On this week’s show, we sit with three real estate property tax experts and discuss the ins and outs of property tax appeals, Terek Maddox shares some fitness tips, and Jim looks back on the last couple of months.
Property Tax Appeal Panel
Property tax bills in Florida go out soon. With values and assessments rising, many owners choose to appeal their bills.
Jeff Nelson is majority owner and president of Property Tax Services of Florida and Tim Hart is managing partner of the firm.
Nelson has more than 25 years of experience in the property tax field valuing all types of commercial, industrial and multifamily properties. Hart’s extensive experience with valuation of all types of commercial, multifamily, and industrial properties has benefited the firm’s clients at Value Adjustment Board hearings throughout the state of Florida and has helped his firm to continually grow to date representing more than $10 billion worth of Florida commercial real estate.
Todd Jones, MBA, MAI, CRE, FRICS, is principal of RealAdvice. Since 1985, Jones has been providing ad valorem property tax counseling and representation. As president of the Florida Association of Property Tax Professionals, Jones regularly addresses the Florida Cabinet, Legislature, and various state agencies on property tax policy and issues impacting taxpayers.
Our property tax appeal panel will tell us the ins and outs of property tax appeals.
Summer Fitness Tips
Terek Maddox trains future NFL Hall of Famer Frank Gore and the Miami Dolphins’ Lamar Miller. He has some final summer fitness tips for us.
Jim Looks Forward to Fall
Summer is nearly over. Jim looks back on the past couple of months and discusses opportunities he sees for the final quarter of 2015.
Episode 330: 08-20-15 (To download, right-click and select “Save Link As”.
Transcription:
Jim Fried: Alright, it’s 6 o’clock, it’s Thursday. That means it’s time for Fried on Business. I want to welcome our guest. We’re going to talk property tax appeals, we’re going to have some great guests doing and we’re going to have guys from Property Tax Florida. Property Tax Alliance Group, you can see how well prepared I am today. We’re going to talk to them, we’re also have Todd Jones on. He’s the current president of the Property Tax Appeal guy group there. We’ll figure out what that really is in a couple of minutes and when talk comes on, he’s going to break my chops about getting that wrong but the number 1 thing we’re going to talk about right now is the crash in the stock market. It went down like 350 points today. I’m trying to figure out whether it’s the fact that the Greek president quit and he’s calling for Snapple actions or whether it’s the tech stock decline. In either event we’re going to have a great show. Property taxes, summer help, and then I’m going to talk about what my plans are to kick off the new business here starting next week. We’ll be right back with more information. D, are you ready? D is ready.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: We are back and we have a full house here in this show. We’ve got Jeff Nelson. He’s a majority owner and a partner of the Property Tax Services of Florida. We’ve got Tim Hart. He’s the managing partner; Jeff has 25 years more of experience in the property tax field. I’m sure Tim is right up there too. And then, holding on the phone, we’ve got Todd Jones, MBA, MAI, CRE, FRICS principal of RealAdvice. He is the president of the Florida Association of Property Tax Professionals. Man, I can’t believe I got that out. Let’s go guys. Let’s talk taxes. Todd, are you there?
Todd Jones: I’m here.
Jim Fried: High five!
Todd Jones: How are you doing?
Jim Fried: I’m on fire. Before we get started, Todd, one of your friends from Tallahassee wants me to say hi, somebody named Nicky.
Todd Jones: I know who that is.
Jim Fried: You do, you do. Hey, Nicky, you’re alright. Now, let’s get started, everybody. Property tax bills go out, what, a few weeks, right?
Todd Jones: The bills come out in November but the TRIM notices are out right now and that’s what your listeners really want to hear about because there’s a very narrow window in Florida. It’s only 25 day from the date that this notice was mailed and that date is different in every county.
Jim Fried: Well, Todd, if it’s different in every county, that’s great, but what I really want to know is in an area – you know, I had an email. One of the guys that follows the show, Brian, he asks a couple of questions and I’m going to roll into one and I think this has really state-wide and national implications – what’s the impact of the upswing in speculative pricing for properties in places like, in Miami will be Wynwood, Edgewater, The Design District. In Tampa, maybe it’s Hyde Park and areas close to downtown in Orlando, maybe it’s stuff around Lake Eola but there’s areas in each market that have speculative pressure on pricing. How do you guys deal with that? Let’s ask Tim.
Tim Hart: What happens is a lot of speculation occurs and developers buy a few pieces of land for astronomical figures. The county see those prices and they chase the sales and then re-assess the entire area. I’m in assume each property has exceeded its highest in their shoes.
Jim Fried: Well that sure doesn’t seem fair. What can somebody do about that?
Tim Hart: We can go and improve the value-in-use that some of these properties is the proper use and proper value and prove that you can assume that every property has exceeded its highest in their shoes.
