teacher and
3. Sign the letter.

You need a letter for each child being opted out

TURN IN THE LETTER TO THE OFFICE ASAP.

Fremont condo complex has issue of low water pressure. Very little money to fix it.

Fremont condo complex has issue of low water pressure. Very little money to fix it.

Posted Under: Home Buying in Fremont, Remodel & Renovate in Fremont, In My Neighborhood in Fremont | May 3, 2011 4:07 PM | 71 views | No comments
Fremont condo complex has issue of low water pressure. Very little money to fix it.

Fixing all the units will take more than a year. The complex has only enough money budgeted to fix approximately 10 units at a time. Which units they do next depends on how bad they leak and how bad the water pressure is. You can say "Come look at my unit. My water pressure is the worst in this complex." However, you still aren't guaranteed to get your unit fixed next. The property manager does not have a set schedule to fix all the units. As they have enough funds, they are going throughout the complex and repiping batches of 10 or so units. Without the budget to correct the galvanized steel piping, repiping all the units could take years. The low water pressure will be an ongoing problem. To come up with the funds in one shot, the HOA could charge each unit a special assessment. However, they do not want to charge a SPECIAL assessment because many owners already have enough trouble paying the REGULAR assessment as it is.