The Swartz Report: Celebrating 2 Years in Business!

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

Recently we celebrated the 2-year anniversary of Swartz + Associates, Inc.! It doesn’t seem possible two years have passed since the formation of the company and my venture (adventure?) back into entrepreneurial mode.

The lessons learned have been many, but I want to focus on a couple of comments my Advisory Board made at our most recent meeting: Read more

The Swartz Report: Lessons From An Underground Coal Mine

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

A few weeks ago, I experienced my first trip underground in a coal mine. Wow, what an experience. After less than two hours underground, my back hurt, my ears were ringing and I’d had enough time to understand the process and call it a day. Being hunched over with a hard hat balanced on my head was quite an ordeal for the uninitiated. I can’t imagine being over 6 feet tall and doing this every day, 8 hours/day, 5 days/week.

“Ok, Don, so why were you in a coal mine in the first place?”  Read more

The Swartz Report: A Situation I Haven’t Seen In 30 Years

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

Earlier this year, the Superintendent of the Raytown School District (greater Kansas City area) filed suit against the Jackson County Board of Equalization claiming the county assessor’s office has under-valued commercial properties for property tax purposes.

In my 30 years of reviewing property tax valuations, I have rarely seen a situation where a superintendent has sued the county. There have been several situations where a taxpayer has appealed to the Board and the county has requested an increase as a result of the appeal or the Board has determined the value is too low and has increased the valuation. But this is a first, and really quite interesting.

The Superintendent reviewed several sales of properties located within the Raytown School District and determined the appraised values on these commercial properties were well below their actual sales price. This seems simple, right? If a homeowner sells his or her property to another willing buyer, isn’t that considered to be the best indication of market value or the worth of the property? The answer….. probably so; however, this may not necessarily be true as it relates to commercial property. Read more

The Swartz Report: If This Isn’t March Madness, I Don’t Know What Is

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

March Madness is upon us. I know what you’re thinking: NCAA Basketball Tournament, crazy last second shots, office pools, extended lunch hours and superstitions galore.

And what about Spring Training, trips to the Grapefruit or Cactus League games, aluminum benches and sunburn while we watch the Boys of Summer prepare in a festive, lighthearted atmosphere (easy to say when you’re the World Champions!).

Hmmmmm, how about work? Filing deadlines in KS, MO, OK and other states throughout the country. Businesses and individuals receiving their real estate valuation notices and saying, “ My __________ went up HOW MUCH THIS YEAR?

While all of those things in one way or another are a part of March Madness, it’s not the madness I’m most focused on this year. Read more

The Swartz Report: Lower Gas Prices and Issues On The Horizon

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

There’s something about Valentine’s Day that says, “Ok, we’re finished with New Years. We’ve gone through the NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl. We’ve eaten our chocolates. Can we please get back to work now?”

Not that I haven’t been working these past weeks, but the month of January has traditionally been a month to get ready for new clients, prepare for existing clients and wait to see how the respective counties will treat property valuations for the upcoming year.

The wait is over in Johnson County, KS as the commercial valuations will be mailed to taxpayers beginning February 15th.  The Greater Kansas City area has experienced strong sales activity the past few years and increases in property valuations have followed. At the same time, western Kansas and other areas dependent on the oil and gas industry have been suffering tremendously since the beginning of 2015.

Over 300 companies across the country, with ties to the oil and gas industry, declared bankruptcy last year and the pace has not slowed down at the start of 2016.

Read more

The Swartz Report: Hawkeye Memories To Last A Lifetime

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

Growing up in Iowa and being a fan of the Hawkeyes, the college bowl season rarely had any meaning surrounding New Year’s other than seeing who Ohio State or Michigan would be playing in the Rose Bowl. These were dark years indeed; the age of the Big 2 and the Little 8 until Hayden Fry came on the scene in 1979 and led the Hawks to the their first Rose Bowl trip (1982) since my mother attended Iowa in the late 1950s.

The “Granddaddy of them All” – The Rose Bowl, tucked neatly into the hills of Pasadena. 100,000 thousand fans gathering annually to see the best of the Big 10 battle the best of the Pac 8. I realize I’m dating myself, but nothing was bigger on New Year’s Day than settling in to watch the Cotton, Rose, Orange and Sugar bowls (although we had to flip between the Orange and Sugar as they were on television at the same time). If the Hawks made the Rose Bowl (or for that matter any Big Ten team), it was the ultimate success to the season. Read more

The Swartz Report: 2015 Highlights and Looking Ahead to 2016

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

2015, where did you go?

It’s hard to believe we’re turning the page on another fun and fast paced year, so I thought I would review some of our highlights as well as mention upcoming issues facing the taxpayers in the property tax world.