Jim Fried: That’s really exciting. I really want to thank you for getting me all fired up about property taxes. Now, Jeff, maybe you could give it a little bit more oomph that your buddy over here Tim has. After all, you’re the owner, he just works for you. So, I just got my TRIM notice. How did they even come up with that name by the way?
Jeff Nelson: The TRIM notice is essentially initial value-in-use, Truth Rate in Mileage.
Jim Fried: That really is something.
Jeff Nelson: There is something it stands for. That doesn’t mean much to the average person but it is very important.
Jim Fried: What would you consider to be the number 1 issue facing Floridans today when they get their property tax bill?
Jeff Nelson: Not understanding what to to with it, not being able to understand the values of last year to this year and what the next step is. Most of the owners sit there, take it, put it in the file cabinet.
Jim Fried: You mean like me? Todd, I’m going to ask you since you’re the head of the trade group. What should an owner do to most effectively manage their real property assets because Jeff’s telling me there’s actually something you can do?
Todd Jones: If you don’t have people like Jeff and Tim and myself annually reviewing your assessment relative to the property’s unencumbered fee value, then you are at risk of being overcharged on taxes which hits your NOI which adversely impacts your market value.
Jim Fried: Why would my public officials want to overcharge me on my taxes? And we’re doing a great round table here, so I’m just going to go tag on Tim again. Tim, be a little more pithy.
Tim Hart: They just see the market values increase and they charge by the OAR to follow those values. In Florida, the assessment is supposed to be at about 85% and that’s what they get their taxable value approved on. If they can get to that ratio, then the tax value gets sent back and they have to do it all over again.
Jim Fried: Tell me this: if they’re only going to 85% then who is setting this value because it seems 85% seems arbitrary, the value might me arbitrary too? My gosh, do I sound like a lawyer? Jeff.
Jeff Nelson: Essentially the property valuation is oversight by the Department of Revenue. So the 85% number is statistical. Property appraisers look for a 100% of their market value. And there is a range. And as the property appraisers want to get to high value, they often exceed what your property should be assessed.
Jim Fried: I want to start getting on your case. He’s actually pithy compared to you, you must be thinking about what you want to say. Now, Todd, I’m coming back to you, buddy. Does somebody have to be a lawyer or attorney to file these petitions, go appeal the staff? Can I just walk up there, do I have to be like a registered lobbyist or professional? How does somebody find the right person to do this and who is the right person to do it? That’s you Todd.
Todd Jones: Great question, Jim. You don’t have to be a lawyer. You, in fact, don’t have to be anything. You can go challenge through own assessment if you think you can be successful at it. The reality is, the process was designed 40 years ago, 50 years ago and it was very simple in those days. But in the last 15 years, maybe 20, the legislature mostly at the request of the taxing authorities, it’s complicated, changed the system to the point if you don’t have a professional who’s specialized in this area, you are going to get taken advantage of. It’s like when you go to a heart surgeon for heath surgery, go to brain surgeon for brain surgery, you don’t go to a general practitioner. When you don’t have somebody who’s specialized this, you’re at risk.
Jim Fried: So, if somebody is at risk, it sounds to me that there’s a system that’s conspiring against the word I like to use. It’s called fairness. Is this an unfair system? And we’re going to go around the table and the wheel is going to stop at Tim.
Tim Hart: I think the equity amongst assessments is a difficult task because of the diversity within property types for the assessor so a lot of times they create a strata property that’s not really homogeneous and that’s where some values slip through the cracks and can be over assessed and that’s where we step in as consultants because we can find those over assessments.
Jim Fried: The anomaly is that they created in their homogeneous batches of comparables?
Tim Hart: That is correct.
Jim Fried: Regression and not aggression?
Todd Jones: It’s a statistical model. It’s a broad brushed technique. It’s a great tool for single family homes. But once you get into commercial property where things aren’t similar to run into problems. Add to that the fact that nobody in an assessor’s office is putting these numbers on your property is required that any time they’re pertaining your education or license sure do the valuation one.
Jim Fried: I’m losing my mind. So you’re telling me that the person that’s doing a trillion dollars of tax bills went to school to do physical therapy or something maybe?
Todd Jones: Maybe only a high school did they.
Jim Fried: Okay. It sounds to me like we found a flaw in the system. What I want to know then is, Jeff, if the county tax appraiser who’s been doing the individual assessment on a commercial building and they’re trying to put them in this strata of apples and I have a red orange and you find it in the apples, what happens?
Jeff Nelson: Essentially you have to file a tax appeal and what’s important, this time a year is when you get your TRIM notice or initial value notice, tax period is 25 days to file the objection with the value adjustment for it.
