South Florida commercial real estate tax advice - does it translate to Northern Virginia?

It turns out that the real estate investment climate "bottom" might not be so far off, especially for tax-savvy investors in commercial real estate markets...for example, now's a great time for commercial real estate investors in South Florida to leverage Florida commercial real estate tax advisors for maximizing commercial real estate tax refunds, asset recovery returns or otherwise get more value from existing commercial real estate, or brand new, "trophy" properties. While obviously it's been a very tough South Florida market - there's some ripeness in opportunity, especially through tax assessment reduction and challenge actions. For example, SVN Palm Beach (http://www.svnpalmbeach.com) is a very respected leader in this tax advisory area, especially in South Florida.

Here's some direct advice on approaching the South Florida commercial real estate market in 2009, compliments of the Sperry Van Ness Palm Beach Brokerage (Edward Kearney, CCIM, Managing Director):

He says:

"1. "Off-market" transactions: I routinely help my buy-side clients seek out assets that are not listed by retail brokerage firms. Going the extra mile in approaching principal owners on a direct basis negotiating with them on assets that are not publicly for sale pay big dividends for clients.

2. Change Market Focus: Both buyers and sellers alike are benefiting from focusing on secondary and tertiary markets where there will be less competition for assets. Many of the South Florida sub-markets have particular appeal during economic downturns.

3. Change Asset Class Focus: Be open to asset class rotation to take advantage of market opportunities as they arise. Diversification has never been more important than it is in today’s market. Look across multifamily, retail, office, industrial, hospitality, self-storage, net-leased, and raw-land asset classes.

4. Think Trophy Assets: Only a few years ago, many trophy assets were simply not affordable. Take advantage of higher vacancies, lease roll-over risks, and financing issues to acquire a trophy property at less than premium pricing.

5. Look for Joint Venture or Recapitalization Opportunities: Many of the best opportunities in today's market are not found in out-right acquisitions. Explore joint ventures that will allow you to co-invest with existing owners of assets in a fashion that will allow them to free up trapped equity or fund new developments.

6. Renegotiate with your Lenders: If your debt is non-CMBS debt, but is portfolio debt still on the balance sheet of your lender, don’t hesitate to inquire about buying the debt out at a steep discount. It is sometimes possible in today’s market to buy-out the debt for only a fraction of the outstanding loan balance. This not only improves your balance sheet and your cash flow, but it frees you up to acquire other assets.

7. Change Your Acquisition Process: Traditional acquisition time frames that were competitive 12 months ago will leave you on the outside looking in with today's bottom feeding environment. Be willing to make unsolicited offers, put up meaningful earnest money deposits and close quickly where it make sense to do so."

Why South Florida? It appears to be a bit of a bellweather in terms of a likely rebound in the very soft commercial real estate market, especially with respect to foreign investment. While South Florida isn't quite the same as the Northern Virginia/Washington DC market - it always pays for Real Estate Agents and Brokers, working with their investors and property owners, to keep an eye out on other national and international markets plus commercial real estate investment advice and methods that seem to work well, and may very well translate into opportunities and profits in our Northern Virginia and Prince William real estate market.