Mark Zilbert's Blog

CONTINUUM NORTH TOWER CONTINUES TO BEAT THE ODDS
As we previously-reported, Continuum North Tower continues to lure buyers.  Prices have dropped, somewhat, and buyers are finding deals in this new oceanfront tower on South Beach.  I have sold 100% of my inventory in Continuum North, and this comes at a time where many were doubting the viability of the oceanfront market in South Beach.  We are seeing sales average around $700-$800/sf for partial ocean view units, with higher sales for the direct oceanfront units (which are selling in the $1200/sf range).
 
SETAI 10-DAY CONDO SALE
We have one of the prime 06-line units at The Setai, recently reduced to $2,195,000, which includes a complete furnishings and electronics package.  HOWEVER, on May 1st we are launching a 10-day sale of this unit, which will be offered to the first all-cash buyer at $1,995,000.  This 25th floor unit overlooks the ocean and Shore Club resort, and offers some of the best views in South Beach.  When not in use, the unit can be rented short-term or long-term.  Setai turn-key rentals of this type can rent for $10,000-$12,000 per month in many cases.  If this unit interests you, please let me know before we launch the sale on May 1st, and I will give you first choice of purchasing the unit.   http://www.zilbert.com/miami_south_beach_condo_details.asp?R=M1258246
 
We have other Setai units, not listed on the market, for the low $2Ms.  Some have the hotel furnishings package that allows you to enroll your apartment in the Setai Hotel Program
 
SELLER FINANCING AT THE NEW FONTAINEBLEAU
If you are looking to purchase a condo, but are finding that bank loans are more difficult to get these days, it may interest you to know that some sellers will offer you financing.  We have three such units at the Fontainebleau resort.  Prices start at $495,000 and include complete, turnkey condo hotel units (they even come with plates, towels, sheets, etc).  We have units in both towers at Fontainebleau.  Visit our Fontainebleau and other condo specials to learn more:  http://www.zilbert.com/showcase.asp

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LIVE HELP AND CHAT NOW ONLINE AT ZILBERT.COM
We have implemented a live help and chat feature on our main website.  Just look for the LIVE HELP buttons as you browse properties on our site.  With the click of a button, you will be instantly connected to a chat session with myself or one of our sales agents.  You can ask us questions, get extra information on properties, or simply learn more about the market.   We are always available, and we continue to invest in technology and tools that benefit our clients.
 
ATTENTION REALTORS!
We want you to join us!  Our business is growing, and we continue to look for experienced and talented realtors.  My management style allows you to work as independently as you like, but with the power of our technology and sales teams behind you.  As you know, the web generates a tremendous amount of business, and our company is on the forefront of technology.  Our realtors are enjoying continued success, despite the slower market.  Let me show you how we do it!  We are also looking for realtors who speak any of the G20 languages, including Italian, French and German.
 
WANT TO SEE WHAT’S SELLING?
Did you know that we post the 100 most-recent South Beach sales on our site?  This list changes continuously, so it’s a good way to keep up on the market.  Visit our online sales list anytime at:  http://www.zilbert.com/100_most_recent_sales.asp
 
You can also learn the selling price of most condos by visiting any of our condo pages.  At the bottom of the page is a quick form that you need to fill out (your name and email address).  Then, we instantly send you a sales history for that condo.
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MIAMI SPICE SPRING EDITION
Every autumn, many of Miami Beach’s restaurants introduce the MIAMI SPICE menu.  This is a fixed price menu that allows you to enjoy some of Miami’s greatest restaurants at bargain prices.  This year, we get to have the SPRING MIAMI SPICE.  Lunch menus are fixed at $23 and dinner menus are fixed at $36 per person.  You won’t be disappointed.  Read more about it here:  http://www.ilovemiamispice.com/

BY MARTHA BRANNIGAN – Miami Herald
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com

They say you can’t fight County Hall, but thousands of South Florida property owners are trying.With the steep slide in property values, the Miami-Dade Value Adjustment Board has been swamped with a record 70,000 appeals from property owners for 2008, compared with 51,571 a year earlier. In Broward County, the number of appeals to the VAB rose to 29,729 from 26,802 the prior year.

