Southwest Riverside County · Equity, ADUs and rental income

Downsizing to a 55 plus community in Murrieta or Temecula can keep your property tax base if Prop 19 rules are met.

Four Seasons Murrieta, The Colony and Sommers Bend all come up in the same conversation: less house, a gated community, and whether the tax bill resets. The county assessor decides that last part, not a lender.

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The answer

The direct answer

Owners 55 and up weighing a move to a smaller, single-story home in a Murrieta or Temecula gated community describe the same two questions: which community fits, and whether the county will let them carry their property tax base to the new address. Prop 19 allows a base-year value transfer under specific conditions, decided by the county assessor, not by a lender or a real estate agent.

What changes the answer

Does moving to a 55-plus community reset my property tax?
Who decides if I qualify for the Prop 19 tax base transfer?
Which 55-plus communities come up most in the valley?

Each one is answered further down this page, and any one can move the outcome on a specific file.

The local number: One City of Murrieta Community Facilities District caps its special tax at $580 a year per single-family unit, and the amount differs by district, which is why a downsizer’s new tax bill is a parcel question.
Rule and source: City of Murrieta CFD 2025-1 annual report FY25-26, murrietaca.gov, read September 3, 2026
Last verified: September 1, 2026

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A stored answer tells you how the rule works. It cannot tell you what your file supports, because it has never seen your file. That part gets run on your actual numbers, and you keep the written version either way.

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Answered by Nick Nagy · 23 years · NMLS 314880 · CA DRE 01444600 · Mortgage financing through Loan Factory, 237 lenders · Run this answer against my numbers →

Part of the California Mortgage Answer Desk, and of the Southwest Riverside County questions.

How it works

Murrieta: Four Seasons, The Colony and the waitlist reality

A local resident described the two Murrieta options directly on r/Temecula: "There is also a Four Seasons community for 55 plus in Murrieta, The colony is a nice gated community. It always has a single-story home for..." Availability inside these communities moves, so a household ready to downsize often needs to watch listings rather than assume a unit is waiting.

Another resident, on r/AskLosAngeles, pushed back on an outside perception of these communities: "Temecula/ Murrieta is a great place we live here in a 55+ community and it’s affordable people say it’s a red area but it’s really not it’s..." Local reputation and lived experience can pull apart, which is worth knowing before ruling a community out sight unseen.

The detail that matters

Temecula: Sommers Bend’s own 55-plus tier

A Sommers Bend resident described the churn inside that community on r/Temecula: "units in this community are always up for sale ... paying $400. Sommers Bend is beautiful 55plus gated community. Has gym, pool. There are over..." A high volume of resale activity inside a 55-plus community is common and is not automatically a warning sign about the community itself.

Another local summarized the appeal across all three towns: "It’s a retirement 55+ community. Temecula/Murrieta/Menifee area is a great place to raise a family. a very nice community. Also, it’s very..." The same corridor works for downsizers and young families at the same time, which is part of why demand across all three towns stays steady.

How it works

What Prop 19 actually changes, and what it does not

California’s Proposition 19 lets an eligible homeowner transfer an existing, lower property tax base to a replacement home, subject to conditions the county assessor administers, not a lender. One illustrative example published on this site’s Prop 19 guide: a long-time owner assessed at $250,000 who buys a $900,000 replacement home would otherwise be taxed on the full $900,000, roughly $9,000 or more a year at a typical effective rate, versus roughly $2,750 a year on the transferred basis.

That example is illustrative math, not a promise for any specific household. Eligibility, timing and the exact transferred value are determined by the Riverside County Assessor, and the claim is filed with that office, not with a mortgage lender.

The detail that matters

Picking the community is the local knowledge; the tax transfer is ours to get right

Choosing between Four Seasons Murrieta, The Colony and Sommers Bend is a lifestyle and availability question that a local property partner is better positioned to answer than a lender. Getting the financing on the new, smaller home structured correctly, and knowing what to ask the county assessor before you file, is ours.

For the property side of this decision, Anthony Lauria works these streets; the financing side is mine. The Prop 19 guide and the Menifee hub, which covers Sun City, both go deeper on the specific rules.

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Where this question came from

Someone asked this in public

There is also a Four Seasons community for 55 plus in Murrieta, The colony is a nice gated community. It always has a single-story home for
r/Temecula, captured 2026-09-04 (LH2 situation sweep)

If nobody gave a straight answer in that thread, that is not the person missing something. The answer depends on a specific file and a specific address.

Who answers

Nick Nagy

23 years in California lending · NMLS 314880 · CA DRE 01444600 · Loan Factory, Inc.

Dual licensed, so the loan side and the real estate side of a move get looked at as one problem instead of two. Most of what goes wrong in a move is a timing problem wearing a financing costume, and it is cheaper to catch it before you write an offer than after.

Financing is placed through Loan Factory, Inc. Real estate work is under CA DRE 01444600. More about Nick.

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The desk behind the file

One file, 237 lenders competing for it, and a broker who has done this for 23 years.

Loan Factory, Inc. is the brokerage. These are its published figures.

20,907+Loan Factory Google reviews

5.0Loan Factory average rating

237Lenders available through Loan Factory

48States Loan Factory is licensed in

A retail bank has one guideline book. A broker shops the same file across the shelf and finds the lender whose box it already fits.

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Straight answers

Questions people here actually ask

The follow-on questions, answered in the order they get asked.

There is also a Four Seasons community for 55 plus in Murrieta, The colony is a nice gated community. It always has a single-story home for

Four Seasons and The Colony are both active 55-plus, single-story communities in Murrieta, and residents describe steady turnover rather than a fixed waiting list, so availability is worth checking current listings for rather than assuming. Temecula’s Sommers Bend is the comparable option on that side of the valley.

Does moving to a 55-plus community reset my property tax?

Not necessarily. Prop 19 allows an eligible owner to transfer their existing property tax base to a replacement home under specific conditions, which the county assessor determines and administers. Whether a specific move qualifies depends on those conditions, not on the fact that the new home is smaller or in a gated community.

Who decides if I qualify for the Prop 19 tax base transfer?

The Riverside County Assessor decides eligibility and processes the claim. A lender or real estate agent can point you toward the guide, but the determination itself, and the filing, happens with the county, not with either of them.

Which 55-plus communities come up most in the valley?

Four Seasons and The Colony in Murrieta, Sommers Bend in Temecula, and Sun City in Menifee are the communities residents mention most often. Each has its own HOA structure and availability pattern worth checking directly.

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