Open Press Room

For those homeowners who have decided to put in upgrades to your homes, I warn you to beware. With the recent home value increase, you could unwittenly get yourself in some large tax problems.

I recently put in a swimming pool on my property in South Florida. I did not find out until later that my home, which was homesteaded, now had an almost double in my tax bill. I have literally screwed myself for putting in a pool.

After purchasing our home prior to the recent rise in real estate, the state of Florida allows home owners to put in for a homestead exemption. This means that if you live in your house, the most the city can raise your property taxes is 3% a year.

My assessed home value was $185,000 dollars. I now put in a pool for $30,000. I realized that I would have an increase in my home value $30,000 for the upgrade. What I did not know was that this opened the door for the city to completely reassess my entire home value! What this means is that my house now is assessed for $380,000. This is the cost of the house being assessed at current values and the pool.

This is completely wrong and should be looked at again. My taxes have now almost doubled. What homeowner can afford this?