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Welcome to the space coast real estate radio show where you hear about all things real estate all the time and now your host, Jesse. All Right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again, the space coast real estate radio show broadcast right here in performing county at the space goes podcast studios.
Speaker 2:Once again, I am your host and uh, you know, my name is Jesse Hall. That hasn't changed. I am a full time real estate agent on the space coast and I actually hanging my license with remix elite. And on this show we explore everything that affects the real estate market and you the property owner. So we have a really fun show online for you today. We've gathered some really fun guests and some features I think would allow you to get, make some good decisions regarding buying, selling, or investing here on the space coast. My personal website is three to one by cell investor.com and you can head there, start searching or get your home value or anything else today in the studio. I do have a guest today that's we're going to start out with and we're just gonna, kind of do a quick segment regarding lending and there are a lots of products out there and there's a, of course, plenty of lenders offering different things, but, you know, we found that the shelter mortgage are one of the leaders in providing some of the many different products that serve our community the best. And what I mean by that, you know, we hear on the, on the space coast, we have a lot of retired military, we have a, you know, the, the Patrick air force base, so we have a lot of military and veterans here. Um, so, you know, if, if, if you're relocating here, are looking to purchase a, you know, uh, being a military veteran or even active or just recently, uh, honorably discharged, you know, there's a lot of products for you having been a military. So we were to explore a, of course, those kinds of things here. Uh, uh, throughout the, the programming every week. Again, we're going to bring you some more tidbits about financing and stuff like that. So, you know, there's lots of products out there and show the mortgage, once again, is one of those leaders that do provide some really great services and uh, you know, they're, they're, they're a friend of the show and we're more than happy to help them on. So if you would help me welcome, I'm going to bring in a to the air and help me welcome wrong Kenneth and uh, he is again with shelter, mortgage. Ron, see a little buddy. Hey, what's up man? How's it going? Thanks for having me on. Of course. Of course. And, and you know, Ron, Ron and I have spoken at length about the different things that the shelter has done and you know, without getting too involved and sharing so much and taking up a whole two hour show which is needed because again, when we, when we talk and we share, uh, you know, we seem to go on and on about all the different things that are available for our residents here in bravard. And uh, and I think we're just going to narrow it down, is that correct? We're going to talk about a couple of different programs. Yeah, let's do it. Alright. So I think the first up, and I didn't even hear about this. How do I not hear about this stuff? I'm, I'm a, I made A. I guess I'm just not reviewing your emails will enough wrong. I don't know what's going on but uh, but I think it's called the bank statements
Speaker 3:program that says what's new bank statement program or a stated income program that it's great for the self employed borrowers, that 10 99 person who is, they're taking a ton of deductions on their taxes. So when they look at their taxes and they try to get qualified for a loan, it says 16 grand last year. So now we can look at that stated income going into their business accounts and bank statements and consider that income as opposed to the tax or after tax deduction income. Allowing them to qualify possibly for a, for a lot more house. And it's really good for those people. I mean we got lawyers do, Nah, you got people in construction companies doing etc. Etc. So thEre's a, there's a large array of, of people who are self employed or 10 99, they can take advantage of this,
Speaker 2:you know, and, and myself being self employed, being a business owner of a, of two different businesses, you know, again, being a full time in real estate, we're, we're not a w two, right? Yeah, we're, we're, we're the w nine we normally realtors, yeah, we get a 10, 99 and then at the end of the year we get this w nine form and this is what we're supposed to take to our tax preparer. And uh, and of course you know, it, it's wise to have, like for instance, you know, I was advised to get the uh, an escort, you know, because I had an llc for awhile and for another business. And So, you know, for, for a small business owner, you know, it's all about deductions at after the deductions. My bottom line is much different from my earnings. My earnings are one thing. But you know, owning businesses, there's a lot of just, you know, the revenue just goes away. You know, as soon as money comes in, it's, it's a, it's spent and you know, from, from vehicle and transportation and car insurance to office space and marketing materials and you know, if you know the real estate game, it's a lot of money out. Okay. It's a lot of money to be in business and uh, and so, you know, hypothetically for ease of arithmetic, if there's a 100 percent, a$100,000 in revenue or, or, or paid commissions or other revenue streams that, that I'm able to, to collect, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not going to claim 100,000 because I didn't keep it, what I'm going to claim as much less, which has been typically almost 50 percent less because there are so many expenses. So I, I try to mitigate that by writing it off. And so, you know, for, for me, somebody who thinks that they earn$100,000 and then writes off 50 percent, well that's, that, that hurts them when they're trying to qualify for a home loan.
Speaker 3:Definitely. That's definitely the case.
Speaker 2:And so there's a lot of other professionals that own businesses that I'm associated with and hang out with on different social levels and even friends. And this is the conundrum that we come up with, you know, we earned a lot, but we also spend a lot and we have to write that off because otherwise you know that, that, that, that text tax liability is just going to eat up at anything that's left over, right? So we do our best to mitigate our liability through right off. But at the bow on the bottom line, it says that we only earn, you know, 40 or$50,000.
Speaker 3:Exactly. Whatever the number exactly comes out to be, even though that, you know, that's not the case.
Speaker 2:Right? And, and, and I know that my, and again, being the commission base, your earnings fluctuate from year to year as well. If you look at my tax returns, it looks like I'm like poverty line. It really does. I mean, it looks like I'm barely earning anything, you know, like, um, maybe keeping$1,500 a month and uh, and, and, and you, you know, you're not going to qualify for any kind of mortgage like that.