The boards can overrule the property appraiser, doling out big tax savings to property owners.

Special magistrates are currently working through a heavy calendar of hearings on 2008 property assessments, which are based on 2007 property values. Those tax bills were due March 31, but with so many appeals, the sessions will drag on well into the fall.

”Property owners are not happy with their property assessments,” says Robert Alfaro, manager of the Value Adjustment Board in Miami-Dade County. “Market values have come down, and they feel their properties shouldn’t be assessed at the levels they’re seeing.”

But a key point to remember is that property assessments aren’t based on today’s values; they look backward.

CHANGES IN VALUES

That means tax bills for 2008 reflected property values in 2007, before the market really went south. But 2009 assessments will be based on property values between Jan. 2, 2008, and Jan. 1, 2009 — a period when home prices really tanked.

”When 2009 assessments come out, it’s really going to be interesting,” says Gary Appel, who specializes in appeals for property owners.

During 2008, the median price for a single-family home fell 23 percent in Broward and 27 percent in Miami-Dade, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. Median condo prices plunged 29 percent in Broward and 12 percent in Miami-Dade last year.

Will county property assessments match those radical drops? Property owners will find out this summer. TRIM, or ”truth in millage,” notices of proposed taxes are mailed the last week of August.

Many property owners are counting on big cuts.

”They taxed everyone on artificially high numbers, inflated by liar loans and fake appraisals. Now they need to come back down to the real world and real values,” says Philip Logue, a Coral Gables real-estate investor who has appealed assessments on various properties.

Property owners sometimes save thousands of dollars by appealing to the VAB. For the 2007 tax year, for example, taxpayers got back $97.2 million through VAB appeals and shaved $4.81 billion from the taxable value of property in Miami-Dade County.

ADJUSTMENTS SOUGHT

”There are quite a few cases that warrant adjustments,” says Patrick J. Mikus, an appraiser who works as a magistrate in Miami-Dade.

Logue says appealing is worth the effort. This year, he has already won several reductions on Miami-Dade property.

A special master at the Value Adjustment Board, for instance, recently trimmed nearly $54,000 from the assessed value of his Coral Gables duplex at 5411-5431 Granada Blvd., reducing it to $676,000 and saving him $1,058 in taxes.

Logue hopes that his 2009 TRIM notice will more accurately reflect South Florida’s declining property values. ”I’m looking for the county on its own to lower assessments this year without me having to hire somebody [to appeal] to bring the values down,” he says.

One caveat about winning a VAB appeal: Property appraisers, relying on computer-assisted mass assessments, often jack up an assessed value again the next year after someone wins an appeal.

Fanny Behar Ostrow, who owns a rental property at 950 Viera Ave. in Coral Gables, won a reduction last year, shaving thousands of dollars from her tax bill. But the next tax bill raised the assessment again, ignoring the VAB’s action.

”I got like a $3,500 refund last year. Now the [assessed] value is right back up again, and I have to appeal again,” she says.

That helps keep the cottage industry of tax-appeal specialists in business. But now they have new clients: With home prices still falling, even many homeowners with homestead exemptions, which qualify them for a Save Our Homes cap on property-tax increases, are challenging their assessments.

Under Florida’s Save Our Homes amendment, assessed values on homestead properties can increase by only a maximum of 3 percent a year regardless of how much market values increase.

COUNTING ON THE CAP

That cap saved many long-time residents from hefty tax increases as prices spiraled higher during the boom. But now some property owners think their property values have slid beneath the cap mandated by Save Our Homes and have filed appeals.

For 2009 assessments, Broward County property appraiser Lori Parrish says she is finding many cases in which “the just value is dropping below the Save Our Homes value.”