General Information Archives - Page 12 of 15

The Swartz Report: The National Business Aviation Association conference was fascinating.

October 21, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

Last month, I discussed the CinemaCon convention I attended in August and thought it would be interesting to compare this conference to the NBAA – BACE at the Las Vegas Convention Center I attended last week.

The differences were striking.

The NBAA (National Business Aviation Association) is the leading organization for companies relying on aircraft to make their businesses more profitable. I was invited as a guest of SkyMark Refuelers (a big thank you to Mike Ellis for allowing me the opportunity to attend.) I knew this would be an excellent opportunity to meet business owners as well as suppliers, fixed based operators and others to discuss the aspect of business personal property taxes levied against various types of equipment. These types of equipment include refueling trucks, maintenance equipment, private jets and the leasehold improvements situated on airport property.

The event was fascinating.

Exhibitors from all across the globe gathered to show their wares in extremely elegant and sophisticated tradeshow booths. While smaller than past years, this was the largest convention gathering post pandemic Las Vegas has hosted with over 18,000 registered attendees. This is roughly 4-5X the number of attendees at CinemaCon and held in the recently completed West side of the Las Vegas Convention Center (as well as aircrafts located at the Henderson Airport).

The feel of the event was completely different. You had to be fully vaccinated to attend and pick up your credentials for entering. This was streamlined by installing the Clear App on your mobile device; downloading a picture of the front and back of proof of full vaccination card; downloading a picture ID of yourself and showing the application at the Registration Area to collect your credentials. After receiving credentials, masks were not required within the Conference Center. It was as close to “normal” as I’ve felt as part of an indoor setting with so many people. Kudos to the event planners for making this happen so efficiently.

While many conventions highlight the social aspects of getting away, make no mistake, these attendees were here to meet up with clients, learn about the latest technologies and most importantly – conduct business!

The tradeshow booths.

Many tradeshow booths were set up for staging areas for the “chit-chat”, while stairs led to 2^nd story conference rooms (within the respective vendor’s booth) for privacy and real work. Additionally, there was a section of floor space dedicated to first time presenters. I spent time meeting with the “first timers” to determine what was the deciding factor to exhibit. Several indicated to me they would recoup their investment as much as 20-30 fold within the next year. I believe anyone would consider that a successful return on investment!

As a summary to these two recently attended conventions, I’m continually reminded of the importance of marketing – Marketing of your company; your brand; yourself! You can never underestimate the power of marketing. It’s completely exhausting, exhilarating and essential for brand awareness, as well as keeping your name out there. I was surprised by the number of different types of companies attending the conference – now it is up to me to see what happens next.

Happy Trick or Treating!

As always, please respond with any thoughts or comments as they are always read and appreciated.

The Swartz Report: It’s been a busy appeal season! Time to start planning for 2022.

September 20, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

If you are a regular reader of my blog (and THANK YOU if you are ????) you may recall I was getting ready to attend my first in-person conference since the start of the Pandemic. I attended the Cinemacon conference in Las Vegas as we have several clients in this arena. I felt it was important to be there, showing my support for not only my clients but also the industry.

Cinemacon in Las Vegas

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.

Granted, you must have been fully vaccinated to pick up your credentials and you had to wear a mask throughout the day as long as you were indoors at the conference. One advantage of a smaller turnout was the ability to freely move from exhibit to exhibit on the tradeshow floor. I found this aspect to be quite pleasant and refreshing as you weren’t fighting through crowds to get from one booth to another. And the opportunities to engage with other people were abundant.

People were genuinely interested in connecting, especially those who hadn’t been able to meet personally over the past 15+ months. Clearly, this industry has been severely affected by the Coronavirus, yet most were discussing ideas and plans to move past this and had both eyes set on the future.

I will be attending another conference in Las Vegas next month and will be interested to compare the two. This upcoming conference has members who have definitely thrived during the pandemic and I would like to contrast and compare the industries and the attendees to determine if there is a difference in the pace and feel of the conference compared to my experience in August.

As the day gets shorter, it can only mean one thing – Planning Meetings for 2022

It’s hard to believe we’ve almost completed the 3^rd 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.

How did we do this year? What could we have done better, more efficient, more transparent? Have we effectively communicated with our clients? Are we keeping pace on the technology front? And finally, what does 2022 have in store for us and our clients?

I feel very good about our products and services for both companies, but we can always be better. As we move forward to 2022, our opportunities to expand and take care of our clients will continue to be at the forefront.

