Why the Just Value on Your Broward Tax Records Is Not What a Buyer Will Pay

If you have ever looked up a Fort Lauderdale home on the Broward County Property Appraiser (BCPA) website, you have seen a number labeled Just/Market Value. It is easy to read that as "what the house is worth." It is not. It is a tax number, and treating it like a price is one of the most common mistakes I see from both buyers and sellers.

What the number on the tax record actually is

Florida law tells property appraisers to arrive at "just value" by weighing a list of factors in Section 193.011 of the Florida Statutes. The BCPA then publishes that figure as the Just/Market Value. Its job is to set the starting point for your property tax bill. It is not an appraisal for a sale, a loan, or a listing price.

The BCPA has said publicly that Florida law requires it to value property as of January 1 each year, using market data from the year leading up to that date. So the number you see today is a snapshot of the market that existed before this year began, not the market you are shopping or selling in right now.

Five reasons it will not match what a buyer pays

1. It is a January 1 snapshot, and it is backward-looking

The value reflects sales that closed before January 1. If the market moved up or down since then, the tax record does not know. A buyer negotiating in October is reacting to October conditions.

2. It is a mass appraisal, not an appraisal of your house

The appraiser's office values hundreds of thousands of parcels with models built on sales of similar properties. That works well for setting taxes at scale. It typically does not account for what a buyer sees when they walk through the front door: a gut renovation versus a 1990s kitchen, a new roof and impact windows versus original ones, a seawall in good shape, a dock, a pool, a view, a quiet street versus a busy one.

3. The state process builds in a reduction from sale prices

Florida's statute tells appraisers to account for the costs of a sale, such as commissions and closing costs, when using sale prices to estimate value. Broward's own filing with the Florida Department of Revenue for the 2026 assessment roll shows a 10% adjustment to recorded sale prices across every property use code. In plain terms, the system is designed so the tax value tends to land below what properties sell for. The size of the gap on any one home will vary, but the design is not aimed at matching your sale price.

4. Buyers pay for things a database cannot see

Condition, layout, light, flood zone, insurance cost, HOA or condo fees, a condo association's reserve situation, and how a home shows are all things that move a buyer's offer. None of them is a line item on the tax record.

5. Price is set by negotiation, not by a formula

A sale price reflects how many buyers showed up, how motivated the seller was, what concessions were made, and the financing involved. Two identical homes can sell for different prices a month apart. The tax record is not a negotiation.

Tax value vs. market price, side by side

An illustration (hypothetical numbers)

Say a Fort Lauderdale single-family home shows a Just/Market Value of $620,000 on the BCPA site. The owner redid the kitchen and baths and replaced the roof in the last two years. Similar renovated homes nearby have been closing around $725,000. The tax record is not "wrong." It simply was never measuring this house's current condition or this month's buyers.

The reverse happens too. A tired home on a busy street can sell below its tax value. That is exactly why the number cannot be used as a price in either direction.

Just value and assessed value are not the same either

The BCPA record also shows an Assessed/SOH Value. For homesteaded properties, Save Our Homes limits how much that figure can rise each year, and non-homestead property has its own annual cap. Over the years, the assessed value of a long-held home can sit far below its just value. After a sale, the new owner should not assume their tax bill will look like the seller's. Ownership changes can reset those caps, so a buyer should estimate taxes from the new situation, not from the old owner's bill. I cover that in more detail on my Florida property taxes page.

What to use instead

If you want to know what a specific home is likely to sell for, the tax record is the wrong tool. Better tools are a comparative market analysis built on recent closed sales of truly comparable homes, active and pending competition, and an honest look at the condition of the property. If a lender is involved, a licensed appraiser will give an opinion of value for that transaction. I can walk you through the comps for any Fort Lauderdale or South Florida property, and I will tell you where I think the number lands and why.

This post is general information, not an appraisal, tax advice, or legal advice. For the value or tax treatment of a specific property, consult the appropriate licensed professional.

Sources: BCPA Newsletter, June 2023 (January 1 assessment date and data window); Broward County 2026 DR-493, adjustments to recorded selling prices; Florida Statutes s. 193.011.