Speaker 3:yeah. normally in kind of to bring this to the, the realtor's perspective, right? I think many times you'll have a lead and they'll go to you and say, hey, I really want to buy this house and I own my own business. I make this much money per year, blah, blah, blah. But every time I go to a lender, they tell me, no, I only qualify for$140,000 home when I know I can afford a$350,000 home. Right now you have a tool in your toolbox to overcome an objection. And that first objection is I know I'm self employed and I just take so many deductions that I can't get the house I can afford. Now here's a, here's a way to, for as a realtor and possibly get a sale, you know, come talk to us a shelter and you know, we're going to look at them applying for that bank statement program versus the normal, you know, versus a normal loan looking at using the, the, the income after the tax deduction because it's a way to overcome an objection really into possibly get another sale
Speaker 2:because I mean, you know, not in that aspect, but just with helping other business owners who don't, they don't have a clean w four, you know, at the end of the year with all the deductions already taken out. And what you see on the bottom line is, is actually what earn, you know, there, there's, as a business owner, you're, you're, you have to get much more creative because of your tax liability. If I didn't, if I didn't write off any of any of my expenses, then certainly I'd be paying even that much more on, on my income.
Speaker 3:And that's been the balance too. If you're a business owner and you've said to yourself, well, if I want to get qualified for the house I want, I have to tell my tax guy, don't take any deductions, then I'm paying out the wazoo for taxes and I have to ask myself, is this worth it? Should do I want to be paying all this and this tax is just to get the house I want
Speaker 2:because 30, 30 grand a year, which is 30 percent of 100,000, which is the hypothetical number, you know, that um, you know, some business owners to do better. Some, some, not so much a, but just a round number, you know, that's a 30 percent tax bracket from what I understand. Um, and, and that's$30,000 that. Yeah, I mean, I would love to be able to write off, but you know, it's a double edged sword. Either I write it off and I save a little bit and I'm only taxed on the actual 50 that I take home. Or I lao, you know, the, the tax return to just go without any deductions, as you said. And then what? Then you're, you're, you're paying a ginormous amount of taxes for a house just to get the house that you and your family deserve, you know, and it's like, man, it's been a conundrum. So knowing that there is this, this program that they are suggesting the bank, a bank statement program thanks to the program is, it's just so, so for the listener hears about this and they're like, wow, that sounds amazing. Tell us what is, um, what, what do they ask? You know, if they come to us shelter, which they asked for,
Speaker 3:well you really didn't, you just tell them like as a client say hams or as a realtor and say, hey, I'm sending you somebody. He owns his own business and he just takes a lot of deductions. That's all I need to know. Once I get that, once I get that client, I called him or he called it, he or she calls me, then I started to have that conversation. Okay, let me see your. Let me see the taxes. Okay, we've got that. All right, let's consider this program here and then I'll start asking, without getting into particulars on here, I'll start asking for particular documentation which is a, you know, an alternative to what the normal documentation would be to show that income and that's pretty much where we take it from there.
Speaker 2:So it usually starts with, with the, uh, initial kind of consultation until you, hey ron, I'm looking for this. Um, I, um, I'm trying to achieve this. I know I'm limited, you know, maybe in you know, some people are cash rich but credit poor and some people or vice versa. So you're telling me is, is, is based on their criteria whether you know they're, they're a waged employee, maybe there are tipped employee, maybe they're commissioned employee, you know, you're telling me that as soon as you understand their story, there's usually a product that meets her needs.
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely. And a lot of times people who are commissioned or wage to their, they don't have the need for this program because there's still, a lot of times they're w2, they're getting their cash and paychex center. I'm in a weekly or biweekly basis. It's, it's n a w, two form. This is more for the person who they own their own business, then they're just taking a ton of deductions and their taxable income shows a very low number, right. Even though they're bringing into their household or bringing into their business a lot more, that might be an opportunity for us to look at it in a different way and get them qualified, not having to use that, you know, that tax and go. It's just a different way to do it. and um, it's, it's been a good program so far. It's been very popular. I don't know that other lenders are doing it, but I know we're having a lot of success with it and we're definitely getting people qualified for higher amounts or for amounts in general that they couldn't get qualified for it before that they can afford these people can afford these payments comfortably. They just couldn't show on paper that they could now as a different way to do it. Bottom line. So this gives you, as a realtor, an opportunity to go talk to that guy who told you that owns a construction company that says, yeah, they keep saying all that qualify for is$110,000 or$80,000. Now you've got an opportunity, hey, go talk to ron over at shelter perfectly. He might be able to help you out and get you into the house you really want to get into instead of having to keep paying rent.
Speaker 2:Well, uh, you know, this is enlightening because I know there's a lot of customers that I know have not had any luck with getting the financing. They, that they've needed a from some of the more traditional product. So they listen to this has been great. Anyway, that was a wrong kenneth. And I'll tell you what, why don't you give somebody, you know, cause we're gonna go to break and I want a, I want, when we return we're going to be with the county commissioner. Curse smiths are. So don't go anywhere but real quick on how do they get in touch with you.
Speaker 3:All right. Just call me on my cell phone is three, two, one nine, one seven, nine, five, five, six. I'll answer evenings, weekends. I'm available.
Speaker 2:Alright. So once again. Uh, and then where are you located? If theY just want to drop by and visit you?
Speaker 3:We are in the era across from the bravard zoo, I'd say would be the best way I could describe it. Give me a call and get you the address.
Speaker 2:You got it. All right. So there it is. Thank you so much ron. And when we come back again, we're going to have the commissioner and he is campaigning right now for district four. Kurt smith will be in the studio, so don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Well I'm bob. I'm liliana and we are your hosts for but in the program where we talked about being raised in puerto rico and growing up in puerto rico and now living here in the states and raising our kids here in the state, tony and every week. And please follow us on facebook at brink on chaco podcast. You're listening to the space coast podcast network. If you'd like to be featured as a guest or sponsor or even host here on the show, please email us@spacecoastpodcastsathotmail.com. That is space coast podcast@hotmail.com space coast podcast. Talk hard.
Speaker 1:Hi, welcome back. We are the space coast real estate show. You're listening to your host Jesse Hall and uh, in the studio we have a very special guest. Uh, this gentleman is currently on the campaign trail. Look into secure a seat for the district for county commission seat for bravard county. Uh, so help me welcome kurt smith to the show. Everyone. Thank you so much. Kurt, how are you today, buddy? Where you didn't have your mic on? I apologize.