As a service provider, I want to make sure we are putting the needs of our clients first. If we’re successful in doing this, the rest will take care of itself. These planning days are good for the group as it’s our chance to examine our processes and focus on implementing strategies that have previously been discussed. I always look forward to these meetings and look back at notes from the previous year to determine what has worked and what continues to need improvement.

Thank you very much for your thoughts and feedback – Again, you may always reach me at the following:
or .

The Swartz Report: The power of relationships and golf.

August 22, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

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 ????) 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.

What do you do with all that time?

Certainly, there is discussion about family, vacations, TV shows, possibly religion and politics but inevitably, work can be a driving force.

Now, multiply this by 3X and you have our club’s annual Member Guest Golf Event. For the past two years, I’ve invited the CFO of a long-time client. Mike enjoys knocking the ball around the course as much as I do, and this provides a great opportunity to keep the working relationship strong. More importantly, Mike has become a good friend. Three days for golf, socializing, consuming beverages of all varieties, tremendous eating and maybe a LITTLE wagering… truly another great weekend. While we were technically away from the office, it was hardly wasted time.

The opportunity to meet others during the event is also present. There is no shortage of ways to meet those in the business world, even if takes place in a social, golfing environment. I recently completed a 10-week course through the Kellogg School at Northwestern in Mastering Sales and one should never discount these functions as purely social. As an owner of a business, I am constantly in “sales mode”, even if I don’t realize it at the time. The way you interact with others; the way you carry yourself and your conduct on and off the course is noticed not only by your group but also by others. In fact, a business opportunity may have presented itself with a person I met after we concluded a match. My follow up early next week will definitely be a plan of action and who knows how this may develop.

Speaking of marketing, this week I’m attending my first in-person conference since the Pandemic began.

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!)

As always, I appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day to read my blog. If you have any comments or suggestions, I would love your feedback by posting a response or emailing me directly – or .

Enjoy the balance of your summer and a great upcoming Labor Day weekend!

The Swartz Report: Another road trip? We thought we were finished!

July 19, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

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 World’s 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.

Just when you thought it was over, grad school, here we come!

And even crazier, how about both kids attending the same school? I would have never imagined my two children (let alone, one) attending Syracuse University, but low and behold, my son will be a senior this fall and my daughter commenced the one year graduate program July 6^th. So, luckily for me (and you ????) another road trip was tackled.

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 Miriam’s from her Lafayette College days highlighted Day 2, although dinner in Erie, PA was surprisingly excellent and our accommodations in Buffalo were outstanding.

A heartfelt thank you to my client, Shaner Hotel Group for providing a room downtown, while the Toronto Blue Jays were playing in their “home” stadium. (Learn more about Shaner Hotel Group at www.shanercorp.com.)

The trip was fast and easy other than a few thunderstorms we seemed to continually catch and drive through! Of particular interest was the number of wind farms and turbines we were exposed to as well as the number of client’s properties we passed along the way. I’m half tempted to write off the mileage. If only I would’ve stopped in on the multiple locations for “site visits” – maybe next time.

Again, it takes trips like these to realize and appreciate the vast and varied portfolio of properties we represent. Seeing their signs and locations continually humbles me and I’m so appreciative of their support and confidence in trusting us for the property tax needs.

Notre Dame on the left, Wind Farm on the right

Finally, a quick thank you for those who reached out on the two year “anniversary” of my accident. Things are going well and the day practically passed without me thinking about the date. Hopefully next year, and the years following, July 9 will be just another day.

We will keep representing the interests of taxpayers to ensure they’re paying their fair share.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please share by responding to the blog. You may also reach me directly at .

The Swartz Report: The Pandemic and Property Tax Values

June 23, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

As we start our hearings for the 2021 tax year, a question constantly arises from both taxpayers and county appraisers…

How has the pandemic affected the value of business personal property and real estate?

The answer is both simple and complicated. If business has suffered (think hotels, movie theatres and restaurants, to name just a few) due to the pandemic, is it the business value that has diminished or does it also include a decreased value in the business equipment as well as the “sticks and bricks”? County offices are constantly asking taxpayers to show market sales to support the claim the pandemic has had a detrimental effect on real estate. Business owners aren’t willing to sell their assets during this time, arguing the market is too depressed. If a sale does occur, is it truly a market value transaction? In other words, exposed to the market with neither party under duress to buy or sell?

