What Is Your Fee Structure?

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What Is Your Fee Structure?

We bill based on the amount of savings you receive on your tax bill before any interest or penalties are accrued.

Because we have no knowledge of when you pay the Tax Collector or when the refunds are processed.  We assume that you have paid your taxes in November (as we recommend to all our clients) and have received the 4% discount for early payment and take that into account in our invoices.

Below is an example of what we would charge on property that was reduced from $1,500,000 (School Board)/$1,000,000 (Capped) down to $900,000.

Folio Number: 01-1234-56-7980
Tax Authority Millage Preliminary Revised Reduction Savings
School Board 0.0080 $1,500,000 $900,000 $600,000 $4,797
County/City/Region 0.0150 $1,000,000 $900,000 $100,000 $1,500
0.0230 $6,297
Less: 4% Discount
Original Tax Bill $26,990 $25,910
Revised Tax Bill $20,693 $19,865
Savings $6,297 $6,045
Rate 35%
DCRE Invoice $2,116

 

SOLD: Coconut Grove Development Site

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We got this one under contract the same day we put up the sign.  We’ll hopefully have another similar one soon.

East Side Aerial

East Side Street 01

East Side Street 02

 

 

 

 

 

SOLD: 1399 NW 17th Ave

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This property has been sold for $1,100,000 to The Advocate Program, a perfect match for the location.

 

1399 FOR SALE PRICE REDUCED

SOLD: 3660 William Ave

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3660-Flyer

Should I Pay My Real Estate Taxes?

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The short answer is YES.

If you have a residential property that you feel is over assessed we recommend to you them as soon as you can.

However you may still hire us after the TRIM notices are sent out and we will handle a formal VAB petition for you.

In the meantime please pay your Tax Bill when it arrives in November. You may notice that because you have filed a VAB petition you have the option of paying only 75% of the total bill as a “good-faith” payment. DO NOT DO THIS! You should pay 100% of your tax bill as shown on the Property Appraisers & Tax Collectors Website.

This is because if we are unable to get you more than a 25% tax reduction, you will be responsible for the difference PLUS interest which starts accruing in May at 1% per month. Seeing as most appeals DO NOT result in savings of more than 25% and occur nearly 6-12 months after May we STRONGLY advise against paying only 75% of the bill.

Furthermore, if you pay the 100% amount, and the VAB does reduce the value, then you will be entitled to not only the base refund (original minus the revised tax amount) but you will also receive interest.

For those interested they can read the statute online here.

Everybody Is Looking For Something That Doesn’t Exist

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It is amazing how many students from my Commercial Brokerage class call and say they have an investor with $5,000,000 looking to purchase a commercial property showing a return of 10% on the investment. Or they ask do I know of any triple net lease properties with national credit tenants for sale with a return of 8%. In the real estate market today these types of properties are just not available for these kinds of return on investment.

Traditionally, real estate investors have been seeking investments with returns in the range of 8% to 10%. However, with the very, very low interest rates on savings deposits sellers are less willing to sell their properties in this market. Their position is that if they sell their property the net amount to reinvest after income taxes will not yield the same income as the property they now own.

The income properties which do come on the market are being sold because of issues with the property or issues with the owners of the property. Issues with the property could be it needs to be improved, re-marketed, has lost tenants or the market area has changed. Issues with the ownership could be partnership disagreements, lack of capital to improve the property, mortgage finances, a desire to reduce management responsibility or ownership is seeking to change/diversify investments.

This leads to a strange market condition in which the availability of properties for sale have returns on investment lower that the market is willing to accept “prices are too high” and buyers with expectations which cannot be obtained “investment returns are too low”.

Over time buyers become more willing to accept a lower return and are willing to pay higher prices. I guess you could call this price creep. We see this when we buy gasoline. Three years ago the price of $3.00/gallon was too high and we were aware of the this high price. Today the price is approaching $4.00/gallon and we just accept that this is the cost of driving.

Therefore, as the overall real estate market improves buyers must become more willing to pay a higher price if they want to invest.