If you are looking to downsize your San Jose area home as part of your retirement plan, then you will be interested to know about the CA propositions that allow you to transfer your Prop 13 property tax base to your new home.
There are limited counties that accept an out-of-county transfer.
Santa Clara county is a participating county, so you can stay within the county (Prop 60) or transfer to a few others (Prop 90).
There are also a few other potentially relevant CA propositions related to your move, so
to understand all options please read more information on the Santa Clara County Tax Assessor’s website.