Steve.. he seems oh so eager. Be really sure of why he is so eager to sell with no apprasial. Have you attempted to contact other apprasiers for a lower quote ? One VERY important thing to look into is an Enviromental Study. With many of the ATS Microwave Tower Site sales (they had bought them from ATT Long Distance years ago)one of the problems was fuel tanks and batteries on site. Is there a burried tank somewhere on the property, hidden ?? leaking ?? Did a former tennant dump all of their lead acid wet cells there years ago, possibly burried by a previous owner and then bought by this poor guy who can't afford the clean up ?
Make sure they don't have a haz-mat situation that is going to cost him tens of thousands to clean up and he is trying to rid himself of the cost! If you buy it lock stock and barrel that means you are buying a clean up also! I am in the cellular industry and you will not believe what we do for each and every site that we build on, not even buy just lease all the checks and tests are costly but "once bitten twice shy". Rich -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Steve Matda Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 5:02 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Re: Update--Chance of a Lifetime (kinda OT)??? 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 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/
