property taxes in Tampa Florida area (Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale: sale, real estate, to rent) - Tampa Bay - (FL) -Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - City-Data Forum

haverhill st · 10-12-2021, 04:58 AM

I recently retired and am hoping to purchase a home in Florida, been looking at different areas but have zeroed in on the Palm Harbor/Dunedin area, thus the reason why I posted my question here. Florida has always been listed as an affordable place to retire, but the property tax situation is an eye opener. The 'save our home' program seems like a great deal for long time residents, but just the opposite for anyone from out of state looking to make Florida their home.
The latest house I looked at is listed for approximately 500k and shows the present owner paying $2100 per year in property taxes, if I were to purchase the same property for 500k my tax bill would be $7100 per year, and that's with the homestead deduction. i understand and agree with the premise that retirees on fixed income could use a break on their property taxes, but the current system seems to be too skewed in favor of Florida residents and conversely too unfair towards anyone that's retired and looking to live there.
In this market a purchase price of 450k-500k seems to be necessary to get the type of house I need, I can afford the house but the property taxes are another question. In my example above you would think a tax bill somewhere in the middle of the $2100-$7100 would be a fairer system for all.
Maybe I'm missing something.

EngGirl · 10-12-2021, 07:00 AM

Yes, you are missing something. Taxes you saw for current property owner are based on house value at the time prev. property owner purchased that house years ago for, could be well under 200K. The tax rate is going up annually however prev. property owner most likely had homestead exemption which means he was capped on the rate increase which helped to keep taxes low. $450-500K house will have $7K taxes and if there is a CDD on top on taxes, it could be around 10K a year. And there is nothing you can do about that. Looking for fair taxes? Consider other part of Florida where housing prices are lower hence taxes are lower too. Don't play this game if you don't like it.

castlechurch · 10-12-2021, 07:19 AM

EngGirl made an astute observation on the value of the house at previous purchase vr's now. To add to that, it is great that you have calculated your total investment including taxes, many people forget about that when seeing what they can afford. They often also don't factor in the cost of insurance, which is very high and going up every year.

That said, it seems that while you could afford a $500K house with lower taxes, you cannot afford a $507K house. Honestly, it is good you found out now, taxes will only go up, and if the difference was that slim, it is better to buy something less expensive. Buying at the top of your budget usually ends up with problems.

Many people coming to Florida to retire find it is better to rent, especially in this market where prices are so high. You can certainly rent a similarly designed and equipped condo or home for around what you would have been paying in mortgage, and the $7K you would have been paying in taxes in this case would go a long way on a monthly payment.

I would highly advise you to either rent somewhere or find a less expensive home. Likely you will need to go north or east to find less expensive homes near that area. Dunedin is a desirable market, hence the high prices. I have seen nice homes in Seminole sell for less, but I don't know exactly what you are looking for.

Atari2600 · 10-12-2021, 08:18 AM

What EngGirl said is totally correct.

Keep in mind, taxes will also go up if you refinance your home, because the state essentially does a reevaluation of the property value. For what it's worth *every* state does this in determination of property taxes. The taxes of the home you're looking at, again as EngGirl said, are based on when the home was purchased. Florida's constitution only allows a 3% increase (compounded) annually.

Note, I get homestead exemption on a home that I purchased for $435, and it's not bad. But if you are retired, you can expect additional homestead exemptions, and even additionally more if you are former military.

I've lived off and on in Florida since 1996, and I've owned a home in Fort Lauderdale since 2003 (which I just rent out). In the ~25 years I've lived in Florida, every time I come back after a couple of years, the entire state has changed. The rate at which people have flocked to Florida has been astounding, and during (let's be honest) the "flee the blue states" pandemic reaction, the home values have doubled and tripled.

If you are genuinely retired, and do not NEED to work, there are plenty of places in Florida that are much cheaper than Tampa. Most of South-West Florida is 1/2 the price of Tampa... and worth looking into. Also... the St. Augustine area and in / around Jacksonville is also still very inexpensive. Also... Cocoa Beach / Cape Canaveral is also less expensive too. ... and thus, your property taxes will be much cheaper as well.

FL_Expert · 10-12-2021, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EngGirl

Yes, you are missing something. Taxes you saw for current property owner are based on house value at the time prev. property owner purchased that house years ago for, could be well under 200K. The tax rate is going up annually however prev. property owner most likely had homestead exemption which means he was capped on the rate increase which helped to keep taxes low. $450-500K house will have $7K taxes and if there is a CDD on top on taxes, it could be around 10K a year. And there is nothing you can do about that. Looking for fair taxes? Consider other part of Florida where housing prices are lower hence taxes are lower too. Don't play this game if you don't like it.

That all sounds pretty accurate. Florida is good about taxes overall, but property tax rates are somewhat on the high side and there’s not much you can do about it.

skeddy · 10-12-2021, 09:06 AM

move to Florida because you like the weather, not for financial reasons.

MortonR · 10-12-2021, 01:21 PM

This is a common occurrence everywhere.

Most local governments don’t stay current with assessments, so when a house that’s been assessed 10-20 years ago is sold, everything is recalculated at the “new” value based on the sale price, and the tax calculations will reflect this.

That’s not to say municipalities don’t reassess, but they don’t typically do it often. That means that even when they make a change in the tax rate the assessed value doesn’t change significantly.

RM

kab0906 · 10-12-2021, 02:36 PM

Also remember we don't pay state income taxes.

In ky, property tax was fairly low but state income tax was pretty high.

haverhill st · 10-12-2021, 03:49 PM

I understand the reason why a longtime resident of Florida has low property taxes. The reason for my initial post was simply to say that long time Florida residents are getting a great deal while anyone else looking to make Florida their home are paying the price for that great deal. I live in the Northeast and was always under the impression that property taxes in my area were proportionally higher than they were in Florida, but a house worth 500k in my area is not paying 7k+ in property taxes, it's closer to 5k. Without the 'save our homes' program, taxes on a 500k home in Florida would also most likely be in the 5k range.

fajitajamboree · 10-13-2021, 07:33 AM

I think the point that several posts are trying to make is that you are correct, property taxes are much higher in FL than they used to be. However, the real estate boom is very recent, making this a "new" problem, as it were. I would expect that same home in Palm Harbor you are looking at for $500K was closer to $300K a year or so ago, and significantly less if you continue going back. The property market, especially here in the TB region, has really exploded in the last 18 months. Solutions should be explored, for sure, but I'm not convinced that there is much local will to do that- most of our municipal and county governments are substantially supported by property taxes.

As a suggestion, if you like the Palm Harbor/ Dunedin area (and I can totally see why), maybe explore Trinity? Its close to Palm Harbor/ Dunedin (very close to Tarpon Springs) and Pasco does have lower taxes than Pinellas.