The perception of taxes being considered high or low depends on where the person is from.  Remember you are buying a home that has a backyard that includes Charlotte Harbor, Gulf of Mexico and the oceans of the world not to mention the thousands of miles of beautiful waters to explore locally.  This does come at a cost.  For someone coming from New Jersey, our taxes are low yet someone coming from Idaho with 20 acres of land may observe our taxes as high.  In the scheme of waterfront homes on saltwater around the U.S., with sailboat access or power boat access (bridges to go under) our prices are fair.

First, you cannot always assume that the county appraiser’s office listed tax basis will be the taxes you will get after purchase.  Like everywhere in the country, after the purchase, a home or land value is reassessed to current market value.  A primary factor when looking at homes that are basically equivalent but have a sizeable disparity in their taxes is normally related to being homesteaded (an easy process to accomplish after the sale).  Homesteading a home, requires you to live there at least 6 months and a day along with a few other factors.  So, if your home goes up in value 10% in one year, the most the county would increase your property is 3% if it is homesteaded.  This can save you lots of money over time!

So, how do you predict what your taxes will likely be after the purchase.  First, I find the county office is not always the best place to get this information.  Depending on who you talk to you might get the wrong information, perhaps leading you to a decision on home purchase not based on reality.  Often, the county will overstate the taxes and often won’t answer the question because they don’t know what the millage rate will be or some other reason.

The best way I find is to have your realtor identify a similar house that sold the prior year and was reassessed.  Their tax number will likely give you a strong foundation for predicting what your taxes will be after closing.

The post What Is The Cost Of Ownership Of A Waterfront Home in Punta Gorda Isles and Burnt Store Isles?  Part 2 TAXES appeared first on Sailboat Home Listings.

Let’s start with an example of insurance costs.  By example, here were the insurance costs from a home I sold in July 2020 on 5011 Captiva Court in Punta Gorda Isles.  This home was a fixer upper built in 1982, 2169sf under air, 3/2/2 with pool.  Reading directly from the Declaration Page with St. Johns Insurance for coverage between April 2020 and April 2021:

Total basic premium for homeowners $3,247 (without wind mitigation credits)

There was a wind mitigation credit (more on that later) of $1,503 plus an additional $44 for having an Alarm or Fire Protection Credit.

With a few additional incidental charges and the credit, the homeowners policy premium was $2010.  That is a very good number!  Included in this number was protection for hurricane damage with a small deductible.  As such, you do not need a third policy for hurricane coverage like some areas.  The two insurances you need here are homeowners and flood insurance.

Important to know that the Wind Mitigation Credit was huge because the home had met most of the requirements which includes hurricane shutters, nail patterns on roof decking and many other factors.  The Wind Mit is something that you will need to have done as soon as you put a home under contract.  This is the only way you can know what your real insurance costs will be.

Flood Insurance

It is imperative that you know this cost during your inspection phase of the purchase.  Just in case the cost of flood is astronomical.  However, that is very unlikely!

For the subject house, Flood insurance was a modest $1,787.  This is based on the measured flood elevation of the home when compared to what is prescribed by FEMA.  The prescribed amount of elevation for a home can be found in the Charlotte County Tax Records, www.ccappraiser.com  Just put in the property address and you will find what the required elevation height of the home was at the time of the original building of the home.

IMPORTANT:  I always establish what flood insurance costs are during the due diligence period (where your escrow money is refundable) just in case the home was built below the prescribed elevation.  I have only seen this once in my 20 year career as a realtor in Punta Gorda.  Also, its important to know that many of the oldest waterfront homes were built at a very low elevation and the flood costs might be a factor in your decision making.  Homes in the 1960’s and some in the early 70’s may have higher flood insurance costs.  You will always know what your are getting working with me.  I am an expert in waterfront home purchases and know the ropes.

Very Important:  Most often the flood insurance policies and sometimes homeowners policies can be transferred from seller to buyer.  This is a big deal!  The seller has to sign a simple document agreeing to it and normally will save you lots of money.

The post What Is The Cost Of Ownership Of A Waterfront Home in Punta Gorda Isles and Burnt Store Isles?  Part 1 INSURANCE COSTS appeared first on Sailboat Home Listings.

