[wacahootaman]

With real estate prices falling like a stone, guess what?

The state legislature says to freeze the tax assesments at the property values from the absolute peak of the real estate bubble!

When your property values go down, your tax assesments will not go down.

They will be frozen at their bogus inflated values from the peak of the real estate bubble!

Says here that property tax assessments are to be frozen at the 2006 level which are assessed at Jan 1, 2006. This the absolute top of the real estate bubble.

It is really true what they say about the state legislature:

No ones life, liberty, or property is safe as long as the state legislature is in session.



Tax plan includes savings of $32B | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, Fla.

[Sage113]

Originally Posted by CHASLS2

I think home price should go back to late 90's levels.

It's insane paying $250,000+ for 2 bed crackerbox home!

Go check out the home prices in California. That's cheap!

[LKJ1988]

You cant even pay me to step foot in Cali! I hope home prices fall back to pre 1999 levels. Just insane people spending on way over prices homes.

[Sage113]

Well, I live here in central Florida and I like it for the most part. I bought my house on a canal to 2 lakes, have a boat in the backyard all for $94k 4 years ago. I got excited when my house was suddenly worth $250k but, hey, I live here. I'm not moving yet.

The part I hate the most is when that spike hit, after the 2005 hurricane season, my property taxes shot up $300 per month!!! To add to the misery, my insurance company (whom I've been with since 1976) increased my premium AND my deductible AND told me they would continue to insure my home as long as I lived in it. If I move to anywhere else in Florida, their outta here. Wonderful. I can sure guess those "adjustments" won't come back down anytime in the near future as Barry just started off the 2007 hurricane season last week. I'm hoping the new homestead exemption will help but I doubt it. You can bet I'm gonna go protest my property taxes the next time they send me one of those notices for an increase.

I'm technically retired but decided to start a business to increase my fixed income buying and selling mobile homes in the St. Pete area. What a mistake! As soon as I had a few, the hurricanes started. Can't get insurance on a vacant mobile home and couldn't sell it because people were scared off by the rising insurance prices if they lived in it, not to mention the hurricanes. Then, the big-shot developers started buying mobile home parks on the water for outlandish prices to build spec condos. Home owners, some of which had invested $100k in their mobile home just turned the titles in to the office and walked. No one would touch a mobile home because they worried about the park being bought out and losing their home. Well, it took me 8-10 months to sell those homes for what I paid for them and I had to suck up the lot rent on all of them. The down-turned housing market hurt more people than most realize.

[tallrick]

Originally Posted by wacahootaman

With real estate prices falling like a stone, guess what?

The state legislature says to freeze the tax assesments at the property values from the absolute peak of the real estate bubble!

When your property values go down, your tax assesments will not go down.

They will be frozen at their bogus inflated values from the peak of the real estate bubble!

Says here that property tax assessments are to be frozen at the 2006 level which are assessed at Jan 1, 2006. This the absolute top of the real estate bubble.

It is really true what they say about the state legislature:

No ones life, liberty, or property is safe as long as the state legislature is in session.



Tax plan includes savings of $32B | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, Fla.

So what are WE going to do about this? What can we do?

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by Sage113

Well, I live here in central Florida and I like it for the most part. I bought my house on a canal to 2 lakes, have a boat in the backyard all for $94k 4 years ago. I got excited when my house was suddenly worth $250k but, hey, I live here. I'm not moving yet.

The part I hate the most is when that spike hit, after the 2005 hurricane season, my property taxes shot up $300 per month!!! To add to the misery, my insurance company (whom I've been with since 1976) increased my premium AND my deductible AND told me they would continue to insure my home as long as I lived in it. If I move to anywhere else in Florida, their outta here. Wonderful. I can sure guess those "adjustments" won't come back down anytime in the near future as Barry just started off the 2007 hurricane season last week. I'm hoping the new homestead exemption will help but I doubt it. You can bet I'm gonna go protest my property taxes the next time they send me one of those notices for an increase.

I'm technically retired but decided to start a business to increase my fixed income buying and selling mobile homes in the St. Pete area. What a mistake! As soon as I had a few, the hurricanes started. Can't get insurance on a vacant mobile home and couldn't sell it because people were scared off by the rising insurance prices if they lived in it, not to mention the hurricanes. Then, the big-shot developers started buying mobile home parks on the water for outlandish prices to build spec condos. Home owners, some of which had invested $100k in their mobile home just turned the titles in to the office and walked. No one would touch a mobile home because they worried about the park being bought out and losing their home. Well, it took me 8-10 months to sell those homes for what I paid for them and I had to suck up the lot rent on all of them. The down-turned housing market hurt more people than most realize.

