Monthly Archives: November 2015

About Martyn, Attorneys, Eminent Domain

15 Things Guaranteed To Accelerate your Eminent Domain Practice

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15 Things Guaranteed To Accelerate your Eminent Domain PracticeBuilding your eminent domain practice and accelerating your firm’s growth is within reach. There are ways to add value and benefit to your clients by augmenting the services that you currently have on offer, helping you and your practice to stand out from the crowd. Including a variety of specialized services will build your business reputation, set you apart from the competition, and quickly accelerate your business. Here are 15 examples that can add value to your practice and start pushing your business forward today:

1. Liaise with an expert who can follow relocation guidelines based on the Uniform Act with intimate knowledge.

2. Avoid client disappointment by adding a seasoned relocation consultation to your client offering. Their expertise will work to guide the process so that your clients are able to avoid much of the potentially extensive out of pocket, non-reimbursable money they would otherwise need to spend to relocate their business because of a public project taking their property.

3. Steer the direction of your clients’ case from an early stage to produce better results to the business/property owner that you’re working with.

4. Perform a thorough analysis to differentiate between personal property and real property. Because federal relocation guidelines don’t automatically guide businesses to the best relocation results, each business relocation should have an analysis performed to make the distinction between personal and real property.

5. Determine the proper amounts and best methods for receiving relocation payments from the public agency while following the relocation guidelines.

6. Make cost-to-cure services a part of your client offering.

7. Add preliminary planning services to your service offering. For those businesses that will be displaced by a project, preplanning can result in thousands and sometimes millions of dollars in cost reimbursements for your clients that often otherwise go unrecognized and unclaimed.

8. Provide services that can be extended to your clients right away to break out of the usual holding pattern. Preplanning services provide you with something to offer the client right away, while other attorneys have to wait to get the ball rolling. This offering will increase the chances of securing the client’s business.

9. Improve efficiency preparing appeals, planning relocation logistics, and orchestrating and coordinating the actual move toward maximum efficiency and minimum client downtime.

10. Increase the amount of time for evaluating and making critical decisions. This can be accomplished through preplanning.

11. Extend replacement property evaluation or feasibility services to your clients to outline the best of the potential replacement properties.

12. Guide your clients through the process of determining relocation benefits that will and will not assist them with making a potential replacement property functional for the business.

13. Pre-plan relocations to establish time for preparation of plans that will minimize downtime with the use of relocation benefits.

14. Save your client out of pocket expenses because of a rushed move, lack of choices, and excessive key employee time spent on the relocation. Proper preplanning sets the stage for the actual relocation, saving your clients thousands of dollars, helping to build your trusted relationship.

15. Put your client’s best foot forward while working with the public agency representatives. Teaming with a preplanning specialist will demonstrate to the public agency your high level of organization and knowledge. With the right preplanning, you can avoid the misinformation that usually causes the process to derail and veer off in a direction that can be costly to your client’s business.

The 15 important items on this list can all be achieved by liaising with a relocation consultant. Including an expert on your team who specializes in the services outlined here can be of extreme benefit to your clients, and certainly to you and the way that you structure your practice. Offering preplanning services to prospective clients creates a more complete package than what other attorneys, appraisers, and other eminent domain professionals offer.

I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have on this matter or other eminent domain and condemnation matters you may want to discuss as they relate to relocation and cost-to-cure. Please contact me either by phone by email. I look forward to hearing from you.

photo credit Twobee via Free Digital Photos

About Martyn, Attorneys, Businesses, Eminent Domain, relocation

How Eminent Domain Appraisers Can Benefit from “Cost-to-Cure” Services

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How Eminent Domain Appraisers Can Benefit from “Cost-to-Cure” ServicesWhen it comes time to defend your appraisal, are you sure that it will stand up to opposing council? Whether it’s your appraisal or your opinion on the replacement costs for buildings and other improvements for cost-to-cure designs and cost estimates, the opposing council will be ready to poke holes in your case.

