Reinaldo Valdes is one of the most well-known and respected realtors in Miami with his 52 plus years of experience
It is with great pleasure that we at Calle Ocho News bring you some insight into the Miami real estate market of 2022. To do this we sat down with a local realtor serving Miami-Dade County in many ways for the past 52 years Reinaldo “Rey” Valdes whom is also the founder of Global Compass Real Estate Investments Corp..
Reinaldo Valdes on the current state of Real Estate in Miami
According to Reinaldo Valdes the Miami real-estate market of today has been 20 years or so in the making and has become a world renowned metropolitan destination.
These days Valdes spends his time serving investors from all parts of the world that are interested mostly in Allapatah and Wynwood. He feels those parts of Miami are thriving because of the zesty business environment and the plethora of investment opportunities you can find there.
Reinaldo Valdes focuses mostly on commercial properties, located in tourist and business-friendly locations that are among the growing hub of development projects and construction taking place around them is his sole purpose. His investors are usually interested in investments such as industrial, commercial, or even office buildings that are unique, but he still dabbles in residential real estate for his clients by default.
He tells us that investors from across the country, and international markets, including New York, Argentina, Mexico, California, and many more places are interested in Miami’s real estate for various reasons. Because there is such a lack of supply there is an increase buyer demand for everything including affordable housing, the weather is beautiful here, and last but certainly not least the absence of state tax.
It is because if all of these incentives he feels that talk of waving “Impact Fees” is absurd and part of the problem. What is an Impact Fee? An impact fee by definition is a fee that is imposed by a local government on a new or proposed project being developed to pay for all or a part of the costs of providing public services to the new development being built.
How local government has failed the workforce
Despite the fact that Reinaldo Valdes serves investors and developers he does not side with concepts that favor them such as the waving of “Impact Fees”. In his opinion, the County has failed to serve the people that make up the workforce that lives in our communities over the past 15 years.
There is talk about accommodating developers that come here to sell out a project during pre-construction whose units start at 500K calling it affordable only to turn around and take their profits elsewhere. This is completely part of the problem in his opinion. This leaves the PEOPLE aka as the “workforce” and community members to absorb these fees which manifest themselves in higher taxes adding to the unaffordability of properties.
“I am a firm believer that every builder and developer that comes to Miami should pay impact fees”.— Reinaldo“Rey” Valdes
This hyper-commercialization is part of the reason why affordable housing is becoming less and less accessible to Miami locals, many of whom are from low-income families and backgrounds. Bringing into question the definition of “Affordability”.
By definition “Affordable Housing” means that the cost of housing, rent or a mortgage, plus utility payments, do not total more than 30% of a household's gross monthly income. In Miami according to the Census the median house income is $44,268 which is $3,689.00 a month in income and 30 % of that is $1,106.70 dollars a month on housing. You don’t need to be good at Math to know a mortgage would need to be like 200K to be considered affordable in Miami.
Miami’s affordable housing crisis
Unlike developers and builders, he begs to differ on how the housing crisis in Miami can be overcome: taxation and effective measures by Miami-Dade County itself. Valdes is certain that until the commissioners and local government regulate the situation, there’s very little hope.
He goes as far as to say that charging builders and developers fees and taxes are necessary because it’s what brings in revenue and makes housing affordable for regular people. If they are exempt from these fees that cover water, sewage, and other facilities, it’s the buyers who will have to foot the bill through higher property taxes.
Who is Reinaldo Valdes?
Besides being a realtor for the past 52 years Reinaldo Valdes has also served as an aid in one form or another to the local government and community of Miami Dade County. For 20 plus years of his life he has held several titles and held various positions in committees, of these positions the one that stands out the most is as Vice-Chair of Community Relations during the tenure of several Chairmen of the Board of County Commissioners such as Joe Martinez, Bruno Barreiro, Rebecca Sosa, and lastly Monestine.
Valdes has also served as Chairman of the Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board, Chair of Housing and Economic issues to name a few but feel free to learn more about him on his website.
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