What is the “Save Our Homes” Amendment?
Video Summary
What is the Save Our Homes Amendment? It is an amendment to the Florida Constitution that caps the annual increase in the assessed value of your home. Whenever you apply for homestead exemption, you receive the Save Our Homes assessment. This keeps your tax bill from rising, as a result of the assessment, by no more than three percent in any particular year. Your assessment is capped at the cost of living increase or three percent, whichever is less. These past few years it’s been very, very small. (This amendment has been in effect, I think, since 1996 or ’98.) But anytime that you apply for a homestead exemption, you’re entitled to the Save Our Homes Amendment which locks in your assessed valuation for the year in which you apply for homestead exemption.
They’ve added a feature to this amendment which allows you to transfer your exemption if you buy another home in Florida- that’s called portability. You have to buy a home within two years in order to be able to transfer your Save Our Homes Amendment valuation to your new property. (There’s a formula that is pro rata if you’re upsizing or downsizing on how they calculate the benefits you have.) If you’ve been a resident of Florida for some time, you’re able to transfer it if you buy another property here in Florida and sell your old property. You do have to notify the property appraiser that you do wish to use portability in transferring your Save Our Homes assessment.
So it caps your assessment and was passed back in the ‘90’s whenever we had fast depreciation, particularly in waterfront property. People who were on fixed income were getting priced out of their homes because they couldn’t afford to pay the taxes. So, they passed this amendment in order to keep people in their homes and not have the tax bill go so high that they couldn’t afford to stay in their homes. The longer you stay in your home, the better you’ll like it. Of course, with the recent decline in property values, the value of Save Our Homes has diminished substantially, but it’s always a nice in a depreciated market. If you buy now, you’ll love it if you stay in the same house, hopefully in about five or six years when the prices take off again.
So if you have any questions about the Save Our Homes Amendment, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Real Estate - Foreclosure, Videos
Do I Need to Keep Corporate Minutes?
Video Summary
Do I need to keep my corporate minutes? Yes, you do need to keep your corporate minutes, which consist of your shareholder minutes and also your director minutes. If you want to be considered a corporation and be limited or shielded from liability for the corporate acts as a shareholder or an officer of the corporation, you need to have these minutes and you need to have them in the corporate record book annually. They should also correspond with the annual report that you file with the Secretary of State which goes through the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, director and resident agent.
You need to be sure that you have corporate minutes that reflect the shareholders met and elected directors. Then you need to have director’s minutes that they met and elected or appointed directors, and also ratified or approved substantial matters involving the corporation that the president may have done. This is true even if you’re a one man band and you just have one shareholder and you’re the chief cook and bottle washer. You still need to do your corporate minutes if you wish your business to be treated as a corporation rather than a sole proprietorship and the shareholders be limited on their liability. If you don’t have a corporate book and you don’t have corporate minutes and if you haven’t issued any stock, well, you’re just fooling yourself in that you really don’t have any protection from liability.
So if you set up your own corporation and you don’t have any corporate minutes, well, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in LLC's and Corporations, Videos
When Can I Apply for a Homestead Exemption?
Video Summary
When can I apply for a homestead exemption? You can apply as soon as you become the owner of the property and become a permanent resident of the state of Florida and move into the property that you purchase. When you make application, you’re applying for the next calendar year, so if you buy a property in 2012 and you move into the property and you own it, you can apply at any time up until March 1, 2013 for homestead exemption.
There are two exemptions. One exemption is for the first $25,000.00, which exempts about $500.00 in taxes. There’s an additional $25,000.00 exemption with the assessed value between $50,000.00 and $75,000.00 and that exempts everything but school taxes, which will save you approximately $300.00. So, you can apply as soon as you have your recorded deed or to show that the proof of ownership – you occupy the property and you’re a permanent resident in the state of the Florida.
How do you show that you’re a resident of the state of Florida? Get a Florida driver’s license. That’s the first step, which I understand’s not particularly easy anymore with all the identification you need (but that’s a topic for another video I guess) and also if you register to vote, that’s another good indication.
You can’t have any homestead exemptions from any other state, if you own property in more than one state. However, you can apply as soon as possible, but it’s for the following year. If you have any more questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Real Estate, Videos
How Do I Apply for a Homestead Exemption?
Video Summary
How do I apply for a homestead exemption? A homestead exemption is what exempts up to $50,000.00 of your property taxes in Florida from taxation. $25,000.00 of your exemption does not exempt it from school taxes. It’s on the assessed value between $50,000.00 and $75,000.00. How do you apply?
You’ll go to the property appraiser’s office and sign an application showing your ownership and further swearing that you are a resident of the state of Florida, show them your Florida driver’s license. A Florida driver’s license would prove that you’re a resident and your address. Then, you simply sign the application, under oath, that you occupy the property, that it was your homestead property as of December 31st of the prior year and that you own the property. You’re not able to apply for a homestead exemption for, let’s say, 2012 if you purchase a house January 2, 2012. It would not be eligible for a homestead exemption until 2013.
You can apply at any time. You don’t have to wait until after the 1st of the year to apply for homestead exemption, and you have up until March 1, 2013 or March 1st of each year to apply for homestead exemption for that particular year. How do you apply? You contact the property appraiser’s office and fill out the application saying that you’re not a resident or have exemption in any other state and show that you’re the owner of the property (there are various forms of ownership, as far as that’s concerned, whether it’s being under an agreement per deed).
It doesn’t matter whether you have a mortgage on it. It would be helpful if you had your deed to show them that you’re the owner of the property. If the owner is husband and wife, I believe only one- either the husband or the wife can apply for the homestead exemption. As far as I know– and certainly in Pasco County, you cannot apply online. I’m not sure if there are any other counties in Florida that have an alternate way of applying for a homestead exemption, other than going to the property appraiser’s office, filling out the information and signing under oath. In Pasco County, Mike Wells is currently the property appraiser. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.
- Published in Videos
Who Qualifies for a Homestead Exemption?
Video Summary
Who qualifies for homestead exemption? First, homestead exemption is something that you apply for before January 1st of any year which you wish to obtain homestead exemption. The application must be made on or before March 1st of a particular year. By way of example, if you bought a home December 23, 2011, and you moved into the home, then you could apply for a homestead exemption in 2012, and you have until March 1 of 2012. Now, in order to be qualified, besides owning and occupying the property, you must be a Florida resident.
You cannot be a resident of another state and have two homestead exemptions. And you have to put this on the application- that you don’t have homestead in any other state. In order to qualify for homestead exemption, you have to own the home prior to December 31st of the preceding year and you must be a resident of the state of Florida and occupy the property. You cannot have two homesteads, whether they be in Florida or another state. Our property appraiser, Mike Wells, researches this and will disqualify you for your homestead exemption if you have an exemption in another state and there are substantial penalties involved, also.
From time to time folks want to know, “Can I get a homestead on the property here and my wife get a homestead on a property up north?” I don’t suggest your trying to do that- it may fail. If you’re a husband and wife, then you’re considered a family unit, and they may not allow the above. You also would not want to have to defend your actions if they found out later on. You would need to discuss that with the property appraiser at the time you apply for homestead exemption, whether here in Pasco County, or with any property appraiser.
So, in order to get a homestead exemption, be sure you’re a resident in the state of Florida and you’ve owned the property prior to the year you apply. If you bought the property on January 2, 2012, you can’t get homestead exemption until 2013. One last note is that you can apply for homestead exemption as soon as you get the property, up until March 1 of the following year. If you have any questions, call me at (727) 847-2288. Thank you.
- Published in Real Estate, Videos