RealAdvice® helps commercial real estate buyers pay only the taxes that they legally owe by separating non-taxable intangible value from taxable real estate at closing.
RealAdvice works where appraisal, law, and accounting meet. Our team holds credentials in all three, so the people who prepared the valuation are also equipped to defend it.
Every ProperTax Appraisal uses our PairedExpert™ approach. Each one is signed by both an MAI (Member of the Appraisal Institute) real-estate appraiser and a CPA/ABV (Certified Public Accountant, Accredited in Business Valuation) specialist. Appraisers and accountants usually value a property from opposite directions and reach different answers. Our paired team reconciles the real estate and the intangible value into one report, so every dollar of the price is allocated and supported.
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The Appraisal Institute’s designation for commercial real estate appraisers, held by the experts who lead our valuation work
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Certified public accountants Accredited in Business Valuation by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
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Three members of our leadership team hold the Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) designation, held by about 1,000 professionals worldwide
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Fellow and Member grades of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
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Nationwide research on property and transfer tax law. Licensed in New York, Florida, Texas, and California, including board certification in real estate by The Florida Bar
Confidentiality is built into how we work. Our client agreements require it, so we don’t name parties or properties, on this site or anywhere else. RealAdvice has completed SOC 2 Type I and Type II assessments, and client data stays in our own infrastructure rather than with outside vendors.
State and local tax law defines taxable real property as the land, buildings, and improvements. In most states, intangible value such as business operations or in-place leases is not part of that definition. That means it is not subject to property tax as real estate. Our work makes sure your taxes are based on the real property you actually bought. You pay only taxes that you legally owe.
Yes. Courts upheld it in the precedent-setting Disney rulings in 2018 and 2020, and it was vetted in federal bankruptcy court in 2022. The Florida Department of Revenue approved the methodology in 1991.
Most buyers have simply accepted the full purchase price as their tax basis, and many advisors work mainly in federal tax, where the rules are different. Our team teaches the methodology through continuing legal education (CLE) programs for The Florida Bar and for the real estate departments of law and accounting firms nationwide, and our article “Bricks, Mortar, and Misconceptions” was published in The Florida Bar Journal. The approach only works when it’s applied before closing.
No. Our report is used for state and local tax only. It is separate from cost segregation, which is a federal income tax strategy. It does not change a lender’s appraisal or a client’s federal tax basis.