Florida's Hurricane Season and FEMA's Hurricane Preparedness Widget

Florida's Hurricane Season

One of the biggest pains being a real estate investor in Florida is getting prepared for Hurricane Season. Due to the amount of work, we wait to the last minute before placing the hurricane shutters onto our rental property's windows.

As a result of waiting, problems are going to arise like:

 

• Going to Home Depot.
• Gathering Supplies, if available like:
  • Make sure you buy gloves PLEASE. I can't count the times we have been hurt just because we don't have gloves on.
  • Sun Block, Hats, Sunglasses, etc. Florida SUN is brutal. I find that the weather is beautiful just before the storm arrives. Sort of like "The calm before the storm."
  • Buy Wasp spray! As you are installing shutters on the second floor of your investment property you will find out why you need the spray! The EASY way or the HARD way.
  • A SPEED tool that allows you to secure the screws or wing nuts onto the shutter. You will thank me later!
  • Ladders of various sizes. Buy at least one that adjusts to 40 feet made out of fiberglass, NOT ALUMINUM. Why? Hint: High tension electrical cables.
  • Chain Saw and gas for cutting tree branches away from the property and for use after the storm.
• Waiting in long checkout lines.
• Loading tools and supplies onto your vehicle. Like getting your ladders onto the truck.
• Driving to the property! OK for local properties but what if the asset is in another county? At one point I had several properties in Sarasota, Broward, Miami Beach and Miami-Dade.
• Traffic – People getting out of the storm's path.
• Finding HELP! Try installing these shutters alone! Now try it on 15 other properties. See what I mean.

You are going to work harder than you ever did before. You' ll be so tired that you want the storm to blow away your portfolio of rental properties so you won't have to ever do this again.

At last the second, the storm veer's and never arrives.

You see how crazy it can get?

Oh, by the way, if for some reason you didn't get the shutters up on time and there is damage as a result of the storm, the insurance company will not pay. Just thought I would mention that!

FEMA Hurricane Preparedness Widget

One of the reason I was inspired to write this post, I found a little widget from FEMA that provides you information about getting prepared for the hurricane season or any other disaster. I have installed this widget on all my sites to help my readers make informed decisions. See the widget sample below.

Related Links, Blog Postings, Presentations or Articles:

• See our new Section 8 or Plan 8 Miami Florida Blog. A Section 8 or Plan 8 blog for real estate investors and tenants in Miami Florida. This blog is designed to provide content for real estate investors, landlords and potential tenants who wish to participate in the HUD program.

Written by +Bob Burns.

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Post Up! Real Estate Investor about.me/RobertKBurns Telephone #: 305-586-5280 email: sec8@planocho.com

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Why aren't Your Real Estate Taxes reduced when Property Values are Down? Time for Tax Appeal!

It is that time of year again! Every year counties within the United States issue their real estate tax bill to commercial and residential property owners. These funds are used for various line items of the county's budget. Your tax bill is based on the assessed value of the asset according to the tax assessor's evaluation of the properties contained within in the county (Using Arial Photos). It is also based on the last purchase price that you paid for the property.

In case you didn't notice but A LOT of people purchased properties at the height of the market. Did the counties care if you did that? Noooooo....the more you pay for the asset, the more taxes they collect. But what investors didn't count on was the market tanked and property values dropped like a rock in some parts of the country. Unfortunately that included Florida, mainly Broward and Dade counties.

So here you are, holding onto a property and paying taxes (pre-bubble burst) on a property that lost at least half of its value or more! Does the county government care about this? Nooooooo....If they did, there would be less revenue for the county coffers. So what can we do as property owners?

No Taxation without Representation!

Luckily for us our founding forefathers saw this happening too! This great country of ours was founded on tax revolt. They made sure our representatives are held accountable for their actions. So, most counties have made provisions in the municipal code to allow tax payers to appeal their accessed property values. There is a small window, yes I mean SMALL, during the calendar year where you can file the proper documents with the county to ask for a reduction. Now don't get me wrong, the county is not going to give up. They will fight you. You better be able to prove that you are being over taxed!

As a real estate investor, I don't relish the thought of doing this every year for the rest of my life for various reasons:

1. Time consuming.
2. Need proper documentation.
3. Dealing with government employees.
4. Traffic.
5. Parking Fees.
6. And on and on...

I leave that up to EXPERIENCED professionals. Let them hassle with this process. The advantages are:

1. They know the proper filing dates.
2. They are experienced.
3. They know the proper documents to file.
4. Familiar with the tax appeal system.
5. They only get paid if you win the appeal.
6. The asset looks attractive to other investors.
7. Nice profit windfall for investors. Found Money...Yeah Baby!

Now is the time to start considering how you can increase your cash flows on your real estate investment portfolio. Remember, the window for filing your real estate tax appeal is small so start considering your options NOW!

Do you have any experience with the tax appeal process that you would like to share with us?

Related Links, Blog Postings, Presentations or Articles:

• Update #1: After I wrote this posting, I started looking for a Real Estate Tax Reduction Specialist because current properties are severely over assessed. Here is a company that has been successfully appealing commercial property taxes for 21 years:
  Real Estate Associates - www.realestateassoc.net

• Update #2: RETA does residential and commercial. However many Homes are protected by the Save Our Homes Amendment and Homestead exemptions. Therefore the Taxable value maybe lower than the Market or Assessed value. Please send us your properties Folio Number and we will let you know if a reduction is possible.

Written by Bob Burns.
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	"God Bless!" MREIA's President about.me/RobertKBurns Telephone #: 305-300-6242 email: rkburns@investmentpropertiesmiamiflorida.com MREIA's Web Page: www.miamireia.com

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