Property Tax/Homeowners Insurance Sarasota (North Port: house, purchase, new construction)

[mattyd102477]

I am considering purchasing a $200-$300k home in Sarasota. Anyone out there have an idea as to what property tax and homeowners insurance would average?

[ShepsMom]

We bought our home in 2001 for 200K. Our insurance was $900+
Today, our house worth may be 300K, our insurance went up to $2600.00

Go figure!

We live east of 75, approximately 10-15ml from the beach. Why our insurance so high we can't figure out.

[electricfm]

Taxes are public record, you may go online or call the city (property appraiser) to find out the taxes for a specific property. Taxes are much higher w/in city limits. Regarding insurance, just be happy if you can get it

[SoFLGal]

If you have a specific address or home in mind you can just go here: Sarasota County Tax Collector and see what they are currently paying for taxes.

Insurance is not quite as easy but I can give you a few tips on things that insurance companies look at:

age of home
style of roof- i.e hip, gable, mansard, etc. Hip is generally the best and gable is usually the worst.
How close you are to a fire hydrant or natural body of water
if you are in a flood zone and what the zone is

I have a home built in 2003, 2100 sq ft under air, hip roof, less than 1000 ft from a fire hydrant and I am not in a flood zone. My insurance is just over $700 per year through Olympus. I live in North Port (south Sarasota county).

A few websites that might be helpful are My Safe Florida Home This is a website through the state of Florida that talks about wind inspections. If you get a wind inspection done on your home and turn it in the your insurance company you can reduce your home owner's insurance-and sometimes by a great deal. I got mine done when they were still giving grants to have this done, so it was free. It is my understanding that it costs are $200 to have this done.

Another website that might be interesting to look at is: Compare Homeowner's Insurance Rates

Good luck with your search!

[FLBob]

Property tax is based on the assessed value of the property and the millage rate. The millage rate for Sarasota is around 16 mills. So for a property with an assessed value of $300,000 would have a tax bill around $4800/year (300 * 16). To see the assessed value of a property use the sarasota county property appraisers website (http://www.sarasotaproperty.net/scpa_record_search.asp - broken link) and search using the property address. To see the details click on the property tax id (look fro the little red *) On the detail page look for the tax district box and click on it to see the actual millage rate for 2007.

Regarding insurance, alot will depend on the age and location of the house as well as the construction of the house. If the house is not in a flood zone then your flood insurance would be minimal should you choose to purchase it (I'm not in a flood zone but have flood insurance). New construction will receive the largest discount on wind insurance, having approved shutters will reduce the cost of wind insurance. The age and type of roofing can impact the price of wind insurance. For flood wind and hazzard insurance I pay about $3500