Walter and Debbie thought they were doing the right thing.
Their home in Florida—which they purchased in 2002 from Walter’s father—needed serious repairs. The walls were infested with termites. The roof was failing. But more than that, the house held deep emotional value: Their late son had done the plumbing himself, and the home is set on the water, complete with a seawall and boat lift they’d added over the years. A dream home of their own making.
In 2021, Walter and Debbie decided to renovate with the future in mind. They would fix the roof and add a second story, making space for aging in place while preserving the structure’s sentimental roots.
Debbie, who had worked for a real estate attorney for nearly 25 years, anticipated that their property taxes might increase. But when the final tax bill arrived in 2023 after construction was complete, their taxes had skyrocketed from $15,000 a year to more than $90,000—six times their previous bill, and nearly double what they had estimated their new tax liability would be.
The reason? Their remodel had triggered a full reassessment of the property’s value, and high demand for homes in their neighborhood had driven home prices sky-high. While Walter and Debbie had bought the home in 2002 for $650,000, it was now assessed at over $4.4 million.
At the core ofWalter and Debbie’s story is a confluence of factors that have been quietly brewing beneath the surface of the housing market. While national conversations on affordability have largely focused on mortgage rates and first-time buyers, another crisis has been gaining steam: Property taxes are becoming unaffordable, even for longtime homeowners who have stayed put for decades.
The reassessment
Walter and Debbie knew their property tax protections were at risk. In Florida, the homestead exemption reduces the taxable value of a primary residence by up to $50,000, while the Save Our Homes cap limits annual increases in assessed value to 3% or the consumer price index—whichever is lower.
So, before beginning renovations, they reached out to the Broward County Property Appraiser’s Office to confirm those protections would remain in place while they temporarily relocated during construction—a step confirmed in documents reviewed by Realtor.com®.
“We thought that if we kept the foundation and the outer walls of the house and we just took the roof off, it was our understanding that we were going to preserve our Save Our Homes and our homestead,” says Debbie.
Their hope was, when they moved back into the home, only the value of the new addition would be reassessed at the current market value, not the property as a whole.
But the renovations—removing the roof, adding a second floor—ultimately triggered a full reassessment of the home’s value. Under Florida law, once a property is deemed substantially improved, it can be treated as new construction, removing the protections that had capped the home’s assessed value for years.
“They called this a brand-new house. Now, if you look on the tax roll, we’ve owned the home since 2022,” she says. In fact, Walter and Debbie have owned the home since 2002.
The appeal
Walter and Debbie fought the county’s valuation using their contractor invoices, appraisal documentation, and historical records of improvements. Still, the final assessed value—based on recent sales, not cost to build—stood.
“We had a magistrate who actually agreed with us,” Debbie says. “But he said, ‘Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about it.’”
That’s because Florida law requires county appraisers to reassess a homesteaded property at just value—essentially, market value—after substantial improvements are made. Substantial improvements include things like expansions and major structural changes, not cosmetic upgrades, explains Mila Schwartzreich, general counsel for Broward County Property Appraisers.
From the county appraiser’s perspective, dealing with situations like Walter and Debbie’s is a balancing act. The law requires market-based assessments. But local officials are often caught between the letter of the law and its real-world consequences.
“We do have the law to comply with,” Schwartzreich says. “It really puts us in the middle.”
The all-cash factor
But what was driving up market values so high that a reassessment could trigger such a dramatic change in tax burden? It turns out that Walter and Debbie were up against yet another factor that’s been transforming the housing market.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought in a surge of out-of-state buyers paying record-setting prices for Florida homes. Just before Walter and Debbie completed their renovation, a neighboring home was sold for $4.9 million, and Debbie immediately sensed trouble.
“All-cash offers are typically the product of highly competitive housing markets,” explains Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst for Realtor.com. “Buyers use all-cash offers to win in a multiple-bid scenario, signaling a level of competition that goes hand in hand with home price growth.”
And while that home price growth is typically seen as a net positive for homeowners because it adds to their equity, it can become an albatross for those who can’t afford the higher property taxes that come with it.
In 2002, when Walter and Debbie bought their home for $650,000, 37% of home transactions were purchased with all cash—well above the national share of 15% of sales. By 2023, when Walter and Debbie were hit with their shocking tax bill, 62% of home sales in their ZIP code had been conducted in all cash, according to data from Realtor.com.
“Big-budget buyers are the most able to participate in today’s high-price, high-rate housing market, and these buyers are more likely to buy higher-priced homes and pay all-cash, driving home sale prices higher and the all-cash share higher,” explains Jones.
But appraisers still have to factor these sales into their assessments. Cash sales are considered valid under Florida law, even if the buyer paid above asking, explains Schwartzreich.
A rallying cry for reform
It’s one thing to talk about market dynamics. But for Walter and Debbie, the stakes are painfully real: Their home is on the line—and they’re not alone.
“You should not be in the situation where you have to give up your home because you cannot afford the taxes,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently said at a roundtable on property tax relief in the state.
DeSantis has expressed support for eliminating property taxes altogether—a sweeping proposal that’s stirring debate. But such a change faces steep hurdles. Property taxes are the single largest source of revenue for local governments, funding essential services like public schools, first responders, and infrastructure.
Still, for families like Walter and Debbie’s, relief can’t come soon enough.
“We weren’t doing this for money,” Debbie says. “We did this to try to preserve our home and stay in order to retire here.”
Their $90,000 annual tax bill may ultimately prove too much to bear. But they’re holding out hope that momentum around reform might arrive in time to help them stay in the home they’ve poured decades of love and savings into.
