If they dont count the lower space then they shouldnt be able to tax it then and that would be cool.
Andy, how is the space inside? How are the room sizes?
When you live in a house where people mistake your bedrooms for closets, anything looks bigger. The second floor bedrooms are of average size and I would say child friendly. The master is much larger and I feel it’s a fair size fora master.
this house is awesome.
I think it looks pretty neat. If it is where you want it and you like it I wouldn’t sweat too much over fair market value as long as you feel the price is atleast competetive with some comps. If you google the address you can find out in public record what similar homes in the area have sold for. Some sites will even trend the data so you can see if the neighborhood has appreciated in value in recent years. But that isn’t a holy grail since sometime a really expensive or really meh house will sell and mess with the data.
The sqft will probably help you out in taxes for now but after the sale goes through you will pobably get something from the county/city to verify sales price and they will try to raise the taxes. This just happened to me 
Since you know the person I would suggest doing the deal with no realtor. This saves 6% total cost IIRC. So take what they wanted and offer to split the difference(after you negotiate a price).
While they still function the roof and HWT are good ways to negotiate.
Lowball, lowball, lowball. Off market deals are prime time for lowballs. Its an easy transacion for the seller and they wont have to spend a lot of time hoping for a better deal.
I will have to get some tax info this week. Last week was just too busy. I think we’re both happy to work without a realtor and I see no need. Should have more info by mid / end of the week.
How far from your current place is this? You could probably use the extra room eh?
I love the layout, don’t let the outdated rooms sway your opinion, if anything use that, and the hot water tank thing as a bargaining tool on the price. You can always update a room at a time on the cheap since you will be doing it yourself.From reading what your writing it sounds like you already love the location and the protected land in the back is a HUGE plus. I would say go for it. I think $100k-135k would be a deal, but I could see it listing 140k-175k if it was on the market and they found the right person.
“they” in this case is two entirely different and unrelated entities… there is your municipal assessment office then there is the bank. the rules used to determine an assessment vary broadly depending on how the laws in a particular state, county or township are written. they typically conduct assessments en masse and are not overly concerned with the value of the property as a piece of collateral as the municipality will never take possession of the property and maintains no ownership rights to the property in question. the bank on the other hand is ONLY concerned with the property as a piece of collateral to secure a mortgage in which the bank does establish rights to take ownership of the property.
this makes the bank sensitive to the property’s marketability and conformity to the market in which it resides something that the assessment office doesn’t typically take into account in a very direct way.
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i’d also make sure you are really clear about that status of this whole aunt wishing for the land to go into conservancy. make sure how legally structured those details are already established. if it was just a line in a will that isn’t such a big deal, but if it was established as a deed restriction or some kind requirement within a trust or something it could present some issues if they didn’t put it all together properly to allow for the sale of some portion of the property separately.
if you want tax data, PM me the exact address and last name that’s on the deed and I’ll get you what you need…
since I work for a local town I have access to the real property data.
or just go to the county assessment page, look up the property, get the assessed value and multiply by the millage… this stuff is all public records
With 3 acres, the number that comes to my mind is 200k even being outdated. I wouldn’t get stuck on this one though, houses are like cars, there is always another deal. It is fairly attractive though
http://www2.erie.gov/ecrpts/index.php?q=real-property-parcel-search
put the address into there to get it (assuming erie county)
I would take that deal all day long in the mid 150’s, and since updates are cheaper for you than the average person even better.
Who puts bed posts in the kitchen?
Other than that, it’s definitely a cool / unique looking structure :tup:
^yeah those posts are pretty ugly IMO, but w/e. The kitchen seems to be on the small side. Other than that it has that vermont lodge type feel to it. I really like it.
Home was previously owned by a stripper, lol
Ouch.
I agree with you on this. I know this wouldn’t appeal to everyone, but it does to me, and I’m willing to overlook things like dark wood tones. Actually, because of the “style” of this house, I’m not sure much else would go with it.
Understood. I know a year or so ago there was a great deal of turmoil with assessments in the town getting all turned around and upside down, along with sweetheart deals for politicians and their families. There’s actually a website (non-official) created which is supposedly shedding light on some of this, and has been fairly helpful. I’m not entirely sure how the conservancy is spelled out but it would be for my lawyer to investigate. I don’t see how he could put it up for sale if he knew it was unsellable based on any sort of will or deed restrictions. I would think the aunt would have realized that the home would not be left in a state of limbo and fall into disrepair because it was unsellable. Of course all I’s need to be dotted and T’s crossed. No chance of not lawyering up on this.
