Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"Because the home value had decreased, even though it's officially homesteaded, you will see ZERO tax savings unless the property value goes up 2 years in a row."
It is the same in Maryland, or at least that is how it was explained to me by the assessor's office. As the poster above said, don't blame it on realtors. Most of them know very little about real estate. It constantly amazes me how little they know about the things that they should know about, such as the amount of property taxes on their own listings. Those that are successful got that way because they are good at getting people to sign contracts. Everything should be checked out before you sign on the dotted line.
Not not confusing anything. I know save our homes is where the 25k savings is deducted.
This is incorrect. Save our Homes is not where the $25k is deducted. Check your tax bill. Homestead Exemption is where the $25000 is deducted. Save our Homes tracks the difference between market value and taxed value and your Save Our Homes should be $0 for the first year.
Do you get your 2013 tax bill yet? Do you see a line item on your tax bill for $25000 Homestead Exemption ..where it shows a starting assessed value, and that assessed value is decreased by $25000 before the taxes are calculated?
Don't blame realtors. They don't know much and not really supposed to know anything other than how to unlock the door for showings and how to fill out standard contracts any middle school kid can do. LOL Every time you have question they find the way to redirect you to RE lawyer, inspector, county official and so on...
if you don't like being redirected to an authoritative source, don't blame a Realtor, blame the attorneys and the people who are ready to sue over every little thing. Trust me, I'd rather be an authority with reliable information but the state (i.e. the attorneys) threaten to grind us into dust if we so much as offer an opinion that can be construed as venturing onto their turf and they are ready to pounce on any other excursion beyond the marketing of property and assistance with purchasing.
Actually, while this is true, I am sort of joking, too. Really, with anything as important as purchasing property, agents should refer people to the best sources of information and buyers and sellers should realize that they need to do their due diligence with the help of their agent. The agent is not a substitute for due diligence.
It clearly shows "0" savings. The same tax bill as my neighbor who is renting out home and lives out of state. So we are paying the same rate as the house that's being rented out.
What is "inherited homestead"? Either you are confused about that, or things have changed since I moved from Florida.
Homestead is up to a $50,000 deduction off the value of your house that you don't have to pay taxes on (except for school takes on the second 25k). That is simple math, you either have it or you don't. I believe you have to be residing in your home on January 1st, or transfer your old homestead from your old home.
The Save your home is a cap of 3% increase a year to your property value. So when you buy a new house, the old cap is removed, and the appraised value is basically the sales price, and they won't increase your taxable amount more than 3% a year. When I left FL, and I believe still now, you don't "inherit" the past occupant's cap. You start fresh, at the current appraised value. That is why your tax value and your neighbors who rents are the same..... there is no cap on either.
For instance, we bought our home for $313,000 in 2000, and when we wanted to upgrade our home in 2006, the value of our existing home was $620,000. But we were only paying about 6k in takes because our "save your home" cap had our appraised value at about 350k. We just wanted a little bigger home, say $100,000 more, but we would then have to pay about 14k in taxes, since our new home would be taxed at $720,000 and then capped 3% from there. We didn't get to keep our $350,000 cap from our old home. Its "save your home", meaning they don't want people not to be able to afford the home they are currently in, its not meant to limit your tax burden when you move elsewhere.
In our situation, paying an extra 8k in taxes a year didn't make sense to upgrade. So we moved out of state, where we have twice the mortgage but pay the same monthly because of taxes and insurance.
I suggest that you contact the title company that helped prepare your title. They should be happy to clarify the situation.
I think you are misinterpreting what you are describing. I am an active FL Realtor and have owned 2 homes in Florida. I don't think you have received your 2013 property tax statement yet. I am in Marion County, FL and we receive or tax statements in November (I believe it is the same statewide). You said you moved in your home in 2012. If that is the case, you could not have had any homestead tax exemption for 2012 but you would when you get your 2013 property tax statement (assuming you had filed at the beginning of this year).
This should have been explained fully at your closing by the title agent.
What is "inherited homestead"? Either you are confused about that, or things have changed since I moved from Florida.
Homestead is up to a $50,000 deduction off the value of your house that you don't have to pay taxes on (except for school takes on the second 25k). That is simple math, you either have it or you don't. I believe you have to be residing in your home on January 1st, or transfer your old homestead from your old home.
