Departments

Real Property Appraisal

What is Value?

Factors to Consider in Deriving Just Valuation

The Property Appraiser & Your Taxes

Property Types

Income and Expense Questionnaire

On-Site Property Inspection

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

What is Value?

The property appraiser and his staff are charged with the duty of determining a fair and just value on each individual property in Monroe County. The word value can have several different meanings within the context of the appraisal of real property. The most common of these definitions are explained briefly as follows:

• Just Value is the property appraiser’s estimate of market value of your property as of January 1 of the current tax year; it is deemed to be the most probable price that a willing buyer would pay a willing seller under ordinary market circumstances as of the appraisal date.

• Assessed Value equals the Just Value minus the accumulated Save Our Homes (Amendment 10) value. (If your property is homesteaded, the annual increase in assessed value is limited to 3 percent.)

• Taxable Value equals the Assessed Value minus any exemptions such as the homestead or widow’s exemptions.

Ordinary buyers and sellers, builders and developers, landlords and tenants, and other participants establish the value of property by making market transactions on a day to day basis.

Value can be affected by many external factors. In Monroe County, population growth has significantly increased property values. This is especially true of improved property. Steadily increasing demand along with an imposed moratorium on commercial building, and evermore stringent residential development restrictions have served to continually push values higher.

Factors influencing value directly related to the property itself include the location and use of the property as well as physical characteristics such as, size, age and condition of the improvements.

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Factors to Consider in Deriving Just Valuation

In arriving at just valuation as required under s. 4, Art. VII of the State Constitution, the property appraiser shall take into consideration the following factors:

1. The present cash value of the property, which is the amount a willing purchaser would pay a willing seller, exclusive of reasonable fees and costs of purchase, in cash or the immediate equivalent thereof in a transaction at arm's length;

2. The highest and best use to which the property can be expected to be put in the immediate future and the present use of the property, taking into consideration any applicable judicial limitation, local or state land use regulation, or historic preservation ordinance, and considering any moratorium imposed by executive order, law, ordinance, regulation, resolution, or proclamation adopted by any governmental body or agency or the Governor when the moratorium or judicial limitation prohibits or restricts the development or improvement of property as otherwise authorized by applicable law. The applicable governmental body or agency or the Governor shall notify the property appraiser in writing of any executive order, ordinance, regulation, resolution, or proclamation it adopts imposing any such limitation, regulation, or moratorium;

3. The location of said property;

4. The quantity or size of said property;

5. The cost of said property and the present replacement value of any improvements thereon;

6. The condition of said property;

7. The income from said property; and

8. The net proceeds of the sale of the property, as received by the seller, after deduction of all of the usual and reasonable fees and costs of the sale, including the costs and expenses of financing, and allowance for unconventional or atypical terms of financing arrangements. When the net proceeds of the sale of any property are utilized, directly or indirectly, in the determination of just valuation of realty of the sold parcel or any other parcel under the provisions of this section, the property appraiser, for the purposes of such determination, shall exclude any portion of such net proceeds attributable to payments for household furnishings or other items of personal property.

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The Property Appraiser & Your Taxes

The property appraiser does not determine the amount of taxes each property owner pays. Furthermore, the Property Appraiser cannot raise or lower your taxes because tax (millage) rates and tax levies are determined by the various taxing authorities (county and city commissions, school board, fire and ambulance districts, etc.) which have discretion in those matters.

Additionally, the property appraiser cannot reduce property values when the market supports the current level of assessment, as required by state law and the Florida Department of Revenue.

Finally, it is important for the taxpayer to recognize that even if the overall market trends indicate lower appraised values, taxing authorities may raise tax rates to ensure the same or a greater level of revenue than they had generated in prior years. In short, the property appraiser does not have the authority to raise or reduce taxes nor does a lowering of appraised values necessarily result in lower taxes for the property owner.

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Property Types

Real estate is classified and appraised as residential by the Monroe County Property Appraiser if defined by one of the following categories:

• Single-family home

• Multi-family residential

• Condominiums and timeshares

• Compounds and Cooperatives

• Manufactured or mobile homes (when the underlying land is under the same ownership)

• Vacant residential land

If you own property that houses an owner-occupied business or is income producing, it will be classified and appraised as commercial real estate, regardless of the size of the operation.

Both commercial and residential real estate are similarly appraised employing market derived data, but larger income producing property may be valued using a more complex set of criteria, such as income and expense data from the property itself, and from comparable properties.

The following is a broad category of commercial real estate categories:

• Hotels, motels, and guesthouses

• Shopping centers

• Restaurants

• Apartment Buildings

• Marinas

• Office/professional and medical service buildings

• Free-standing stores and retail facilities

• Industrial

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Income and Expense Questionnaire

Every January our office mails a survey to commercial property owners requesting income and expense information. You may reasonably ask why the property appraiser should request this confidential information. The answer is that the market value of most commercial property is directly related to its income producing capabilities. Therefore, knowledge of the property’s income producing potential is important in order for the appraiser to perform an accurate assessment.

Our annual surveys are customized based on property type. If your commercial property is owner/user occupied some of the questions on the survey may not be applicable. For instance, questions pertaining to annual rental would not apply, even though some owner-occupied businesses do pay rent through an "inter-corporate" lease. However, much of the real estate related expense information is pertinent and may provide the appraiser with valuable insight into the valuation of the property. The property owner is encouraged to fill out as much of the survey as possible. All information is held in strict confidence as dictated by state law and by the Monroe County Property Appraiser’s own protective policies and procedures. If you have any questions about the form or the applicability of an item on the survey please contact our office.

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On-Site Property Inspection

The property appraiser is required by state law to physically inspect every property within his jurisdiction once every three years. Visits are made more often if there is a sale, new construction, damage, or at the owners request. All field personal will have photo identification and upon arriving at the property, will ask to speak to the owner or person in charge. Site inspections for most residential property are limited to the property’s exterior. As such, the appraiser will measure all buildings and either measure or list all miscellaneous improvements such a patios, pools, fence, docks, seawalls, etc.

It is important to note that the property owner is not compelled to allow our field personnel access to the property. However, the property owner’s cooperation is important. The property appraiser is legally mandated to appraise every property within his jurisdiction, and without access, we may be required to make assumptions that may lead to an inaccurate appraisal. Additionally, an owner who refuses to allow access to the property may limit or forfeit the right to contest the resulting assessment.

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