As an appraiser, sometimes you are working on an eminent domain case where part of a parcel of property is condemned and the use of the remaining property is impacted. In such cases, a consultant can support your work with customized, reasonably calculated cost-to-cure estimates and designs that follow agency guidelines and eminent domain law.

When the new right-of-way severs a structure or improvements, the consultant will develop a design for removing the portions of the improvements affected by the right-of-way, while renovating the remaining portions to cure the damages caused by the property taking.

An experienced cost-to-cure consultant can assist appraisers and other interested parties by enhancing their appraisals for complex structures, improvements, and cost-to-cure values. The cost-to-cure consultant with the added benefit of relocation expertise on eminent domain projects can help in a number of ways by providing a single source and point of contact with expert knowledge in eminent domain issues including cost-to-cure, replacement costs, separation of relocation costs from cost-to-cure and replacement costs, preliminary design, and commercial construction.

Cost-to-Cure Services are Time and Cost Effective

Benefits of Cost-to-Cure estimates and designs for appraisers include:

  • Quick understanding of the assignment and project issues.
  • Efficient turn around of costs and reports.
  • The ability to speak on most of the issues with knowledge of when to hand additional detailed explanations to other experts.
  • Knowledgeable identification of additional experts that may be necessary for the project.
  • Coordination of those experts for the project for their scope of work and reports.
  • Distinguishing between cost-to-cure issues and relocation issues saves time and offers a comprehensive package to the client that includes cost-to-cure needs and relocation needs.
  • Perform analysis of plans and costs developed by the opposing side to determine their effectiveness and reasonableness.

I support appraisers in Eminent Domain cases with timely and affordable cost reports and designs that are, typically, self-supporting.

If challenged, I stand ready to further support and clarify the cost reports in mediation, deposition, or even trial when necessary.  My status as a recognized specialist in this niche comes from an extensive history of creative solutions, credibility and clarity. The documents that I prepare for appraisers are based on defensible fact and stated in detailed but understandable language and also include design drawings that are approachable for the layman.

When you have a difficult or questionable Eminent Domain matter to appraise, please feel free to give me for a free telephone consultation.  I look forward to hearing from you.

About Martyn, Eminent Domain, eminent domain taxes

Eminent Domain Fact Delivery has Impact on Judge’s Decision

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Eminent Domain Fact Delivery has Impact on Judge's DecisionI recently read this article, Caltrans’ Highway 101 Overpass Condemnation Case Ends in a Slip Decision by Brand Kuhn. This is an eminent domain lawsuit that I have been following for several years.

In cases of eminent domain, I can’t stress enough the importance of how the case is presented. The way that the facts are delivered makes a significant impact on the judge’s decision.

As an analogy, eminent domain trials are a lot like the reality competition shows that are so popular on television these days, like The Amazing Race and Dancing With the Stars. Two very talented competing teams go up against one another and apply their knowledge, skills, and resources to put on their best performance. After 20 days of performing – in this case the performance is the trial – the judge or jury scores the two teams based on the performances that they gave.

The scores are the result of how well the story was told while meeting specific criteria and facts in an eminent domain case. Protecting the client’s interests – requires the most compelling case possible; to produce the best results, the value of engaging expert eminent domain representatives to be part of your team to present cannot be underestimated.

Take a moment to read Brad’s article if you have any questions on this matter or other eminent domain and condemnation matters you want to discuss, please let me know.

About Martyn, Attorneys, Eminent Domain

One Change that could Accelerate your Eminent Domain Law Practice Today

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One Change that could Accelerate your Eminent Domain Law Practice TodayTo have long-term success, a business must continue to look for ways to grow. In the sphere of eminent domain law, there is a way that you can set your practice apart from the competition and increase the chances of securing the client’s business. Doing so will accelerate the success of your practice. The change will be able to offer services to your clients right away and move out of the usual holding pattern that usually occurs.