The Highlights

  • Swartz + Associates, Inc. (SAI) completes its first full year of operations and things continue to go well. Our portfolio diversity and ability to work across the country pays dividends. We were able to successfully negotiate multi-year settlements for our clients with properties from California, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Texas and success in Canada based upon a strategic partner relationship.
  • Gary Stone, Senior Analysis for SAI, achieved the designation of Accredited Senior Appraiser in the area of Machinery and Technical Specialties. This is quite an accomplishment that has been literally years in the making. Congratulations to Gary for staying with this goal and adding value to our practice. I believe SAI is the only firm in the greater Kansas City area with two designated ASA appraisers in the field of Machinery and Technical Specialties.
  • Terry Hainje, a career real estate professional in the Kansas City market joined the staff of SAI in June. Terry’s 35+ years of real estate experience in appraisal, brokerage, valuation and property management are a welcome addition to our veteran staff.
  • SAI currently has two properties represented at the State Supreme Court level (IA and WV); one awaiting decision from the Court and the other set to be heard before the Court in early 2016. Decisions in both cases will have a significant impact in the valuation of what one side argues as “special use” property and what the other side argues is not “special use”.
  • SAI continues to have success representing specialty properties such as theaters, big box retail, hospitality and mining – showing our expertise in a many niche areas.

Read more

The Swartz Report: It’s Time To Give Thanks

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Don SwartzPost written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

With the Thanksgiving holiday in the air, we all take a few minutes to reflect on things for which we are thankful. In my family, we write notes with the things we are thankful for before we sit down for our Thanksgiving meal.

After dinner, we go around the table reading others’ notes and try to guess which person wrote each note. We can list one thing or several different things we’re thankful for….whatever feels right.

Often it relates to family, good health, the World, or the country we live in, but it always involves complete participation. The tone is usually light.  Some of the notes this year might include things like, “I’m thankful for the Royals winning the World Series”, “I’m thankful for parades and celebrations”, or “I’m thankful the Iowa Hawkeyes are allowing us to screw up our New Year’s Day plans of sitting at home in the Midwest cold and instead going to the Rose Bowl or Bowl Championship Final Four!” (Hey, a person can certainly dream). Read more

The Swartz Report: Royals, Chiefs, And The Greatest Run of My Life!

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Post written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

Don Swartz

In the immortal words of the recently deceased Yogi Berra, “It’s like Déjà vu all over again”. That certainly describes the feeling as we watched the Royals defeat Houston in a dramatic five game series. Didn’t we just experience this craziness last year? Surely, the 2014 Wild Card game was the “greatest game we’ve ever seen”…. until it wasn’t.

Fast forward to Game 4 of this year’s ALDS in Houston. Almost an identical situation; down four runs in the eighth inning and elimination seemed imminent. With a statistical probability of less than 3% chance of winning in either situation, somehow the Royals were able to stave off elimination and live to play another day.

If ever Yogi Berra’s quote was attributable to a situation, Kansas City fans would be hard pressed to find a more accurate representation. So the run continues….. Read more

It Was Awesome: A Dad’s Road Trip With His Daughter

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Post written by Donald Swartz, President and Principal at Swartz + Associates, Inc. | Lover of Chiefs, Royals and golf | Avid “Cruiser” | Poker Enthusiast

Don Swartz

Success! Success! Yes, it’s possible to spend 2 days straight in a car with my teenage daughter and both come out of it for the better. To use a favorite quote of the Millennials…

“It was AWESOME.”

For those who missed my last post, I was getting ready to drive my daughter back for her sophomore year at college. Nervous? Hardly. Anxious? PLEEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE. Worried about listening to the Broadway Channel for 1,200 miles? No comment.

Our journey started on a Thursday morning with the only rule being that we had to be to her room by 9 a.m. on Saturday. This left a lot of room for adventure and changing plans on the fly…or what I like to call “a perfect road trip” (minus road pops and loud 80’s music).

As I drove, my daughter decided to post updates on Facebook to inform the masses of our whereabouts and stops.

I must admit I’m continually amazed by the power of social media and the number of people who “LIKE’d” the various postings and “Commented” during our trip. When we arrived at her school, I couldn’t believe the number of friends who had followed our journey. Surprising indeed.  As I read her postings and all of the corresponding comments, I was continually reminded how social media is woven into the fabric of our lives. Both professionally and personally, these tools have simply become a part of everyday life. The ongoing challenge is to learn how to incorporate this medium into something tangible…or as we say in the property tax world…“something of value.”

uofiBlogging allows me to share a little bit of my personality with those who know me in the business/professional world.

Maybe it reduces barriers of entry in conversation. Maybe it creates common ground with my clients to show we’re not engulfed in property taxes 24/7. Maybe people read blogs to take a quick break from the world of everyday. Or maybe it’s “all of the above.”

My goal is to provide a little of this and a little of that – what makes me tick; my love of family, the greater Kansas City area, and Kansas City sports. And maybe, just maybe, share a nugget or two about my business and the arena in which I play. The world is a big stage and people are watching (or should I instead say “Following”?)

Whatever your reason, I just want to take a moment to say THANK YOU for following my blog.

I will continue to strive for content that is fun, entertaining and at the same time, relevant and meaningful. Stay tuned because I’m pretty sure my next post might have something to do about our upcoming trip to Lambeau Field for the Monday Night game, Chiefs vs. Packers. Who knows…I might even throw in a few pictures.

As I reflect on the trip with my daughter, I’ll remember the singing, the windshield time, our chats, our visits to MY enemy Big 10 schools (Illinois and Ohio State), and the ease of not necessarily saying anything but knowing this was our time together.

What kind of birthday present was this to end her teenage years?  It was AWESOME.  (Look at that…I said “Awesome” twice in the same post.)

Until next time…