Property Taxes
 

Just wondering if anyone could comment on their property taxes for Village homes? We bought a villa a couple years ago and, of course, the value has dropped but the property taxes continue to rise --- by quite a bit. Is it possible to contest the increase as we can do for our primary home where we've been successful? We do not claim FL as our residence.

Thanks for any suggestions ----

The phone book has the numbers for all 3 county tax collector offices.

We have an Amarillo in Summerhill. Taxes are less than $1500 a year. They have gone down every year since we have been here (2005).

Just received a Good Faith Estimate of Settlement Costs from Citizens First.
They are showing County Taxes of $283.33 a month ($3400 annually) on a new Bonita Courtyard Villa (St Charles Village) costing approx $165K!
That's ROUGH!!!!:faint:

The tax on our Cabot Cove Villa in Duval, valued by them, at $118,000 was $1600. We bought in October of 2007, so we don't have any previous numbers, but hopefully they won't be much higher next year.

Florida resident (These are all what I think as I am heading out to the square)
2450 tax bill on a courtyard villa in Sumter County when I bought in 2003. Went down to around 2200 last year.

After living my life with New York taxes-I think these taxes are great.:bowdown:

Property Taxes
 

It is amazing what property tax savings there is for being a full time Florida resident. I paid my property tax two months ago and the property tax alone was $872.66 if paid before Dec 3. This is for a Courtyard Villa in Bonita which I purchased in early 2006 for $244,000. This low rate is because of the Florida Homestead Exemption for Fl residents and because of the added tax reduction on homesteads passed last year. I must underscore that this tax is property tax only. If I add the Village district tax, Bonita Spec maint, Bonita bond payment and villages fire district tax the total was $2181.37. Sumter county now has one of the lowest tax rates in the state of Florida. When I lived in Tampa my property tax was $2800 per year. Another great advantage of living in The Villages.

Is that with or without the homestead rebate?

Did you call the tax collector regarding the procedure to challenge your tax bill?

Not yet. Sounds like that's a good thing to do. It looks like property taxes are all over the board........some high, some low, some ????? Has anyone challenged? If so, what have been the results?

$3,400.00 in taxes on a $165,000.00 property seems very high. Are you sure you are looking at taxes alone? Could it be there are other payments in there like bond indebtedness and annual maintenance?
Were it me I would certainly question that figure. I would be on the phone to Citizens First to clarify this.

Originally Posted by KayakerNC View Post
Just received a Good Faith Estimate of Settlement Costs from Citizens First.
They are showing County Taxes of $283.33 a month ($3400 annually) on a new Bonita Courtyard Villa (St Charles Village) costing approx $165K!
That's ROUGH!!!!

Updated information:
I received an email response from Steve at Citizens First;
"That amount includes all of the district assessments and the bond payment.
The FL property tax portion of that amount is only about $1900.
Here’s a breakdown for you:
Sumter County Taxes: $1900
District assessment (consider this your city taxes): $500
Bond payment: $1100
Total tax bill is $3500"

Our taxable value is $214K and the total of Sumter county and school tax is $2900, with no homestead exemption. The Special maintenance assessment is another $500/year. So, the $1900 is probabaly about right, assuming your actual taxable property value will be a little lower. (our taxable value is less than what we paid for it).

Good info Kayaker. It is nice to be reminded that we need to include all annual assessments in our budget no matter what kind of 'tax' it is.

Also, I read on another post that the first year taxes are for the land only. The second year will be for land and house. This happeded to me and it was not a nice suprise. However, that would not have been cause to call off the purchase of the house. Taxes are a necessary evil!

Please let us know if you challenge your taxes and the result.

We pay higher taxes each year although our home is obviously decreasing in value (bond is paid off).

Why would anyone NOT transfer thier residency to Florida when the move to the villages - regardless of if they have a home up north?
Man, in Wisconsin, I pay $6100 on a $300,000 house and 7% state income tax on top of that. When I buy a place in the villages, I plan on keeping a place in Wis (probably sell the house and get a condo), but I will instantly become a Florida resident just to escape the state taxes in Wis.

Typically your taxes relate not to the value of your home directly, but to the value of your home RELATIVE to the total value of all of the homes, and the public budget that is paid for by the tax revenue.

yes, the value of your home has decreased, but so has everyone's, yet the community "budget" increases. If your relative value is the same, your taxes increase.

Packer Fan - I have a homestead exemption on my home "up north".
you can't legally have (I don't believe) two homesteads, you have to choose one.

kayakerNC - I don't really consider the CDD bond as part of the taxes per se.
But it's all part of the total cost. Thanks for that info.

All escrow items, and since there is no specific line for the Bond or the DDA on the Good Faith Estimate, I guess they had to put it somewhere. Since the bank name has to be typed in, I assume it is a generic bank form.
Just a little confusing if you haven't dealt with Bonds and Development District Assessments. It had me going for awhile.:shrug:

I bought in Jan of 2007 and the property tax was $3760. For this year, it is $3808. Our homeowners insurance went from $587 to $602. Everything goes up. I suppose it would decrease if I would homestead. The property taxes in NYstate are a lot more. Good luck, Janet