Jim Fried: Now that isn’t like the 24 days that the Iranians are getting, right?
Jeff Nelson: Just as important but completely different.
Jim Fried: It sounds to me like there’s an actual date that this starts.
Jeff Nelson: This starts from the date that the tax assessor’s office mails the TRIM notice, not the date that you receive it.
Jim Fried: So somebody better be home to get that TRIM notice then.
Jeff Nelson: They better be home. Better be paying attention.
Jim Fried: Alright, Todd. The person has gone out, they’ve thrown a dart at the wall to figure out what my property is worth, they’ve sent me an enormous bill, I don’t know anything about what to do because I’m just a joe and it’s the one property I own. How do I find out that I can even appeal this?
Todd Jones: The notice actually says that you’ve got a PO, it gives you a phone number. Most property appraisers websites across the state have a section where they discuss how to challenge the assessment, they will by law invite you to come in to the office, try to talk you out. That usually doesn’t work out so well. The bigger problem is when you go just for the hearing, the special magistrate, the judge if you will, is actually employed by the taxing authority. And this is where we run into a serious problem because we got a moral hazard. Everybody wants to please their employer and we actually have documentary testimony where some of the special magistrates over the years have said ”I’m told if I don’t molt the tax payers, I’m not getting rehired”.
Jim Fried: Todd, it sounds to me like that’s a conflict of interests. Let’s hold to there because I want to talk a little bit about what other inherent conflicts of interests there are or people can get caught up and how to pick the right expert to help you. We’re going to do that right after this. Remember, you’re going to get your TRIM notice, learn what to do with the TRIM notice. Stick with us, these guys may not be pithy but their information is good. I’ll stay pithy, I’ll be back after this. D, take it away.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: We are back. Todd, are you still out there? Todd Jones?
Todd Jones: I’m here.
Jim Fried: Todd Jones is the principal of RealAdvice. He is the president of Florida Association of Property Tax Professionals. We’ve got in studio Jeff Nelson, majority owner and president of Property Tax Services of Florida and Tim Hart, managing partner of same firm. These guys have lots of experience, they’ll tell you the ins and outs of how the government is trying to put it to you on your commercial real estate. We’re going to get right back to it, they’re going to try to be pithy, if they’re not, I’ll stay fun. We’re back. I know this is a dry subject, I’m doing the best I can guys. You are really good at what you do, so I’m going to start and I’m going to reverse everything. I’m going to start with Jeff. Jeff, how often should an owner assess their real estate, check their appeal of real estate?
Jeff Nelson: The owner and their own due diligence should do this every single year. The property appraiser’s office values your property annually, every single year. So, the owner should be diligent, review their assessment annually.
Jim Fried: I want to go back to something Todd was saying before we went to break. Todd, you’re there, right?
Todd Jones: I’m here.
Jim Fried: Okay. I want you to go over again with the skills said is of the person that’s making out the appraisal for people’s multimillion dollar of properties.
Todd Jones: By law it’s zero.
Jim Fried: Wait. Say that again. I heard everybody is like heart drop.
Todd Jones: There is no legal requirement for them to have any valuation expertise whatsoever. The fact of the matter is, most have some. Why? For complex properties? Most have inadequate.
Jim Fried: My gosh, I know when I tried to go get the commercial valuation or commercial appraisal, and one of the things I’m getting my 10, 20, 40, 50, 100 million dollar loan, there’s a very short list of people the bank will take as valuation experts. Tim, is that similar to the way people should look at getting their properties appraised and disputing their tax bills?
Tim Hart: Yes, definitely.
Jim Fried: I love guys that say yes as the answer on my radio show. You can keep going. You can explain the yes. It would be great.
Tim Hart: When looking for a professional, I think what you need to find is someone who’s good in valuation, someone who, like Jeff and I are former assessors and understand the modeling within the assessor’s office is a huge benefit, or a former appraiser. When you get into some of these very adjustment board hearings, some people like to talk that legal issues and that typically stands in their ground and really gets into nowhere within hearings.
Jim Fried: So then you guys have experience working for governments as in-house governmental property appraisers – not that I’ve gutted the people that do that – but you guys are professionally trained, you actually – I got to just say it – went to FSU, right?
Tim Hart: Go Noles!
Jim Fried: Yeah, yeah, we heard how your dad had to repaint the room from gator colors when you couldn’t get in. And Jeff, what’s your background?
Jeff Nelson: My background is I worked for local assessors for 12 years. So, as a supervisor of the commercial department.
Jim Fried: It must have been really exciting working there with you.
Jeff Nelson: Absolutely.
