Escrow for taxes doubles?
 

Don't know if this has happened to anyone else - just rec'd escrow analysis for next year & the home in Pine Hills, that we closed on in September is going to have their monthly escrow for taxes/bond doubled starting in Feb? Shocking!!! We bought a new already built home and taxes in Sept at the closing were comparable to a home we own in Labelle. Now, this smaller home is having their prop taxes/bond raised to almost double the Labelle home. Doesn't make sense.... Has this happened to anyone else? We've owned numerous homes and have never seen an increase like this:shocked:

Taxes
 

Yes Frankie, we also bought brand new in Pineridge and our taxes doubled. Mortgage payment went up 200 per month. I knew this was gonna happen. It is because the first year you are paying taxes in the land only. Make sure you get homestead. I'm hoping that eventually the taxes will go down as it is built out.

You should be able to go to your tax collectors web site for you county and look up any home. You will probably see that nnurse is correct. When the builder is building the home he has paid tax on Jan 1 of the building year based on the land value. Not the cost of the home. Starting Jan 1 of the year after you buy you pay taxes on the land and the building. I am surprised that the payments only doubled. Just guessing I could see $500 tax on the land and 3,000 on the land and building. The bond would then be on top of that. I do not think their is a bond cost until the new home is sold.

I bought my house in September 2013, in 2014 taxes went up quite a bit and my mortgage payment went up about $600, however, after that year and they assessed exactly how much they would actually need for taxes, bond and insurance, my payment went down over $300 the next year.

I bet you wish you were aware of that prior to now!
I find the property tax listed on pre-owned home listing sheets to be deceptive. The property tax is going to be based on sale price, it would be more informative to list a tax projection based on home being purchased at the "asking price".

Our rep warned us about the taxes, fell in love with a home with a beautiful pool and large cage. Glad we listened

We have built several homes so we know that the first year the taxes are on unimproved land.

We don't use escrow.

That's a given on land only taxes, we have built 7 homes, but the taxes in pine ridge were more than we wanted to pay. Can't remember in the last 40 years ever using escrow either. It's someone using your money for a year without any benefit to you.

I checked the Lake County Tax web site before we signed on the dotted line...in Pine Hills..
...home $249 with no homestead/ no over 65.... tax plus $24K bond and $700 yearly maintance fees $7200 a year. we passed....

Fruitland and lake county taxes are huge.....but i think I might of mentioned this before on TOTV.....

Having not moved in yet (or even found a place) is there a way to easily compute projected taxes based on (whatever you choose) price? Assuming NO bond payment.

Update-Escrow for taxes doubles?
 

well, after several back & forth with the bank, it appears that as several of you stated - the first couple of months of escrow represented taxes based on the land. And now we're being taxed for the house, which is still almost double what our larger Labelle home is. There was no indication anywhere on our closing paperwork that that amount was for unimproved land, which we really have an issue with the bank for not making that clear. And why the heck are the taxes so extremely high just because we changed counties, less than a mile from the other house and taxes are almost double. I'd expect this up in CT, where our summer home is, but thought the tax situation was better in Florida. Smaller home down here, in Lake county and taxes are even higher than a larger, lake front home in CT. How the heck is this a tax-friendly state??? Guess we have a lot to learn.....

Didn't realize so many (smart) people are retired with a mortgage. Glad I listened to my mother and saved all my nickels and dimes. Yikes ! [emoji15]

I think you did, and so did I. And William, Mark, Shelly, Pat etc. etc.

Escrow for taxes doubles?
 

You're a victim of double taxation thanks to the City of Fruitland Park and Lake County.

Sumter County villages residents are getting the temporary benefit of lower taxes . However that will end when they stop building houses in Sumter County. Watch them rise after that

no mortgage, no bond, no condo fees, no state income tax, no personal property tax- I'm almost living for free

uh, o- forgot landscape maintenance, amenity fees-irrigation fees, house washing, cleaning person,window washing-very frequent car washes during love bug season

Still way ahead of the game $$ wise-

Don't forget that sink hole insurance :thumbup:

No sink hole insurance I'm self insured on that one, just like no life insurance--the company is betting nothing will go wrong, while you're betting something will--just like extended warranties

No sinkhole insurance for us either, third house was preowned

It depends, OPM (other people's money). If your mortgage interest rate is 2.15%, and your investments are at 6.78% then OPM can be a smart move. Of course your investment guy should be making sure your money is working for you.

Absolutly..

1-Go to the county of your choice, lake sumter or marion.
2-Look for the tax estimater on the site.
3-put in the price and the city....city is very important
4-it will ask if you are using a home stead exemption
5-it will give you the tax to the county

then you MUST add into that figure....

