It's that time of year again, and you have received, or will be receiving, information on your 2009 property taxes...

 

The Property Appraisers in each county mail out new property valuations, called TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices to homeowners in August.  

 

On your property record, you will see two figures, Just Market Value, and Assessed Value.  Most Just Market Values on the TRIM notices have come down substantially this year.  The Property Appraiser determines the value of your home on January 1 using sales from the previous year.  In a declining market,  we have seen our assessments lag behind slightly.

 

While the 2009 values we have seen have been quite low, even larger decreases than we might have expected, it is possible that your assessed value rose.  Yes, this is possible.  Back in January 1993, the Save Our Homes  Act capped increases on assessed value on homesteaded property at 3% per year, OR the increase in the consumer price index, the lesser of the two.  In the years when home values grew 5-10% or more, the increase on assessed value was capped at 3% .  Now you may see the assessments play "catch up", recapturing the value by the allowed 3%.

 

If you have not received your TRIM notice yet, you can look up your 2009 values online:

 

 

If you feel your assessment is unfairly high or a mistake has been made, you have the statutory right to appeal it.  Keep in mind that you only have a short time to do so, so don't wait.  Here are some helpful links:

 

As always, we are here to answer your real estate questions.  If you'd like to know more about the sales around your home to better assess market conditions, Click here for a custom report on actual sold prices around YOUR home!  You'll receive a real-time report taken right out of the MLS.  These are actual sold prices, much more accurate and timely than any other resource we've found.  (That includes Zillow--if you didn't check it out, Zillow admits their info in Florida is terrible.  This is Zillow's own data comparing their Zestimates to actual sold data, in many counties almost half the Zestimates are off by over 20%!)