That is the question most often asked when considering a purchase in Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Englewood and general southwest Florida with insurance costs a close second. The short answer on estimating taxes is to find a similar home that was recently purchased in the same area that has a new established tax base which can be found on the Charlotte County’s property appraiser’s website under tax records, (ccappraiser.com), when inserting a property address. Finding an exact comparable home to yours under consideration  is not always so easy as there is such a variety in homes, locations and neighborhoods and would take a good amount of research to find.   However, if you know of a house that is similar to the one you are considering buying that sold let’s say in 2015, you should be able to see its new tax basis on the 2016 tax rolls.  Depending on market conditions your taxes may go up a little bit or stay about the same after your home is reappraised.  Every time a house is sold it is reappraised.  This is a common practice in most states in the U.S.

The county’s goal is to apply a fair appraisal of the property based on similar home sales in the same general location.  However, their “mathematical formulations” work, in creating a fair assessment environment they must adjust for homes that sold extremely cheap and for those that sold over market value, in order to determine fair market value.  There are many other considerations that are factored in as you will discover if you read this entire blog.

If you want to cut to the chase and skip the fine details below provided primarily by the county you can go to the last paragraphs for Capt. Chuck’s insight into the topic.  However, this information below is provided directly from the county’s website and is worth reading.

If you call the county to find out what they predict will be the taxes:  BEWARE!  I say this because often who you speak with may tell you they can’t really tell you or perhaps who you talk to will give you an estimate that is wrong.  Sounds crazy but I am speaking from experience and have had customers call and get estimates of the predicted taxes that were much higher than they actually turned out to be.

Here’s some valuable information from the county’s website.  You may want to go directly there as they may modify some of this information slightly from time to time, but I think the basics don’t change.

Fair Market Value Is Just (Appraised) Value?

The Supreme Court of Florida has declared “just value” to be legally synonymous to “full cash value” and “fair market value”. Determining the just value of your property is a matter of discovering the most probable price people would pay for it, in the shape it’s in on January 1, Florida’s valuation date. That is the Property Appraiser’s job.

However, it is no small task, nor a simple matter, since just value must be determined for every piece of property in Charlotte County each year. In fact, values must be established for over 210,000 individual tax roll parcels, including thousands of acres of citrus, pasture and farmland, the buildings and improvements thereon, and thousands of tangible personal property accounts.

In addition to appraising property, over 43,000 homestead exemptions, and an additional 10,000 exemptions, including those granted for religious, charitable, educational or governmental use, as well as widow’s, widower’s and disability must be administered. The appraiser’s office also determines a property’s entitlement to agricultural classification.

Let’s Start with Just Value and Work From There –

To determine the just value of any property, the Property Appraiser must first know what similar properties are selling for, the cost today to replace any improvements on it, how much it takes to operate and keep them in repair, the income it may earn, and many other facts affecting its value, such as the current rate of interest charged for borrowing money to obtain a similar property, either through purchase or construction. Utilizing those facts, the property’s value can be determined employing one or more of three different methods.

The first is to find properties like yours which have recently sold. However, their selling prices must be analyzed carefully to get the true picture. One property may have sold for more than it was really worth because the buyer was in a hurry to occupy it and would pay any price to get in. Another may have sold for less than it was actually worth because the owner needed cash right away so was willing to sell to the first buyer making an offer. Using this approach – comparing selling prices of properties similar to yours – the Property Appraiser must always consider such over or under pricing to arrive at a fair valuation of your property.

The second is based on how much money it would take, at current material and labor costs, to replace your property with one just like it. If an improvement is not new, the amount of depreciation must also be determined.

The third & final method is used in addition to the other two if you happen to own property which does, or could provide an income, such as an apartment complex, retail store space or office building. In that case, the Property Appraiser must consider such facts as your revenue, operating expense, insurance, maintenance cost, degree of financial risk incurred by owning the property, and finally, the return most people would expect to receive on that kind of property.

Why Appraised Value Changes From Year To Year?

