One of the major focuses of the Florida Property Tax Reform Committee was to lessen the burden on businesses, renters and second home owners. Will the new proposal help these folks? Somewhat it seems but not by all that much.

Non-homesteaded properties will benefit from:

• The freeze on taxes at the 2006 level.
• The rollback in tax rates from 3%-9% for cities and counties.
• The cap on cities’ and counties’ budgets (future property tax increases will be kept in check by a formula that considers personal income growth)

Non-homesteaded owners will not benefit from the so-called super exemption proposal that will be voted on in late January of next year.

But this is an improvement. Previously there was no cap on property taxes for a non-homesteaded property. As the market value rose, so did the taxes. So will this be enough to keep second home owners in Florida and more of them investing in Florida? Hard to say and I think time will only tell.

FloridaToday.com has put together a good site that details how different property owners will be affected by the new system.

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Use Showing Request Button?

June 17th, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, Tampa MLS, Tips for Sellers

An agent had called the other day to schedule a showing of one of our listings and asked “What does Use Showing Request Button mean”? This was one of the options in the Showing Instructions field on the MLS. “Well”, I said, “Do you see that little button on the broker report that says “Request a Showing?”, I answered. “Yes”, she said. “Well if you click on that thing you can schedule a showing of the listing electronically, and I’ll send you an e-mail confirming that you’re good-to-go.”

And while this seems like a great tool for agents to use, most do not, and instead pick up the phone, leave a message, and wait for the listing agent/office to call back to confirm the showing.

We have the option to use it on some or all of our listings. But we put this button on all of our listings. Why? Easy to show, easy to sell. But most listing agents don’t use this system and neither do most buyer’s agents who are making the appointments. It assumes that someone is monitoring the e-mail inbox to which the requests go and that the agent that makes the request is actually monitoring theirs as well. And let’s face it, many agents don’t check e-mail even on a daily basis. It’s my primary means of communication and I often wrongly assume that other agents use e-mail like I do.

I’ve used the button on others agents’ listings and have never received a reply. I’ve had to make phone calls instead after waiting more than 12 hours for a confirmation to show a listing of theirs. If agents are going to put this button on their listings, they better make sure someone is monitoring their e-mail!

In this business I have to monitor e-mail 24/7. Well almost. 16/7 at least. And the tools to do so are readily available for all to use. But alas this industry is slow to change. Phone calls are still the primary way to make a showing appointment. Faxing is still the primary way to send documents.

There are many technological tools that can save us all time and make our days much more efficient. But it involves learning something new. And for that reason, many will stick with the status quo and get left behind. Too bad.

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Save Our Homes Or The Super Exemption?

June 16th, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, Tampa Market Conditions, Hillsborough Property Tax

So it seems that we, as property owners, will have the choice of remaining in the the Save Our Homes program or subscribing to the new “Super Exemption” being proposed by the Florida legislature. “Save Our Homes” has capped my annual tax liability increases at 3% per year now for 10 years. (My wife and I are the exceptions to what seems to be the rules. We keep a house for more than 7 years and we keep a car for more than 5.)

So we’re locked in to some pretty low property taxes, while others, who have purchased more recently subsidize us. That is, our next door neighbors, who have an identical home, but just purchased this year, may be paying 5 times what we do (hypothetically, of course).

So in doing the math I find that should we select the proposed “super exemption”, assuming it’s approved by the voters in January, our tax bill would be about $400 less than it is currently. But I don’t see the that there is a protective cap. In other words, if the market is in a heated, appreciating mode, and my “just market value” is rising, what will keep my taxes from rising as well?

The answer, as I understand it, is in the cap on government spending. The taxing authorities won’t be able to increase their budgets more than an amount equal to the inflation index each year. So in effect, my taxes should be capped at the level of inflation each year.

So how does the average homesteaded homeowner make the decision to stay with Save Our Homes or switch to the Super Exemption. Should this thing get 60% of the vote in January, somebody needs to come up with a fancy calculation to estimate annual tax payments in each scenario. Homeowners will have to consult experts to help them with the decision.

In any event there will be some interesting debates between now and late January of 2008. Once the ones who oppose this thing begin to step forward and present some facts, we may not see a 60% vote being all that likely.

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