Todd Jones: You made up for, Jimmie. You went to work for one of the big four county –
Jim Fried: Oh here we go, here’s the guy who knows what I’m fishing for. So, Todd, tell me about these two guys, because you guys have worked together in the past and I think you know what I’m fishing for a little bit better than they do. They’re good at what they do.
Todd Jones: The reality is that if you’re shopping for a professional that help you in this arena, you want somebody who’s not a gabeler. You want somebody who understands valuation, who understands the legal components, the accounting implications and has good political relationships at the local assessor’s office. Jeff and Tim are top of the game. They’re great. I don’t need to toot my own horn, because you’ll do that for me, but the reality is you want people like the three of us in your corner, you don’t have them. I can’t say how many times I’ve seen them shined on by the assessor’s office, because they don’t understand the newer much the valuation for lending purposes is very different than valuation for investment purposes is very different from valuation for assessment purposes. There’re different rules, different definitions of value, they all intersect in a way that as you are going to get the deal done or kill your deal. You tell me, how many real estate trade and commercial lose, their transactions get killed because of the property tax underwriting element?
Jim Fried: Oh my God! A lot of them! First of all, it’s one of the numbers you debate by your trying to negotiate a deal. When a guy is valuing what his tax bills are going to be down the road, are you kidding me? We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Todd Jones: And how many of those brokers are reaching out the people like this?
Jim Fried: Zero! So you’re telling me that a broker with a big listing should call you guys, have spend a few bucks, get them to opine on what a person’s property tax you should be in and by the way, and probably refer them to the buyer?
Todd Jones: Every single time. I can tell you, Jimmie, I saved a salary last year, a hundred grand, it transfered tax and I saved a buyer a quarter million dollars a year over this anticipated five-year hold and stepped down in his property tax space.
Jim Fried: You’re actually helping people with their bottom line and their cash flow and some of these properties are trading like at a five cap. Even at ten cap where the multiple and what you saved them is 1 to 10 it’s ridiculous what you can bring to the bottom line. Why wouldn’t people use you?
Todd Jones: Because they don’t know.
Jim Fried: Okay. So now we’re telling them. I want to ask Tim, people don’t use you guys because they don’t know. How are they going to find out, I’m going out of word because I see Jeff is poised to give me a sanctioned answer. Go Jeff, it better be pithy.
Jeff Nelson: The taxpayers don’t understand the process and they get the notice and like I said, goes in the file. Taxpayers need to contact a professional that can look at their assessments and understand how how it was derived and the best way to lower the property tax.
Jim Fried: What is the best way to lower the property tax? Is it going to court or going to one of these value adjustment hearings and slugging at others Todd was saying, shining a light on a dark place in the assessor’s office?
Todd Jones: All of the above-
Jim Fried: You loved that, didn’t you, Todd?
Todd Jones: Hiring, some feel like us to go in before the TRIM notice even comes out.
Jeff Nelson: Absolutely.
Todd Jones: Those are your best for answers.
Jim Fried: So, preparing to get my stuff ready before the TRIM notice..so now’s the time. If now is the time and I’m going to warn everybody, we’re going to give out your contact info and phone numbers in a couple of minutes and there’re Jets fans that listen, so we’re going to go slow and give them numbers. Here we go if you need help with your property tax evaluation and it sounds like everybody does, first Jeff. Go!
Jeff Nelson: You can go to our website which is taxflorida.com. You can call the office 954 202 96 96. You can also email me jnelson@taxflorida.com or timhart@taxflorida.com.
Jim Fried: Even if I email Tim Hart, I’m emailing Tim, not you? Todd, how do people find you?
Todd Jones: My direct cell is 813 760 02 12. I’m available 24/7. My website is realadvice.com. My email address is todd.jones@realadvice.com.
Jim Fried: Alright. We’ve got two minutes left. I want to have some fun. Let’s talk football. We’ve got Mr FSU here. Tim, we’re going to talk football for just a couple of minutes and we’re going to talk about how the Gators are going to beat up on your guys. Todd, what do you think about that?
Todd Jones: Jimmie, I don’t know I want to play money on that bet this year.
Jim Fried: Oh, now, come on! The unexpected always happens in college football.
Todd Jones: That’s what makes college ball more fun than anything else. Kids out there are playing their hearts out and you’re right, anything can happen.
Jim Fried: Tim, how about you? Are you involved in FSU in any way as a football fan?
Tim Hart: Yeah, I was a football fan.
Jim Fried: You were? Are you still a football fan?
Tim Hart: I graduated in ’98 so my 4 years that FSU we’d lead in the first quarter because we’d be winning by 40 points.
