Marlins Park / Appraisal Institute Seminar

Miami, FL - The South Florida Chapter of the Appraisal Institute held a CE seminar at the Marlins Park on Tuesday, September 23rd.  

The AI event included a "behind the scenes" tour of Marlins Park including tickets to the 

Marlins vs. Phillies game.  

Claude Delorme, EVP of Operations & Events gave the group tour.

Included in the tour was an overview of the following:  budget design & construction of the stadium, seating, color schemes & "quadrants", the exclusive batter's box dining room, info on the LEED Gold certification and components required to achieve this special designation (US Green Building Council), discussion of the retractable roof and six sliding glass wall panels, the turf and many other aspects of the park.

This was combined with an educational seminar held in the park's Media Center by

Ty Taylor of Asset Analytics, Inc.  He spoke to the group on the differences between real estate and business valuations including examples of liquidation value, intangible value, including franchise and licensing agreements.

Approximately 60 appraisers attended the late afternoon event.  In addition to the game tickets, the seminar included parking tickets in the First Base Garage and Clevelander reserved seating.

A raffle included a Giancarlo Stanton jersey, autographed bat and Marlin's baseball hat. 

The seminar credited attendees with 10 Appraisal Institute CE points.   

Link to interesting facts about Marlins Park

About the architect, Earl Santee

Marlins Park Twitter Feed

2014 Go Solar Florida / Trade Show / Broward County FL

The Go Solar trade show was held at the Broward County Convention Center June 6 & 7, 2014.

Britt J. Rosen, CCIM at Broward Solar Fair 

The event was hosted by FPL & Broward County to promote:

• Green energy options
• Reducing costs of permitting
• Latest technologies
• Financing options
• Solar installation
• Jobs and training

There were approximately 50 renewable energy exhibitors and approximately 2,000 attendees at the Go Solar trade show. Dr. James Fenton of the UCF's Solar Energy Center (FSEC) was the keynote speaker.

The solar fair was an excellent way for the public to learn about the new solar energy ideas and systems.  Distributed generation (DG), interconnection, microgrid, net metering, net-zero and photovolataics were the topics discussed in breakout seminars.

Trade show booths allowed contractors and suppliers to meet with the public to demonstrate the use of: solar systems, marine applications, fastening systems, inverters, batteries, electric cars, and hot water heating systems.

There are many applications for both residential and commercial properties, including small wind turbines.

Photovoltaics are any solar-electric energy cells in numerous forms and configurations. The new glass panels are  4' x 8' size and can be fastened above the existing roof surface in conformance with the Florida Building Code. The panel design and arrays appear like this (click here). 

If you are installing a new roof you should consider laying out the fasteners at the "hot mopping" of the roof as the support systems attach to the plywood sheathing.

According to expert Jeff Johnston of Zina Electric, an exhibitor & contractor, the typical homeowner can save approximately $100 per month on their  electric bill using these systems.  Commercial systems costing $10,000 can potentially save up to $300 to $400 per month. 

This is positive leverage considering today's low cost of money. 

Solar arrays power the typical 120 volt home circuits. However, the hot water heater and washer/dryer systems which are the large power systems are usually powered at 220 volts and cannot be supplied by the typical glass panels.  The solution  for hot water is the special single 4' x 8' single solar panel where the water circulates from the tank to the panel in a loop.  FPL is currently offering a $1,000 rebate on solar water heaters  are less complex installations as they require only one 4' x 8' special panel.

Most renewable energy for the residential home's 120 volt circuits are "sold back to the grid" unless stored in special back-up batteries for use within the home or "off the grid".  

The commercial real estate sector can benefit greatly from these systems offering cost savings in reduced electricity bills.  There are Federal and State incentives for these applications, which reduce the total costs.

Florida has an estimated 300 of 365 days a year of sunshine and we should take advantage of it!

Peter F. Korpacz, MAI speaks to Miami ASA on cap rates

On Thursday, February 20, 2014, Mr. Peter F. Korpacz MAI, CRE & FRICS spoke before the local Miami Chapter of the ASA (American Society of Appraisers) in Coral Gables. Philip G. Spool, ASA, introduced the speaker. 

Mr. Korpacz is the founder and original publisher of the quarterly Korpacz Real Estate Investor Survey®, one of the industry’s standard sources of real estate capital market trends, including capitalization and discount rates and other cash flow forecast assumptions of active real estate investors.

His company is Korpacz Realty Advisors of Mount Airy, Maryland.

Guests included Pedro Gomez, the former Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser.  Many local appraisers, Realtors, "tax agents", and tax magistrates attended the sold out dinner meeting. 

Korpacz spoke about the “elusive cap rate” and factors that go into this index.  He defined a cap rate as “any rate that converts income into value” and covered the following topics: cap rate vs. the discount rate, contract rent vs. market rent and the effect on cap rates, sources of obtaining cap rates, updating of older sales with a new rates in what he referred to as “re-fried cap rates”, and cap rates as they relate to tax assessments.  

Korpacz stressed throughout his presentation for appraisers to use “methodology that reflects market activity” using published cap rate information together with local comparable sale data and not to rely solely on published data, such as his nationally recognized cap rate “investor survey”.

Britt J. Rosen, CCIM with Peter F. Korpacz MAI, CRE, FRICS
at Miami ASA meeting in Coral Gables, FL.