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Expressed Opinions
THEWEB: www.2apm.com
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Please visit the web and see what is offered. Should you have some suggestions for the web, please let us know. In the following “REPAIRS” section, the subject of repayment for our advanced funds is mentioned. The web has a “make a payment” link for an immediate transfer .
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March 2008 NEWSLETTER
OWNERS January NEWS LETTER:
RENT PROCEEDS
Typically, the delivery of your rent proceeds would not be delayed because of Susan’s work schedule or a delay on her part.
Proceeds processing and release of funds depends more upon:
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Receipt of check date,
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The actual check date,
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The type; i.e., personal or cashier’s,
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Tenants check reliability,
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Days to clear a personal check, and
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Non-banking days; i.e., weekends and holidays.
Our tenants are provided a stamped return envelope with their newsletter and are encouraged to return send their post-dated (first of month) check immediately.
Susan actually pre-processes those advance checks suspending the deposit and clearing process; i.e., depositing checks on the first and releasing funds based upon the other factors such as a reasonable clearance period.
The first and last week of the month are the most intense work period for us.
While other property managers may wait until the 20th uniformly to disburse funds, our system releases your funds based upon the information you have been provided.
We receive no interest or remuneration other than our property management fee and the process is simply based upon business experience.
While almost all owners seem accepting of our process, we have had some unnecessary and repetitive questioning on a monthly basis.
SEASONAL RENTALS
I am not impressed by the number and quality of seasonal rental prospects. We will be here and available to respond to prospects or Realtors with prospects. Our goal is to get your seasonal rentals occupied as well as recover the advertising funds expended on advertising. We are hoping the new web site will also have an impact.
PALM BAY OWNERS
There are just under 500 MLS rental listing in Palm Bay along with a wealth of privately “for rent” properties. Many of the currently “for sale” properties are additionally available for rent. Palm Bay has a record number of “Short Sales”, “Deed In Lieu of Payment”, and Foreclosure actions. We processed two Short Sales and want you to know that we are ready to help you should that be your choice.
Simply because we are continuously advertising, we are still finding prospects for properties; however, it is work, even a little strenuous at times.
INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE TAXES
We just got our personal home insurance under control and now have received a cancellation notice timed to our renewal date. Insurance is a difficult subject for all of us.
While we have been homesteaded for the previous 27 years with a stable tax situation, the rest of you have been tortured of late. The tax issues to be voted this coming January can be reviewed on the web site under taxes. I am hopeful that the changes will both be approved and bring you some relief and stability.
On the other tax issue, you will receive your 1099’s around the end of January and, again, we would appreciate requests related to any concerns to be processed by all of us in a timely and relaxed manner. None of us find this issue less than trying!
Second, I want to assure you that I feel really am blessed to have a business that is successful and capable
of paying for expansion and overhead as well as family support even during our extended market slump. That is only possible as long as we have owner support and, to be sure, we appreciate and value that support.
To stay current, we are continuously upgrading our web presence, our legal support, our rental contracts and addendums and; soon we will be revising out property management agreements.
To be absolutely fair, our annual overhead or cost of doing business runs between $150 and $200 per day and we have to address that in the allocation of our time and resources.
When your property is unrented we are extending our resources to find a tenant/prospect and we agree to cover those expenses, more than $20,000.00 annually just for Florida Today ads.
We are fighting back against the deteriorating markets and actually expanding our overhead by implementing an “industrial strength” web site. That web site even provides online rent payment capabilities and will have indexes/links for seasonal, long-term and vacation rentals along with “for sale” owner inventory properties. We pay for web development, web management and additionally web based services such as “online payment (an especially convenient and easy addition).
Normal General Maintenance Type Repairs
Naturally your properties will have repairs and that is not the issue. The issue is simply providing services during periods where there is neither rental income or property management fees to cover our time, travel, and business overhead. Rather than a minimum or fixed charge on unrented properties as many property managers are initiating/currently charging; our revised property management agreement will incorporate a ten percent charge on the invoiced amount except when the invoice is our own; i.e., we send Bill Hickey out to do a repair and he invoice $170.00 – the overhead added cost will be $17.00. That amount is not charged when your property is rented.
Seasonal Rentals
We still seem to be the only property manager/realtor that consistently advertises seasonal rentals in our Today Newspaper and we would like to continue that business service if we are able to restructure the fees and commissions for that service. The main drawback to the category has been the owner expectation of having 12 months of property management vs. our receiving property management income for just the seasonal rental period. From your point of view, you are seeing commissions and management fess of 20% vs. a short term of rent proceeds and, from ours, we are seeing a commission that does not cover advertising and potential exposure to a year round management responsibility vs. short term income. We will be implementing the same overhead charges as will be used in the long-term category along with service call charges. That amount is not charged when your property is rented
Both Systems Changes/Additions
1. 10% overhead when there is no rental income.
2. Service calls as before when requested/required rented or not.
3. Charges for unrented inspection trips when requested (typically when vacant).
There should be basically no change for costs during rental cycles and the additional charges during unrented periods are under your control. One of the seasonal condos experienced a/c failures, family visits, a/c failure replacement and hot water failure during a no rent cycle. While we certainly do not expect that volume of work, when it occurs our investment of time and resources must be compensated and I know our owners actually understand that.
While no system is perfect, ours actually does represent your interest and we do strive to protect your investment.
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Fate of tax reforms settled in January
Voters to consider four-part proposal
BY JOHN McCARTHY
FLORIDA TODAY
Voters to consider four-part proposal
BY JOHN McCARTHY
FLORIDA TODAY
Voters have less than three months to decide whether to approve the biggest change to the property tax system in 15 years.