Jim Fried: My first 4 years we used to lead in the first quarter because we were down by 40 points but we had a heck of a time. Now, before we go, now that we’ve gotten our little football laughing out of the way, I just want to say a couple of things. These guys worked together at Deloitte doing tax appeals nationwide. They are the pros. These are who my clients call when they need help. That’s why I wanted to bring it out to our listeners, they’ve been patient, they’ve been talking to me for months and I wanted to wait and do the show this month because now is when everybody needs them, everybody needs to get one of these. We’re going to do it again, everybody, give your contact information and please, be pithy. We’ve got less than a minute left. Tim, you do it this time.
Tim Hart: My phone number is 954-202-9696.
Jim Fried: Go slower for the Jets fans.
Tim Hart: Email for the Jets fans is thart@taxflorida.com
Jim Fried: Some of them may not know that if they went to USF. Now, Todd, again, how do they find you?
Todd Jones: 813-760-0212 is my direct line. Email address is todd.jones@realadvice.com.
Jim Fried: You guys were great. D is getting mad. I got to go. We’re going this again next year. Back after this with Terek Maddox – exercise in this summer. Right on. Back after this.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: We are back with Terek Maddox. We’re going to give some tips, Terek tips. Tats is nickname, his friends call him that in UK when he call them out to come work out. Terek Maddox trained Frank Gore and Lamar Miller and some other pro athletes here in town. Terek, welcome back to the show.
Terek Maddox: Hey, Jim. Thanks for having me again.
Jim Fried: It’s my pleasure. So what are we going to talk about today?
Terek Maddox: Exercising today.
Jim Fried: Okay. Exercise seems to me like everybody go and exercise. They go in the waiting room, they pick up the free weights, they slap a couple out of piece of steel and they start pressing on and eventually they get hurt.
Terek Maddox: Definitely. You see people nowadays trying to be very fancy in the gym and they’re stacking on weight, they’re jumping up and down.
Jim Fried: Crossfit. Crossfit is not bulbfit, is it?
Terek Maddox: Crossfit is to get ready to get hurt and not be fit.
Jim Fried: Yeah, it seems to me like they don’t really work on getting the strength all over and you can get hurt with just a little bit of a bad move.
Terek Maddox: Yeah, I mean, it’s a challenging type of exercise, a routine. I recommend that type of training for Olympic athletes, firefighters and police officers, it’s not my daily thing that I would-
Jim Fried: Middle-aged guys like me?
Terek Maddox: No, definitely not. Nowadays you see guys trying it out and getting hurt and it’s just setting aback more and more.
Jim Fried: So what do you recommend then for exercising?
Terek Maddox: Number 1 rule is to keep it simple. You can start off with body weight squats, push-ups and brisk walk.
Jim Fried: Wanda liked to keep it simple. She gave us a thumbs up and we got a head nod too.
Terek Maddox: Got to keep it simple. That’s the best progress to try to get yourself on right.
Jim Fried: Okay, so you’re keeping it simple. Does that mean just taking 10 exercises and getting to know them and doing them on a regular basis?
Terek Maddox: Definitely. You can also incorporate some maneuver type training, you know, bouncing around from push-up, then you just do the squat and maybe some light jump ropes and then a walk and come back and start again. The interval training will keep your heart rate up and also you’ll burn good calories doing stuff like that.
Jim Fried: Okay. What are some of your favorite exercises other than pulling a blocking sled or flipping a tractor trailer tire?
Terek Maddox: Push-ups.
Jim Fried: Push-ups?
Terek Maddox: Very simple push-ups. You won’t get hurt doing push-ups, you’re not lifting more than your body weight and you’re not putting that added stress on your lower back or your any joints.
Jim Fried: So like then also a plank which I guess is sort of a modified push-up?
Terek Maddox: Yeah, you can do modified planks, modified push-ups and planks are great for the core obviously but you need to make sure your back is straight, body is straight and the planks are great.
Jim Fried: Okay, so we talked about push-ups. How about something else? Some other stuff? Somebody is running and they’ve done some push-ups, running up and down the stairs. I guess that’s pretty good, isn’t it?
Terek Maddox: Yeah, definitely. You also want to keep in mind you got to have that rest and recovery time while working out. And if you’re a beginner, you don’t have to overdo it. You should rest at least 1 to 3 minutes between your exercises if you’re doing intervals, checking your heart rate throughout the program or your exercise, making sure your heart rate doensn’t go too high and things like that.
Jim Fried: What would be too high for a heart rate?
Terek Maddox: Too high is you want to do 220 minus your age and whatever number that is. That’s the base number you can’t exceed.
Jim Fried: Okay, so then I, just basically, start my stopwatch, I start working out, I check my baseline pulse and then I just keep going from there.
Terek Maddox: Yeah, you keep going if your pulse is, you count it for 15 seconds, you multiply it by 4, whatever that is, you can’t go beyond that number, that’s 220 minus your age. You can’t go beyond that. So if it’s 150 and your heart rate is 145, you’re pretty close to exceeding your maximum heart rate. So you want to keep it below.
