Eye on Miami reporter Gimleteye calls it "Contaminated Data" and looks at the larger implications. I just find it wacko that the Florida Department of Revenue will not allow counties in Florida to count distressed sales which means the entire State of Florida’s Property Appraisers are not counting half the properties changing ownership in their assessments under the guise of distressed. Worse it is not uniform, in Miami-Dade ALL foreclosures are distressed but in Broward County it is SOME foreclosures. In Broward County they post the distressed sale price and date in their public records, but they put a “D” next to the price signifying it is a distressed sale. Any property that is deemed distressed is not counted but at least Broward’s records are accurate. Miami-Dade County will not post any information related to the sale, except the buyer, creating inaccurate records. Look at the graphic at left and I will explain why, in Miami Dade there is little accuracy.County Commissioner Natacha Seijas (yes her name is spelled wrong in official records) bought a house in December 2008. How do I know this? Because I looked at her financial disclosure form. As you can see, in the graphic, I would NOT know this from the Property Appraiser records. I would assume she bought it in 2006 and paid $360,000 instead of the accurate information of 2008 for $225,000. If I looked up the records by the identifying numbers, I would get the old sales information, they are not correct either.
As a reporter (okay I am taking liberties here) who values accuracy, I would be reporting wrong information if I base it on County Records. This ties my hands. I cannot go out into the outskirts of our cities seeking property turnover information. I will not know if the property has turned over. I cannot look for trends, to see if developers have had to dump properties. I cannot track anything with accuracy in Miami Dade County but if I reported in Broward County, I could.
Currently, the Seijas property is assessed at $320,822 but she only paid $225,000 so her assessment won’t change as much as it would in Broward County. Broward counts some foreclosures in their assessments, those put on multiple listings and advertised. Miami Dade doesn’t county any. Each County in the State is able to set their own rules so don’t look for any uniform accurate records. Read Gimleteye's post July 24th for the far reaching implications.
P.S. If you want to find Natacha's records at the Property Appraiser, key in Sejaz but to find her records at the Miami Dade County Clerk's office you had better use Millan, Natacha S. Go figure, same deed.
17 comments:
Thank you so much or the info.I started following your blog recently and I love it. I bought a foreclosure in brickell listed on the MLS ( open market) for 109,000. I just checked and it has my name and the price paid for in 2006for 340,000!!! It means I paid more than 3 times the price I paid. Similar units have been selling close to the price I paid, this is outrageous what they are doing.The assesed value will end up being completly inflated. I will be paying taxes at least 2 to 3 times more than I should and in addition they want to increase the milleage!!! I AM CALLING MY ATTORNEY FIRST THING ON MONDAY!
Simple logic, at best (for the taxman) the appraisals of the entire county went down 9.5%. If the millage remains the same as last year everyone will get a 9.5% reduction in their taxes.
YEAH RIGHT!!!!
Flawed system, flawed numbers and flawed administration. Miami-Dade County is overtaxing everyone. This is a class action lawsuit and the county is conspiring to keep real estate sales inflated on false assumptions.
What a friggin shell game. It's blatant dishonesty - is the Florida state law really aimed to let local jurisdications outright lie? If a property sells in 2009 for 100K then why isn't that information represented accurately? It doesn't mean the county tax man has to tax the property at 100K but for pete's sake, the transaction itself should be noted and truthful. I watch properties around me in foreclosure city ( aka North Miami ) and have seen alot of changes made on certain properties long after the actual sale/transaction. Names added, names changed, the prices changed.....I'm glad you're helping to expose this ugly lie.
People buy homes now are really screwed. Your taxes are going to go up and your still stuck at bubble tax levels. Federal government still subsidies real estate which it shouldn't. Nobody else is going to apprive 3% down loans. Why is the federal government still doing it?
And all these folks thought a democratically elected appraiser would solve our problems (our collective IQs would have to jump at least 25 points for that to happen).... HA!!!!
FYI I Didn't vote for Garcia or Margolis.
Funny.
The Property Appraiser is following State law. The law wasn't designed as much to protect local government as it was to protect property owners. Remember our state is founded on the fantasy that land prices NEVER go down. Not including distressed homes protects neighboring property owners who would be screaming mad that they just lost all their equity because someone was upside down on their mortgage.
Stop seeing conspiracies everywhere.
I read just the facts. Seems like you are misguided: Didn't see any conspiracy nonsense in this post.
The fact is that misleading information is being posted on an official website as the basis for taxation of our properties. Our county is using old inaccurate data in order to cut their losses and continue raking in the same amount of money they got when the prices went sky high.
