Property outlined in red has just recently changed hands, 5041 – 5069 Santa Monica Avenue.
A family trust has completed the sale of a major piece of land that it has held on the 5000 block of Santa Monica Avenue in Ocean Beach. Total sales: $6.3 Million! Chunk
It was the Keen Family Trust that sold off its holdings, working via a successor bank trust.
First on the block – as we reported back in August – was the small, single-family house – nearly a hundred years old – and the 3 adjacent and separate rental units on Santa Monica Avenue – all right next to the Santa Monica mall. The old house – one-bedroom and one-bath – is at 5063 Santa Monica Ave. It sold for $675,000.
The three rental units are located at 5065-5059 Santa Monica – each with a side yard and parking in the alley. They were sold for $900,000, cash. They occupy a 7,000-square-foot lot.
Total price tag for the two properties: $1,575,000. They were all bought by Ku-Fong Tzung and Jean Tzung, trustees of the Fu-Kong & Jean Tzung Trust. Seller: U.S. Bank N.A., as successor trustee under the Keen Family Declaration of Trust Number One.
More recently announced was the sale of a the 22-unit apartment complex the Keen Family Trust had owned, located at 5041 – 5043 Santa Monica Avenue. The large site was purchased by Santa Monica Avenue Manager LLC, for $4.75 million. Marcus & Millichap Investment Services was the brokerage company representing the seller, – which again was U.S. Bank N.A., successor trustee of the Keen Family Trust.
So – all the property on the south side of the 5000 block of Santa Monica Ave – from 5041 through 5063 – has just changed hands, for a grand total of $6.3 Million.
News source: NBC 7San Diego
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
What could this giant property be used for?
My money says more bars bringing more people, more drinking and more congestion. What happened to OB being a small community full of neighborhood hangouts. Seems like these days the goal is to simply pack the area with as many tourists as possible.
Since it was one large holding by the Keene family trust sold to two unrelated parties it’s not obvious that this was motivated by development but as a divestment from the previous owner. Had it been the other way around, properties held by two entities purchased by one, that might make sense.
What most people don’t realize is that >10% of the real-estate in CA is held in family trusts (a form of corporation) to protect it from PROPERTY TAXES. Because CA Prop.13 protects the property from being reassessed for tax purposes, these properties can be held indefinitely via that undying corporation and, unless sold, they are never reassessed for Property Tax purposes. Which means a growing landed class of elite land-lords owns an ever greater segment of our state, and they are defacto royalty. Leaving their trust property to their family, generation after generation, gaining wealth without limits or taxes, failing to support the very society that gave them such great wealth, and effectively starving the underlying social infrastructure of schools, libraries, hospitals, sewers, act. that support their property values. This is not the best use for the land. It is immoral for one to own the home of another, and it is wrong to hoard land in private trusts. Public trusts are accessed by all our citizens are the only solution.
Uhhh…Prop 13 limits property tax increases unless a property is being transferred to a non-related entity. Transfers strictly between family members are generally exempted anyway. And this article is about the transfer from one unrelated party to another.
Your point about the transfer of our land from the populace in general to an “elite” class of land owners would be well taken, except the part about that class growing – it’s only the proportion of their holdings that grows, not their proportion of the population.
The last real estate cycle was a massive transfer of wealth – upward. Hold onto your hats, we’re about to get at it again in the next six months or so…
Yea, no, Prop. 13 protects commercial real-estate and trusts. And there is no family transfers exempted for normal people, except between husband and wife, but a corporation is forever.
http://obamaed.blogspot.com/2009/01/prop-13-after-31-years.html
http://closetheloophole.com/
The main advantage of a living trust (family trust) is that it avoids probate, a court process that can be very expensive and time consuming. For many people, their most valuable asset is their home. In fact, many living trusts transfer only real property.
I have yet to meet someone who before filing their tax return says to themselves, “Hey, I’m not paying enough in taxes…I think I will delete some of my deductions and credits that I’m eligible to take.” If your paid tax preparer did not take every legal deduction that you are eligible for most people will find him or her to be negligent and will find a new tax preparer.
Tax evasion is wrong, but legally avoiding taxes is not wrong. The Federal and State tax codes are overly complicated; that’s what needs to be changed.