If you live in your home, how can your taxees go up $300 a month?

I'm guessing you have a homestead and shoud not get over a 3% increase a year.

[faithfulFrank]

hiknapster,
You are certainly entitled to your opinion........and I do understand what you are saying. That being said, I have no regrets with our decision.

As to The Villages........I have driven through it many times, and have found it to be huge, and growing bigger each day. I've also found the home prices there about double what I paid where I bought, so I am not surprised that prices have fallen there a bit.

Where I bought, prices seem to be a bit more stable, perhaps because it is not getting bigger. The Plantation has just been "built out", so there are no more lots left to build on. Every lot is already sold, and either has a home already built on it, or building has already started.

As to taking a home equity loan out on my current home here in NY, it is a $280,000+ home that had no mortgage to it. Taking out a small home equity loan to pay cash for the Florida home was not a big deal, and had some good tax advantages to it.

Owning the home now allows me to rent it out for a few months out of the year, thus paying for it's own upkeep, and giving me even more tax advantages. It also allows me to go down there to check on the property to do upkeep, etc. Expenses incurred in doing this are also a deductable expense. As I said before, I'm happy with what I paid for it, and believe that it still will be worth more in 4 years then what I paid for it. Worse case scenario, the doom and gloomers are right, and it will be worth less. When factoring in depreciation, deductions, etc,etc.....it would not put me in the poorhouse.

Also, I love building and doing home improvements...( I designed and built the NY house). As rental property, any improvements I now make are tax deductable. Trust me, although the house is already quite nice, it will be just as I want it prior to me making it "our own". There are worse things in life then having a great place to go a few times a year...........

Another reason I bought the home now is that I have a rather risky job, and if anything happens to me, my wife will have everything all set without having to make all the big decisions that would have to be made. We now have a place to go a few times a year, close to many friends that preceeded us down there. The house and property have a few unique features that I believe make it a bit more desirable then others in the area, thus helping the marketability of it.

As to the "bullying" from the realtor, although I was not pleased with some of their actions, I found the home myself, and the decision to buy it was 100% my own. The realtor's disappointing, unethical actions came after the decision to buy....more in terms of her lying to us as to the official closing date, etc....(Quite the learning experience!).

I suppose only time will tell....you may be right.
I do know this.....knowing that I can go down there two times during our frigid winter is priceless.

Respectfully,
Frank D.

P.S..........please excuse typos, I'm not on "my" computer, and this one is not as friendly......

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by tallrick

So what are WE going to do about this? What can we do?

I am going to appeal my assessments. It isn't very hard to get the data to fight it. Basically you need comps for the last 6 mos of 2006. That is measure of USPAP the appraisers guidline. Challenge it, you have evryhting to win and - 0 - to lose. Start looking at the county assessors website and start comparing properties and what they are assessed for. YOU CAN DO IT go to zillow or realter they will give you the $$ of houses and lots sold in your area

[INeedAChange]

This is sort of where I'm coming from--I have a feeling it will be easier to fit in Florida (coming from the NE) than some of these other southern states. I have nothing against the south (been there many times) but I just have a feeling that the main subjects of discussion would be religion and college sports in a lot of these places.

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Pianogal brings up any excellent point that I cannot emphasize enough. Don't move to Tennessee just because your insurance and taxes are cheaper. It is a completely different lifestyle here compared to many places in Florida.

As far as the doo-doo hitting the fan, looking at the past thirty day numbers, it IS really staggering. I didn't know that Florida had tanked that much.

Townhomes a steal in Fort Myers | WINK-TV - Fort Myers, FL | Local & Florida

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by INeedAChange

This is sort of where I'm coming from--I have a feeling it will be easier to fit in Florida (coming from the NE) than some of these other southern states. I have nothing against the south (been there many times) but I just have a feeling that the main subjects of discussion would be religion and college sports in a lot of these places.

Yeah a mall and tropical drinks are all I need- now that I am temporarily in Tennessee

There are cities here, many from NJ and CT and Michigan. I am not living in Hazard, Kentucky. Where I live the population is over 50,000. I am amazed at the polarization some people use. I could never live in Mayberry, I'm too liberal-lol. The point is there are other choices.

sunny