Real Estate Trends in Elizabethtown, Radcliff, and Vine Grove There's nothing like Folgers Colombian to trigger a nice trend line analysis and this morning is no exception. Not that my plate isn't full enough already but this morning I was curious about 2014 year-to-date home price trends in the most populous cities in Hardin County - … [Read more...]
Cap Rate Compression in the Multifamily Market
The last fifteen or twenty years have witnessed a compression of capitalization rates in the multifamily sector. When I first began appraising in 1990 out in Dallas, the RTC was at full throttle and apartments were hard to give away. That's when the Federal Government had the bright idea to create LIHTC tax credits, administered by the people in … [Read more...]
Is it Time to Buy a Hotel?
If you've kept up with the hospitality industry since 2008, it hasn't been pretty. As the economy recovers, however, so does the hospitality industry. If you are an investor in that sector, you might want to check out this article about hotel prices available on the Appraisal Institute web site. Photo Credit: Hotel … [Read more...]
Congratulations, everyone. You’re getting a raise!
I was talking with a friend of mine today - a really smart friend - about the bumper corn crop in Kentucky this year. If you've paid attention, the bumper crop isn't confined to Kentucky. Across the corn belt there have been record yields in corn and other crops. I can't help but notice crop conditions on my long drives through the beautiful State … [Read more...]
Commercial Appraisals for Real Estate Tax Purposes in Kentucky
Despite their best efforts, government officials sometimes get it wrong when assessing the value of your commercial real estate for tax purposes. Here's why. First, your local Property Valuation Administrator (PVA) is charged with appraising tens of thousands of properties within each county. Faced with such a task and having limited resources … [Read more...]
To the Brother who Gave me a Body Part
You probably won't hear it from him. He's too humble to tell you. But I have a constant reminder. Every 12 hours I take medicine designed to keep my body from rejecting the kidney donated to me by my brother, Wyatt Roberts. In August 2005 my brother moved to our home state of Mississippi, had his kidney surgically removed, and faced months of … [Read more...]
Helping Others
I can't think of a single instance in which taking the time to help someone else has been detrimental to me. At least, not in ways that really matter. Even competitors will receive my best efforts to help. One story that sticks in my mind is told by my former pastor, Ed Hauser, about an old man determined to rescue a scorpion floating down a river … [Read more...]
Demographic Profiling in Commercial Appraisal Work
I was talking with a friend last night about the unfortunate events surrounding the closing of Gloryland Harvest Church in Radcliff, KY. A large percentage of the congregation of Gloryland Harvest Church consisted of military families from nearby Ft. Knox military base which, under the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC), recently lost around … [Read more...]
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