Melbourne Area Blog

The Taxation and Budget Reform Committee (which meets once every twenty years) has voted to put another property tax change on the November Ballot.

This amendment would in effect cut property taxes by approximately 25% and replace the revenue with a 1 cent sales tax hike. In the past Florida voter's have voted down any sales tax hike, however with the slowing economy it may stand a chance.

The 25% property tax cut would do away with the portion of property taxes the state requires school districts to levy in order to qualify for state funds. This would require the legislature to to replace the education funds by increasing the sales tax 1 cent, closing sales tax loopholes, cutting the budget or any combination of these three.

There will be two more votes on this proposal before it will actually clear the committee to be put on the ballot.

In the past 6 - 8 weeks we have seen sales increase in Brevard County.

Last year when the market slowed down, to see 8 - 12 listings go under contract daily was fairly normal. Now in the past two months it is encouraging to see 20, 30 and even 40+ listings go under contract on a daily basis.

The buyers are there and are out looking, although many are sitting on the fence waiting for prices to continue to drop.

I have had two listings go under contract and as soon as they did, I had calls wanting to know how strong the offer was because a buyer really wanted the home. One of my buyer's found the house that they  loved, but decided to wait a while. Well, that home ended up being leased for a year. Another lost opportunity.

My advice is if you find the home that you want, make an offer! Yes, there are many homes on the market to choose from, but if you see the one that you want, go for it!

Today is the final day to file a new homestead exemption on homes purchased last year.

The new "portability" exemption was scheduled to be due today also, however due to the short time period this deadline has been extended. There is no set date as of yet. The Property Appraiser will be mailing out notices within the next two weeks to those who have sold a homesteaded home in 2007 -b 2008.