Speaker 2:We are great. We are great. And again, thank you so much for being in a studio real quick. Uh, tell people more about yourself, your family. And how long have you been in bravard county?
Speaker 5:Well, I've been in bravard county since October, 1986 and my wife and I started a maaco auto painting franchise back then. We ran it for about 27, 28 years and I sold it at the end of 2013 thinking I was going to retire and some people corralled me and said, you know, we could use somebody with good business sense like you to sit on the county commission. and I said, no. then the good lord whispered in my ear one day that I've prepared you for this and you're going to do this. And I like any good christian. I ignored him for about two weeks and then he kind of slapped me up the side of the head and made it very clear that it was something he wanted me to do. I didn't know if he wanted me to win, but I knew that he wanted me to step out there and so I did and we won. And so now we're doing it again.
Speaker 2:So you've only done the single term right so far. okay. So you're looking for reelection for a second term. Now you're an advocate for, for term limits. So you. So your. So your idea is just to kind of get out, serve your community. And then, uh, an exit gracefully. Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Why is it important to you? There's many, many reasons, but the primary reason is I think people just get lazy and the job that, oh, that's the primary thing. You know, you lose institutional knowledge when you have term limits. That's a downside. But you get an awful lot of new energy when you get new people. And I think that's important and people get too comfortable with, with something and it's very hard to get someone that's established. Look at senator nelson mean he should've been gone a long time ago, but people know the name and they're comfortable with him and so they just keep voting for him. But if you do a good analyzing of what he's done in the last probably eight or 10 years or, or haven't done, you know, it has a. And I've dealt with him. I asked him a very nice person. I've gone to Washington dc many times for a lagoon issues. Oh god. Trying to bring jobs down here from the pentagon. Never thought I'd ever see the inside of the pentagon. Never. I didn't serve in the military. So to me, that was not even on a bucket list. So the first time I went to the pentagon I was pretty much impressed. And how exciting was that? How, how exciting? What was the pentagon? How many? Very. It's like all, all inspiring. It's not exciting. It's all inspired because when you walk in a, there's immense security and then when you get into the building it's huge. There's like 21 or 22 thousAnd people that work there on a daily basis. That's amazing. And um, it's just huge and it's got a lot of history obviously including the plane attack when nine slash 11. Exactly. And um, being an elected official, I get to see places in the, in the pentagon that other people sometimes don't. One of the things that really amazed me was there's, there's an office where they have a plaque on the wall and as soon as this is the point of impact and the 9:11 crash, and this is where I think his name was charles homer was, this was his desk, but he didn't die here that day. He unfortunately his own flight 77 that flew into the twin towers. Oh dear. So that poor man was dying no matter where it was. Oh dear. So, um, it's an interesting place. He's got a lot of history and of course world war ii and when you're in there and you meet people like the assistant to the secretary of the army and the secretary of the air force and of course you're telling them about your county and how you'd like to get more jobs down here. And we're real close to getting one and we're, we're not out of the picture yet, but the battlefield airmen training center, that's the nine slash 20 rescue wing in the United States. Air force wants to consolidate that somewhere and then I got wind of it and um, I got with a senator rubio and congressman posey and we really it. And of course the economic development commission as well. And we got real close. We were in the top three, but then when the new secretary of the air force was appointed president trump, uh, she decided she wanted to start the process over again. So she could be and that's so frustrating. Yeah. Brought$1,200. Air force service people here
Speaker 2:because remind, remind people don't we already have like an auxiliary unit of the nine, 20th here or.
Speaker 5:Okay. But that's only about 20 people.
Speaker 2:Only 20 people. Exactly. So we're talking about the whole enchilada, so to speak. Okay.
Speaker 5:So if we could get the whole thing, it would be great. But they said that a possibility they may break it up into two divisions or even three. I see. We were going through that whole thing because my thing is, you know, they've got the ocean here so they can practIce ocean rescues has got the indian river practice, river rescues. I hadn't been at a river and we have the st john's river that they could practice jungle rescues and of course they've park just down the road and they can practice with live fire there. so we have a lot of benefits. But here's the, here's the thing, right? They explained to me that it's a, it's a two edged sword because we're an under utilized base and if you've driven by their, you know, there's an awful lot of empty land, so that's a bonus if you can get a nine slash 20 rescue wing because there's a lot of room for them to build and expand. The downside is that because we're an under utilized space, we can be on the brac and they told me that they're going to cut a eight basis in 2019 or 20 and 21, they're going to cut 15 more. So that's a total of 23 basis. We could very well be on that checklist if we don't get some more utilization of the, of the property. So it's a two edge sword.
Speaker 2:Well it sounds like it needs to be our priority. And, and how is it working for a senator rubio and, and of course congress, congressman posey,
Speaker 5:they're great. They're absolutely great. They helped me a lot. Um, we, I, one time I went to Washington dc, I was working on gettIng permits for the indian river lagoon, you know, because we're trying to get it cleaned up and. Gotcha. One of the problems we have is the permits takes so long to get because you have to jump through so many hoops with the army corps of engineers and sometimes you can't get a permit. Let's, you have funding and if you apply for funding first, the funding could actually run out because you only have a limited time to use it exactly for you get the permit. And some of these permits, if you're going to permit, just say one example between the pineal and the gallie causeway. Well that's substantially the same conditions as between the gallie causeway, the melbourne causeway. Well, if you get a permit to pay a dredge between a galley and anita, why is it necessary to start all over again and, and go to the bottom of the pile and work your way up to get all the same people to rubber stamp the things that they've already rubber stamped. So I went in there, Virginia Barker, our director of natural resources similarly we need is a programmable permit so that you have a situation where it side by side, it's really no different than we can keep the same dredging company there which saves money and saves us time and we can just move onto the next section. So, um, congressmAn posey and a senator rubio came through and within three months of my seeing them, we got a permit that we'd been waiting for for like two and a half years. Well, that's impressive. It's also about people.
