Can I Transfer My Homestead Exemption?

 

Video Summary

Can a homestead exemption be transferred to another piece of property? The simple answer is no, you cannot. However, when you purchase a different property you can apply for a homestead exemption on that property. If you sell your property after January 1 of a year in which you have homesteaded your property, the purchaser of the property will benefit from your homestead exemption for that calendar year.

You can, however, transfer your “Save Our Homes” assessed value to another home in the state of Florida. This process can be complicated but we would be happy to help. Please call us at (727) 847-2288.

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What is Tax Proration?

 

Video Summary

Hi. I’m Chip Waller. I’m a board-certified real-estate attorney and I have closed approximately 15,000 real-estate transactions in my 38-year career. I’m often asked, in conjunction with the closing, what do you mean by tax proration?

A tax proration is whereby the seller pays their share of the taxes at closing. In Florida your tax year runs from January 1 to December 31st; however, the tax bill does not come out until November for the current year’s taxes. So the taxes are being paid in arrears. So if you have a closing on, say, July 1, which is the halfway point in the year, the seller would give a credit to the buyer on the closing statement for one half of the taxes. That’s usually based upon the prior year’s tax bill, and care must be given to determine whether or not there’s still a Homestead Exemption on the property or just what the taxes will be.

Many times there is a tax re-proration agreement entered into between the buyer and the seller, wherein they agree that if the taxes increase or decrease, the parties will go back and do the math to determine who received more or less of the tax bill payment as far as that is concerned, and so the buyer will be responsible for paying the taxes when the bill comes out in a real-estate closing unless the closing takes place after November 1, and the entire tax bill can be collected from both the buyer and the seller and be paid from closing.

Also, if you have an institution owner, many times they will require the taxes to be escrowed and be included in your mortgage payments so that they can be paid, but this does not affect the proration between the buyer and the seller.

If you’re interested in having me represent you in conjunction with the purchase or sale of your property, please give me a call at (727) 847-2288. Thank you.

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What Does Homestead Mean?

Video Summary

Legislation related to the term “homestead” is set forth in multiple parts of the Florida state constitution. A component of these laws relates to real estate exemption. Here are some details of Florida’s homestead laws:

– A homeowner can exempt the first $25,000 of the assessed value of the home.

– In Pasco County, this would save someone roughly $500 in taxes.

– The second $25,000 of the home’s value ($25,001 – $50,000) is fully taxes.

– The third $25,000 of the home’s value ($50,001 – $75,000) is exempt from all taxes except for school tax.

– In Pasco County, this would save someone roughly $300 in taxes.

– The “Save Our Homes” amendment states that the assessed value of a house cannot increase annually by more than 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less.

– The exemption also provides a protection from creditors so that they cannot attempt to collect on a debt from the value of the house.

Who qualifies for the Homestead Exemption?

 

– You must be a Florida resident.

– You must own the property in question by December 31 of the year for which you will claim exemption.

– You must occupy the property as your primary residence.

– You must apply for the exemption by March 1 of the year following the year for which you will claim exemption.

If you have questions regarding the homestead laws and how to protect your property, call the Law Offices of Waller & Mitchell at (727) 847-2288 today.

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What is an Easement?

 

Video Summary

 

I represent many real estate owners who many times do not understand or know what an easement is, and usually they see an easement on their survey of their property, which is a dashed line. Well, an easement is a right of someone else to use your property. Most of the time, it represents the right of a utility company or a public utility to use a portion of your property to run their utility lines, and it’s a defined area on your property that they have a right to use.

 

Other times, it’s for the right for ingress and egress or a driveway or access to the property. In that case, you have what they call a burdened property, where the easement runs across someone’s property, and that’s called a burdened property. And then, you have the benefitted property, which is the property who is going to benefit or gets to use the burden property to gain access to the property. So, easements have two parts; the people who have the burden or the easement that encumbers their property; and then you have the benefit, which is the people or the persons or entities who have a right to use the property.

 

That’s an overview of easements. They’re much more complicated than that, but that’s a brief explanation of easements. If you have any other questions about the title to your property, please give me a call at (727) 847-228. Thank you.

 

 

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