In the cases we’ve had before the local Boards, another question invariably is asked…

Did the taxpayer receive PPP money?

I’m not sure how that relates to the value of real estate or business personal property. This money is primarily intended to support the payroll of a company, again, focusing on the business side of the equation and not the tangible asset side. However, the respective Boards believe if PPP money has been received, the businesses are surviving and therefore, the value of the equipment and the real estate remains unchanged.

I see the purpose of the argument. However, many types of commercial real estate (and the associated business personal property) are directly tied to the income it can produce. Investors look at types of real estate for the income potential. Office buildings, hotels, theaters, malls, multi-family… These are all in existence because of the rents they can collect from their tenants. If the tenants fail to make rent or worse, close due to a lack of business, the real estate becomes less valuable to an investor. Granted, the investor is not looking at a snapshot in time when purchasing real estate (the investor should be looking at stabilized income over the life of the property) but the role of the assessor’s office is to value the property as it sits on a specific valuation date. In most jurisdictions, this is January 1^st. As a result, we’re forced to look at the property at this “snapshot in time” and as of January 1, 2021, various sectors of the market were disproportionately disturbed.

Many counties have been proactive in their valuations.

Some have offered 20-30% reductions in value before the appeal process. However, this is not widespread, and those counties not proactively offering relief to the taxpayer can expect to see a surge in the number of appeals. Boards and State Courts or Commissions are already back logged due to the closure of the courts during the pandemic these past 15 months. Add the potential of new cases as a result of the pandemic; we may not have resolution for 2021 appeals in some jurisdictions until late 2022 or early 2023. The effects are long lasting and challenging for all sides.

We will keep representing the interests of taxpayers to ensure they’re paying their fair share.

If you have any comments or suggestions, please share by responding to the blog. You may also reach me directly at .

The Swartz Report: Fully Vaccinated and fully charged!

May 17, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

On April 29^th, 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.

Since I began my professional career in 1986, travel has been a constant component in my life. Work has always had an element of travel as I frequently would travel at least once a month. After the acquisition of Indurante, my travel increased from between two to five days per month. Factor in the Swartz + Associates travel; visits to my children at their respective schools, conferences and vacations – GOING and DOING have long been ingrained in me.

These last 15 months have been challenging in many respects, but what I (and others) couldn’t completely comprehend was how much we enjoy being with others. Meeting with clients, dining out with friends, attending events and seeing my employees in Las Vegas (as well as Kansas City, since we have been working remotely for the most part) are a big part of my personality.

The time has finally come to get back at it!

With my full vaccination and the relaxation of the CDC guidelines, the calendar is filling up quickly. This week, St. Louis; next week, Las Vegas to visit my office and discuss the recently completed filing season. Royals games beginning in June; a family wedding in July. For those regular readers of my blog, another road trip with my daughter to take her to graduate school (look for the next edition of my “Traveling with Miriam” blog in July ????) Additionally, we’re trying to create weekend getaways and my EO Forum retreat is scheduled for August.

So much pent-up enthusiasm and excitement, I’m bursting at the seams to get started. However, don’t mistake this energy with a lack of commitment to the process. I will still wear my mask in recommended places. I will still be respectful of others and I will do my part to encourage people of all ages to “trust the science!”

Please do your part as well to make this pandemic a thing of the past. If we participate in the process and be cognizant of the surroundings, our “new” normal will be soon become our normal without the “new”.

Work continues to be extremely busy with property tax appeals dominating the next 90 days and I will share my work aspects in next month’s thoughts. Thank you for continuing to share this journey with me.

As always, I appreciate your support and your readership.
– Don Swartz

The Swartz Report: The Importance and Power of Relationships

April 23, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

A belated Happy Earth Day to everyone. 🙂 I hope you’re doing your part to make the planet a safer place for us and future generations.

While we tend to get so busy wrapped up in our daily work activities, it’s good to take a moment and reflect on the “awesomeness” of our world. We cannot lose sight of how many things are “right” around us, even when we constantly see and hear the troubling issues immediately staring us down.

Speaking of “awesomeness”, I would like to share three examples of how staying connected and doing things the right way can benefit you years later.

Example #1

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.

My client gave me the name of the property owner and I reached out to the ownership group. The owners were interested in potentially having us review their portfolio in addition to the property I had inquired about. As I perused the email string, there was a contact name for someone I’d worked closely with while she was at another company whose portfolio we handled in 1994 (and still handle today!)