Speaker 2:Well, it, it, it is who you know, and uh, and, and that's very powerful. And, and in, in, in, going along with that, excuse me, go along with that. You know, we do have, uh, some, uh, some endorsements, some, some other professional associations here in town, including our very own sheriff. Uh, wayne ivy, a, also a retired colonel danny mcknight. and remind people who with danny is famous for.
Speaker 5:Well, if you saw or heard of the movie black hawk down, I think the person that played him in that movie was tom sizemore or something like that, but danny mcknight was a, it was the guy that, that story revolved around and he's right here in town and something that a lot of people may not know, even if they know him. Tim mcknight, the city manager for city of cocoa beach. Uh, they're brothers.
Speaker 2:Oh, is that the same random trivia from, from curt here today? Uh, awesome news. You know, that these are, these are again, fantastic things that, uh, that make the space coast so different and, you know, and I try to, to, to be an advocate for the area, of course, you know, with all of our tourism and everything else that's exciting. Here we have, we have a really cool collection of have a unique individuals who choose bravard county as their place of residence. And of course, uh, you know, you can't help but to see, you know, because we have patrick air force base right here in our community. We have a lot of retirees, you know, people who will come out of service with the air force and they'll choose a patrick air force base to be their last, uh, you know, a place of command before they go into retirement and they don't go, but you know, a couple blocks away from the air force base and they spend the rest of their days here.
Speaker 5:Well, that's absolutely true. And the converse is why people will serve here in their younger years and then reMember how nice it was. And then when they retire they lickety split right back because they loved it here. Exactly. And what's not to love. We have a very special county. I travel all over the state. I can tell you, Florida is a wonderful state. Our county. I think we're right at the top.
Speaker 2:Well, I sure appreciate a lot of people appreciate that and also agree with you. A quick reminder. He, uh, let's see. Kurt smith is also endorsed by a space costs associated association of realtors. We have spit that out. Space goes associated with realtors, a dozen dorsum as well as the home builders and contractors association of bovard. And that's a hpca for short. Also associated builders and contractors. And also business voice, political, um, some really powerful, uh, endorsements by law. A lot of those groups, uh, you know, being, of course, you know, um, I myself as a member of the space coast associated a realtors being that I do practice real estate full time here and the county. Uh, and, you know, we do have our own little packs. We look out for candidates who are, you know, helping us help the public, uh, we help others get to office who are a stand behind us as professionals in our association and our industry because, you know, we're not always under attack, but sometimes there are some, uh, some, some litigation and some bills that come to the table that really need to be understood on an industry level. not just because it may feel good or because you know, it, it may affect it, you know, community or two. But it really needs to know we need people in office who are looking out for the greater good of all of us professionals and make sure that, you know, the industry keeps its integrity and also that we're given the tools to help you know, our individual communities the best we can. So, uh, you know, thank you for all you do on behalf of space coast association of realtors. When we coMe back, we are going to do a little quick fire, a little segment with a special guest. He's going to be coming into the studio and just a little bit. So don't go anywhere. Stay tuned. We have so much more. And again, we really hope you guys are enjoying this. Kurt smith again in the studio today. And uh, with that, don't go anywhere. Space coast will stay. Show continues right after these messages.
Speaker 6:Hey, make sure you check out space. CowBoy, cowboy, stewart and paul daily. We're going to be talking about interesting legal issues in the entertainment industry and everything. Geek. If you're into star wars, star trek, lord of the rings. Comic books were talking about it coming at you from the space coast podcast studios.
Speaker 4:You're listening to the space coast podcast network. If you'd like to be featured as a guest or sponsor or even host here on the show, please email us@spacecoastpodcastsathotmail.com. That is space coast podcast@hotmail.com. Space co's podcast. Talk hard.
Speaker 2:Hey listeners, we are back. This is the space coast real estate show. And once again we return to your host Jesse Hall here. And like I had before last segment we introduced to kurt smith, a current commissioner of the bravard county commissioner's office and also a campaigning for again, district for looking for a second term, uh, to help us out. And we're learning a little bit more about the commissioner here real quick to help us out in a studio from bella. Title is a frank labella junior and frank junior is going to do his, a rapid fire question, a series a that he has done on facebook with such success. And I'm telling you a frank, it's so much fun. So without further ado, let me hand over the mic to frank and are you ready for this? Ready as I'll ever be. Alright. Alright. Alright. so uh, to continue with the rapid fire segment, frank junior,
Speaker 5:what's going on? Smith? Just shoot from the hip but ever comes to the amount. There is no wrong answer. What color is your toothbrush? White. What is your favorite aquatic animal? Shark? Soft or hard tacos? Heart. A cereal soup. Cereal. Soup. Vegetable, soup. How many basketballs can you hold that one time? Not my favorite pizza topping mushrooms. Favorite boy band? Don't have one. Would you rather fight one horse sized duck or 100? Duck sized horses. So one big duck, hundred horse sized favorite sport. Every sport baseball favorite. Disney princess cinderella. What time do you get up? Six am. What time do you go to bed? 10. Would you rather be a clown who distracts the bowl or the cowboy? Who rides the bowl? The clown. And last question, what is your favorite sports team? Philly's awesome. Does a great job. Good rapid fire questions. But frank junior,
Speaker 2:I liked that. Oh, free before you go. How can people find you, find you and uh, and, and, and follow more of your rapid fire questionnaires.
Speaker 5:We are on facebook at bella title and we're also at www dot[inaudible] dot com. Cool. Very cool.
Speaker 2:So was that fun or what, kurt? Yeah, it was, it was excellent. Once again, thank you. Frank jr. Bella. Title. All right. Frank is frank is a great guy. Um, his family owns a business here locally providing title services for all of us, provide residents who are buying and selling a really appreciate all the great service that his family provides a two locations to serve them now in the century on century boulevard and the new one on a mirror island right off of five, 20. And courtney, so for all of your title needs, I think bella title. Alright, we're going back real quick. You know, I've met recently with curt just for a little backstory. Um, we were at a rotary meeting and uh, and occur was, uh, was, was just so delightful to listen to. He brought up some, uh, some things that I think the, and I thought, you know, on behalf of all of us, uh, in, in the real estate industry and also, uh, you know, being homeowners, there's going to be an initiative, uh, come on up that's going to be on the ballot in november. And correct me if I'm wrong, it's going to be about this, uh, this third third homestead homestead exemption. Um, and, and I know You had some words regarding what, what do people need to know about this initiative?
