Florida Real Estate Blog

Please join us on January 29^th and vote yourself a tax reduction for this year and many more to come. As we go through this month you will see articles written and news bites on TV & Radio discussing this issue. Be aware they speak with fork tongue. What I have seen is they will reference your tax savings as a per year amount and yet when they talk about the cost to government services they will role it up to a 5 year amount.

Very misleading would you agree? Fact is if you look at it their way, you are not saving just $250 a year you are saving $1,250 over 5 years. Who needs that more you or Seminole County? For those of you who choose Seminole think of this. A home recently sold in Rolling Hills area for $388,000. Taxes before the sale where $2,565 after sale same property but the taxes rose to $5,116. That is an increase of $2,551 a year or $12,755 additional tax burden to that home owner over that 5 year time frame.

That homes impact to our county resources such as roads, Fire Department, Police or Teachers was zero. It is wrong and it needs to be reversed.

Then there is the portability issue. Think of it as your reward for long term residence in this great State. It allows your accrued annual savings to move with you to your next home(if down sizing there is a formula to adjust). Today that does not happen. Take for example that home we just talked about. Maggie and I have a savings of $1,729 a year with SOH (Save Our Homes) If we purchased that home our tax burden would be $3,387 not the $5,116. Calculate that out over 5 years we would save $8,645. We need to keep more of our money and reduce the cost to our young families and those of us that are down sizing. This should have been a much bigger tax reduction but it is what it is and we need to.

vote YES on January 29, 2008

Please call me with any questions. Cells best 407-718-0984