Real Estate Management

at the Corporate and Worldclass level.

Managing property at the million sq ft level and above puts you in a very lofty class - world class in fact. Having what it takes to operate at that level is beyond all but a small percentage of the real estate firms or corporate real estate offices.

World Class Real Estate measures corridors in miles or kilometers. And that is at one location.

When you can spend a full day walking the property and not get to all the places you need to see you are at the World Class level.

We count elevators by the dozen.

Power loads are enough to make the local electric company call when our demand drops.

Security is a 24 hour 7 day requirement.

Water usage is measured in thousand gallon per minute flow rates.

Managers and owners working at this level require training, skill and a vast knowledge of many different technologies. Skills taught in few places and often learned the hard way.

Here we have collected a directory and resource - a reference point - for those at that level.

And of course, those who would like to be at that level.

Do you run at these levels? If you do, or want to, let us know.

Welcome to the Multi-Million SqFt Club!

Donald Trosper

Taxpayer Casualty Guide: Preparing for a disaster
R.L. Fielding
2db9 What would you do if a natural disaster struck your home? It's a question that weighs heavily on everyone's minds, especially with the recent events that have made headlines in the last few years. Due to the unpredictable nature of these disasters, it is vital for everyone to have a financial plan in place to handle the aftermath. Taking such precautions can help to lessen the financial and emotional burdens that follow in the wake of disaster. The guideline below will give you the steps to take both before and after a natural disaster strikes to protect your home and other valuables and to receive the most from the tax benefits available to you.

Before a Disaster

There are certain steps you can take before a disaster strikes:

1. Determine if you have appropriate insurance. Homeowner's insurance and auto insurance should be reevaluated periodically, every three years if not sooner. Contact various insurance companies to determine who may provide you with the best rate as well as determine if you have sufficient coverage. If real estate prices have gone up significantly in your area or if you have made improvements to your home, you should reappraise your home. Make sure you insure your home for 100 percent of its current replacement value and also ensure the contents of your home at replacement value. For particular items of value in your home, obtain a professional appraiser's report. The cost of the appraisal may be deductible as a miscellaneous itemized deduction subject to 2% of the adjusted gross income on your return.

2. Know your basis. Ultimately, you have the burden of proving to the IRS the amount you claim as a loss on your return. Be prepared to provide the IRS with documentation to support your basis. This will be important in determining how much of your loss you are allowed to deduct on your return. Keep any documents that can help you establish the original purchase price of your property, such as your HUD-1 Settlement Statement or a Bill of Sale. If you make any permanent improvements to your home (for example, installing storm-shutters or building a levee to prevent flooding), add the costs to the original price of your home. Keep your receipts or other documentation whenever practical, especially for items over $1,000. Your allowable loss on the tax return is limited to your basis in the property if it is smaller than the decrease in the fair market value of the property.

3. Identify your property. Take pictures or videos of your home and of the contents, especially valuable items, for identification purposes. Keep an itemized list of your property whenever administratively reasonable and possible. You can use the checklist found in IRS Publication 584 or one you have created yourself. Keep purchase receipts, cancelled checks, credit card statements, or other proof of the original cost of the property. You must also prove you own the property or are responsible to the owner for any damage to the property.

4. Keep important documentation in a safe place. You should make copies of all your legal and financial documents. The originals should be kept in a safe deposit box at a bank or other institution that provides safe deposit boxes. If your home is destroyed, any documents kept there will probably also be destroyed. Keep a copy with you in a water-proof bag or container, or you can place a copy in a fire-proof safe. Another copy of the documents and the extra key to your safety deposit box should be provided to an out-of-state relative or friend. Don't forget to make back-up copies of important information you keep on your computer's hard drive. These backups can be made to a diskette, CD, or a removable drive. You may want to keep certain information handy, such as contact names, accounts, addresses, and phone numbers, on an internet-based storage system, such as your internet e-mail account. This way, you can access important information quickly and conveniently from any computer wherever you are located.

After a Disaster

There are certain steps you should take after suffering a casualty loss:

1. Document your loss. Take photographs or videos of the damage to your property, as well as any repairs done to your property. Keep receipts for any repair or clean-up work done. Although they are not considered deductible losses, the repairs or clean-up work may help you establish the decline in fair market value of the property, as long as the expenses are incurred to restore your property to its original condition. Your allowable loss on the income tax return is limited to the smaller of your basis in the property or the decrease in the fair market value of the property. If you have not yet made repairs to your property, obtain quotes from several reputable contractors for replacement or repairs necessary. These can be used to substantiate the loss in fair market value.

