Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt, P.A.

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While mothers across the country are hoping to receive flowers, cards or gifts on Sunday for Mother’s Day, a very special group of women will receive keys to a new Habitat home in Cape Coral. These moms are the recipients of a home built or rehabbed through Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry Counties, Inc. (“Habitat”) Women Build project. Women Build encourages women to make a difference by building or rehabbing homes and helping Habitat with its home-building mission.

Habitat Women Build is a perfect fit for Giving Alliance of Women (“GAW”), a non profit organization serving Cape Coral, Florida since 1973. GAW is a component of the Cape Coral Community Foundation, consisting of a group of women involved with philanthropy in the Cape Coral community. These women, pictured above, formed a team and raised $5,000 to participate in Habitat’s 2012 Women Build.  (Front row, left to right: Tyra Read, Jennifer Coleman, Claire Avery, ToniRae Hurley, Rebecca Ross; back row: Tiffany Cleland, Mary Margaret Embroli-Swanson, Cindy Stratton.)Continue Reading Habitat Women Build in Cape Coral, Florida – Helping Families and the Local Real Estate Market

In prior posts, we mentioned the basic timing of the property tax system in Florida. As a reminder, important dates to keep in mind are:

  • January 1: all property in the State must be assessed based on its condition on that particular date (I like to call this the “snapshot photo” date);
  • March 1: the general deadline to submit exemption applications;
  • July 1: local property appraisers generally have their values determined;
  • Mid-August: TRIM notices are mailed to inform property owners of their proposed assessment and tax bill for that year;
  • September: 25 days from the date of mailing the TRIMs, the appeal period expires if you want to appeal through the Value Adjustment Board; and,
  • November: taxes can be paid for the greatest discount.

Which begs the question, “what can I do now if I’m thinking about my property taxes but haven’t paid attention to these dates?” Here are 5 quick things you can be doing:
Continue Reading 5 Things You Can Do Now to Prepare for 2012 Property Taxes

My colleague, Sharon Zuccaro, previously blogged about Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes on Florida Homeowner Association (“HOA”) Disclosures. As Sharon pointed out, sellers of homes within HOAs are not required to deliver copies of the HOA’s governing documents to purchasers, but are required to provide a Disclosure form. The Condominium Act provides different disclosure requirements for non-developer sellers of condominium units.

Disclosure Required

The buyer of a condominium unit from an individual is entitled to receive copies of certain governing documents at the seller’s expense, if the buyer so requests in writing.  If such request is made, the buyer may cancel the contract for the sale of a condominium unit within 3 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays after the contract was executed by the buyer and the buyer has received a current copy of the declaration of condominium, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and rules of the association, a copy of the most recent year-end financial report and frequently asked questions and answers document, and a copy of the condominium governance form prepared by the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes.Continue Reading Required Disclosures to Buyers of Resale Condominium Units in Florida

George Wheeler is a 30 year employee with the Florida Department of Revenue. He currently serves as IDP Administrator in Classified Use Administration. His responsibilities as Senior Appraiser at DOR include the areas of agriculture/greenbelt, conservation, and working waterfront.

Since a recent article in the Florida Land Development News about property taxation and potential exemptions, we have received numerous questions about the treatment of conservation lands for ad valorem taxation. We first ran into this issue some time ago, and had the pleasure of working with George Wheeler with the Florida Department of Revenue to determine the best option for the landowner in that case. For this blog post, we imposed on George again and he was kind enough to chat with us about this rather misunderstood area of property taxation.Continue Reading Thoughts on Ad Valorem Assessment of Conservation Lands: A Conversation with George Wheeler