Florida Real Estate and Property Tax Cuts

One of the reasons that the Florida real estate market has been sluggish over the past couple of years has been the result of property taxes in the state. Over the course of the past decade, Florida in fact had one of the higher property tax rates in all of the United States. Efforts are now underway to reign in the costs associated with property tax in Florida at this point in time. By dealing with property tax issues, the goal is to reinvigorate the Florida real estate marketplace.

Many real estate experts have maintained that residential real estate has languished on the market in part due to the fact that real estate tax rates have been considered to be high. Some individuals simply balked at making the purchase of a residence because they did not feel that they could effectively and comfortably manage the property tax assessments that they would be hit with when making the purchase of a home.

Historically, the new owner of a residence was saddled with the purchase price as the basis for the property tax computation. Therefore, this provided a buyer with an added motivation to really bargain for a purchase price that might even end up being below the appropriate market rate.

In Tampa recently the promotion of a new constitutional amendment proposal involving property valuation, property taxes and home purchases took place in the home of Tampa resident who has had a property on the market for an extended period of time. This resident had come to learn that one of the reasons her property was slow in selling rested in the fact that many potential buyers simply did not feel that they could effectively or appropriately manage the property tax that would be assessed against the property based on the asking sales price for the home.

If the new proposed amendment becomes a part of the Florida constitution, the valuation for tax purposes of residential real estate would "reset" at the actual, lower market value immediately after the sale. Therefore, the new property owner would not be "stuck" with the higher property valuation assessment that otherwise does occur in the absence of this amendment.

Beyond this amendment proposal there is also a proposal that would allow for a super-exemption on homestead property. This super-exemption actually would work to exclude a higher percentage of the home's overall value or worth from property tax liability. This mechanism will work to significantly lower a homeowner's tax liability in many instances. A homeowner would have the ability to select one or another of these two tax liability reduction plans, but not both. A homeowner will be able to determine which scheme makes sense under his or her particular set of circumstances.

The bottom line is that Florida governmental leaders are attempting to take useful and meaningful steps to bring down the costs associated with property ownership in the state. The goal is to stabilize the market sooner rather than later.