“Exchange your taxes for a luxury residence, business or commercial-investment property.” Karen L. Bertiger
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We have some fairly unique services available now to prospects, customers and clients, as well as those interested in high dollar value residential property. Having access to comprehensive databases allows me to search for both on-market and off-market properties of all types, nationwide. This includes distressed property owners, properties that have been owned for 15 years or more, etc.
My services currently do not utilize the existing MLS systems for sales due to the loss of control of information for marketing purposes. Buyers are not well served by MLSs since there is no access to off-market properties. I post property landing pages and individual property marketing books accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
Although many industry people will state that having your property marketed everywhere on the internet is doing the best for you, including with third parties who use your listing information to sell other services, in Florida’s past it was not uncommon to see more than one price for a property listed in an MLS because brokers were trying to gain leads or the listing information has been scraped or submitted to outside websites (Zillow, etc.) whose information was not updated in a timely manner.
(In 2022) There were too many agents searching for properties to sell. If you are selling a property, I would advise that you have a conversation with me regarding your strategy. Many brokerages & MLSs are instituting onerous language & limiting their liability to you. These types of clauses are NOT in the CLIENT’s BEST INTEREST, they are in the brokerage’s best interest.
If you value your privacy & want to protect your property while utilizing the most efficient marketing strategy to qualified buyers, please call me to discuss how my experience & knowledge base can benefit you.
Interested in commercial and/or investment property, re-development or new development? Because I am an independent boutique broker, I can make inquiries, gather information, or bring properties to your attention based on your criteria, with no deal leakage of information to other brokers.
Many states are updating their brokerage laws and real estate investment related laws, some of which now require persons flipping or wholesaling properties to hold real estate licenses (one of the first goes into effect in late 2021.)
My primary activity has been real estate investing since 1978. This is a very different environment for real estate investments.
The price of building is going up & it may require more funds from a buyer to replicate your property as a new build than to buy from you.
Residential owners need to consider that their property may be of more interest to an investor, rather than an owner-resident, particularly in today’s markets. The want-to-be-homeowners are being outbid by investors in many markets in both Florida & Arizona. Which might be good for you as a seller, but then again it might not be wonderful if you’re a buyer. As a seller you may still receive less than current market value if you are not careful. Know what replacement values are currently. Replacement values are also a factor in insuring your properties. Most expenses are escalating. The price of building is going up & it may require more funds from a buyer to replicate your property as a new build than to buy from you.The value of the dollar falling or appreciating against other currencies affects residential properties as well as commercial properties.Remember that appraisals are looking in the rear view mirror of the real estate market. They’re where we’ve been. They may not be where we are now. We have a chicken & an egg problem. You need to see higher comparables for buyers getting loans, but they can’t get those loans when there are not enough recent comparables to support higher values.
I have always maintained that the MLS system should never have been allowed to be compromised by lenders for their own purposes during the financial crisis more than a decade ago. A market is made by ready, willing & able buyers & sellers in an arms length transaction, not by banks. (Although the banks want that shoe to be on their foot, they don’t want to leave any money on the table. Your best bet with banks right now is to get fixed rate financing, not variable rates.) Those ready, willing & able buyers just might be investors, who may be connected to an investment banker or hedge fund. You need a sophisticated, financially literate real estate broker on your side.
Residential MLS services during the Great Recession were geared toward that owner-resident, but may have actually harmed owners because lenders & investors were using the MLS statistics to strip value from owner-residents, as they have been since 2007. If you want to prevent this from happening to you, you may want to read the passages in the best seller, Freakonamics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner.
Remember, a $10,000 difference in your sales price means only a $600.00 commission difference (based on a 6% fee) split 50-50 between 2 brokerages, with each $300.00 being split with that brokerage’s agent. However, it really does mean a difference of $9,400.00 to you. Keep that in mind when you are considering your situation – $10,000 to several hundreds of thousands of dollars is up for grabs when you place a property on the traditional MLS service offered by the REALTORS organization. We’ve seen the ugly side of how the financial crisis was used to migrate values steeply lower, by lenders & large investors. “Your” broker may actually be working for himself or herself when they try to convince you to list your property way below market and/or replacement value. Brokers are starved for inventory. Don’t get taken!
My relatively unknown investment business model which began in 1978 has been hijacked by the Wall Street investment funds & put on steroids. I speak “Wall Street investment banker” because I was previously licensed as a broker-dealer principal for real estate securities. The best antidote to being taken advantage of is to be a stealth operator who has an advocate. If you’re currently dealing with one or more of those types, you might want to put me on your team.
I recommend that individuals & small businesses read Travis H. Brown’s book “How Money Walks” & call me with your numbers to see if moving can reduce your income taxes & in essence pay for your Florida or Arizona property.
“Exchange your taxes for a luxury residence, business or commercial-investment property.” Karen L. Bertiger