Speaker 5:What are they need to know that you are going to have the opportunity to vote yourself a third homestead exemption, which would be an additional$25,000. And of course who wouldn't jump at that, but he wants to vote themselves a tax decrease. Yeah, free money, let's take of him. But you know, there's a problem here and the problem is that, uh, everybody isn't going to qualify. So you're going to go into that voting booth. If you don't do some educational work and research and you're going to think you're voting yourself a tax decrease and you very well may be voting yourself a tax increase. Oh, let me explain why zoo, because
Speaker 7:the
Speaker 5:tax abatement, the homestead exemption would only apply to about 22 percent of the people that own property here. And there's only 43 percent in the entire county that get or qualify for the homestead exemption that we already have. Well, of those 43, I'm only 22 percent will qualify for this. So that means 78 percent of the people in the county, we're going to subsidize the 22 percent of the people that do qualify. So that doesn't sound fair already. Terrible, terrible idea. Not only that, bravard county is gonna. Take about a$12,000,000 hit. And I can tell you we don't have$12,000,000. so unless you, uh, see a drastic cut and services where everybody would just absolutely resent and resist, you'd be cutting fire departments, police departments, you'd be cutting libraries, parks and recreation, all the important things. All it would, it would just be devastating. It's almost done so, and we're where we're the only county in the entire state that has a budget cap do to our charter, but we do have the opportunity and the existence of a, an out and that's called a budget cap. You can bust the budget cap would probably have to do that. So that means everybody's taxes are actually going to go up to cover the$12,000,000 to 22 percent of the people saved.
Speaker 2:And that's not exciting at all. That's not good news at all. For us. It's not, it's not. Is that gonna, is that gonna be try to be a game that revenue through property tax or is there going to be an additional sales tax or what do you think is going to have a property tax? Oh, I know people definitely wouldn't like that
Speaker 5:and you know, it's going to be the same way throughout the state. So hopefully, um, newspapers, tv stations and politicians will attempt to educate the public as to this is, this is a boondoggle. It's not a benefit to anybody. Well, the 22 percent of a benefit, but I can tell you I would qualify, but I won't go for it because it would be disastrous. For example, if you own a house that's a rental, you don't qualify. If you own a business property, you don't qualify because you're, you're a business. You're not a property owner. I mean you're not a ho. You can't homestead property, uh, a business. Exactly. And then anybody that's currently homesteaded with$100,000 home, they wouldn't qualify heater. So now you're only left with the people that have properties that are over$100,000 that they live in and that our homestead. So that's where you come up with this number, 22 percent of the current 43 percent that are homesteading would qualify.
Speaker 2:And what, and what and who brought up this referendum. I mean, you know, what, what service are they trying to provide here?
Speaker 5:Uh, you would have to ask the person that did it. I don't want to divulge that. Fair enough. If you want to do your research, you can find out who, who, uh, who did it?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I don't know if it was an association or some other kind of group or it was a state senator, I'll say, okay, okay, well, and in that case, you know, there, there is a, the senator race going on. So hopefully, you know, some of the listeners will do their due diligence. We always invite everybody to please, please investigate even though you hear on our radio show, uh, that doesn't always mean that, you know, it should be taken for a fact, you know, make sure it works for you. And that goes for anything. So that's, that's my big disclaimer here today. You know, always, always, always, you know, look, look for it. And a couple other different places, get second opinions and that goes for, you know, a lot of different things regarding your property, you know, um, you know, uh, from home inspections and, and title searches and everything else. You know, sometimes you have to go to a second or third, uh, kind of, uh, uh, a facility or, or, uh, you know, some other authority that can, can help you make those decisions and so forth. So that, that is, um, that isn't someone lightening news and uh, and I hope it's worded correctly because a lot of times when these certain bills and legislation, all these different things come to the ballot in november. A not, not anybody, uh, most people don't even do the research and a lot of times they're just snuck in there without letting the public know that, you know, they're going to be voting on such a topic and then they're worded to, you know, to, to, to mislead and, uh, and, and they're not worded correctly. So it sounds like a good thing when it's in reality not, and we've seen that a couple times recently and so it's just a, it's deceptive. So, thank you, kurt, for kind of spelling that out for us today. Um, you know, something that maybe the audience doesn't know about kurt, um, you have been one of the bigger, uh, advocates and, and providing leadership for a lot of what we see happening with the improvement of the lagoon. And we were, we really appreciate that for you. Now, in your own opinion, is a lagoon beyond help or do you think we're on our way to getting it back to a, a good, sustainable.
Speaker 5:We can go out there. There's no question that we can get there. Where were we didn't reinvent the wheel. We're following a tried and true projects that worked in tampa bay, narragansett bay in Massachusetts in a course long island. Um, whatever that is called. But anyway, there were following there. The only difference really is that we have to allow for the fact that those are fairly deep water run. Their big bodies of water problem we have is our lagoon is very shallow and it's very long and narrow, so it's 155 miles long. And so that presents some different problems because we don't have natural flow like those base two and a chesapeake bay was the other.
Speaker 2:Just speak okay on sound or something.
