Every morning while shaving I can look out my bathroom window at the ten story concrete skeleton of the unfinished 25 story Stoneleigh Tower condominium building one bock away.  Or, a bit to the west, the barely occupied Azure condominium tower, just one block from the Stoneleigh.

What got into those developers’ minds ?

For one thing, free candy.  Not long ago it was possible for a developer of a condo tower to borrow against its future — and often inflated — value which would cover most if not all the costs of creating it plus development fees.

For another, the old adage, “Tell a developer there’s a market and ten of them will build it out.”

And there was Ross Perot, Jr’s Victory development, also viewable from my window, just north of downtown where condos once sold for $500 per square foot.  Yes, they did — below.  (The average home sells in Dallas for under $100 per square foot.)

Now prices have collapsed and with them values, including taxable values.  Last year one of my clients — who lives in Victory — obtained a reduction from $625 per square foot to  $502 per foot; he had purchased it in late 2006 for $539 per foot.

Another who had paid $529 per foot (in the Azure) in late 2007 obtained a reduction to $490 per foot.

But are those values — hovering around $500 per foot — still valid?

Needless to say, both properties will be back before the Appraisal Review Board in 2010.

Condo taxable values are ripe for readjustment.  Adding to the incentive, in 2010 foreclosures will be admissible as comparable sales data and general economic conditions will be admissible by law; for details visit xxxxxxxxx