Jim Fried: Okay. What other tips do you have for people that are exercising especially since it’s hot down here?
Terek Maddox: Just keep yourself well hydrated. Stay out of the sun. Don’t try to be a bad person, a badass working out. Just stay out of the sun and keep yourself well hydrated and stay away from all that sugar.
Jim Fried: Okay, so no sugar, little sugar, diluted Gatorade, not full bore Gatorade.
Terek Maddox: Yes, exactly.
Jim Fried: Now people have gyms in their homes, they have gyms where they live, all these fancy apartments and condos. They’re putting it a little bit more than the universal machine today, but how about doing it the natural way? Can somebody get a good workout just at the park?
Terek Maddox: Yeah, being very creative. You can Google all types of different exercises out there to do as long as you’re not getting too fancy like I think some exercise programs are like crossfit, throwing things above your head, then try to jump on top of a car and jump down and pushing cars, I don’t recommend those types of things. That’s just heading for a long-lasting injury. Yeah, you could be very creative taking the stairs, coming back down, jumping up again, jumping upstairs one by one, small steps and things like that.
Jim Fried: And how about, you’re always telling me when you’re working out to listen to your body. What should I be listening for?
Terek Maddox: Well if you’re feeling pain, you’re getting overheated, your heart rate is going up like I said, you definitely want to check your heart rate every now and again, shooting pain at bottom of the foot, which is plantar fasciitis. A lot of us get that when we’re running or walking. If that hurts, you got to stop. And learn different stretches, obviously you want to warm and stress the body up before you get in any kind of program or routine or exercise during the summer.
Jim Fried: How do people find you? We’re almost out of time and I want to make sure we save warm up and cool down for another segment.
Terek Maddox: Yes, sir. Okay, we’re going to do that. You guys can follow me at Twitter at Terek Maddox. You can always shoot me questions on Twitter or IG which is Instagram at Terek Maddox again or shoot me an email terekmaddox@yahoo.com.
Jim Fried: Alright. Thank you so much. Terek Maddox is always keeping us healthy and happy.
[commercial break]
Jim Fried: Summer time is ending. And I want to go over a little bit the stuff that I discovered over the summer and I want to share what I’m going to be doing for the next few months as I prefer for 2016. First of all, this was a really interesting summer for me because I was asked to do a number of speeches at our synagogue when the rabbi was out of town. And I want to talk about a couple of topics I brought up.
First, I talked about grit. To me, grit is the most important thing, it’s one of those words in currency, grit, grit, grit. What’s grit? I got grit because I don’t give up. I work hard, I don’t give up, I don’t care what people say, I don’t care if they say it ain’t going to be done. I’m going to do it and I’m going to get there. Grit.
The number 2 thing I was talking about is the Jewish holidays are coming up, it’s a time for reflection, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. You go out, you go ask people for forgiveness, you ask God for forgiveness. What I tell people to do is, first of all, start with yourself. Forgive yourself. If you can forgive yourself, you’re well on a way to do any other things that you need to do to be successful. Forgive yourself, let it go, get home at night, let it go. Don’t keep eating your guts out over what happened. If you think you could’ve done something differently, write it down and don’t make the same mistake twice but cut yourself a break, for goodness sakes, you’re just human. And the other thing that is really important for the end of the year that I’m going to be focusing on well in the next year and beyond is always stay away from negative energy.
If you see negative energy coming and boy, you can see it coming a mile away, stay away from it. Focus on positive energy. Give yourself the good times to be positive and stay positive. It’s the number 1 thing that you can do. So, I learned over the summer those things and I shared them with a number of people that mean the world to me. Now let’s start talking about what I’m going to do this fall to prepare for next year.
First thing I do – and this is my ritual, way I kick off the business development every year – I go to the international shopping center convention, International Council of Shopping Center Convention, the ICSC, Orlando convention. I’m going up to Orlando in a couple of weeks. I’m going to make new friends, see old friends and the industry is changing, shopping center development is changing every day. Used to be that you can go up there to be 20 firms developing for publics. Well Publix development has slowed down. That means that a lot of the people that used to go up there and have jobs in the real estate industry specifically in retail development, they just won’t be there anymore. A lot of times I say it’s like riding on the haunted mansion ride in Walt Disney World because you look to your left, you look to your right, the people just aren’t there sometimes. But they’re being replaced by different people. Who are these people? They’re the people that specialize in leasing the urban ground floor retail and the people that are trusted by the grocers that are looking to expand today primarily Walmart.
