Trump's new Palm Beach County property-tax bills shine a spotlight on Mar-a-Lago's value

Welcome to The Dirt . I'm Darrell Hofheinz, real estate writer at the Palm Beach Daily News , stepping into Kim Miller's shoes this week to dish The Dirt about Palm Beach County real estate. Kim is taking a break, so regular readers will not find quite as much snark in this week's newsletter. No one does snark quite like Kim, and I'm not even going to try. So there.

Now that Republican-candidate-turned-President-elect Donald Trump has won the election, the tiny-but-wealthy town of Palm Beach is again on the radar of international news hounds. Trump's official residence is, after all, his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, where he's already getting a jump on plans for his transition to the White House in January.

Mar-a-Lago, by the way, has helped put Trump on the hook for about $2 million in county property taxes, according to a Palm Beach Daily News analysis of nine of the president-elect's properties in the new 2024 tax rolls . The exact value of Trump's private club and its 17.5 ocean-to-lake acres has lately been, well, contentious , thanks to a certain civil trial in New York City . In any case, you can read about the latest official value assigned to Mar-a-Lago by the local property appraiser and find out about Trump's other tax bills, to boot.

In other Palm Beach news, we'll take a look at the now-closed sale of Jimmy Buffett's Palm Beach cottage and delve into a much-bigger transaction across town on the inlet. Then we're off to Palm Beach Gardens for some news about the PGA National Resort & Spa.

Jimmy Buffett's Palm Beach cottage fetches $6.11 million Trump wasn't the only big name that recently shined a spotlight on Palm Beach real estate.

Although the island town is rarely if ever referred to as Margaritaville — except maybe during cocktail hour — the late Jimmy Buffett over the years bought and sold millions of dollars' worth of real estate in Palm Beach . And one of his properties just changed hands for $6.11 million. (The Dirt reported in October that it was under contract .) The house in question is a historic, unassuming cottage that looks, well, pretty much like what you'd expect a home owned by the laid-back singer to look like.

Oh, and the buyer has ties to Canada. Nothing like a warm-weather getaway in the winter, eh ?

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Billionaire takes the plunge with a $38M buy on the inlet in Palm Beach Dr. Herbert "Herbie" A. Wertheim, a billionaire entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist, just paid a recorded $38 million for a renovated house facing the inlet at the northern tip of the island. Wertheim is an optometrist, by training — and he has an eye for real estate, as the view from his new property is spectacular. (Did you see what I did there?)

Is PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens to change hands? PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens is said to be under contract , with a British private-equity firm Henderson Park possibly waiting in the wings to buy the golf-oriented residential community and hotel for as much as $425 million. If the sale goes through, the resort will reportedly be managed by luxury boutique hotel brand Salamander Hotels, led by Sheila Johnson, co-founder of BET .

Johnson once owned Market Salamander, a gourmet store and eatery in Palm Beach that closed about 15 years ago — proving once again that nearly all real estate roads lead to the island, one way or another.

As Kim would say: Live lightly.

Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly "Beyond the Hedges" column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email , call 561-820-3831 or tweet Help support our journalism. Subscribe today .