How the Pinellas Property Appraiser Determines the Value of Your Pinellas Real Estate, Part 2 of 3

If you’re considering investing in Pinellas Real Estate, you’re probably like most people in wondering

A)  What are the 3 types of Property Values are as Determined by The Pinellas Property Appraiser’s office (reported in Part 1 of this 3 part series)

B)  How the Pinellas County Property Appraiser determines the Just or Market value of your home (reported here); and

C)  How to estimate how much you’ll actually pay to the Pinellas County Property Tax Collector (coming soon!).

In this Part 2 of this series, we’ll review ….

HOW THE PINELLAS PROPERTY TAX APPRAISER DETERMINES VALUE

The Market (or Just) Value is the ‘meat and bones’ value that is set by Pinellas County appraisers.   County appraisers use the same three methods (or a combination of the three) to determine value that ‘regular’ appraisers do:

1)  The sales comparison approach (what similar homes have sold for);

2)  the cost replacement approach (cost to rebuild on top of your land value); and

3)  the income approach (won’t be used unless you’re investing in Pinellas commercial properties or multi-family homes).

So, it’s not so much that your new home will be taxed based on the new sales price, it’s that your new market/just assessed value will be based upon the price that other similar homes have recently sold for.  This is the basis of the sales comparison and is the is almost always the primary indicator of a residential home’s value.

When in a shifting market as we are now, most of us are probably safe in assuming that market values will decrease a bit from their prior year’s levels.  However, we NEVER recommend that strategy.  Staking your claim on the fact that your Pinellas Property taxes will go down isn’t a safe bet unless you fully understand the process and have performed your own due diligence with Pinellas County.

Pinellas County’s appraisers are required to visit each property every 5 years to note any changes in the property (i.e. additions without a Pinellas County building permit).   We’ve spoken to quite a few County appraisers over the years and, off the record, they share that it’s a rare day when they actually go inside a home.  On the upside, they aren’t taxing you on those new granite countertops you installed last year!