This is very common in California because under this scenario your house is not reassessed for prop 13 property tax purposes. Your cost basis only goes up by t

This is very common in California because under this scenario your house is not reassessed for prop 13 property tax purposes. Your cost basis only goes up by the dollar value of the improvements (which you can easily understate). If you do a complete teardown, the county reassesses at current market value. A lot of people leave the chimney up because you get the added benefit of getting grandfathered on the air quality ordinances.