You can extend your reach with new services, and you can make strategic partnerships that can play a significant role in boosting the growth of your practice. Advancing your business can actually be straightforward and only requires one addition to your current practice: the integration of a Business Relocation Consultant as part of your team.

Effective collaboration built on a shared vision and strong purpose will create more worth together than what your entity could produce on its own. A Business Relocation Consultant can work alongside your efforts as part of your eminent domain team and will enable you to offer unique services that will set you apart from the competition. The partnership can bolster your firm’s equity and potential clients will take notice of the added value. Most practitioners do not provide these services, but the benefits to your clients are extensive. A Business Relocation Consultant’s services allow you to form a more complete package to your clients than any other attorney.

Preplanning services can begin right away, breaking the usual holding pattern that’s common in these cases, and the overall outcome of the relocation will usually be improved. Preplanning a business relocation refers to planning before the business has received their notice of eligibility for relocation benefits and before the public agency’s offer has been made on the real property. While following relocation guidelines based on the Uniform Act, preplanning the business relocation and taking appropriate action can result in improved relocation reimbursements received from the displacing public agency, and these amounts are frequently twice or more. The consultant will give a business the opportunity to guide the public agency’s decision-making process as they determine the eligible relocation benefits.

Preplanning differs from relocation planning or Move Planning, as it’s described in the Uniform Act relocation guidelines. Relocation Planning is performed after the business has been determined eligible for relocation benefits by the agency but before the business actually moves.

My 18 years of experience and expertise in preparing relocation costs for reimbursement from displacing public agencies (as high as $34 million) includes preparing appeals, planning relocation logistics, and orchestrating and coordinating the actual move itself toward maximum efficiency and minimum client downtime.

These services are quite unique. This work adds proven value to attorney services and their clients and in many cases, when the business becomes eligible for relocation benefits, my relocation services are eligible for reimbursement within the relocation guidelines.

Partnerships are a great way for any type of business to increase their competitive advantage. In the case of eminent domain law, a partnership can be leveraged to share resources, and increase profitability. By augmenting your professional services to include the expertise of my business relocation consultancy, you can set your practice apart from that of other eminent domain attorneys. If you wish to discuss this further or should you have any questions, or comments, please contact me.

 

Image courtesy of hywards via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

About Martyn, Attorneys, Businesses, Contact Martyn, Eminent Domain, relocation

City of St. Louis bid to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Eminent Domain Recommendations

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City of St. Louis bid to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Eminent Domain RecommendationsI have been following the eminent domain case for the City of St. Louis bid to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and have some comments in response to the Paul Berry III Congressional Exploratory Committee statement that was released November 2nd, 2015.

Mr. Berry makes an excellent point of gaining support by the effected property owners and tenants for the NGA project.

To gain that support, I recommend going a few steps further than he suggests. I recommend that the City implement the Federal Uniform Relocation and Acquisition Act (URA). The URA provides guidelines for relocating residents and businesses on federally funded projects and many other projects without federal funding, while using eminent domain to acquire the property.

The URA sets rules and guidelines for the government, as well as for the displaced person to follow, creating fairness and reasonableness for each side during the relocation process. The guidelines make it fairer for the displaced person than many other methods used. However, the URA does not necessarily make the displaced person whole after their relocation, particularly if the guidelines are not properly implemented.

For the City to come closer to this goal of fairness without sacrificing reasonableness and controls, the City could enhance certain parts of the guidelines, as many public agencies and states have successfully done through properly setting up its implementation.

Offering an enhanced version of the URA relocation guidelines for this project will go a long way toward gaining the support of the effected property owners and tenants needed while controlling the process. This would shed a good light of fairness on this project location to enhance the likeliness of the NGA choosing this site.

I am available to assist with recommendations for enhancements to the URA and the proper procedures for its implementation to support Mr. Berry’s recommendation.