They face a four-part ballot proposal in January that promises tax breaks for homeowners, businesses and people who own second homes in Florida.
It would:
· Make the savings from the "Save Our Homes" tax cap portable. The new proposal would allow homestead owners to apply up to $500,000 of the sheltered amount to a new home if they move.
· Double the $25,000 homestead exemption for homes worth at least $75,000. One caveat: The extra exemption does not apply to school taxes.
· Give nonhomestead property its own Save-Our-Homes-style break, with a 10 percent cap on annual increases in assessed values.
· For businesses, exempt the first $25,000 of the value of equipment.
How voters decide in January probably will depend on what kind of property they own and their willingness to cut the $631 million in taxes Brevard County governments collect to help pay for police, roads, libraries and other public services.
The vote comes on the heels of a five-year period in which Brevard home prices more than doubled. Those rising prices had little effect on tax bills for longtime residents because the assessed value of properties with homestead exemptions may increase by only 3 percent a year.
But newer residents and people who moved have found themselves paying sometimes three times the property taxes of their neighbors for similar homes.
And businesses have seen tax bills soar even if their revenues have remained unchanged.
Portability
For most homeowners, the biggest impact would likely come from the portability of Save Our Homes savings.
Shambie Cooper sold her homesteaded condo in 2004 and moved to a single-family home in Cocoa Beach.
She was surprised to find her taxes were double the $2,200 the previous owner was paying.
"So in essence, I was treated like a brand-new resident instead of someone with lifelong roots in Brevard," Cooper said. "And anyone else living here now that wants to downsize -- or upsize -- will also be penalized."
Nearly 127,000 homeowners in Brevard County now have a portion of their homes' values exempt from taxes because of SOH.
The average amount of value not subject to taxes is about $71,000.
Backers of the portability proposal hope the measure will help spark the sinking housing market.
"I think the portability, if it passes, it will help some people move who otherwise wouldn't, said Lance VandeBerg, owner of VandeBerg Real Estate & Investments and president of the Space Coast Association of Realtors.
Others, though, aren't sure portability will lead to a rush of home sales.
Jerome Barry, who moved to Melbourne from Harrisburg, Pa., in 2004, said he had been considering buying a waterfront home worth about twice the value of his current home.
But even with SOH portability, he figures he still would pay about three times as much in property taxes.
"I thought it was reasonable if my taxes doubled if I bought a house that cost twice as much," Barry said, adding that he isn't likely to move.
Economic stimulus?
The Legislature's year-long discussion of property tax, culminating in the ballot proposal, actually may have added to the current housing-market doldrums, said Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida.
He suspects some would-be homebuyers have delayed purchases until after January.
"People are just waiting to see how all this is going to shake out," he said.
Even if the proposal passes, Snaith doesn't think it will do much to shrink the bloated inventory of homes for sale.
There are now more than 10,000 houses, condos and townhouses listed for sale in the Brevard Multiple Listing Service, a nearly 29-month supply at the current rate of sales.
"I don't think it is going to have that large an impact on the housing sector," Snaith said.
To some people the proposed changes don't go far enough to address what they say is the main flaw of Florida's tax system -- the fact that resident homeowners pay less than businesses and people who own second homes here.
Gary Earls of Lansing, Mich., owns a Cape Canaveral townhome where he spends two weeks each month while in town to attend to a business he partially owns.
He'll pay about $3,000 in taxes this year vs. the $1,200 his neighbors pay on their homesteaded townhouse.
Even if his future tax assessments are limited to 10 percent annual increases, that is still three times more than his neighbors.
"They don't necessary have to be level. . . . Maybe mine should be capped at 6 percent and maybe theirs should be 4 or 4.5 percent," he said. "It's like a form of welfare, that's what it is. . . . There are people who are getting fed up with it."
John Lenza, a Palm Bay real estate agent, said he has firsthand experience with people being fed up with property taxes.
"I see people losing their houses every day. . . . They can't afford the taxes," he said of the sharp increases in foreclosures this year.
And even people who aren't facing foreclosure are being driven away, he said, by a combination of high taxes and high insurance rates.
"Every listing I have now is people moving to Tennessee."
Voter discontent
Even with public discontent over taxes, it isn't a given that voters will approve the proposed changes.
A 60 percent majority is now required to amend the state's constitution, a threshold Save Our Homes didn't approach when it was approved by 53.6 percent of voters in 1992.
Susan MacManus has been studying Florida voters for 20 years as a political science professor at the University of South Florida.
Still, she said she doesn't have a good feel yet for which way Floridians are leaning on the vote.
"I think it depends on which educational campaign gets the most traction," MacManus said.
She is sure, however, that Florida voters have grown unhappy with state leaders as they have watched their bills for homeowners insurance and property taxes increase despite lawmakers' promises to "fix" both.
She said these days she can sum up voter sentiment in three words: "Angry, impatient and frustrated."
"I've given up on relief," said Foster Batram on Melbourne. "I will vote against every incumbent in the next election. I will do this in election after election after election until all are gone who were serving during this mess."
But even voters disappointed the tax proposal may still vote for it, MacManus said.
One possible factor is the date of the election, Jan. 29, right about the time that credit card bills from holiday spending hit people's mailboxes.
"They might say, 'Too little is better than nothing at all,' " MacManus said.
Contact McCarthy at 752-5018 or jmccarthy@floridatoday.com
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