The Save your home is a cap of 3% increase a year to your property value. So when you buy a new house, the appraised value is basically the sales price, and they won't increase your taxable amount more than 3% a year. When I left FL, and I believe still now, you don't "inherit" the past occupant's cap. You start fresh, at the current appraised value. That is why your tax value and your neighbors who rents are the same..... there is no cap on either.
For instance, we bought our home for $313,000 in 2000, and when we wanted to upgrade our home in 2006, the value of our existing home was $620,000. But we were only paying about 6k in takes because our "save your home" cap had our appraised value at about 350k. We just wanted a little bigger home, say $100,000 more, but we would then have to pay about 14k in taxes, since our new home would be taxed at $720,000 and then capped 3% from there. We didn't get to keep our $350,000 cap from our old home. Its "save your home", meaning they don't want people not to be able to afford the home they are currently in, its not meant to limit your tax burden when you move elsewhere.
In our situation, paying an extra 8k in taxes a year didn't make sense to upgrade. So we moved out of state, where we have twice the mortgage but pay the same monthly because of taxes and insurance.
FL has a new law called "Save Our Homes Portability". It allows you to transfer the "save our homes" pot (aka tax savings off market value) from your prior FL home to your new FL home. The goal was not to penalize homesteaders and force them to stay in the same home forever because they would lose the "save our homes" if they moved.
In the OP's case, it doesn't sound like they used this portability. You would need a prior homesteaded residence in FL in order to transfer it. It (save our homes portability) stays with the person(s), not the property. If you are new to owning homesteaded property in FL, you start out at square 1 (Save Our Homes=$0).
FL has a new law called "Save Our Homes Portability". It allows you to transfer the "save our homes" pot (aka tax savings off market value) from your prior FL home to your new FL home. The goal was not to penalize homesteaders and force them to stay in the same home forever because they would lose the "save our homes" if they moved.
In the OP's case, it doesn't sound like they used this portability. You would need a prior homesteaded residence in FL in order to transfer it. It (save our homes portability) stays with the person(s), not the property. If you are new to owning homesteaded property in FL, you start out at square 1 (Save Our Homes=$0).
shoot.... we would have stayed in FL had that been the case when we needed to move. It doesn't make sense to more than double your taxes just because you want to move to another home that is almost comparable.
if you don't like being redirected to an authoritative source, don't blame a Realtor, blame the attorneys and the people who are ready to sue over every little thing. Trust me, I'd rather be an authority with reliable information but the state (i.e. the attorneys) threaten to grind us into dust if we so much as offer an opinion that can be construed as venturing onto their turf and they are ready to pounce on any other excursion beyond the marketing of property and assistance with purchasing.
Actually, while this is true, I am sort of joking, too. Really, with anything as important as purchasing property, agents should refer people to the best sources of information and buyers and sellers should realize that they need to do their due diligence with the help of their agent. The agent is not a substitute for due diligence.
please..... somehow bunch of realtors keep claiming incorrect info.. nothing in written of course
Not not confusing anything. I know save our homes is where the 25k savings is deducted. I know homestead and save our homes are subtle and different terminology. You need to homestead the house in order to qualify for save our homes.
We moved in 2012 to the home and homestead it.
It clearly shows "0" savings. The same tax bill as my neighbor who is renting out home and lives out of state. So we are paying the same rate as the house that's being rented out.
You are confusing the standard homestead exemption ($25,000) with the "save our homes" adjustments in taxable assessments on a new home. Although one does have to have a homestead exemption on a new property to qualify for the Save Our Home adjustments, as you mentioned.
I think SquareCod explained it, but below is a link that goes a little further. Perhaps the paragraph in this piece under "Portability" might help to clarify things.
As for expecting a realtor to explain all of this to you, I wouldn't. When we sold our house in January 2013, we took our 2012 property tax information for both the old house and the new house to the county property tax office in the new location, and folks in that office both explained the save our house issues and applied it to our 2013 taxes for the new house. They also explained that we had to claim primary residence in the new location prior to Jan 1, 2013 to qualify for all this to apply to 2013 taxes, so that's what we did.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Every time you have question they find the way to redirect you to RE lawyer, inspector, county official and so on...
if you don't like being redirected to an authoritative source, don't blame a Realtor, blame the attorneys and the people who are ready to sue over every little thing. Trust me, I'd rather be an authority with reliable information but the state (i.e. the attorneys) threaten to grind us into dust if we so much as offer an opinion that can be construed as venturing onto their turf and they are ready to pounce on any other excursion beyond the marketing of property and assistance with purchasing. 
