Whitman bought a 3700 Sq Ft house and expanded it to 15000 sq ft

[itsrobert]

Still paying Property Taxes on it as it it was assessed as 3700 square ft.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/24-Edge-Rd-Atherton-CA-94027/15581058_zpid/
Address found on campaign contribution: http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?29990862237

According to Gloria Allred the house is now 15000 sq ft.

The home has not been reassessed and Ms Whitman and Dr Harsh are paying property taxes as it is only 3700 sq ft. (bought in 1999)

Will the media look into this?

[Swamp Rat]

1. LOL! The rabbit hole has expanded too.

:D

[napi21]

2. So tell me why Ca. hasn't reassed it? I know where I lived in Pa. if you did

ANY expansion that would revalue your house, the twp. was on it within months! I'm not talking about expanding the actual structure either. It could be just adding a bathroom or closing in your patio. Are the taxing authorities in Ca. that lazy or bad?

[TheDebbieDee]

3. The taxing authorities in California have all probably been laid off!

[napi21]

4. I'd buy that IF she had only done the expansion this year, but

I dont think that's when it was done.

[haele]

6. Prop 13 - as long as she left one original support wall standing, she just "renovated"

and the house doesn't get re-assessed unless she takes a loan out on it or sells it.

Our neighbors down the street did something similar; they created a 2500 sq ft "Tuscan Villa" from an 800sq ft 1940's bungelow house on a double city lot, and did not get re-assessed because they owned the original house outright, didn't take out a mortgage to re-build it, and left the original bathroom intact as part of the attached "apartment" that was the Grandmother's part of the house.
It took them two and a half years to do the demolition and the re-building; they owned a small chain of popular resturants, lived in an apartment above one of the resturants while they were re-building, and the mother had a nice nest-egg of her own that ended up covering about half the costs. Plus,they knew a lot of contractors that helped cut some of the costs down, and did some of the grunt work themselves.
It cost probably close to a million out of pocket to build. But they still own the house outright.
It's now a 4 bedroom, four bath, house with two family rooms, a huge kitchen, and a formal dining room. But it's still taxed as a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house. And will continue to until the house changes ownership or gets a lien put on it through a mortgage or some other legal or financial vehicle.

Haele

[itsrobert]

8. Is it really that simple?

I wonder if Brown would bring this up in a debate? She grew her home 5X. Probably worth about 20 million now.

[TomCADem]

15. Incorrect - House Will Be Reassessed Based On Building Permits, Which Is Why...

...a contractor on a major remodel may ask you whether or not you really want to pull a permit. The County assessor will re-assess based on the building permit. The assessment is only based on construction costs, not the entire home price.

[itsrobert]

16. Looks like the property is COMPOUND now. More than 1 building?

http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/meg-whitmans-house/view/?service=1

[Barbara2423]

9. I live in California and received an assessment notice before

the remodel was complete. How did Whitman get away with this? Oh I forgot snobby rich people get away with everything. They buy and sell people at their leisure.

[CountAllVotes]

12. that is so right

She likely paid off someone high up in the building inspector's office I might dare to suggest.

Time for another investigation Mr. Attorney General! :D :D :D :D :D

:kick:

[glinda]

5. Did Palin do something like that? Is there a rich person's "cheat playbook"?

[1955doubledie]

7. Just look at back issues of "Money" magazine

They had articles like ones that tell how to hide assets so that college-age children can get hefty public financial aid checks. A lot of such readers are ones railing against "big gummint." :eyes:

[Mimosa]

23. I'd seen several of those

I have no living children. But I used to be astounded by Money Magazine's articles instructing fairly wealthy people how to game the system.

[B2G]

10. When were the renovations done?

Are assesssment years determined by each county or the state? Our are determined by the county and it's 8 years since an assessment has been done.

[CountAllVotes]

11. poor Whitless lives in Atherton

Rich snob that she is! :mad:

That house should have been reassessed after the major renovations were done. That is how it works in California.

Maybe she paid off someone to look the other way DARE I SUGGEST.

She's busy doing Toyota TUNDRA ads now. Has anyone seen one of these? Talk about a crock o'crap! OMG! :puke:

:dem: :kick:

[Kablooie]

13. She's been watching "Flip This House".

[TomCADem]

14. Easy, So Long As You Don't Pull A Building Permit, Assessor May Not Catch It

Yes, the work is unpermitted, but Meg Whitman will just blame the contractor and say that she assumed that the contractors took care of pulling the necessary permits.

[hunter]

22. Undocumented unlicensed contractors don't pull permits.

That's probably her plan for fixing the state budget:

Who needs state employees when you can hire undocumented workers?

[itsrobert]

17. Bump for the morning crowd

I hope nobody minds.

[noamnety]

18. another k&r

[Better Today]

19. Then I wonder if she (or her contractors) got all the required permits, because

at least around here, if you get all the proper permits, they know you are remodeling, how you're remodeling, etc. which one could suggest leaves the onus of re-assessment on the county/city wherein the permits were pulled.

[rucky]

20. Or if the workers were even legal.

[Odin2005]

21. Why the hell would ANYONE need such an enormous house?

[Mimosa]

24. To house her greed, vulgarity, and outsized ego? n/t

[SOS]

31. Compared to Wall Street, she's a piker

SAGAPONACK, N.Y.— Ira Rennert's dream house in the Hamptons will have 29 bedrooms, 39 bathrooms and a 164-seat theater.
Its outbuildings will include a sports pavilion with 2 tennis courts, 2 bowling alleys and a basketball court; a garage sufficient for 200 cars, and a power plant with a 2.5-million-B.T.U. furnace and a maze of underground tunnels.
The 63-acre, five-building spread, at the rim of the Atlantic Ocean here, will dwarf San Simeon.
All told, the structures will occupy 110,000 square feet, 72,000 in the house."

And this is his summer house!

[crazyjoe]

25. that photo doesn't show a 15,000 sq ft house. Where is this info coming from?

[itsrobert]

26. Gloria Allred

And I see two buildings on the property.

[B2G]

27. That doesn't look like 15,000 sqft to me

We have 3000 sqft. That isn't 5 times our house size.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

28. K & R

[NYC_SKP]

29. Good find, itsrobert! Any further news?

Too late to rec.

[Fla Dem]

30. I dunno, according to the tax history it was assessed at $3.2 million and paid

$35,696 in taxes. So unless a 3700 sq ft home is worth $3.2mil in her hood that sounds right to me.