The listed tax bill is not the tax bill you'll pay

Every Florida listing shows the current owner's property taxes, and for anyone who has owned for a while that number is close to fiction for a buyer. Florida caps how fast a property's assessed value can rise — 3% a year with a homestead exemption, 10% without — but the cap belongs to the owner, not the property. Close on the house and the assessment resets toward full market value. Your first full tax year is computed from a much bigger number than the seller's ever was.

How the gap builds

Take a house bought in 2010. Market value has tripled since; assessed value has crawled up at 3% a year under Save Our Homes. By 2026 the appraiser might carry it at a just value (market) of $676,000 while the owner is taxed on an assessed value of $439,000. That $237,000 gap is the cap benefit — and it dies at closing.

What that means in dollars

South Florida millage runs roughly 17–20 mills (1.7–2.0% of taxable value). On a $237,000 reset, that is about $4,000–4,700 a year of tax the seller never paid and you will — every year, before any rate increases. Over a five-year hold, roughly $20,000–24,000. It belongs in your offer math, not in your first November surprise.

Homestead portability softens it — sometimes

If you are selling a homesteaded Florida property and buying another, you can port up to $500,000 of your cap benefit to the new home. Out-of-state buyers, investors and first-time buyers get no such cushion: they start from just value.

Check it for a specific address

The roll data that exposes this — just value, capped assessed value, the taxable values by levy — is public. Our report computes the current bill and the post-sale estimate side by side for any Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach address, and flags when the gap is material.