Well, after looking a little bit at the property, I decided the cost of an appraiser plus the property was a little extreme--the appraiser alone wanted $800-$1000. I called the appraiser and told him "thanks but no thanks". I then called the land agent and explained the situation to him and told him I was going to pass.
He then offered me the property for $1000 with no appraisal necessary. I then said "But you all only paid $500 for it back in 1970" to which he replied "Ok, that's fair...I'll offer it to you for $500". At that point a real "Holy Crap!" moment ensued on my part... After nailing him down on some details (like the road easement and the power situation), I am on track to get 1 acre of property at 3000 ft elevation (about 1000 ft HAAT) for $500 with written road easement and concrete block building with 3 20 ft commercial masts. He still has to get the proposal approved by his superiors, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed they won't shoot it down. It's been a very busy week! Steve, KE4MOB PS. Paul: you were talking about assessed value to sale price ratio of 8:1. Mine's looking at close to 15:1 !!! --- In [email protected], "Steve Matda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thanks to all who have responded. I was able to obtain a plat > showing the property from the utility company. The plat does specify > a square parcel 208.7 feet on a side--1 acre completely enclosed > within someone else's property. The plat shows the property includes > a building with a security fence and a 30 ft wide access road > easement, along with a right of way for electric service. There is > no tower currently on site. An abandonded state fire tower sits 30 > ft outside the parcel. Tax records show an assessed value of $7500 > and a current tax rate of 60 cents/$100. > > I get the impression that this may have been an imminent domain case, > as the plat is marked "Court Order-Acquired From" and then the > surrounding landowners name. I do know that the tax records show the > surrounding landowners are a family who have created a corporation > and then turned the land over to the corporation. The land is zoned > conservation and recreation. > > At any rate...I have contacted a property assesor. We'll see where > that leads. > > Steve, KE4MOB > > > --- In [email protected], [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Hi Steve, > > > > My partner (Erik NY9D) and I purchased one of the former AT&T > microwave tower sites in Minnesota two years ago. Our situation was > similar, we needed a site for a packet radio link and ran across a 1 > acre site with a 125 foot microwave tower on it and a 1600 sq ft > building. > > > > We negoiated the site price with American Tower (who had purchased > this site from AT&T) and finally agreed on a price. We did get a > chance to see the site and the interior of the building and reviewed > the real estate data with the county assessor before we purchased the > site.(Important- know what you are buying before you buy it). > > > > We did purchase the site, but then found out all of the problems > that.we did not identfy up front: 1) the access road to the site > never had a written road easement, and the person who owned it wanted > $ 25,000 for us to use the road, 2) the road to the site was listed > as a township road but when we drove up the access road and parked > next to the building the neighbor called the sheriff and we got told > to keep off of the "private drive", 3) the deputy sheriff told us to > talk to another neighbor who was a good neighbor and gave us > permission to cross his property to get to our landlocked 1 acre > parcel. BE SURE THAT YOU HAVE AN ACCESS EASEMENT IN WRITING BEFORE > YOU BUY THE PARCEL. By the way, our 1 acre parcel of land turned out > to only be 0.8 acres after we hired a surveyor to find the property > corners and found that our property overlaped the neighbors by 30 > feet on one side. > > > > Be sure that you get a deeded piece of property and talk to the > accessor first, before you buy it about real estate taxes. We were > able to have the accessor drop the property value to near what we > paid for it not what the the "commercial" value was ( a factor of 8 > times less than what the commercial value was). If you are looking at > a leased parcel, be sure that the lease can be transferred to you. > > > > Plan on having enough money available to keep the site operating > for about 2 years before you will find any possible tennats to share > the site and help pay the expenses. You will need money to pay for > electicity, insurance, fixing the road, > > getting the site going, etc. We spent about $ 12,000 doing this. > > > > Don't plan on getting a lot of high paying customers to lease space > on your site. We now (after 2 years) have 4 tennents that are paying > $ 25.00 per installed antenna plus their share of the electric power > and are just about at break even (expenses versus income). We have > all non-conventional tenants such as local computer shops providing > WiFi services, a low power religious TV station and someone leasing > space in our building for storage No cell telephone providers that > are willing to pay $ 1000 per month for use of the site have ever > approached us. > > > > If you have a tower on the site, be sure that it is short enough > that it does not need painting and lighting. Check in the FAA > records and be sure of this before you buy the site. The $ 75.00 per > month cost of keeping a 600 watt tower top tower light going will > drive you broke. The liability of having the light not working and > not getting reported is $ 10,000 per day. > > > > We now manage a tower site with our amaterur radio equipment (2 > meter and UHF voice repeaters, packet radio and APRS equipment) at it > at a break-even cash flow (after 2 years). We purchased a new road > easement and built an acces road in partnership with our other "good > neighbor" so get to the site and every thing is now looking better > (the good.neighbor farmer also got thrown off of the old access road > by the sheriff). > > > > Hope this information will not discourage you, but will identify > the challenge that you take on when you decide to " get your own > tower site". Let me know it I can explain anything more would help you > > > > Paul Emeott K0LAV > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -------------- Original message -------------- > > > > > Here's my situation. > > > > > > I have been looking for a new repeater site for quite awhile. One > of > > > my potential sites was owned and previously used by a BIG utility > > > company for a microwave site about 10 years ago. It has since > been > > > abandoned and left to deteriorate. It's at about 3000 ft > elevation, > > > with an access road about 1/2 mile long that has for the most > part > > > eroded away to a four wheeler trail. There's still a transformer > on > > > the pole, but no drop, and a 20x10 concrete block building with > two 4" > > > masts sticking up about 15 ft from the roofline. > > > > > > Just for kicks and giggles, about a month ago I shot off an email > to > > > the corporate website to see if I could get access. Their land > agent > > > called me this morning. > > > > > > They want to sell it to me. At appraisal. 1 acre of mountaintop. > > > > > > Am I nuts for thinking this may be the opportunity of a lifetime-- > if > > > not from a ham radio perspective, then as a business venture > (site > > > leasing, etc.)? > > > > > > Just curious if anyone had experience with this. > > > > > > Steve, KE4MOB > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
