Engine-derived ROI data from 5 representative Big Bear-area properties. Methodology transparent below. CC-BY 4.0 — journalists, CPAs, and researchers may cite this dataset with attribution.
Important framing: These are engine outputs for representative fixture scenarios, not predictions about any specific property. The cost segregation engine takes real property data (address, year built, square footage, renovation history, assessor records) and produces a study tailored to your actual property. The aggregate numbers shown here describe the Big Bear market's general profile; your specific results will reflect your specific property.
Each fixture was run through the Cost Seg Smart engine — the same engine that produces real customer studies. Numbers below are reproducible from cities/bigbear.json via scripts/run_city_stats.py.
| Property | Neighborhood | Price | Basis | Land % | 5-yr | 15-yr | Reclass % | Y1 fed savings @ 37% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Bear Lake Lakefront SFR SFR · STR · Built 1998 |
Big Bear Lake (city, lakefront) | $875,000 | $571,638 | 34.7% | $110,304 | $35,725 | 26.1% | $55,228 |
| Moonridge Ski Cabin SFR · STR · Built 2008 |
Moonridge (Bear Mountain Resort base) | $685,000 | $430,591 | 37.1% | $83,634 | $27,730 | 26.4% | $42,098 |
| Big Bear City SFR STR SFR · STR · Built 2002 |
Big Bear City (unincorporated) | $485,000 | $318,984 | 34.2% | $57,316 | $20,900 | 25.0% | $29,465 |
| Fawnskin Lakeview Cabin SFR · STR · Built 2015 |
Fawnskin (north shore) | $595,000 | $390,380 | 34.4% | $75,975 | $24,132 | 26.2% | $37,768 |
| Sugarloaf Rural LTR SFR · Built 1995 |
Sugarloaf (eastern, rural) | $365,000 | $242,178 | 33.7% | $22,358 | $16,297 | 16.0% | $14,302 |
| Engine property type | Fixtures | Median reclass % | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFR | 5 | 26.1% | 16.0% | 26.4% |
"STR" denotes residential property operating as a short-term rental — the engine applies an FF&E density uplift not captured in the LTR (long-term rental) treatment.
| Neighborhood | Typical value | Typical land allocation | Profile note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Bear Lake (city, lakefront) | $825,000 | ~28% | City of Big Bear Lake proper — incorporated, subject to the city's STR permit regime. Lakefront premium and walkable proximity to Big Bear Village. Mid-rise lakefront condos and SFR mix. |
| Moonridge (Bear Mountain Resort base) | $685,000 | ~26% | Ski-resort base sub-market at Bear Mountain ski lifts. Cabin and chalet stock with strong winter ADR. Slightly inland from the lake but ski-accessible. |
| Big Bear City (unincorporated) | $485,000 | ~22% | East of the city proper, unincorporated San Bernardino County — no city STR permit but state and county registration apply. Lower entry pricing, larger lot sizes, year-round resident mix. |
| Fawnskin (north shore) | $595,000 | ~30% | North shore of Big Bear Lake — smaller community, lakefront and lake-view premium. Higher land allocation due to view/lake-frontage scarcity. Boutique STR product. |
| Sugarloaf (eastern, rural) | $365,000 | ~18% | Easternmost sub-market, rural cabin and SFR stock. Lowest entry pricing, lowest land allocation, weaker STR demand profile — often a long-term-rental crossover or owner-occupied retreat. |
The "typical land allocation" column reflects baseline patterns for each sub-market based on county assessor records and statistical modeling. For specific properties where reconstruction cost (RSMeans 2024 component build-up adjusted for time and geography) exceeds 2.0× the implied depreciable basis after subtracting the baseline land — the engine applies a premium land floor (~50%) to keep the study within audit-defensible territory. This typically affects ultra-premium resort inventory (ski-in/ski-out, beachfront, view-premium properties), where land scarcity premium dominates the purchase price. The per-fixture table above shows the actual land_source used by the engine for each fixture — values of statistical_premium_floor indicate the premium-floor mechanism was applied.
The takeaway: typical neighborhood allocations describe the market baseline. Individual property results depend on specific reconstruction-cost-vs-purchase-price ratios, and ultra-premium product may show higher land allocation in the engine output than the neighborhood typical.
California decouples from federal §168(k) bonus depreciation. The federal 100% bonus restored by OBBBA in 2025 reduces your federal liability, but California requires the deduction to be added back on Schedule CA (540), with the basis depreciating on the regular MACRS schedule for state purposes. For a Big Bear owner in California's top 13.3% bracket, that means roughly 13 cents of every dollar of accelerated reclassification is recovered on the state return — the headline federal-savings number overstates total tax savings by a meaningful margin.
Decoupling: California's decoupling is permanent and structural, not a temporary policy choice — it predates the federal §168(k) provision. For Big Bear cost-seg planning, model the federal benefit as your primary win and treat any California state savings as recovered slowly over the regular MACRS schedule.
State income tax structure: Progressive — California's top bracket is the highest state-level individual rate in the United States
Verify with your CPA. State tax conformity for federal §168(k) is adjusted frequently. Framing reflects our understanding as of May 2026 — verify current-year treatment with a qualified tax professional.
Every figure on this page is reproducible. The pipeline:
cities/bigbear.json under the engine_fixtures array, each with address, property type, purchase price, year built, square footage, and STR/LTR flag.scripts/run_city_stats.py instantiates a PropertyInput for each fixture and calls engine.run_study() — the same path that produces a real customer study.For full methodology details including QC validation, reconciliation logic, and audit-defense documentation, see costsegsmart.com/methodology.
This dataset is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may republish, remix, or extend this data for any purpose with attribution. Suggested citation format:
Cost Seg Smart Research Team. (2026). "Big Bear, CA Cost Segregation Benchmarks 2026." Cost Seg Smart. 5 representative fixtures. Retrieved from https://bigbearcostseg.com/data/bigbear-cost-seg-stats/
For interview requests, additional data slices, or related questions: [email protected].