I have not been in touch with her for almost 10 years, but as soon as I recognized the name, we immediately touched base and it was if we had been working together throughout. She is the property manager for the new client’s portfolio. I’m convinced our prior relationship, and the positive results that began 25 years ago, had a positive effect on the decision to work with us.

Example #2

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.

Why? I believe it’s partly due to the relationships we’ve developed over the years with our clients and the property management company. Our results help seal the deal, but I’m convinced it’s the relationships we’ve maintained over time that created the opportunity for the consideration in the first place.

Example #3

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!

Bonus Example

We have another development on the Indurante side where an individual worked with us, but recently started a new position with another company. He has reached out to us in hopes we will be able to assist in the railcar property tax compliance component for his company beginning next year.

What does this all mean?

Never underestimate the power of relationships; the power of communication and the positive effects of staying in touch. While you may not see the tangible results in the short term, the long-term results may be incredibly rewarding. The situations described above represent an additional $100,000,000+ in property values to be reviewed in 2021.

Thank you so much for continuing to read about our journey. As always, if you have questions, comments or concerns, please reach me at the following… |

Stay safe, stay healthy and get vaccinated when the opportunity presents itself.

The Swartz Report: Travel and Hospitality

March 17, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

When I wrote this month’s blog post, it was March 17th. Happy belated St. Patrick’s Day to all! I fondly remember the days of having a beverage or two, settling into Fuzzy’s South or the old Coach’s Bar, both in south Kansas City to start the festivities. If we were lucky enough to have the 17^th fall on a Thursday or Friday, it was time to settle in for 12 hours of basketball for the first rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

While I have not participated in those days in years (actually decades ????) I am acutely aware of these memories as many are not celebrating this day for the second consecutive year. However, we are heading in the right direction. And with patience, understanding and respect, we are on the verge of gathering with others for all events.

Travel and Hospitality

Earlier today, I participated in two separate events relating to the travel and hospitality industry.

The airline industry reported the first day of 1M+ passengers since March 16th, 2020. Granted, this is aided by the Spring Break vacationers. But as more become vaccinated, the industry believes this to be the start of leisure travel picking up and moving closer to 2019 summer numbers.

Limited-service hotels will be the first to see increases in daily occupancy, but the full service and high-end hotels will continue to suffer until business travel commences. One suggested a business travel target date of September 10th as this follows the Labor Day weekend; the country should be in a position of herd immunity and conferences and conventions may be targeting this time frame to host large, in person events.

How does this affect the property tax world and valuations?

We will see…

Some jurisdictions have taken a proactive approach this year by reducing valuations on theatres and hotels. We’ve witnessed decreases ranging from 20-30% before appeals have been filed, as the county assessors are anticipating appeals on these types of properties.

We did not see this carry forward to the sit-down restaurant industry. This is interesting to me – while this industry adapted and has been creative to account for pickup service, the value of the seating/dining area has been diminished. How do we account for this component of economic obsolescence? Clearly a factor (i.e. the pandemic) external to the property is driving down the valuation. But how is this measured when the business creates alternative methods to derive income and maintain business operations? Does this become a business valuation or the valuation of the real estate?

These are the questions taxpayers need to assess and address when contemplating the value of their property.

We are now in full swing – business personal property filings are due; real estate appeal deadlines will be occurring at the end of March, April, May and June; railcar property tax returns are due at the end of March, April and May and my golf game is suffering as a result. (Gladly, I may add!!!)

Thank you so much for continuing to read about my/our journey. As always, if you have questions, comments or concerns, please reach me at the following –

|

Stay safe, stay healthy and get vaccinated when the opportunity presents itself!

The Swartz Report: Now is the time to be proactive concerning your real estate valuations.

February 20, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

Happy belated Valentine’s Day as well as belated Happy Mardi Gras wishes. Between the Polar Vortex and the pandemic, it is hard to figure out what month we are in and what’s coming next. One thing remains consistent – business personal property tax filings are coming due, and counties are beginning to issue 2021 valuation notices.

County Valuation Notices

We will see reassessments in Iowa, Missouri and Colorado in 2021, and Johnson County, KS has just released the 2021 commercial/industrial values. It will be interesting to see how the various counties react to the effects of Covid in the real estate arena.

Johnson County has reduced properties with 20% decreases in value for hoteliers located on the southwest side of the greater Kansas City area, but is this reflective of the market?

Polk County, IA (Des Moines area) will be issuing valuation notices at the end of March. And we are hearing there may be significant decreases for hotels and restaurants. Again, how will this compare to each individual situation?

