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After weeks of close discussions with the county, he thought he could get this choice property for $50,000. That was the formal assessment of the land offered by auctioneer Wayne Bessman, who said he heard "someone" last week refer to the land as "junk property." Rick Becker of the equalization office appraised the land at $101,000, but then knocked off $39,000 for his estimate of the transaction costs (funny: the county doesn't do that for me when it assesses my land for taxes).
Enter County Commissioner Shirlee Leighton, the third individual assigned by the county to estimate the land's value. Her appraisal: $225,000. She looked at the going rates for half-acre lots around Lake Madison and in the Bayview Lane areas, which she found are selling for $20,000. Auctioneer Chuck Sutton split the difference and opened bidding at the average fo the three appraisals, $112,000. [Numbers and explanation from Chuck Clement, "County Sale of Poor Farm Land Stalls," Madison Daily Leader, 2008.04.16]
Evidently Thoms thinks buying the poor farm for $112,000 would really put him in the poor farm. But wait -- math moment: 9.93 acres divides into 20 half-acre lots. If each can draw $20,000 in the Lake Madison market, that's $400,000. Thoms had a crack at that land yesterday for little more than a quarter of its market value, and he balked.
Thoms's attorney newly elected Madison City Commissioner Dick Ericsson explained his client's hesitance by noting the land for sale is not lakefront property and has "significant easments" [Clement]. Surely that must lower the value of the land.
O.K., let's buy attorney Ericsson's argument and find some comparable land, like, oh, say, Madville Times world headquarters, also known as my house. We have a 0.99 acre lot. We're not lakefront property. We have a road easement on the north, a rural water easement on the south, and inconvenient driveway access since the GF&P doesn't like adding driveway connections to its lake access road (come visit, take the hairpin turn, you'll understand what we mean). I don't have this year's card handy, but last year, Rick and our other friends at Lake County Equalization appraised our lot (not the house, just the lot) at $21,700. And that's for land on Lake Herman, which folks on Lake Madison will tell you doesn't have the same cachet as Lake Madison land.
So even if Thoms bought the poor farm for $112,000, paid $35,000 for the closing fees and additional expenses, subdivided, and could only get Lake Herman prices for the land, he'd still come out $70,000 to the good. And I'm sure his ads for the land would advertise "Beautiful Lake Madison Land The Perfect Lake Getaway!" not "junk property."
Maybe Thoms and Ericsson could salvage the sweetheart deal they were hoping for by explaining that their intent was to buy this land at a low price so they could build the affordable housing that the LAIC says we need. Perhaps Thoms is really trying to serve the community and put up some nice little working-class $100K homes rather than the $600K-$900K McMansions generally favored in new lake development.
And if you believe that, I've got some cheap Lake Madison property I'd like to sell you...
...wait a minute -- I do! Er, well, we do. The Madville Times is happy to do its civic duty and advertise for Lake County:
For Sale: prime Lake Madison property, ready for development. Located on northwest side of Lake Madison, peaceful yet close to town. Beautiful cottonwood trees, lots of lots! Build your dream home now! Lake County is offering 10 acres of prime developable land for only $112,000. At these prices, this offer can't last long, so act now! Buy some Lake County land... and help us pave our roads!
More Good Old Boys stuff. Who ever heard of a negotiated sale on surplus property? That's like Ted Thoms saying, "I'll buy your lake property if you'll give me a low price and all my terms...Oh, I'd also like any other bidder to pay all my expenses as well because it was my idea." If you want bids, just open it up to the public and other developers with no strings attached. Free market sale.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the deal of having a county commissioner as one of the three people giving value to the property on the lake. It should be three independant people giving their opinion if that is what they want to do, not a county employee and especially somebody that is part of the negotiating process.
ReplyDeleteI agree, 4:04. To me, it reeks of "conflict of interest".
ReplyDeleteConflict of interest? Permit me to offer not an argument but a question: What's wrong with the county doing the same thing I would if I were selling land? If I sell my house, I get to set my selling price, essentially telling potential buyers what I think it's worth. If the buyer wants an independent assessment, he can hire his own assessor. And if the buyer doesn't like my asking price, we can negotiate, or he can take a hike. That's how the free market works.
ReplyDeleteThen why have the other two auctioneers give appraisals, which is what they do for a living?
ReplyDeleteFrankly, if I were the county, I'd sell the land, which isn't making the county any money revenue-wise right now, to Thoms dirt-cheap. I'm sure the County would more than recoup any losses if he put 3 or 4 extra McMansions out there!
If I were the county, I'd get every penny i could for it u front so I could afford road repairs this year. Come on, the free market doesn't need help here. It's lake property! Some rich guy is going to buy it, plunk down huge houses, and make a killing. Even at Shirlee's asking price, it's a steal! If I had $220K in mad money, I'd buy it... of course, I'd then plant the whole thing to trees and make a park... which is why I don't have $220K of mad money!
ReplyDelete