When market value changes, naturally so does appraised (just) value. For instance, if you were to increase the total market value of your property by building a swimming pool in your backyard, the appraised value will increase proportionately. Similarly, should your property’s value be decreased by unrepaired fire or storm damage, the appraised value will decrease to reflect the downward effect on your property’s market value. In addition, the entire community’s economy, as well as the forces of supply and demand, will affect your property’s appraised value.

The Property Appraiser does not create this value. There is simply a legal responsibility to determine it as it exists and value the property accordingly. Buyers and sellers set value by their transactions in the market place.

Have questions, contact: rp@ccappraiser.com or (941) 743-1498.

Save Our Homes (SOH) And Its Effect On Assessed Value –

Save Our Homes (SOH) limits annual increases in assessed value on property receiving homestead exemption. Accordingly, “assessed value” and “just (appraised) value” can differ substantially on homestead properties.

In the year following the year in which the property receives homestead exemption, any increase in assessed value, absent new construction, is limited to three (3%) percent, or the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. Any ownership change of homestead property, except those noted in Section 193.155, erases any limitation received due to “SOH”, since the property’s assessed value must be restored to it’s full market (just) value the following January 1. Consequently, prospective purchasers of homestead properties should base their estimate of future property taxes on the current just (market) value, not assessed value. Properties not receiving homestead exemption are not eligible for this limitation.

Appraised Value And The Tax Rate –

As a property owner, you are not only interested in what value the appraiser places on your property, but also in how the amount of taxes you pay is determined.

This is the way it works:
Let’s say the Property Appraiser has found the assessed value of your home to be $75,000. You apply for and receive the homestead exemption, so $25,000 is deducted from your assessed value, leaving a taxable value of $50,000 (due to “Save Our Homes” requirements, your property’s just value could be greater than or equal to assessed value).

Now, let’s assume that the tax rate in your community has been set by the Taxing Authorities (city, county commission, school board, special districts, etc.) at 15 mills. That’s $15.00 in taxes for each $1,000 of taxable value.

Divide your property’s taxable value, $50,000 by $1,000 and the answer is 50.  Multiply that by the tax rate, $15.00 –

$15.00 x 50 = $750.00

That is the amount of “ad valorem” tax due on your home. Your total tax bill may also include non “ad valorem” assessments for services such as garbage collection, road maintenance, and fire protection. Discounts are allowed for prompt payment. If paid in November – 4%, December – 3%, January – 2%, February – 1%.

Differing With The Property Appraiser’s Just Value Appraisal –

If your opinion of your property’s value differs from the Property Appraiser’s, by all means please come in and discuss the matter with us. If you have evidence that our appraisal is more than the actual fair market value of your property on the preceding January 1 appraisal date, we will welcome the opportunity to review all pertinent facts. However, please keep in mind that although values are estimated as of January 1, notice of those values is not mailed until mid to late August, almost eight (8) months after the valuation date.

The information provided above is subject to change and the only true source of accurate information is Charlotte County.

In Short What Does This All Mean?

The Charlotte County Appraisers Office has tried to create a system of fairness in determining any type of homes taxes.  As you can see there are many considerations and variables that come into play.  It would be nice if there was a simple formula, sort of, a one size fits all but measuring a waterfront home with access to the Gulf of Mexico compared to a ranch in the eastern portion of the county versus a modest inland home, you can see this could never work.  Basing the taxes on a purchase price is not what the county does, but in my opinion, I believe it is hard for the appraiser’s office to ignore a selling price.

Does the Just Value, Appraised Value, Fair Market Value or whatever you want to call it, truly tell you what the home is worth and perhaps more importantly, guide you on how to make an offer on a home?  Generally speaking. I find that this figure identified in the county tax record more often is less than its true market value.  This is from my perspective as a professional realtor with over 15 years of experience.  The good news is, this means your tax basis is lower!  There are some cases where it is dead on (in my opinion) and sometimes way off – generally way below the asking price on a home.  As such, it is a confusing number to base an offering price on.  Only your realtor, with many years of experience can truly guide you to understanding a house’s value.  Give Chuck a call at 941-628-8040 and let’s get you a fantastic deal on a home in paradise!

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