Speaker 5:Right. And uh, sO we're following those plants and we have a citizens advisory committee that was part of the plan and when we were out, I'm going up and down the county to explain to people what this was about. We didn't advocate for it or against it, we just were there to try and educate the people so that if you have the knowledge you can make your own decision whether you want to support it or not. And so that's what we dId and people supported it and they voted for it. But one of the, one of the brain childs of a Virginia Barker and some of the other people that were involved is to come up with the citizens advisory committee, which is people from all walks of life and bravard county. We have professionals, we have engineers, we have scientists, we have homemakers, we have teachers. And they look at the plan and they say, okay, this is really good. Let's continue on this route, route, route. and if um, some new science becomes available and says, hey, this might be a better way to do it. They can shift gears and do that. They have the authority to do that, so we have another set of eyes protecting you and me to make sure that we're doing things properly and we're doing the best that we can,
Speaker 2:you know, and, and when I had gone, because I do a lot of research and you know, I've tried to stay involved as well and part of my due diligence was actually going to these, uh, these meetings, these community town halls regarding what that half cent sales was going to look like. And you know, they mentioned the dredging and the also removing a septic, you know, within a certain distance from the rivers, uh, putting a moratorium on certain kinds of septic systems. So we're not, we're seeing now a, the anaerobic style, a septics and uh, and another alternative septic systems. Of course, you know, there, there is a little bit of a race to get these coastal communities now on a centralized sewer system and you know, put in the infrastructure. And I think one of the most visible components is the dredging. You know, people can see that going a us one just south of a galley. They could see the la river dredged right there in the harbor where there's muck up to like three feet or something else, 30 creeks and another one, you know, if you go further down to us one and to palm bay, there was another, a dredging project and, and they're all over, uh, the indian river and, and I think that's, you know, like you mentioned that it's 140 miles an hour and 5,555 miles, right? A bravard county being the longest, 72 miles, 72 miles. Right. So, so we're, we're a pretty big stewart. Okay.
Speaker 5:Not only are we 72 miles were, I don't remember what the square miles are, but we're more than half of the, uh, overall, right, because we're wider here than many other places because it takes in the banana river and mosquito lagoon.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. So, you know, it kind of is our opportunity, you know, to be the stewards and come through in a big way. Um,
Speaker 5:well I sit on the, a five county consortium called the indian river lagoon council. Okay. And um, we worked directly with st john's water management, we work directly with the Florida dep and the federal government, they sit on the board with me, their representatives and we're doing a lot of great work so we're focused on the overall lagoon, but each county focuses on their own separate county of course. And one of the pushback items that I heard when we were out talking to people and educating them two years ago was that, well, we're going to clean up our river and in our clean water is going to go to the other counties and they're dirty, water's going to come to ours and it's never going to get. Well that's not true because this, this river is not a river, it's a lagoon and it does not move. So if we clean up the water and bravard county, it's going to stay here. It doesn't, it doesn't go anywhere. Gotcha. And a good point, I know I hear an awful lot of people talk about, uh, we need more inlets right on that would, that would be beneficial on one hand because you would have some kind of a flushing. Right? But if you spend any time as I do, I in fact dwayne to freeze, who's our director, greg, on the indian river, red gum council, um, he'll tell you that nobody he's known in the last 25 years, spends more time on that waterway than me. And if you spend any time down around sebastian inlet, you see all that nice green water coming in from the ocean for about six hours. And then when the tide goes out, it goes back out again. So unless we have some way of capturing that, let's really don't mean much, that's one. Number two, you would have to have a lot of them and that would be extremely costly. And we've targeted, we, the indian river lagoon council has targeted the most opportune places to put these inlets and unfortunately they're all on federal property. So you can imagine what kind of red tape you would go through to even attempt to do something like that. Bureaucracy can tell you, I've worked with the federal government in this position I'm in and it would be a nightmare. It would be in life.
Speaker 2:And I've, I've heard, uh, excuse me for interrupting, but you know, there's also a lot of criticism regarding the locks at the port canaveral and also a lot of criticism about the cruise ships in general, bringing in, you know, lots of gray water eating places to dispose of it properly. This, this thing. The other thing, um, you know, there seems like there's a lot, a lot of ideas, uh, but you know, I had, how do you combat people who.
Speaker 5:Well, we're exploring. The idea is number one, and education is extremely important. Um, you know, since I've gotten this job, I've just become extremely amazed at how gossip becomes reality if it's repeated often enough. And I guess it was hitler, they said that if you tell a lie often enough that after awhile people believe it, right? Well I won't say that their lives, but there's people out there that come up with a simplistic idea and all of a sudden, you know, a month or two later you hear it. Now it's gospel. Well, science doesn't work like that. Dr. Weaver It fit has come up with a plan that I think has a lot of merit. He thinks that we should have some kind of a, maybe a pipe off shore that we could drill under underground, which would take the place of an inlet, but it would allow water to come in and it would only come in at high tide. So you would have an influx of water at high tide and then when low tide occurred, it wouldn't go back out into the ocean. So eventually bringing in that water. What if you bring in more water? It has to move somewhere. He, he said his computer models. I live between the galleon pineal causeway and I can tell you the water does not move the waves. The wind makes it go back and forth, but it doesn't go anywhere. So he says that every three weeks, if this system were in place every three weeks, the water in front of my house between a galley and anita would actually move. Well, that would be phenomenal because we would get movement. Martin, that would be extremely important to the health of the river. But you have to be careful what you wish for because some of this algae out here actually becomes more prolific in a more salt based water. So if we bring in more salt water, the ocean has a higher salinity that horse. And so actually we could be causing more harm than we're helping. So that's what you have to be careful of. And that's where science comes in. I'm not a scientist. I don't know the answers. I can just tell you what I've been hearing and it needs to be studied before we, before we just go crazy and say let's open up 100 Inlets. Even if we could, that might not be a good thing.
Speaker 2:And that's why we consult with professionals who have already done the research and instead of, uh, you know, considering, you know, these, these fly by night kind of ideas, which I, again, I know a lot of people want that one answer and you know, there's just
Speaker 5:the silver bowl with everybody's looking for the silver bullet
Speaker 2:and they're just, there just isn't that kind of thing that, that really is going to help our situation as combined for, with, I think the initiatives that are happening, the dredging,
Speaker 1:uh, the, uh, you know, the septic removal, a transfer into a sewer and, and those kInds of things. And of course, you know, consultant with the new builders in any kind of a new development, make sure that there are super compliant and that they're doing their best to make an efficient a building and community, uh, with, with all the new regulations in place. So, with that, we're just going to go
Speaker 2:a break real quick. Thank you all for listening. Once again, the space coast real estate show, uh, in studio, we have a curt smith will be right back. And just a quick word from our sponsors, so don't go anywhere
Speaker 8:six.