So the Walmart developers are going to be the most popular guys out there. I don’t mind because my favorite client is the Walmart developer. He’s now based in Jacksonville but we’re doing deals with them all over the state and you know what? He’s not even going to go. He doesn’t need to go because his guys are going to be there. So I’ll be there and I’ll be networking and meeting with all of the people that I know to do..sorry about that, I actually had to do a little social media response work there. I’ll be meeting out there with all the people I know renewing, reacquainting, learning new ideas and bringing the new ideas that I have to them.
And you’ll say ”Well, Jim, what are some of the things that you’re going to be bringing to those people?”. Well some of the ideas that I have include the fact that all these big shopping centers that were developed in the ’70s and ’80s have huge parking lots and lots of space in them. That’s never going to get leased as the Internet starts to cannibalize some of the small tenants in the mom-and-pop businesses. And so what do I see? I see townhomes, I see apartment buildings, I see office buildings on the parking lots and on the ends of these shopping centers. I see urgent care centers and places for the government to deliver social services. These are where our community is going to meet and greet because the locations are great. You’ve just got to repurpose the real estate, you’ve go to vision it.
The guys on earlier that were talking about property tax appeal work, that’s what they do. You’ve got to figure out what the highest and best use is and go for it. That’s what I’m going to do when I kick off my fall, the first thing I do is I go to the International Council of Shopping Centers, renew old relationships, forge new ones and get all kinds of ideas. If I don’t come back with two sacks of business cards and HIH, I’ll figure that I didn’t meet enough people. And when I get back, that’s when the real fun starts. They all go into my computer, they all go into the Xpresso Content Cafe marketing campaign vehicle and I start emailing and talking to everybody regularly and I stay in touch. I feed them information, they come and feed me information, we begin to interact, we begin to share ideas, begin to build relationships and I’ll continue to build those new relationships well in through the fall and into next year.
And then what I’m going to do is I’m going to close the pipeline that I have been working on and I’ve been working on a whole bunch of land deals. A lot of them are closing, land purchase cycle in South Florida specifically and I believe a lot of places across the countries coming to at least a post point or inflection point. I don’t say that values are going to go down but they will take a pause and land uses will have to change before the values will go up again. The types of uses chasing a land will have to change. So I’m going to close the pipeline, I have a lot of stuff, great stuff contract. I’ve got stuff I’m working on already for next year and I’m going to generate more. That’s right. I’m going to focus on what I’ve got and I’m going to generate more. Want to do it by staying positive. I’ve mentioned that already. Staying positive, just being upbeat. Who wants to talk to a Glum Guss? For goodness sakes, talking to you should be fun and informative. That’s what I practice on the radio show is the fun part.
Hey, D! How much time do I have left? I’m really rolling here. I’ve got plenty of time. So I’m going to stay positive. And now let’s talk about what next year’s goals are going to be. Next year’s goals start with, I already said it, staying positive. We’re going to stay positive, we’re going to look forward, we’re going to get what we want, we’re going to be making our plan on who we’re going to see, how we’re going to help them make money and how we’re going to make money with them. The goal will be to as it’s done for the last 5 years. The goal will be to increase my income at least 20 to 30%. Now we’re getting into the good range of income. I’m very excited about that.
The other thing I’m going to try to do is increase the number of people I help. Because I make it a point all the time to make sure that I find new young people to mentor and new people that are in the same demographic cohort I am to help them build and expand their career. Because the thing that I’ve noticed is that there’s a lot of plateauing going on out there. Now they’re taking a look at some of the statistics I saw were that a lot of high-end jobs were, generate about a million high-end jobs since the recession. About one million low-end jobs have been created since the recession started. But in the middle there hasn’t been many. We need to start priming the pump so that everybody can get career opportunities. The way I help is I help people network and get jobs. A couple of months ago I even did a blog and broadcast on the ways to get jobs, it’s not easy. You got to use your network. The first thing I tell people is to tell me who they want to work with and that tells me where they want to go. After that I just work my context hard to make sure that there’s something there for them.
Another goal is to get my wife’s kidney transplant. If you haven’t listened to the show, my wife has end-stage urinal disease and we’re going to get her a kidney. Our goal is to do it by the end of the year. We’ve got a beautiful woman who stepped up, who’s identified herself as a donor. She and my wife are going to continue to get the testing done and hopefully that will all work. If it doesn’t, I want to say thanks right here on the air to my friend Jerry who finally woke me up and told me ”Hey, Jim, you could be on the list in other places”, so we’re now on a list, at Shands in Gainesville, down here at UHealth. UHealth is our primary. Shands is our backup and the other place we’re going to look is up in New York. So we’re going to look on three good places on the East Coast. Hopefully we’ll be able to get it down here. I have good faith in Miami Transplant Institute, our friends at Jackson and our friends at UHealth.