Retail, hotels, leisure activities and indoor centers have all been severely impacted by the virus, and some economists are indicating it could be several years before these sectors get back to pre-pandemic levels of activity.

Now is the time.

Now is the time to be proactive concerning your real estate valuations. We anticipate a tremendous amount of appeal activity in jurisdictions across the country. No geographical area is immune from this downturn, and it’s extremely important taxpayers know they are only paying their fair share on the true market value of the property.

Railcar valuations.

The railcar valuation side of the business will also be active as owners of railcars faced increased idle time due to less demand in oil, natural gas, sand, coal and other goods. In several instances, railcars have been placed in storage with very little mileage after March 31, 2020.

How soon before we see a sense of pre-pandemic activity in the rail industry? Estimates range from a few months to another year. All of this must be taken into consideration when determining the current market value of specific types of rail cars.

Speaking of railcars…

Noelle Giacomino

I am so pleased to announce Noelle Giacomino, Senior Analyst in our Indurante group, has been promoted to Director at Indurante. Now in her 13^th year with the company, Noelle has created strong relationships with our clients as well as governing officials at the county and state levels.

Her knowledge of the railcar industry and particularly the intricacies involved in the annual railcar declarations makes her a valuable asset to any private railcar owner. We are fortunate to have her share her wealth of knowledge with our clients.

Congratulations Noelle – we look forward to your continued growth within the company!

Property Tax Questions?

As we ramp up for what could be our busiest season since 2009-10, please know we are available to answer any questions you may have in the property tax world. We are here to help.

As always, you may reach me at the following – or .

Thank so much and we look forward to representing your interests.

The Swartz Report: Investing in People and Public Radio

January 19, 2021/in General Information/by Swartz + Associates

Welcome 2021! And let’s just say, we’re hitting the ground running. We’ve implemented a couple of strategies for the start of the year and we’re already seeing positive results.

Investing in Public Radio

In December, the company invested in our first “marketing” strategy by investing in local public radio. To be honest, I am completely amazed at the response we’ve received over the past 45 days. Countless emails, text messages and phone calls from individuals that heard our 10 second “sponsorship”. With no set times (slots are randomly selected by a computer algorithm) the spot could be heard any time from 5am-9pm each day of the week. This was so successful, we’ve decided to reach out to Nevada Public Radio with the same messaging, as we are trying to create a Swartz + Associates, Inc. presence in the Las Vegas area to compliment the Indurante railcar work.

We thought this would be important as Nevada has one of the earliest appeal deadlines (January 15^th) and believe the commercial real estate market has been affected significantly due to the pandemic.

The response has been beyond expectations with over 30 new properties under review for this year. Depending on the results of the impending hearings, we will definitely increase the marketing budget as it relates to radio. A special thank you to Ron Yurman, Director of Business Development in Kansas City at KCUR 89.3. If you’re interested in learning how they can be of benefit to your company, you may reach him at .

Investing in People – Dan Slattery

The second investment made at the start of the year involves the engagement of a technology officer to support both entities.

Meet Dan Slattery. Dan has been involved with IT management for most of his professional career, including 10+ years in a Senior Manager or Director role with Caesar’s Entertainment Corporation. In 2018, he founded Engaged Innovation as a technology consulting firm. We connected through Engaged Innovation, employed the company to review the Indurante business and haven’t looked back.

Learn more about Dan Slattery here.

We have been working with Dan over the past 18 months in the creation of Railmarx, our proprietary software used exclusively for Indurante clients in our property tax service for owners of private railcars. Dan and his team have worked very closely with the Indurante associates as well as several members of Swartz + Associates. Over this time, he has learned a tremendous amount about the companies and will bring C-Level thinking (strategic long term, as well as immediate improvements to the day-to-day operations) which will benefit not only our companies, but more importantly, our clients. I am excited to have him be considered a part of our group and look forward to the opportunities we will be able to present to our clients in the future.

Stay tuned… we’ve been discussing a couple of ideas which could have a significant positive impact to clients and future clients!

Looking Ahead

2021 should be our busiest year in the last 10 years and I am confident we are making the correct investments in technology and employees to insure we continue to meet the needs of our clients.

As always, I appreciate your feedback. You may contact me via email, ; or reply to this blog on my respective websites – www.swartzandassociates.com or www.inurantetax.com.

Happy New Year to everyone – May 2021 bring good health, safety and joy to all!