1-the bond payments, sales agent will tell you

2- the yearly maintance of the development, sales agent will tell you

3-the non-ad-valorem fire/waste, ect fees...this is the figure you pay....same as everyone....does not adjust with the cost of the home..tax site will tell that figure

and then......you have your tax....

Excellent! Thanks.
Ed


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for a resale home.....rules are a little different

once again go to the county site....put in the resale homes address....up pops all the information you ever wanted to see..

how much the seller paid for the house......when they bought it....

DO NOT use there county tax as a reference for yours.....it will more than likely be different. the bond and maintance will be the same but the county tax figure will not. once again use the Tax estimator using the price you will pay and you will know what your taxes will be...

The great feature of those sites is you can see that some people buy a home and sell it the next year and you can clearly see how much they are asking over the price they paid. helps for a good laugh sometimes....

Explains why so many homes in that area are resales already. Think I'll stay in Sumter taxes down every year since 2009.
Checked all my figures before moving here and asked someone who was already here almost right on the DOT.

Yea, I noticed the price delta and the specific property lookups. There was a large buy-sell delta on some. :)

I wasn't able to find the tax estimator for Sumter but did find the other 2.


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Amen on that. We could pay off our small mortgage but investments yield more than the interest rate. Oh, and there is a tax deduction for mortgage interest, though that may not help everyone. However, some people feel more secure with a paid off mortgage. Everyone needs to make their own decisions. It's not a one size fits all.

Recommend that you do not escrow taxes ever. Best to pay annual. Principal and interest is the mortgage. When they say "PITI". That means Principal,,Interest (now here is the big one) Taxes and Insurance. You can pay your taxes annually and I truly recommend that you also pay insurance separately. Makes your monthly payment much more less. The PITI way, if you think about it, you are paying tax on tax. I hope this helps you out. I've been in FL for $()@/ years.

Property taxes
 

Usually you figure taxes on a home about 1% so a $300,000 home would be about $3,000 a year plus if you only have 1 home in Florida and use the Homestead you deduct $25,000 off the price of the home which would make it about $2750 a year. We paid the bond off at closing because when we added the interest if we paid it out over 20 years was astronomical- like 30% if I remember. The Morse family received this government loan money to build interest free and that's why they have been in court fighting why they are charging interest to you,

I am not in real estate but thought it was general knowledge that the first year taxes are on land only. And reading THIS forum you hear of the different tax rates from different counties. You can go to sumterpa.com and read the tax assessments on homes the same size and property placement as the one you are thinking about. Or the tax appraiser site for Marion and Lake counties and find out the same info. You are the person spending your money. It isn't up to the bank.

Don't forget, there is now a 3 1/2% sales tax on purchasing a home, due to Obamacare.

I do not believe that is a correct statement. Not sure where you got that from. Closest thing I have found was that "furniture etc" sold with a home MAY BE taxable to the SELLER. Please provide further details unless that was just meant to be another "fake news" item? There is a relatively small "transfer tax" the seller pays which is the same up here in NJ.

Intangible tax on Florida home << The St Aug Blog

I believe that applies only for NEW CONSTRUCTION?

This is "fake news". The ACA does provide for a 3.8% tax on higher incomes, so if you sell your house and have a profit after the 250K single / 500K married exemption, it may put you in a high enough bracket. Otherwise, no impact.

If you go to the property appraiser website of the. County you are buying in and input address of home like the one you are buying. Once in website click on tax collector button. This will help you see how taxes are figured. Remember taxes vary based on exemptions and cost of bond.

If you are a permanent resident (have a Florida drivers license and insure your auto in Florida, make sure you file homestead exemption.

Many resales do not have bonds because they have been paid off. Each county is different on how much they tax.

Building was funded by tax-exempt bonds on which there is interest, not government loans.

...........

Thanks FrankieDee for that info. I just said things are getting more expensive in another article about, replacing AC & putting a new roof on. TV are going to price themselves right out of new residents. I was thinking about down sizing but now that you past this info out here, I'll probably move out of TV instead of staying. With property taxes & what you informed us about, I can't see where anyone can get ahead but the Morse's will keep getting richer & us poor working stiffs & the ones that live off of their savings or Pensions will keep getting poorer & poorer. Oh well, better than paying a nursing home 4 to $7,000. a month. Thanks for the info!

LOL., I WISH that applied to me! :)

And that has been cleared & closed by the IRS.

The IRS ruled on this and case was closed. No wrong doing.