low taxes and no hoa's??? (Orlando, Sanford: short sales, foreclosures, home owners insurance)

[deanow30]

Anywhere in central area fl where you can get a nice home with taxes under 1200 a year and no hoa's? Is there any nice area's left in orlando closer to seminole county side?
Thanks

[beckycat]

With values going down to pre-bubble prices, taxes may drop.

[GregTraub]

Would have to find something under 120K and put a homestead exemption on it to keep taxes under 1200/yr. You will find alot in Sanford, Casselberry, and a few scattered around Oviedo/chuluota/geneva.

Taxes will most certainly drop. Last year the assessed value on my own property dropped 20K, and talked with OCPA a few days ago about disputing my taxes for 09, and they said my assessed value would likely drop another 40K this year. Of course that means my house is worth much less with the bubble burst, but at least my taxes will have gone down over $1000/yr.

Don't rely on what a previous owner's tax bill was to determine what your tax bill will be, the values they use are usually based at least a year or more in the past. View My blog here on C-D, wrote a pretty detailed breakdown on how to estimate property taxes.

[annerk]

Even if taxes drop, I don't see them going down to the $1200 range for new buyers--unless you own a mobile home on 1/4 acre. In unincorporated Seminole county, you're assessed market value would have to be under $110K to have taxes under $1200 a year.

In Orange County you would have to be around $150K or less in assessed market value to keep the taxes around or under $1200 a year. Not impossible if you are willing to buy an older home/fixer-upper, but the older the home, the higher your home owners insurance will be--and that could easily negate any lower taxes.

[beckycat]

Originally Posted by GregTraub

Would have to find something under 120K and put a homestead exemption on it to keep taxes under 1200/yr. You will find alot in Sanford, Casselberry, and a few scattered around Oviedo/chuluota/geneva.

Taxes will most certainly drop. Last year the assessed value on my own property dropped 20K, and talked with OCPA a few days ago about disputing my taxes for 09, and they said my assessed value would likely drop another 40K this year. Of course that means my house is worth much less with the bubble burst, but at least my taxes will have gone down over $1000/yr.

Don't rely on what a previous owner's tax bill was to determine what your tax bill will be, the values they use are usually based at least a year or more in the past. View My blog here on C-D, wrote a pretty detailed breakdown on how to estimate property taxes.

With foreclosures and short sales, you can buy something decent under 120K. You just have to search for it. I heard if you get your propery re-assesed, you contest your taxes.

[Silent1900]

Yeah, I could probably link to more properties than you would believe that are listed at $150k or lower. In nice, safe neighborhoods also.

I'm in the middle of closing on a two year old townhouse in Lake Nona for $102k.

[ngrome]

There's this nice little quiet community called Wedgefield in east Orlando. The HOA is voluntary and taxes are low with homestead exemption.

[cpthnsolo]

Originally Posted by deanow30

Anywhere in central area fl where you can get a nice home with taxes under 1200 a year and no hoa's? Is there any nice area's left in orlando closer to seminole county side?

Finding a home without an HOA in the Maitland/Winter Park area (since you said close to Seminole) is going to be a challenge in the first place, but finding one with an assessed value low enough to ensure your taxes are <= $1200 is a tall order indeed. I bought a home for 127K in the 32824 area code last year and I'm looking at a 3K tax bill on a home with an assessed value around 200K. I have no intention of paying that much this year so I just started researching how to lower the assessed value when I found this forum .

-Timothy