You can also hire a professional appraiser to evaluate the property's fair market value after the disaster, or you may be able to use your insurance adjuster's appraisal to support the post-casualty fair market value. To determine the decline in the fair market value, you also have to prove the fair market value of your property before the disaster. If obtaining a professional appraisal before the casualty is not feasible or cost-effective, you can use comparable classified ads, thrift store values, or published industry standard market values (such as the “blue book” values for automobiles) to determine the pre-disaster fair market value.

Save any police reports or newspaper articles to document the disaster that affected you if it is not a disaster that is well-known, such as a presidentially declared disaster. You may be able to use the inventory list FEMA provides you with for your loss as support when claiming your casualty loss on Form 4684, Casualties and Thefts.

2. File a timely insurance claim. If your property is covered by insurance, you should file a timely insurance claim for reimbursement of the loss. If you do not file an insurance claim, the IRS may limit your eligible casualty or theft loss to the amount that is normally not covered by your insurance, such as your insurance deductible amount.

3. Spend your insurance reimbursement money wisely. You have two years to replace any damaged, destroyed, or lost property. If you meet this time requirement, your insurance reimbursement will not be taxable, even if it exceeds your basis in the property. However, if you do not purchase property that is similar or related in service or use to the property you are replacing, part of your reimbursement may be taxable. If the property you are replacing is your home, you may be able to exclude up to $250,000 (or in some cases $500,000 for couples filing a joint return) of your taxable gain.

4. Keep track of the payments you receive. Payments you receive may be either excluded or included in income depending on whether restrictions were attached to how you spend the money, or if you received the payments as part of relief provided to individuals in an area the president has declared is a disaster area. These payments also affect the calculation of allowable casualty loss. Keep all types of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) reimbursement documentation or checklists, and any Small Business Administration appraisals, if applicable.

If your employer, or individuals such as your neighbors, friends, or relatives, give you cash and do not place restrictions on how you spend the money, do not include these cash gifts in your income. These gifts also do not reduce the amount of your casualty loss, even if you do use this money to make repairs or replace damaged or destroyed property.

If you receive money from your employer's emergency disaster fund and you must use that money to rehabilitate or replace property for which you are claiming a casualty loss deduction, you must take that money into consideration when calculating the casualty loss deduction to the extent you used it for that purpose.

Do not reduce your casualty loss by insurance payments you receive to cover living expenses that are a direct result of you either losing the use of your main home because of a casualty or because government authorities do not allow you access to your main home after a casualty or threat of one. However, if these insurance payments are more than the temporary increase in your living expenses, you must include the excess in your income.

Food, medical supplies, and other forms of relief assistance you receive are not included in your income and do not reduce your casualty loss, unless the assistance replaces your lost or destroyed property. Qualified disaster relief payments you receive for expenses you incurred as a result of a presidentially declared disaster are not taxable income to you. Disaster unemployment assistance payments are unemployment benefits that are taxable.

Generally, disaster relief grants received under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act are not included in your income. Qualified disaster relief payments include payments you receive (regardless of the source) for the reasonable and necessary expenses incurred for: personal, family, living, or funeral costs; the repair or rehabilitation of a personal residence (whether a rented residence or one you own); and the repair or replacement of the contents of a personal residence.

Understanding Personal Casualty Losses

Generally, if a single casualty involves more than one item of property, you must calculate the loss on each item separately then combine the losses to determine the total loss from that casualty. However, when calculating a casualty loss on personal use real property, the entire property is treated as one item. For example, your entire property could include your storage shed, fence, trees, and shrubs in addition to your home.

Calculate your loss by using the smaller of the following:

- The decrease in fair market value of the entire property (fair market value is the price for which you could have sold the property to a willing buyer if neither of you had to sell or buy the property and both knew all relevant facts)

- The adjusted basis of the entire property (adjusted basis is usually what you paid for the property, increased or decreased by various events such as improvements or earlier casualty losses)

Reduce your loss by any insurance or other reimbursement you receive or expect to receive.

You must further reduce your loss by $100. This $100 reduction applies to each casualty or theft event that occurred during the year, regardless of how many items of property are involved. The total of all your casualty and theft losses of personal use property for the year must then be reduced by 10% of your adjusted gross income. The balance that remains after making these reductions is the amount of your deductible casualty or theft loss of personal use property.

Personal casualty and theft losses are reported on Form 4684, Section A and entered on Schedule A. You must be able to itemize deductions on your federal income tax return to be able to claim your loss.