[villages07]

OnlyPars,

For Sumter county, you can search the tax assessor's website records that will show you the history of property tax assessments/payments for a property.

http://www.sumtertaxcollector.com/disc.html

You have to know the owner's name or tax account id (not just the address).

Please note....what someone else paid in property taxes does not equate to what you would pay if you bought the same exact property. The prior owner probably had limits to annual assessment value increases, might have had homestead or other exemptions, etc. When you buy a property, it gets a new base assessment.

Most properties are in Sumter County but the other 2 counties have similar tax search websites.

As an aside.... I bought in Aug 2006, probably the peak of the market. When I got my tax notice bill this year, I went up to the Sumter appraisers office and asked about reassessing....people who bought my same house 6-12 months later probably paid a lot less. The staff person explained that they do review each property every year....they have a formula for each base model of house then apply add-ons for square foot stretches, pools, birdcages, etc as well as extras for lot size/view. Interesting, though, is that the County lot premiums are far less than TV was charging at the time. We paid a $70K lot premium for size and some view ... they only add in $30K; Some neighbor golf course views originally had a $150K lot premium and assessor site shows them at about $80K. So, your assessable value will no doubt be quite less than the sales price you would put on the house.