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Speaker 1:Alright. And we're back space coast real estate show. We're broadcasting from the space coast podcast studios inside the paper clinic right here and east vieira, Florida located just minutes away from here, kind of centrally located in the middle of the county. So if I feel we have like the pulse on everything that's going on regarding, uh, here, uh, in bravard county, everything that's going on, we're kind of centrally located.
Speaker 2:And, and what that means Is, you know, not only that we hear what's going on in the south county, but also north county. We have friends from all over that, uh, visit, uh, the paper clinic and also the podcast studio. So we were pretty blessed with, uh, with being right here in the studio is commissioner smith. Mr. Smith is working to, uh, get back, uh, and retain a seat for a district for this upcoming election election season. And uh, of course he is looking for your vote, but he's also reminding people of all the great things he has done so far a while in office. Now, one of the things that a commissioner smith and I have discussed at length is a, you know, how a lot of the public, when they're looking to purchase a house, why some, why, why there's some confusion regarding property taxes. And a lot of people, I know a lot of buyers when we look at property, they'll say, jesse, what are the taxes? And I'll say, well, it's really not it, you know, I, I can divulge that, but it's not going to reflect what you're going to be paying in taxes because the tax is based on the purchase price. If they bought it for 100,000 less than, of course, you know, they're, they, they've been paying a lower tax rate and then you're going to buy it at a, at a higher value and higher assessed value by the property appraiser department. And they, uh, and of course based on that purchase price, it becomes your assessed value and that's where a property taxes are, are formulated. So to help me clarify this, commissioner smith, can you, can you explain it as well? Um, and I know you've had some success of helping reduce bravard county residents saw Texas, uh, since you've been in office, correct?
Speaker 5:That is correct. We've reduced the, I've been in office for three budgets and we've reduced the tax property tax rate each of all the three years and um, and, and the proof is in the pudding. I just encourage people to go back and look at their taxes, what they paid three years ago, two years ago and last year. And typically most people are paid less by definition and it gets complicated. So I'm not going to try and explain here by the state state mandated definition. We actually raised taxes two years. The tax rate, we didn't raise taxes, we raised, we didn't raise the tax rate either. Taxes were increased. That's it gets confusing for me too, of course, because if we take in one dime more than we took in last year, it's called a tax increase even though your actual tax bill made me less so. That's why it gets confusing, but the actual millage rate that we set was three years in a row, went down perfectly. Good news is the budget that we're going to adopt in september, it will go down for a fourth year in a row. So what It really comes down to is this, jesse, If your house goes up in value and your military under your property rate goes down, you could still wind up paying more in taxes because your house is worth more that I have nothing to do with that. That's the property. So it's like if you bought a, you bought an item that costs$100 and you paid six percent sales tax that say that was your property tax. So you're paying$6 on$100. Exactly. Suppose next year you lowered the tax rate down to five percent, but the value of the item now is 150 bucks for now you're paying 70 slash 50 instead of$6. Exactly. Did you pay more taxes? Yes. Did you tax rate go down? Yes. But you're. The value of your property went up. Most people like it when the value of their property goes up. More taxes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You gotta pay more taxes. So you know, there's a, there's a, there's always a coffee yet, you know, like you said earlier, you know, be careful what you wish for because you know, if, if, if you like your property appreciating, I think most people would. It's, it's their primAry investment vehicle that most people use to help them with the retirement planning or, or anything else. It's really the best investment vehicle for a lot of people who are looking for a secure and a and tangible asset that they can then pass on, uh, either to their community, uh, through, through the nation to a church perhaps, or even to a loved one, a, you know, like a, like a grant, a child or someone in a trust, a very, very, uh, uh, exceptional. A investment strategy and asset. And of course, you know, it, it comes at a price. You gotta pay that you got to pay the, uh, the maintenance costs. You've got to pay the taxes. You gotta, you know, there, there, there's, there's things that you have to do with,
Speaker 5:and I can tell you I'm very anti property tax because you never debt free if you pay off your mortgage, you don't own your house because if you stopped paying your taxes, you're house is going to be taken away from me. I would love to. And I remember when rubio was in this senate here, he came up with a plan that would provide for more sales tax. I think it was like 14 percent. And they determined that they thought that that was too much, that the set, they couldn't sell it to the public, but to me it makes a lot of sense because if you're buying a lot of things, you're paying the sales when you own your home, you don't have to worry about somebody taking your homeboy from you because if you can't afford to buy a lot of things for your sales tax, that would be charged sales tax. you're just not going to buy them. You're going to buy an older cars that have a newer car. Exactly. But you don't have that luxury when you own a home, you got to pay the taxes or you're going to have to move, worn, or sell the house.
Speaker 2:So if you don't pay the taxes, who, who then comes after your home?
