2.5 Million Dollar Mansion

I promised to post the Miami-Dade County Assessor's valuation and what Harold Ford, Sr., paid for his mansion on Fisher Island, Miami, Florida; so here it is. Again, click the graphic to enlarge enough to read the detail on the report; but I'll point a few things out for you. Remember the full-size box appears in the lower right corner when you hover over the graphic.


In the data column on the left, note that Harold paid $1,450,000 for the property in March of 1999 and that the Assessor just now, seven years later, brought his tax assessment up to and above the 1999 purchase price, to $1,524,840. Also note that the adjusted square footage of the property is 2,530 sq. ft. and that the tax assessor's mailing address for the Miami property is to Harold Ford, 7966 Fisher Island Drive #1, Miami, Florida, the same as the property address itself.

Now some doubt arose in my mind that there had been so little appreciation in true market value over the seven years since Harold bought the property in 1999: only $74,000, or 5.1%, less than 1% per year. So I looked up some asking prices for Fisher Island homes currently on the market, at this link. It seems residences on Fisher Island the size of Harold's are listing for over $1,000 to over $1,100 per square foot. List prices are not sale prices; but it seems safe to say that, at 2,530 sq. ft., Harold's tropical paradise is worth at least $2,500,000.

I also looked up some interesting facts about Fisher Island here:

Fisher Island is a 216-acre private island residential community of unrivaled luxury and splendor.

and here:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Fisher Island had the highest per capita income of any place in the United States in 2000.
. . . .
Although no longer a one-family island, in 2005, Fisher Island still remains somewhat inaccessible to the public and uninvited guests and exclusive by modern standards as it was in the days of the Vanderbilts, providing similar refuge and retreat for its residents. The island contains mansions, a hotel, and a country club. Boris Becker and Mel Brooks are among the celebrities with homes on the island.
. . . .
The racial makeup of the CDP [census-designated place] was 92.08% White....

Check back tomorrow for more information about Harold's lifestyle. I promise you, I've got more really interesting stuff.

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