The Swartz Report: Looking forward to navigating 2022 with you!
Happy New Year to all! I trust everyone has had their share of holiday snacks and beverages; created their resolutions for this year (and have not broken too many of these yet đ) and have a game plan for goals and priorities for 2022.
I certainly have had my share of the above. I may have partaken so much in the snacks and beverages they have literally materialized on my footwear! (Okay, a slight exaggeration, but take a look and you tell me!)
This leads directly into resolutions â less eating, less drinking, more exercising… Boring, boring, boring. If this forces my footwear to become nothing more than bland blue or black, NO THANK YOU! Bring on the pizzazz and more drinks for everyone!
Looking Forward to 2022
In all candor, I am very excited about the year in front of us and our abilities to assist owners of commercial real estate, tangible personal property and private railcars. As I have mentioned in previous postings, the pandemic has been a boon to certain aspects of the real estate market and a severely negative impact in others. How will the jurisdictions handle their valuations for the upcoming year?
Certainly, school districts continue to need more funding and as more than 70% of property taxes collected directly flow to the schools, there is pressure to maintain (or increase) valuations for this year. Reports indicate that although consumer spending has increased during the 2021 year, the numbers have not reach pre-pandemic levels. Various economic forecasts believe 2022 will be another challenging year and we may see numbers below pre-pandemic levels again. Factor in the Federal Reserveâs estimate of three interest rate increases, it is hard to imagine the real estate market continuing to soar as it has the past several years. Capitalization rates in many sectors will begin to increase, which may adversely affect real estate values. We have seen increases in idle capacity for machinery and equipment in the manufacturing sector and we continue to monitor the number of railcars in storage, due to a reduced demand for sand, coal and other goods.
Of course, the flipside could be true as well. The Omicron variant may peek very soon and subside as quickly as it ascended. If workers stay diligent and vaccinations increase, the economy will benefit and manufacturing, retail and other markets will see a significant benefit. The one constant? Taxes. And in my case, property taxes.
Owners will continue to be resourceful in ways to minimize operating expenses and an annual review of their property tax valuations is (and should be) a part of the annual business game plan.
As always, we are here to help. If you would like to address your property tax needs, please reach out to me directly at dswartz@swartzaai.com or dswartz@indurantetax.com. Both companies are here to help and we look forward to another year together!
As we conclude 2021, I’m amazed at how quickly the year passed by. It was just yesterday we were contemplating what 2021 would look like from a virtual perspective. Could we really continue to operate in 2021 like we had in 2020? What changes would be necessary in the work environment? How would our relationships with our clients and the county/state jurisdictions survive? How would owners of private railcars continue to survive and thrive and what will be the state of commercial real estate, particularly in the hospitality and entertainment venues?
While certain sectors are thriving (industrial/commercial warehousing; multi-family and residential), other properties continue to suffer and will to seek ways to create value. High-end hospitality, office space and segments of the commercial retail space are not coming back to the pre-pandemic levels and it will be interesting to see if they’re permanently affected.
We filed a significant number of railcars this year with an âidle capacityâ or âplaced in storageâ as many cars were not in service at the valuation date of January 1, 2021. We expect the numbers of cars in service to be much greater as of January 2022 and will be gathering the data over the next 30-60 days.
As we enjoy the Thanksgiving break, I wanted to take this opportunity to again identify the things I am thankful for and appreciate the support we have received this past year.
I’ve heard many reports of conference attendance being approximately 40% of previous years’ conferences. I believe this was true for Cinemacon as well. Seeing the interaction amongst the attendees; listening to leaders in the industry discuss the future of movies; looking at the latest in technology to enhance the experience and walking through the trade show area brought back a sense of normalcy that had been missing.
It’s hard to believe we’ve almost completed the 3rd quarter of 2021. As someone mentioned to me the other day, the days are long but the weeks are short. HOW TRUE… This has been a very busy appeal season. I’ve scheduled our planning meetings for both Swartz and Indurante in the coming weeks.
There’s a saying that you can conduct quite a bit of business on the golf course. I’ve always felt there’s quite a bit of truth to this as you spend approximately four hours on the course (give or take 30 minutes đ) with one, two or three additional people. While you’re focused on your game, the actual execution of the shot and your score is a rather miniscule time frame compared to the amount of time you spend with the people in your group on the course.
While a little nervous, I am fully vaccinated and conference attendees must show proof of full vaccination in order to be allowed into the various breakout sessions. I’m excited about the opportunities but definitely cognizant of the surroundings. I am completely comfortable wearing a mask in this setting and curious to see how interactions will occur as well as the number of attendees at the conference. (Sounds like a good story for the September blog!)
Happy Summer everyone. I hope the season is treating you well and you are taking advantage of this time to travel, vacation and/or relax. For those of you who regularly follow my writing, you may recall the road trips with my daughter as she would get ready to attend another year of college. After graduation, one would have thought those opportunities would be gone… No more Worldâs Largest Golf Tee or Wind Chime; various universities in our path back East; the Flight 93 memorial, the total eclipse. Great times and great memories.
Lunch in Hannibal, MO; a visit to the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL and dinner with a few college buddies rounded out Day 1. Notre Dame and lunch with a friend (living in South Bend) of Miriamâs from her Lafayette College days highlighted Day 2, although dinner in Erie, PA was surprisingly excellent and our accommodations in Buffalo were outstanding.
As we start our hearings for the 2021 tax year, a question constantly arises from both taxpayers and county appraisers…
On April 29th, my family and I completed our second round of vaccinations. After the recommended two-week waiting period, we’re ready to socialize! Whether work related, social or a combination of the two, I am very excited to GO and DO.
A belated Happy Earth Day to everyone. đ I hope you’re doing your part to make the planet a safer place for us and future generations.
We recently signed a new client with a nice portfolio in central Iowa. There was nothing extraordinary about the deal itself, but how the situation played out reflects the value of relationships. We have a long-time client who is a single tenant on a property. While not the owner of the property, they’re responsible for the property tax liability.
We have another long-time client who owns property managed by a property management firm. We’ve worked closely with the management firm for the past several years. But this year, the property management firm reached out to us independently to see if we would be interested in handling their own portfolio as well as other owners of property they manage.
Another property management firm reached out to me last week. The individual was also someone I’d worked with over 20 years ago with another company. He reached out to me and asked if we were interested in representing the portfolio he managed. He also wanted to know if we were taking on new clients. We have a call with the ownership group and the property management team this week. Hopefully we will secure the deal!