Speaker 5:The property, the tax relief,
Speaker 2:tax collector. Okay? So that's like luxor. Okay? I wonder how many, uh, or you know, a lot of people ask, you know, what's in foreclosure, what's in pre closure. So before, uh, you know, the, the, the tax collector comes and gets it, uh, and it goes to auction. Uh, I know a lot of people are uh, you know, there's a whole business, so with wholesaling
Speaker 5:they'd have to be true before that happens. Exactly. You're the tax collectors and Lisa Cohen here in our county. Yes, we're lucky to have her. She's great and she's not out to take anybody's home, but he has lost the follow and so if you haven't been paying your taxes, she has to try and get them recruit somehow and at some point in time if you haven't made arrangements somehow to get the money and that's eventually what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:And that's why a lot of the lenders will tie in not only your homeowner's insurance, depending on how much you owe that, that loan to value a number is. But typically, you know, you have that pmi, private mortgage insurance of course also loaded on if you, if you owe a less than or more than a 20 percent, right? Yeah. So if you, if you have a enough, if you have equity, let me just put this out real quick. If, if you're paying pmi, that means you have a loan to value over a 80 percent, so until you get that down to 80 percent, then you could reduce that pmi and, and of course that that helps you in your monthly savings. Also the things that you could do to help, uh, uh, but you know, that there's a misconception with the taxes. The lenders will include that in your mortgage, uh, because they're on the line as well for that title and they understand that if you don't pay your taxes, then you know, the bank loses their property as well. So it's, it's one of those things. The funny thing is however, and this is why reverse mortgages have gotten such a bad rep for so long because of that program and how it works, that program is essentially paying you to live in a home. What that, what they sometimes don't include. Or sometimes people forget because they haven't done it for such a long time because they finance is a, is a pay their taxes. And so the reverse mortgage products will get a bad rap because people forget to pay the tax. And then of course, you know, they're, they're getting a repossessions and foreclosures and all kinds of crazy things. It was very important pay your tax bill. And, and especially for those who are, who have paid off their home, that's typically the only bill, but don't forget to it because you haven't paid it for so long on your own. It's always been included in your financing. Uh, make sure that, that, uh, you keep your home, pay those taxes. But I understand I'm, I'm kinda with, you know, senator rubio and that measure, if you do pay off your home and you've spent, you know, the last 30 years paying off a 30 year note and now, you know, they say it's yours, but it never really is. It's kind of an unfortunate thing. Um, so, so there you go. It's just one, it's one of the many little tidbits of trivia that we could offer you a, always pay your taxes, even if you own the home outright or if you have a unique financing, a creative lending solution like reverse mortgages, always, always pay those taxes. All right, so that's our psa for the day. Um, before we get to to close a commissioner smith, I just would like for you to spend some time and remind some of the listeners how they could find out more about you, some of your initiatives and some of the great things that you've done while in office so far.
Speaker 5:You can go to our website, kurt smith, kurt smith, 2018 a anD slash or you could go to our internet and it's kurt smith 20 eighteen@gmail.com.
Speaker 2:Okay. So that's the email christmas two zero, one8@gmail.com. And uh, of course, what are some of the things that people can look forward to before we go to close? What's your on, on your agenda if, uh, if we get to be blessed with your presence on the commission?
Speaker 5:Well, I came into office fighting for jobs and fighting the roads fixed. You know, when I came inTo office we had only been paving eight to 12 miles of roads a year, should it be paving 50. So we've got, depending on who you ask, 100 to$300,000,000 worth of backlog and it costs five to seven times more to rebuild a road that's failed than it does to just keep paving it. Right? And so, um, everybody was talking about raising gas taxes to do that and it's a user fee that makes a lot of sense. Should I always the deciding vote that said, no, we're not going to raise gas taxes until I get a shot at seeing if I can pave roads without extra taxes. Amen. So when I became chairman, we had paved eight miles the year before when I became chairman, we pay 58 miles and now this year we're paving over 60 and this coming year, we anticipate being able to pay, pay somewhere in the 62 to 65 mile range. So we're doing it without taxes. That gas tank.
Speaker 2:Now, is it the fdot or is it the bravard county who did a one a
Speaker 5:that was fda. Well, yeah, a one a is a state road.
Speaker 2:Okay. Um, so we're blessed to have had that recently been. What, what does the county who wrote it or.
Speaker 5:Well, my district, we've done an awful lot. We've written morale road. I'm Maria Navarro. That's on our list to do turtle mound. We did a lot of that. We've done a lot of wickham road and we've done some homeowner association roads that aren't, that aren't closed gated communities. So we've increased the roads that we've done in d four. That's my district as well as the rest of the county and we're making the place in nicer, nicer place to live because if you don't have roads, roads are not sexy. People don't care if, if I said I'm going to cut roads next, next week, nobody really cares. If I said we're going to cut libraries, the place, the nice meeting, the place would be full of people in love. Library roads have to be done because they benefit all of us
Speaker 2:and, and they do it because I know a, you know, a hot topic and I just spoke with the mayor meaghan regarding that, uh, babcock corridor, which, you know, you guys have ownership but, but you're sure to us that that's going to be happening soon.
Speaker 5:Well, actually there's an interesting story they had with the county only owns one poInt seven miles, right? Cock and city of melbourne owns the rest of it. Right? So I got mayor meaghan and her city manager in my office march a year ago when I was chairman. And uh, I said I got a proposition for you. You guys know I'm not real fond of crms. There's a community redevelopment, so she and I understand the purpose of them, but the problem I have with them is they never go away because if they have a, a, an end date, all they have to do is go into debt and they can extend the end date. So maybe that doesn't work. Just county never gets paid back. So they were in date on their cra was 20, 20, and I said, I'll make sure that we get are if I can get the other commissioners to agree, but I'm pretty sure I can write, we'll pay the one point seven miles we own, but I want you to take that off our hands. it becomes your road, but in return you have to finish paving the rest of it. So they took it back to their city council and they got back to me and they said, city council likes the idea, but we need cra money to finish the road. And so we would have to extend the cra by two years. That works for me. You, but because you're dedicating all the funds and the cra, not to some whatever, you're focusing on that cra money, 100 percent totally on finishing badcock. And then at the end of 20, 22, the sierra goes away, babcock's finished and everybody's happy.
Speaker 2:Amen. Amen. So there you are. Commissioner smith, thank you so much for being on the show today. Hey guys. I hope you really enjoy this and hopefully you learned a lot. Hopefully you're going to take some things back with you and, uh, and hopefully you'll be that much more of an educated voter come november. So A primary result of the end of vulgus, make sure commissioner smith keeps his seat. Again, there is some competition in district four race, but, uh, you know, if you've listened to the today show you, you, you understand that, you know, maybe some things are just as good as they are the way they are. Right? So with that being said, uh, we're going to go and, uh, we're coming back to you next time, right here at the space coast will say, show space goes podcast studios at the paper clinic. until next time guys take care of the captain. So plan.