Tampa Bay Appraiser's Blog

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Browsing Posts tagged Hillsborough County Property Appraiser

Each year, the dictionary adds new words to its collection.  Whether they’ve been used a certain amount of times, or have just entered common language, there’s no limit to the absurdity of what can be included.  Here, we’ll take a look at some of the funniest pop culture sayings that slipped in to the dictionary.

chill pill a notional pill taken to make someone calm
down
chillax calm down and relax
turducken a roast dish consisting of a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey
bargainous costing less than is usual or than might be expected; cheap or relatively cheap
staycation holiday spent in one’s home country
fussbudget a fussy person
vuvuzela long horn blown by fans at soccer matches
national treasure someone/thing regarded as emblematic of a
nation’s cultural heritage
buzzkill a person or thing that has a depressing or dispiriting effect
social media websites and applications used for social networking
microblogging the posting of very short entries on a blog
netbook small light laptop
dictionary attack an attempt to gain illicit access to a computer system by using a very large set of words to generate potential passwords
paywall an arrangement whereby access is restricted to users who have paid to subscribe to a website
freemium a business model, especially on the Internet, whereby basic services are provided free of charge while more advanced features must be paid for
automagically automatically and in a way that seems ingenious, inexplicable, or magical
carbon capture and storage the process of trapping and storing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels
geoengineering manipulation of environmental processeses in an attempt to counteract the effects of global warming
toxic debt debt which has a high risk of default
deleveraging the process or practice of reducing the level of one’s debt by rapidly selling one’s assets
overleveraged having taken on too much debt
quantitative easing the introduction of new money into the money supply by a central bank
exit strategy a pre-planned means of extricating oneself from a situation
overthink think about (something) too much or for too long
catastrophizing view or present a situation as considerably worse than it actually is
soft skills personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people
matchy-matchy excessively colour-coordinated
LBD little black dress
frenemy a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry
cheeseball lacking taste, style, or originality
cool hunter a person whose job it is to make observations or predictions about new styles and trends
hikikomori the abnormal avoidance of social contact, typically by adolescent males (in Japan)
steampunk a genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advance technology
tweetup a meeting organized by means of posts on Twitter
bromance a close but non-sexual relationship between two men
wardrobe malfunction an instance of a person accidentally exposing an intimate part of their body as a result of an article of clothing slipping out of position
defriend another term for unfriend (remove someone from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking site)
Interweb the Internet
hater negative person

Read more: http://www.blogcatalog.com/search/frame?term=new+words+in+the+dictionary&id=a23d472a8f64e08f60d51a05604469e4

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This is a re-blog from ABCActionNews.com:

Clearwater, Fla. – Property values continue to fall, yet about one in three Pinellas County homeowners is expected to pay more property taxes this year.  Homeowners want to know how can their property taxes increase when home values continue to sink and the county’s millage rate remains flat.

Pinellas Property Appraiser Pam Dubov says the answer is twofold. “The county did not increase its millage rate, nor did the school board, yet people’s millage rates are going up because they are in fire districts or cities that increased.”

Second the ‘Save Our Homes’ law that took affect in 1994 caps property tax increases at 3 percent a year.  So even when home values decrease, your assessed value will still increase by the cap rate until it reaches market value.

This process is called ‘recapture,’ and it has affected nearly a third of Pinellas County homeowners this year alone.  It also explains why your next door neighbor’s taxes may vary wildly from your own – even if your homes are similar.

Property values are based in part on sales of comparable properties that occurred the year before. After a volatile year, assessed value can also cause confusion for homeowners trying to decipher newly received trim notices.

Jackie Callaway says it will cost $15 to appeal.  She doesn’t mention the cost for an appraisal.  Please give us a call if you need help. 

You can view the video here:

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     Have you ever wanted something, knew what steps to take to get it, and encountered a roadblock?  These roadblocks for many of us in this instant-gratification world are barriers to information.  As it relates to real estate, we get paid for access and perseverance.  In short if we let phone calls go to voicemail, put off emailing someone back quickly, business is lost forever.

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Pacific Investment Management’s Bill Gross plugged a plan floated a few weeks ago that would allow millions of homeowners to refinance their mortgages at today’s rates, which are the lowest in generations.

With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner moderating a panel, Mr. Gross said the U.S. could easily refinance every current mortgage borrower, who is paying a rate above 5%, with a loan backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration, returning tens of billions in savings.

With mortgage rates at their lowest levels in more than 50 years, some economists say the answer is a slam dunk: Make it easier for homeowners to refinance.  In turn, some analysts are saying the result of such a refinance boom would lift housing prices by 10%- 15%.

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The lure of playing the lottery and winning millions for doing nothing might sound hard to do.  The odds of winning are extremely low and even lower if no ticket is bought.  Successfully getting a loan modification has a lot in common with winning a lottery jackpot.  Getting your lender to agree to a drastic reduction in payments and principal reduction is similar to winning the lottery.  The old adage, “the lottery is for those who don’t know how to do math” is very true.  Less than 1% of all loan modifications become permanent.   

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal points out a new trend in trying to help underwater borrowers- Loan Vultures.  Scavenger funds are growing in numbers, however, they are receiving friction from lenders.  According to the Wall Street Journal, “Most delinquent mortgages aren’t available for sale because they are locked up in so-called private-label securities (the ones packaged by Wall Street during the boom) or in the hands of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.” 

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