But everybody needs a backup plan where the gift of life is involved. So my wife is going to get her kidney transplant. The other thing that I want to do is I want to expand the show. You all go ”How are you going to do that, Jim? It’s already smoking good”. D liked that. D, didn’t you? Larry is giving me thumbs up there. Larry has even got that smile. So we’re going to try to continue to expand the show. We’re talking to bunch of sponsors, we’re going to get some new sponsors on, starting in September, we’re going to have Magnum Energy Solutions back, we’re going to have Engineer Tax Services on and by the way, those guys are going to be talking about how to save money. We had a part of our saved money tool kit on today, the folks from the Property Tax Appeal guys. And then we’re going to have Terek Maddox to keep you healthy. And we’re going to talk about how to your building in your bottom outline healthy. The we’re going to directly solicitude, do alone in a mortgage for you.
Next year is just going to be great. And you know, maybe we’ll even get a second hour on the show. Now Larry is giving me two thumbs up. D just can’t stop laughing. D got that answer 1080 shirt on. I want you to know something. You’re definitely the answer and if you tick out the two zeros, it turns into 18 which is the number for a life in the Jewish religion. You got a very lucky shirt on there, buddy. And that’s the other thing I’m going to do as I’m going to do things like that. Continue to be positive energy guy because there’s enough negative energy out there. Everybody at 995 knows about that. And by the way, just let the person go. It’s their problem, not yours.
I’ve been driving, my car has been in the shop so I’ve been driving so some guy cut me off on my way home, trying to make an illegal U-turn in front of me over the double yellow line, told me he does it all the time, and I said ”break the law?”. Exactly. So in any event I guess he was just late, wanted to get back to Miami Beach without going the circuitous way. So he hit me, I went in, I got my loaner car, they said ”All we have is a hybrid”. I was in a rush, I said ”That’s okay”. What a mistake. It’s driving a freaking hot air balloon powered by a Frisbee. I’m not going to say what brand it was, I will say it was not an Infiniti. But I’m yearning for my Infiniti car. The thing is a rocket chip, I love it. There’s something to be said for low gas prices. It’s acceleration. And by the way, these hybrids, Larry was on, it’s not like they take that much pollution away. Somebody’s burning coal somewhere so you can drive your hybrid car. And those batteries may be not the safest either. But my mom has a hybrid, I wanted to try it once so she drives a Prius, I picked the Lexus hybrid. It’s magnificent for a little tiny hybrid car but believe me, when it’s me coming behind you and go toot toot toot with that little hybrid, there’s nothing behind that, you either get out of the way or I an’t got nothing to do with you.
Now with all of my soliloquy, it all rolls into the number 1 thing that I want to do to expand my show and it starts with thanking the people that are important. So you go ”Jim, who’s important to you in your own radio show?”. Well I’ve already mentioned Larry and D and mention Felix and all the guys at the station, maybe even Mike Castille if he gives me what I want. But the people I really want to thank, I’m going to run down, UHealth, UHealth changes my life, changes my wife’s life, let the guys and gals at UHealth change your life. They’re absolutely super. Build the relationship with them, it’s an amazing place to get your health worked on, KIND Snacks, they’re healthy, they’re helpful, they’re sponsors of the show, they’re good to eat. We really appreciate them, the CCIMs here in Miami. Every week we have a new CCIM on. Next week we’re going to have another CCIM. We’re going to talk about why the CCIMs are important and we’ll give a little Miami real estate update then too. Warren Henry Automotive. How long and how far can I sing the praises of Warren Henry? Join family of Warren Henry Automotive you go a Warren Henry family. Listen, the people know my name, I come in, they’re very nice. They email me, they text me, we talk sports. It’s a great place. Being part of the Warren Henry family is really a concept.
I want to thank the Miami Marlins, I want to thank the Miami Dolphins, South Florida Business and Wealth Magazine, a fabulous partnership for us could be a fabulous partnership for you and your business too; EarlyShares, the market leader in real estate crowdfunding joined our lineup. You heard them on the show last week. We’ll have them on again real soon. Xpresso Content Cafe, Sandy queues my email, blast going out on time and to everybody and I got to tell you that girl herself is a straight shot of coffee; Social Media 305, the NFL Alumni, Lauren’s Kids, Magnum Energy Solutions and the Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies.
Join our community, give us feedback and comments, tell us who you want to hear from at Jim Fried on Fried on Business Facebook link and Youtube. If you’ve missed the show, it’ll be up on our website www.friedonbusiness soon. This is Jim Fried from Fried on Business. Look for us on 880 AM next week at 6. Why? Because I love doing this. Remember, this is not a rehearsal, this is your life. A person who wants to do something finds a way, the other finds an excuse. Now go out there and make it happen. D, it is all yours. Thank you, everybody!