Will do, but I think I already found the documents in question on a couple different sites, and they’re not exactly identical, but close enough for “government work”.
Yeah, not exactly my choice, but easy to replace. I need to get my hands on the blueprints to see if they can be removed. Might be possible. It has a twin somewhere in the northeast, according to the family. Someone saw it, liked it so much they got their hands on the plans and had it built here
Kitchen is not much smaller than what I have now, but I agreed heartily that I would remodel it and change the layout enough to make it more functional without taking away from the open floor plan feel.
What I did find out from the two sites regarding the taxes was this. The taxes paid over the last two years was somewhere around $ 3,300.00, and it was definitely for the whole parcel and the full acreage. The owner responded that he claims he met with the assessor and they worked up a number of around $ 4,500.00 for the separation of the house and three acres from the whole. Not sure how this makes sense mathematically, but governments rarely make sense. I see no reason for him to lie on the high side and it’s would only hurt him in a possible sale.
He responded to a lengthy email I had sent him and he seemed to me concerned with the possibility of a double sale of assets to make this deal possible. He also asked to consult an attorney about the risks involved with any remodeling or construction prior to a closing date (this falls in my wife’s territory), I would be happy to wait until we move in but she will hear none of it. Guess this plays on my history of past remodeling performance in my own home.
He also claims they had lowered the asking price when the previous interested parties were involved, and then couldn’t follow through. Without hearing it from his lips, I would say he’s not feeling in a negotiating mood and the reality is all this boils down what I think the property is worth, what I’m willing to pay, and how far he is wiling to be flexible. I hate this.
Based on the limited amount of time and resources for me to investigate it’s value, I would say $ 175,000 would be too much and $ 120,000 would be to little. He’s somewhere in the middle.
if the guy is serious about selling the home and creating this conservancy he really should get something done on that front before settling on a price for the home. he’s going to need a survey, he’s going to have to establish the conservancy easement, then he’ll have to decide if he is creating a conservancy or donating to an existing conservancy…i assume donating because few people are interested in owning land entirely under a conservation easement. there is a whole tangle of issues that that process could create. minimum lot size for a septic system (if rules exist i’m guessing 3 acres would be fine depending on where the bounds are compared to the septic field), minimum frontage for home site, minimum frontage for conservancy if any, existing easements for gas, electric, water if any exist…etc etc. the nice thing about selling property as-is, is that everything is just that and you don’t have to worry about anything that may not have been a conflict becoming one because of new or different rules. once you start subdividing and creating new parcels usually they all have to meet the current requirements.
you sound pretty seriously interested in buying…if he is pretty seriously interested in selling he should show a little good faith and get to work on figuring out what the property is really going to look like once it is split apart.
If I recall our conversation, I would have to say donate. He lives in NJ and I think he’s probably lived with and dealt with this for long enough. I’m not sure who’s paying the bills but they’ve had to maintain it and pay taxes on it for years as they’ve never rented it out. I agree with you on all the preparation he has do to for the conservancy, but without knowing his mind, I would say he’s already got some of that done as part of the previous sale / arrangement that fell through. He’s already mentioned the (3) acres and with a frontage of 330 feet, it would take around 395 feet to achieve that total. He responded to my question on this in that he would give up whatever depth is required to make sure the vent pipes that lead to the leach field are encompassed on the property. For some reason, and I think it was because they originally had well water, the leach field is quite a distance back in the woods.
Based on his response to my last communication, it’s obvious he’s not really planning to move much on the asking price. Based on my feeling, I think the price is fair, but I’d also like him to “show a little good faith” and be flexible as well.
if he has some or most of the ground work already laid that is good news. that stuff can take forever if the owner isn’t particularly motivated to make it happen. my brother in law waited around for months on a property that the owners were subdividing a few acres off for a family member. in the end he just gave up because it turned into such a mess. they had the added element of a shared drive-to-be that helped sour things, but even if it were doomed to fail, it took probably an extra 4 months to do so.