Gulf Coast Associates' Blog: Around Florida

The governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, set up a Board known as the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to search for answers to provide real estate tax relief for Floridians. Real Estate Tax Reform is a true issue for both new, and current, residents of the state. Every registered voter in our State should pay close attention to this measure and the relief it will afford us for moving "up or down" from an existing residence, as should new residents purchasing homes in our state.

For the past few months we've been working with the Honorable Ken Wilkinson, the Lee County Property Appraiser, regarding legislative action to permit homesteaded owners to take up to $400,000 of their current homesteaded tax value with them when they purchase "upwards" and 50%…

With Hurricane season officially underway, we thought it would be good reminder for those home buyers getting close to closing on their recent Florida purchases to remember two very important homeowner and flood insurance facts:

• If you're going to need flood insurance on your home and haven't gotten it in place yet, you're going to have to wait 30 days for the policy to go into effect. Once the season starts, you are locked out of coverage for a month from the time you apply. The lone exclusion to the 30 day rule, is if you are getting a mortgage and the lender requires flood coverage to close on the loan.
• If you wait till the last minute to get your homeowner's or flood policies and a named storm pops up, you may have to delay your closing…