Notices of Proposed Property Taxes

Mid-August you will be receiving your TRIM notices. Along with that you will be receiving your Notices of Proposed Non-Ad Valorem Assessments.

Your TRIM notice will tell you, a taxpayer, what your actual 2008 ad valorem taxes were, along with market values, assessed values, exemptions and taxable values and what is proposed for the year 2009.

The Non-Ad Valorem Notice will list the Levying Authorities along with their proposed assessments, the purpose of them, contact information and the dates, times and places of their budget hearings.

You may contest market values and exemption denials in several ways.

1. Contact the Property Appraiser and request an informal conference to discuss these issues at 941.861.8200
2. File a petition with the Value Adjustment Board no later than 25 days after the TRIM Notice is mailed. You can get a petition form at the following web sites: www.SC-PA.com, www.sarasotaclerk.com, or www.myflorida.com/dor/property.
3. File a civil action in Circuit Court. This can be done even if you don't do steps 1 or 2 but it is highly recommended that you consult a legal professional to help you.

Home Sales & Prices

For the month of June, home sales and prices are up in Sarasota! Inventory levels have again dropped but the length of time it takes to sell a single-family home is over 9 months. Condominiums average is 16 months. Doesn't sound so good however, in May those figures were a lot higher: 14 months for single family homes and 19 months for condominiums.

Here are some sales figures for you according to our local board: 449 single family homes sold and 161 condos, for a total of 610 sales. That was better than the previous month by 20.4% and better than June the previous year!

Median sales price for a single family home for the month of June was $190,000, up from $155,000 the previous month. For condos that figure was $250,000 for June of this year, compared to $181,000 the previous month. Now if you look at sales over the last twelve months, median price for single family homes is at $180,000 and condominiums was $212,000.

According to our local board, pending sales also remain at high levels with 866 properties that went under contract in June of this year.

A contributor to these great figures is the interest in the first-time home buyer credit by the feds of $8,000. This credit does expire on November 30, 2009, so if you are a first-time home buyer NOW is the time to get started with this so you can close before that date.

Inventory for single family homes for the month of June was 4,477 and 2,587 for condos. The overall decline was 10% from the previous month.