|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Jack Phillips(EPOCH TIMES)
After a New York judge ruled last month that former President Donald Trump inflated the value of his Mar-a-Lago property, some real estate professionals raised questions about the order.
“From 2011-2021, the Palm Beach County Assessor appraised the market value of Mar-a-Lago at between $18 million and $27.6 million,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his ruling. He then stated that Mar-a-Lago, located in Palm Beach, was valued by President Trump between $426.5 million and $612 million, which the judge wrote that was an “overvaluation of at least 2,300 percent, compared to the assessor’s appraisal.”
In the ruling, Judge Engoron said that the former president was liable for fraud. That was a central claim made by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against the defendants, including President Trump, the Trump Organization, and members of his family.
“Appraisal values and market values are just not the same thing. It’s a well-known fact,” Eli Beracha, the chair of the school of real estate at Florida International University, told CNN. “That’s especially true for properties that are unique. And it’s very easy to argue this is a unique property,” he said, referring to the Palm Beach resort.
Meanwhile, Dina Goldentayer, executive director of sales at Douglas Elliman in South Florida, said that the tax assessor’s valuation usually is not considered when trying to value a piece of property.
“He wouldn’t make a very good realtor,” Ms. Goldentayer said of the New York judge. “It’s so widely known that it’s not an accurate determination of market value.”
Trump Supporters Gather at Trump Rally in Michigan
Play Video
She added that Mar-a-Lago is a “trophy asset” and “in a completely different league of its own.” If she were to come up with a value of Mar-a-Lago, Ms. Goldentayer said she would hire independent appraisers and take a mixed average of the valuations and wouldn’t use the tax appraiser’s valuation.
The realtor added: “If there is a ranking as to what would have the lowest valuation, it’s the tax assessor’s office, followed by Zillow and then the realtor’s valuation is the highest.”
A top real estate broker in Palm Beach, who spoke to the New York Post on condition of anonymity, said that the judge’s ruling is “utterly delusional” to believe Mar-a-Lago “is only worth $18 million.”
“If that property were on the market today, I would list it at around $300 million, minimum … at least. He also has the separate golf course minutes away,” the individual said.
Jonathan Miller, the head of a New York City-based real estate appraisal firm, told CNN that the market value of a property and tax assessment aren’t always the same thing. “They can be, in some markets they are the same thing, but in most others they are not,” he told CNN.
Following Judge Engoron’s ruling last week, the former president and his attorneys were critical of the decision. In a post on his Truth Social platform, President Trump called accusations that he committed fraud “ridiculous and untrue,” and blasted Judge Engoron as a “DERANGED” judge doing the bidding of Ms. James, a Democrat.
F
“This is Democrat Political Lawfare, and a Witch Hunt at a level never seen before,” the former president wrote. “If they can do this to me, they can do this to YOU!” Trump has repeatedly asserted that the indictments he faces are “witch hunts.”
Ms. James sued Trump in September 2022, accusing him, three of his adult children, and the Trump Organization of lying for a decade about asset values and his net worth to defraud banks and insurers into providing better terms. The judge said James submitted “conclusive evidence” that Trump had overstated his net worth by between $812 million and $2.2 billion.
“Even in the world of high finance, this court cannot endorse a proposition that finds a misstatement of at least $812 million dollars to be ‘immaterial,'” he wrote.
The judge’s ruling comes three months after a state appeals court said that some of Ms. James’s claims were too old because statutes of limitations had expired in either July 2014 or February 2016.
Judge Engoron rejected Trump’s argument that the decision essentially gutted James’ lawsuit, which James has said reflected a series of “continuing wrongs” that she could prove at trial. The appeals court dismissed one defendant, President Trump’s daughter Ivanka, from the case.
The former president also faces a slew of other litigation. He has pleaded not guilty to charges in four indictments accusing him of trying to overturn his 2020 election, allegedly mishandling classified materials, and allegedly covering up hush money payments in 2016.
He also faces a January civil trial over damages he owes in the E. Jean Carroll case. He has denied wrongdoing.
Reuters contributed to this report.
