The legislature's latest effort seems to have received a collective "Ho-hum" from most of the press. I've scoured the internet and keep running into that same statement:

"... the average homeowner will only realize a savings of about $240 a year...."

$240 a year sure doesn't sound to exciting does it? Where did that figure come from? I haven't found the math yet (and would love to see it if anyone can point me to a source) but I think we need to be careful and not fall for the group-think that often accompanies stories involving taxation and government.

Much has been said about how the current property tax situation is preventing first time buyers from entering the housing market. But I don't buy it, for two reasons.

First, Florida property taxes as a proportion of property values for a first time home buyer has remained relatively constant in recent years. First time home buyers didn't pay property taxes prior to buying a house, so their increase in the taxes they will pay is infinitismal. The problem for first time buyers has more to do with tproperty values that have skyrocketed over the past several years at a pace that ouclipped inflation, and therefore wages.

But that ties into my second reason for not buying into the blame being heaped on property taxes, and that's because we sold a lot of homes to first time buyers back in '05 and '06, and the propertry taxes and values they were paying then are in some cases higher than those that they would pay now. That's a clear signal (to me anyway) that first time buyers are really not that price sensitive when it comes to property taxes.

I think the bigger story (that's not being reported in the press) is that this portability clause will motivate move-up buyers to make a move that they had otherwise resisted, and these buyers stand to gain considerably more than this $240 average amount that I keep seeing. I'll discuss that in my next blog entry.