Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby
No, your taxes don't get raised "indiscriminately." There's a thing called Homesteading.
Basically here's how it works:
You buy a home, you get assessed, the tax is $xxxxxx/year.
BUT - you apply for homesteading by the deadline. That means you are using that specific home as your primary residence for a minimum of 6 months and 1 day every year.
When you do that, you get a DISCOUNTED property tax.
So it's not that non-homesteaders pay more, it's rather that homesteaders pay less. It's a matter of perspective.
This is part of how Florida can get by without income tax. The property taxes for the state are somewhat high, UNLESS you live in the state most of the year.
There are also rules about owning multiple properties in Florida that affect homesteading. You'd have to look that up though, I only know the rules exist, and don't know what the rules are.
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Sorry, I have to disagree. When it comes to property taxes, Florida treats non-residents as cash cows; that's how they keep taxes low for residents. A couple of years ago, after several years the Sumter County Property Appraiser finally re-appraised the market values of all of the houses in The Villages. Many properties had their market values raised by 15% or more. There are 2 values to be aware of when it come to property taxes: market value and assessed value. The millage rate is applied to the assessed value less the homestead exemption. For non-Florida residents, the assessed value is always equal to the appraised market value. However, there is a law that for Florida residents only, the assessed value can only increase per year by the lesser of the consumer price index or 3%. As a result, most of the Florida residents who have been living in The Villages for a while have assessed values that are tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars less than their market values. Non-residents immediately see an increase in appraised market value reflected in assessed value; for residents it can take years, decades, or never for the assessed value to catch up to market value. As a double whammy, the county seems to update market values every few years rather than every year - in a rising housing market this helps to insure the assessed values will never catch up to market values for Florida residents.
With the crazy jump in house prices in The Villages recently, non-Florida residents are in for a rude awakening with regard to property taxes the next time the house market values are updated by the counties; Florida residents on the other hand don't have much to fear.
Don't take my word for it though. Go to the Sumter County Property Appraiser website
Record Search : Sumter County Property Appraiser and search for your property assessed value vs those of your neighbors and see how non-Florida residents are treated with regard to property taxes; only a fraction is attributable to the homestead exemption.