In the last couple of weeks all Palm Beach County property owners received their proposed property tax bill for 2017. Most people take a quick glance at the bottom line of what it could be when the final bill is released in November or worse they don’t look at it at all. If you are not reviewing your proposed tax bill immediately, you could be costing yourself 100s or possibly thousands of dollars.  What most people don’t realize is if there is a missing exemption, if your property is misclassified,  or you feel the market value assessed by the county appraiser is too high, then you may be paying more than you should.

The county and the cities in Palm Beach County adopt a budget for community services like, schooling, police, fire, etc. Each property owner then pays their equitable share based on their property value. The Market Value in this case is what the Palm Beach County property appraiser’s office believes your property would sell for as of January 2017. From that number you receive credits called exemptions such as homestead, veteran, widow are subtracted from the property value to arrive at a taxable value. The taxable value is then applied to a multiplier called the millage rate to compute your property tax. If you filed those exemptions or any other qualifying exemptions by the appropriate deadline, you may be able to reduce your property tax bill. So you have three items to review before contesting your property tax bill; 1) Does the market value seem to be in the ball park 2) Are all of my qualified exemptions being credited to me and 3) Is my property classified correctly?

If the answer to any those questions is no, then you have a couple of options to dispute your property tax bill. Your first line of defense is to contact the property appraiser’s office at one of the following numbers:

North County 561-624-6521
Main Office 561-355-3230
South County 561-276-1250
Mid-County 561-784-1220
West County 561-996-4890.

When speaking to the county property appraisers office advise of the information that you believe is inaccurate. If the property appraisers office is unable to resolve your dispute, your next course of action is to file a petition with the Clerk of Value Adjustment Board. You must file this petition on or before 5:00 PM September 15, 2017, and pay a $15.00 filing fee to be heard. Assuming you have filed your petition in timely manner, then you will be scheduled for a hearing to make your case as to why your property value should be adjusted.

Click the following link to to download a pdf of the petition. Petition.

Remember you only have until September 15, 2017 5:00 PM to take action.

Recent reports state rent is increasing at a rate of 8% year. On a $1,900 rent payment, that is an extra $152.00 per month at renewal time.

With vacancies at a near all time low, property managers are also becoming stingy with incentives (free month, free move, etc) for tenants. The cost of housing has the biggest impact on household budgets. While renting has its appeal to some, there are a few drawbacks. Most importantly when you are renting, your rent will continually increase year over year and in many parts of the country the rental rates are increasing faster than income rates. The disparate impact on household budgets makes it more difficult if not impossible to save towards owning your own home. The other major road block is home prices are increasing. Even at a modest 3% price increase every year your cash requirement and monthly payment will continue to increase year over year. Therefore renters are getting penalized on both sides of the equation as time goes on; higher rent costs and higher barriers of entry to home ownership. There are tremendous benefits to home ownership. One of the most beneficial is gaining control of your cost of housing. As a homeowner, you are no longer subject to the neck breaking cost increases of housing. While you may have nominal increases in property taxes an homeowners insurance in future years; those increase are pale in comparison to the increases in rents and property values.

If you are considering owning a home or need an action plan to purchase your own home, contact our real estate agents Delray Beach. Our Delray Beach real estate agents can assist in developing a personalized action plan, locating potential properties to own, securing financing, and navigating you through the process of becoming a home owner.

Still looking for an idea of what you may be able to afford? Utilize the affordability calculator below. No personal identifying information is required. Just enter your gross (before taxes) household income, your monthly debt expenses(credit card minimums, car payments, student loans, etc.) and down payment amount.

Do NOT include your current rent, utilities, or health care costs in the Monthly Debt Expenses.

Affordability Calculator

Home loan programs are enabling long time renters to become home owners. With rent on the rise, now is the time to consider purchasing a home.

• First Time Home Buyer Programs
• Low Down Payment Home Loans
• Closing Cost Assistance Plans
• Secure Hassle Free Financing