Fight Florida Real Estate Taxes
The last 5 years in South West Florida has brought rapid
appreciation. The government is taking full advantage of this
opportunity to make sure they get a piece of the action. As an
example, a property valued at $120,000 in 2001 paid Real Estate taxes of 2,180.49.
This same property, now valued in 2006 at $385,000, will pay $6,933.51!
This is not an exception, but the norm. Real estate
taxes have tripled in 5 years. These taxes are forcing many home
owners to sell, increasing market supply, helping contribute to the
continued depreciation in the Florida Real Estate market.
Arriving at the dollar amount of the taxes you pay is a 2
part process.
Part 1: The county tax appraiser is responsible for
appraising your property, and determining what your property's value
is. Florida is a "100% market value" state. Some
states will determine value as a percentage of the market value.
Florida assesses your property value at 100% of the market value.
Also, some states will not re-assess market values every year.
Florida re-assesses market values every year. Lee county has
different methods to valuating your property. They will use
comparable property's that have sold throughout the year, similar to yours,
to arrive at a market value for your property. They will generally
use the median value of the comparables sold throughout the year.
However, in 2005, where there was an abundance of sale activity, they may
have used a smaller time frame, such as a quarter, or half the year. In some cases,
particularly condo and vacant land appraisals, one sale in an area for
vacant land, or one sale in a condo complex, could dictate everyone else's
taxes for the next year, if that is the only sale. They will make
adjustments to a subject property if the comparable is similar
enough. For instance, a condo unit on the exterior will be assessed
higher than an interior. Also, a condo unit higher up in floors will
be assessed higher than a condo on a lower floor. If, and only if,
there are no comparable sales in a particular condo complex, will they then
go out to neighboring condo complexes.
What would make a comparable not viable? The county
will not count any property as a comp that was sold with "personal
property", eg furniture.
Part 2: The various taxing authorities set their
budgets for the year and determine a mill rate. The mill rate is the tax per dollar of assessed value of property. The rate is expressed in "mills", where one mill is one-tenth of a cent ($0.001).
When you multiply the mill rate times your assessed value, you come up with
your tax bill.
There are three viable options to curb the real estate tax
sting. Click on each one to learn more about how to use that option
to lower your real estate taxes:
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