If they do not want to use "distressed" property values to calculate taxes thats fine. But using inflated prices that do not reflect the present value of the house is plain and simple dishonesty.
I'm sure many individuals who just bought homes recently are going to have the surprise of their lives when they realize that their budget should have included taxes three times higher than the price they paid. I guess another wave of foreclosures will come our way.
I too wish there was a way to make our local government accountable for their irresponsible use of taxpayer money. Enough is enough.
I would love to know what the law states. I would assume they would require fair market value which would consider an arms length transaction. Not sure why a bank selling the property would not be considered arms length.
Also conspiracy or not I do not think basing appraisals and taxes on false values is helpful. Kind of thinking that led us down this road. I do think the basis for a possible lawsuit assuming assessments are significantly higer than price one could sell for (I would just put it up for sale see what bids come in over three months and then challenge the assessment when highest off is within 5 - 10% +/- of what you paid (not the prior sale price). And housing continues to depreciate.
There is a fix for Miami: DILB
DO IT LIKE BROWARD
At least they aren't posting wrong information. Once the new name is inserted, the old information must be removed.
Bought a bank foreclosure in Miami Shores for $109K in 2/2009. Last sold in 5/2006 for $430K, probably mortage fraud. Obviously they had no problem figuring in those fraudulent sales.
I put up the house for sale at $185K, over 40% BELOW the 2008 tax assessment of $352K. After 3 month on the market I had 4 calls, 2 showings and zero offers on the house.
Miami-Dade is falsifying public records. Is that legal? They are making arbitrary tax assessments way above fair market value. Is that legal? Does anybody have an idea if an legal action against the county would have a chance to succeed?
I am going to pay about $8K in taxes on a $109K house. I am basically renting the place from Miami-Dade county. Plus I have to pay insurance and repairs. It would be cheaper to rent from a landlord. This tax rate really amounts to confiscation by taxation.
I bought my property in foreclosure last September and at one point in time, the sales record was accurate. However, about 2 months ago is when I noticed that the information had changed and that our sale price was no longer on record, but rather the previous sale. When I contacted the appraiser's office their only response was that the record was NOT qualified and really could not give me any other reason eventhough I told them that their records are misleading and false. That's why my father and I contacted Jackie Buenososa at the Herald. I really do hope that the negative press the MD appraiser's office is receiving will make them change their ways. I also find it very ironic that one of the county's own, Natasha Seijas is being affected by this. I wonder if she is even aware that her record is also flawed? Also Patrick, where in public record is that you find the financial disclosure form? I couldn't find it on the MD portal.
In Bridgeport Connecticut, we saw the same thing. We bought a place that was assessed at $80,000 (1986 Bubble Price) for $20,000 in 1995.
As 'innocent pollyannas'we went to city Hall and said: "Lower my taxes" Hahahaha!
We paid the 80K assess tax until the mayor Joseph Ganim went to prison for kickbacks. He's stilldoing his time (about 9 years)
He wanted to be gov.
The inflated taxes push property into a 'death spiral'...the higher the taxes the lower the market prices. The gap widens until we arrive at a 'tipping point'...which
is...now, in this present moment.
T
Continued ( sorry GimletEye)
re: Bridgeport Connecticut
History Lesson
"How Bad Can It Get?"
Here's how bad:
Try an annual property tax that is equal to 25% of the market value.
We paid 22K with a prop tax bill of about six grand per annum.
The ethics dept. have the financial disclosure forms.
For the 2008 tax bill, in the worst of the recession, Miami increased the assessed value of my 2br South Beach condo by 200,000.00! (all zero's are accurate!). I had to hire a company to file an appeal for the second year in a row. Now the 2009 bills are being put in the mail, with no decision to date on the pending appeal. Of course, Miami can send you bills with completely made up numbers but still demand payment even though appealing. My mortgage bank paid the bill, and now I am fighting foreclosure. I pay every mortgage payment on time and now because of this ILLEGAL GOVERMENT TAXATION I am in foreclosure. This false taxation has created a cottage industry of appeals services, and if my appeal is successful Im still on the hook for thousands of dollars. WHY CAN OUR GOVERNMENT PUT A MAN ON THE MOON BUT NOT SEND AN ACCURATE TAX BILL? Please let me know about any Class Action law suit.
My property has the wrong property zoning. The map shows that I own the parking lot in my neighborhood
and also I have been paying property taxes for the last 12 years with this wrong zoning.
I found out because I wanted to add a fence and I Needed my property survey and permit. The people from City of Pembroke pines told that I have a big problem that i need to get a lawyer.
Not sure what to do...
Heidrich
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