“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Benjamin Franklin - In a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789
I received an email from a client of mine who had purchased a home in Tallahassee back in 2004. Like many citizens of Florida, he is disturbed about his rising property taxes. His message was
Joe, do you have any numbers on property appraisals in our area. Our assessed value went up last year according to our Trim statement. Having listened very closely to what you have pontificated, I don’t believe that’s possible and in fact should have gone down from the previous year. Am I wrong? In the trim brochure it says that as long as the assessed value does not exceed the market value they have to raise the assessed value by three percent which is what it went up. What a bunch of c%*!!. I dearly detest property taxes!!
In order to help him answer this, I performed a detailed market analysis of the Subdivision in which he lives (Golden Eagle Plantation) for the purpose of identifying market movement. Most people who follow the Tallahassee real estate market are well aware that prices are dropping, however each price range and each area has its own performance level. The one factor that is fairly consistent across the board is that inventories are very high, prices are dropping, and we still have not seen the bottom of this Buyers’ Market. My recommendation to all home owners is to hold their homes at this time and do not place them onto the market unless a sale is the only option.
I did a study of all resale home sales in Golden Eagle and discovered that unit sales (average number of homes sold each month) is back to a normalized range of just greater than 3 per month. The average price per foot has dropped in Golden Eagle by 12% from exactly 1 year ago (which happened to be the top of the market).
When we look at prices and sizes, we find that the average resale home that is selling is between 3,100 and 3,200 square feet and the price is dropping (currently trending at $503,000). I suspect with the pile of inventory in Golden Eagle, we will continue to see that trend drop for at least another 6 months, if not a year or more. You can see that the average price before the “boom” market was around $340,000. With increased costs of living outracing increases in real wages, it is natural to assume this price trend decline will continue.
The information on the left is from his 2007 market value as reported in the Public Records of Leon County at $509,690, with a Taxable Value of $463,567. If one were to apply the 12% decline in the Golden Eagle Plantation to his home, the results on the right would be found.
My recommendation to my client is to take this information to the Leon County Property Appraisers office. I would start with a phone call and then go in person if the call did not work out. While I do not have a personal experience with their office, everything that I have ever heard is that they work hard and try to be fair.
The Leon County Property Appraiser’s office has published this video on property taxes and it does a great job of explaining how they do it and how to contact them in the case of a dispute such as we have analyzed here.
If this has been helpful or if you have additional information that will enhance the topic, please comment below and share your experience with the rest of our readers.
As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.
If you like this Article then please subscribe to myblog through a full RSS feed, or you can . You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.
Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.
8 Comments on See How Easy It Is To Dispute Your Property Tax Assessment
You worked hard on this post! It's action-packed! You also make a very good point about lowering the tax bite on homeowners. The "main" county in our market (Franklin) has opted not to raise assessed values/taxes this year.
Property tax assessments are a hot topic in my neck of the woods. When a property sells, the school districts are APPEALING the homeowner's taxes to reflect the sale price (get more money). Win win for schools/county. Lose for seller (who has a harder time selling) and buyer (who pays now more than his neighbors, it's likely). Unfair
Under the Save Our Homes provision, the Department of Revenue together with the Governor and Cabinet require all Property Appraisers to raise the assessed value of homesteaded properties by 3% or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less – essentially “recapturing” the assessed value savings resulting from the value being capped. This requirement, outlined in Chapter 12D-8.0062(5) of the Florida Administrative Code, is mandatory including when the market value of a homestead property has decreased. The only exception is when the assessed value reaches market value – assessed value cannot exceed market value.
Please refer to the TRIM brochure which was included in the mailing of the notices, and feel free to contact my office if you have any questions.
Bert Hartsfield
Leon County Property Appraiser
(850) 488-6102
Thanks Bert. As I stated in the article above "everything that I have ever heard is that they work hard and try to be fair." I think you taking the time to respond to this and my other article demonstrate that the people have somebody that will deal with them fairly. Thank you for your efforts.
I've heard mixed reviews in Michigan. Some people were able to get their taxable values lowered but many, even with sound comps, were not. Basically the local governments just deny everything and send it to the Michigan State Tax Tribunal. Many people drop out before that or are even denied there. If anyone has a better experience, I would love to hear it.
Joe Manausa - Tallahassee Real Estate
;)
;)
You worked hard on this post! It's action-packed! You also make a very good point about lowering the tax bite on homeowners. The "main" county in our market (Franklin) has opted not to raise assessed values/taxes this year.