In the Charlotte Sun-Herald, Derek Dunn-Rankin, founder of the newspaper, wrote and interesting article, Forecasting home prices. A reprint of this interesting article can be found on our website. The article spoke about the changes in real estate pricing in this area but he also wrote about insurance and homestead exemptions.
Homestead exemptions to resident’s property taxes have been a savior to many Florida homeowners but it can be a double edged sword. A homeowner may feel stuck in a home, unable to sell and move to a smaller home because the property tax would increase. There is a movement underway to allow the transfer of one’s Homestead Exemption.
Your Suncoasteam Brokers have opinions about this issue. We believe it would be a great advantage to allow one with a current Homestead Exemption to transfer it to another property if an owner wishes to change residents. A transfer of exemption could be done in several ways and we encourage discussion on this topic.
We believe that the state and counties will not lose money if such transfers were allowed. The state makes money when a deed is transferred and if a mortgage is taken, the state collects stamps tax on mortgages. A buyer of the transferring property will pay tax on the currently assessed value (unless they are transferring) and the tax roll will realize a net gain.
If a person downsizes, a transfer could work like this:
Assume that a Homesteader sells a property valued at $300,000. They have lived there for ten years and the assessment for tax purposes is $100,000.
They purchase a property for $100,000 with an assessment of $70,000. The buyer assumes the current assessment.
Another way of figuring could be that the buyer brings the assessed value from his current property so that they will pay no more tax than they currently pay.
When moving up the calculation is more difficult. If a person sells a $100,000 homestead to move to a $300,000 homestead, that person should have the means to afford a more expensive assessment. Nevertheless, there should be some ability to transfer at least a portion of the current homestead assessment.
Please add your comment to this important issue.
James B. Mulligan, Licensed Real Estate Broker
18245 Paulson Dr.
Port Charlotte, FL 33954
Jim Mulligan (941) 456-3034
Andy Leonard (941) 662-0033
sales@avalonsuncoast.com“>Questions sales@avalonsuncoast.com
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