How to appraise undevelopable residential land?

[Webbed Feet]

Thanks for your reply. They want $10,000 while we're offering them $5,000. