Ansel Adams home for sale

DREW WILEY · Sep 29, 2023

My wife is a city gal too, so would have be uncomfortable relocating. She's a good cook. But when it comes to ingredient, especially fruit and vegetables, nothing sold in an urban environment, even in a Farmer's Market, comes close to what one can grow or raise themselves with some acreage and a reliable water source inland. Store bought peaches taste like wax fruit, and even commercial Fuji apples aren't nearly as sweet and fragrant as those originally grown in the mountains right across the canyon my place (yet a 2 hr drive away! - that's a deep canyon). We even had our own vineyard, apricot and peach trees, melons, cornfield, all kinds of veggies right down to small red barrel potatoes. And fresh trout or bass - that's what a fishing pole is for.

takilmaboxer · Sep 29, 2023

In my experience, urban and rural America might as well be located on different planets. Here in New Mexico, you can go ten miles outside of Albuquerque, and be on Native land, or in a land grant village. It can be bewildering how radically removed from one another they are.

VinceInMT · Sep 29, 2023

SodaAnt said:
I feel very strongly that if I ever move to a place like Montana, I would adopt the ways of the local community rather than try to import my "California Culture". I think the reason many are outspoken about outsiders is because these people move to an area and try to make it just like where they came from, even if the local culture is vastly different.

I hear that all the time here but am not clear on what changes the “outsiders” are trying to make and what the “California Culture” is. In the meantime, Montanans are clamoring for national chains, particularly a Trader Joe’s. And when it comes to “Montana Culture,” does that mean contributing to the high DUI rate, driving around and shooting at road signs, and adding to our number one position as the nation’s highest suicide rate?

VinceInMT · Sep 29, 2023

SodaAnt said:
My wife is most concerned about availability of good restaurants and cultural activities that may be lacking in a place like Montana. There are nearly fifty Michelin-starred restaurants in the Bay Area, and we have season tickets to the SF Symphony and Ballet. I think she'd miss all that.

Yes, there is a lack of certain cultural diversity and activities here. As for eating out, I can’t comment on that as my wife and NEVER eat out here. I won’t go into the why. We do have a symphony and a pretty active local music scene.

What is of an increasing concern to me is access to good healthcare. Doctors use our city, the largest in the state, as a place to get a few years of experience and then they move on. The turnover is something else. There are also limitations on access to certain specialities. You need a retina specialist? Good luck. Our largest hospital/clinic lost their entire gastro department. Five years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and they lost my biopsy results and wouldn’t return my inquiries. I had to access the results through the patient portal and use “Dr. Google” to explain the severity. I ended up traveling to Cleveland for treatment as at least they returned my calls.

VinceInMT · Sep 29, 2023

SodaAnt said:
It's all based on location and how desirable it is. I don't live in Mountainview, but further north in a semi-rural part of Contra Costa country and my house is also worth over $2 million, but it's 5,500 SF on 10 acres. Transplant my house to a similar size lot in Mountainview or Los Altos and it'd be worth $10 million.

One of the issues in California real estate, and this might even be the case in the former Adams house, is that Prop. 13 sort of limited how much property tax could be raised until the home is sold. So, someone buys the Adams house for 5 million and their property tax is, say, $55,000. Their next door neighbor who has lived in their house for 40 years, a house assessed at the same value as the Adams house, pays just a fraction of that. I think they have a Prop 19 underway to deal with some of that.

DREW WILEY · Sep 29, 2023

Well, if it wasn't for Prop 13, lots of people like me would have lost their homes already because we'd be paying intolerable property taxes, if that were based on current "market value" instead of original purchase price.

BrianShaw · Sep 29, 2023

Assessed value, I think you mean. Market value is generally more volatile than assessed value.

It will distress most Californians to lose the Prop 13 protections. And remember, there is the ability in some situations to transfer one’s more desirable tax rate under Prop 19 to a replacement property.

DREW WILEY · Sep 29, 2023

Assessed value is market value with some voodoo incantations and neighborhood statistics thrown in. It's a pandora's box I never want to open up. Some people foolishly opened up that door when they decided to allow their home value to be reassessed when the market dropped for awhile. The way that works, if that if you sign off on a reassessment, your tax rate might drop for awhile, but then can go even further higher back up later than what you initially began with. A significant remodel like adding an extra bedroom or bathroom can also raise your property taxes unless its done on the sly. But quite a bit of remodeling is being done without permits anyway, to avoid tangling with city inspectors expecting a bribe.

And then there are things like voter approved bond and park and infrastructure initiatives added to your property tax bill, which add quite a bit extra.

VinceInMT · Sep 30, 2023

While I lived in California when Prop 13 passed I saw the inequity built into it down the road. We all pay for, or should pay for, the services we receive that property taxes fund, such as schools, road maintenance, etc. I see it as problematic that neighbors with homes of equal assessed value pay such a difference in taxes. Plus, many of those homes under Prop 13 have been converted (in the open or not) into rentals or passed on to family members who assume the lower tax rate.

Right now in Montana, properties are reassessed every two years and values in my area jumped over 50% since that last assessment. The state just sent out letters indicating this, showing what the current tax was and what it could be based on the new assessment. People are enraged. Does is cost more to run the government just because properties went up in value? Not directly. The way it works here is that cities, counties, and state government can/should adjust their mils, which determine the tax, downward to match their budgets. When that will happen remains to be seen.

koraks · Sep 30, 2023

Just a friendly reminder that discussion of tax policies should really remain limited to this superficial level.

Please do carry on.

BrianShaw · Sep 30, 2023

DREW WILEY said:
Assessed value is market value with some voodoo incantations and neighborhood statistics thrown in. It's a pandora's box I never want to open up. Some people foolishly opened up that door when they decided to allow their home value to be reassessed when the market dropped for awhile. The way that works, if that if you sign off on a reassessment, your tax rate might drop for awhile, but then can go even further higher back up later than what you initially began with. A significant remodel like adding an extra bedroom or bathroom can also raise your property taxes unless its done on the sly. But quite a bit of remodeling is being done without permits anyway, to avoid tangling with city inspectors expecting a bribe.

Close, but the way it really works is that the reduction in assessed value upon decline in market value was part of the Prop13 deal and guaranteed by the CA Constitution. The other situations you mentioned that cause assessed value to rise is the same for everyone, including the cap on the annual (no more than 2%) rise in assessed value that we all get.

The slur against building inspectors is understandable but the real reason for non permitted work is to avoid the permit fees/delays and the additional requirements for existing structures to comply with newer safety standards (like low flow water devices, CO detectors, gas seismic shutoff valves, etc) and that dreaded reassessment… or to pay the fees (or any remedial work on substandard workmanship) of prior non permitted work. Tying it primarily to potential criminality of the inspectors is really unwarranted.

In the sale of the Adams (or any other) house, it would be traditional for a buyer or agent to do a permit search to verify what work was permitted and if there is any un permitted work that can be a potential liability, whether that be structural, safety, or legal.

None of this is political, it’s simply clarifying facts that may have been distorted by the snark… bye.

Vaughn · Sep 30, 2023

BrianShaw said:
Assessed value, I think you mean. Market value is generally more volatile than assessed value.

It will distress most Californians to lose the Prop 13 protections. And remember, there is the ability in some situations to transfer one’s more desirable tax rate under Prop 19 to a replacement property.

Prop 13 has had many interesting effects. {moderator deletion of property tax policy discussion}

The County tax folks think I have a stately 0.11 acre property instead of the 0.08 acre that I actually have. Unfortunately the cost of having it surveyed would negate any possible tax savings an reassessment might bring.

MattKing · Sep 30, 2023

Enough on the property tax policy discussions folks.
And definitely nothing even more political!

VinceInMT · Sep 30, 2023

I should also mention that it is possible, at least in Montana, to appeal an assessment. I bought the house across the street to use as a rental and when the next assessment showed up it was valued higher than my house. The rental’s lots is much smaller as is the house itself (3 bedroom vs. 5 bedroom, half basement, unfinished vs. full basement, finished). An appeal came back with a much more reasonable assessment and a lower tax bill.

AnselMortensen · Sep 30, 2023

I wonder if Howard Jarvis owned any Ansel Adams prints?
I bet Ansel Adams was a beneficiary of Prop. 13 for his Carmel house & darkroom!

(feeble attempt to bring this thread back on topic)

(tongue firmly in cheek)

DREW WILEY · Sep 30, 2023

I don't think Howard Jarvis would have survived seeing his own reflection in the picture frame glass. "Moonrise over ....". Let's see if Matt can make sense of that one.

BrianShaw · Sep 30, 2023

Now that’s funny!

CMoore · Sep 30, 2023

VinceInMT said:
I hear that all the time here but am not clear on what changes the “outsiders” are trying to make and what the “California Culture” is. In the meantime, Montanans are clamoring for national chains, particularly a Trader Joe’s. And when it comes to “Montana Culture,” does that mean contributing to the high DUI rate, driving around and shooting at road signs, and adding to our number one position as the nation’s highest suicide rate?

Outsiders ruining Montana has been a problem for A Long Time.

Just ask the Native Americans what happened to THEM at the hands of the ancestors of the current 'Proud Montana Citizens'.
I would really like to see some of those photos.
Stones, Glass Houses, Etc etc etc

Sirius Glass · Oct 3, 2023

DREW WILEY said:
His name will add zero to the asking price. Nothing of historic interest remains, and it's already way overpriced, especially given its adjacency to a former sinkhole. Sometimes someone will pay that kind of price due to the location alone, and then outright level the entire lot and start over. Another five million is pocket change to a billionaire.

Basements don't work along the CA coast either because the rock is such darn hard basalt that it doesn't make sense, or the rock is just so damn weak like in this case. And they didn't use hydraulic cement at that time to seal off things below grade. But the little darkroom most people have seen pictures of was in Carmel afterwards.

I agree. But someone will buy it for other reasons that related to Ansel.

DREW WILEY · Oct 3, 2023

Or ask Indians who were displaced by other Indian tribes either in relatively recent centuries, or perhaps long before.

takilmaboxer · Oct 3, 2023

DREW WILEY said:
Or ask Indians who were displaced by other Indian tribes either in relatively recent centuries, or perhaps long before.

Like the late arriving Athabaskan speakers (Hoopa, Apache) who displaced the resident tribes (Karuk, Pueblo).
One night, years ago now, I took my camera to my band's gig in Santa Fe during Indian Market. In front of the stage were two tables filled with Natives wearing suits and ties. Alas, one table was all Navajo, while the other was all Utes. As the night wore on and the drinks flowed, we began to notice animosity, and I left my camera in the bag. But it never got beyond them singing traditional songs at the top of their lungs.
Thankfully.

DREW WILEY · Oct 3, 2023

I grew up with Indians, who included some of the finest people I have ever known, and some of the worst. The difference in this area is that they never formed broad political alliances in aboriginal times, or "nations", like in the Plains, or East, or in MesoAmerica, but almost each little hamlet was its own political entity, and there was an incredible diversity of linguistic dialects too. Genocides occurred, but at a village by village level, and sometimes based on petty feuds which went on for many generations. No different than conflicts among nations of the world today, just on far smaller scale.

Yashica · Nov 12, 2023

Somehow, it does make me really sad. Ansel is one of my allstars, since ever...i was a teenager.
I adore his landscape works. He invented the modern darkroom, build his own one..and his
sentence, like many quotes, this one especially "You don't take a photograph, you make it" ~ Ansel Adams.
I have his classic books here, also calendars, and other Ansel Adams books. I do think, some ppl should
be more respectful, regarding Ansel Adams. He had not todays gear & tech, and created stunning
landscape art.

When i read into contrast ordinary forums, ppl only do care about Sensor tech, how many
MP (yes, still..even >20 years) AF speed (always) not being fast enough, a zillion video features,
and alikes...and then pixel peepers...bloody hell.

I see, somebody also watched all Marc Silver videos about Ansel Adams.

Ansel Adams home for sale

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