When Bob and Melissa Mischak sold their townhome in Alameda and bought a condo in Tiburon in April 2021, they became the first home buyers in Marin County to apply for a new statewide tax break that is saving them more than $5,000 a year in property taxes.

The tax break vastly expanded the ways people older than 55 or severely disabled can sell their primary residence and transfer its assessed value to a new primary residence, rather than having the new residence reassessed at full market value. This reduces or eliminates the big property tax increase that hits many longtime homeowners when they move to a new house, even a less expensive one.