MIAMI – As the owner of commercial real estate, you’re certainly familiar with the letter from the Property Appraisers Office in August that provides an estimate of your property taxes for the coming year.
Known as TRIM (truth in millage), this correspondence usually reflects an increase in property taxes, and hasn’t caused much stress for owners. Until now.

“That has changed in recent months, however,” said Marc Kleiner, Managing Partner of Miami-based Kleiner Law Group (www.kleinerlawgroup.com). “With the drastic increases in interest rates and the chaos in the property insurance markets, clients and those considering a purchase are wary of added costs related to owning real estate.”

Kleiner has noted that the volume of sales has slowed in recent months as potential buyers are analyzing ways to cut costs.

“They realize that real estate is still among the most solid of investments,” said Kleiner. “But it takes some planning.”
That said, Kleiner and his affiliate Property Tax Adjustments and Appeals, P.A., (https://kleinerlawgroup.com/property-tax/) goes to bat for clients as an advocate with hopes of lowering taxes.

“We tell clients to control what we can control,” he said. “We can’t necessarily control interest rates or insurance premiums, but we can have an impact on property taxes.”
The complex process involves contesting property taxes as an effective path toward minimizing taxation.

“Our process is to re-position the property to the appraisers office, showing that there is reason to believe that the tax rate is too high and a reduction should be considered,” added Kleiner. “We go through an exhaustive market analysis and if we believe the property is over-valued a petition is filed before a Special Magistrate.”
The goal is to make sure that assessments and taxes owed are fair and correct.

“There’s no guarantee that this process will be successful, but our team of expert real estate attorneys have a strong track record in getting this reduction, and saving our clients significant amounts of money,” said Kleiner. “The bottom line is that interest rates will eventually come down and hopefully our legislators will solve the current insurance crisis.”

Kleiner stresses that there are willing buyers and sellers out there, but some are reluctant to pull the trigger on deals due to these factors.

“We can help make a deal more palatable through this process,” he said. “It is effective as sellers prepare a property for sale and as an attractive strategy for new owners seeking to cut costs.”

About The Kleiner Law Group
The Kleiner Law Group handles a variety of real estate needs, including property tax valuation, real estate financing and construction contracts. In addition, the firm has expertise in a wide range of corporate and business law matters, working with clients on business formation, compliance, counseling and employment issues, business contracts, business purchase and sales agreements, commercial lending and corporate finance.