Finally, after so much effort, Florida tax-payers are actually getting somewhere. This will greatly assist homeowners in the expenses of owning a home. Read below for details:

Property tax relief approved as Florida Legislature adjourns

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – June 15, 2007 – The end came quickly for the 2007 Florida Legislature’s special session on property taxes with an agreement that would give current homesteaders a choice between their Save Our Homes benefits or a new super-homestead exemption. The Legislature adjourned at 6:28 p.m. yesterday, with the House and Senate passing three bills – an immediate statutory rollback and cap of property tax rates, a proposed constitutional amendment creating a super-homestead exemption that, under the third bill, will be considered by voters on Jan. 29, 2008, in conjunction with the state’s presidential preference primary.

Reasons Why Florida is Still THE Happiest Place on Earth

First, I’d like to start off by introducing myself. My name is Jordana Ende, and I’m a REALTOR© for eThree Realty. I’m originally from New Jersey, but I’m in South Florida now and loving it! It’s great to be in the exciting world of Real Estate. One of my biggest goals is to have 100% complete customer satisfaction. Hopefully through working diligently and posting here, I will be able to become the most successful REALTOR© in all of Florida! But enough about me, onto some information:

Standard but important statistics about Florida reveal that despite the media hype, real estate in Florida is still high and will remain strong. Florida boasts 9 of the top 20 Metropolitan Statistical Areas with the Highest Rates of House Price Appreciation. (Source: Office of Federal Housing and Oversight). Not only that, three states (Florida, California and Texas) will account for nearly one-half (46%) of the US population growth between now and 2030. (source: US Census Bureau). As “the Sunshine State,” Florida is the fastest growing state by population with over 12,700,000 additional residents expected by the year 2025. (source: US Census Bureau) These new Floridians will need 9,800,000 ADDITIONAL housing units for this population explosion. (The Brookings Institute).

Florida Property Tax Voted On

I just read an interesting article about a voting that took place yesterday. Here’s my overview of the article. If you would like the read the article in it’s entirety (lots of quoting politicians =/) here you go.

Yesterday the Florida House voted to roll property taxes back to levels more around 2001. They also voted a 2nd plan to rewrite Florida’s tax code, giving voters options when it comes to property taxes and sales tax. Democrats said they supported the rollback since it sends the message that they support tax cuts, but warned that they wanted to revise the plan to make it less harsh on local government.

Marco Rubio, the House Speaker, advocated the second plan. Around two thirds of the representatives voted to pass, including two democrats. Two republicans voted against.

Under the House plan that was just passed, voters will be asked in 11-08 to approve a constitutional amendment to lower property taxes across the state by 4.4 billion dollars by 2009. Local governments would then need to cut back as well.

Town Hall Meetings for Property Tax Reform

I just got an interesting article emailed to me from 100ideas.org:

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow, April 14, 2007, members of the Florida House of Representatives will hold Town Hall meetings throughout the state to hear about how rising property taxes are affecting you and your families. If you are interested in sharing your stories with us, we encourage you to attend one of the events below.

Property Taxes in Florida

As always, our primary responsibility is to not only bring our clients and investors the best deals possible, but to educate them along the way. As part of our education experience, eThree will post bi-weekly blogs to educate you about a new and interesting aspect of real estate.

Sharan – Office Manager – Reporting in!

The day’s just fly with all of us doing our best to help our clients get the best possible program. With customer service as our main focus – we want to make sure each and every client is comfortable every step of the way. Some require more attention than others – but all are important.

Pretty much no job too big or too small!!!

Definitely keeps you busy all day long!

Introduction to eThree

First off, I’d like to say welcome to any readers out there.
My name is Brandon Sternfield, and work for eThree Realty / eThree Finance. We are an up and coming real estate company, that does our own financing.

Right now, we work primarily with investment properties (in Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami) in Florida for now, but will be branching out to all sorts of real estate, in all sorts of areas.
We tend to negotiate exclusive benefits for ourselves to offer to clients, such as 3 years condo fees paid, 3 years guaranteed rent (to match the mortgage cost), and even seller compensation.

We are planning to start this blog to keep the public informed, both about the investment real estate market, and about ourselves.

You might hear from others, or you might hear from me. Either way, leave a comment and we will make sure to answer any questions you have.