This coming Tuesday, please vote. If you are going to vote on one thing, please vote NO on Proposition G.
You may not have even heard of it. It’s a very poorly written and thought out ordinance that would increase the transfer tax on the sales of property.
I lovingly refer to the transfer tax as a ‘get out of your house’ or ‘get out of San Francisco’ bill. It ranges from .5% to 2.5% of your sales price (sliding scale depending on the amount of your sale) and is one of your expenses of sale. This legislation among other things, would increase the cost of selling your house for your first five years of ownership. The most you would pay (at this point) is 24% of your sale price. That is not a typo. 24%.
For example, you’ve just bought an affected property (not all are) and you get transferred for a job offer within the first year. Let’s assume you paid $750,000 for your property. Your transfer tax would be $180,000. Again, not a typo. $180,000. I hope you’ve put down 30%, because we’ll need that to close your transaction. Without Proposition G, you would pay $5,100 in transfer tax.
This legislation does not affect all properties in San Francisco. Neither did rent control when it was enacted in 1978. My fear is that if this passes, all properties could become affected over the coming years.
Please vote NO on Proposition G. Someday, you’ll be glad you did.
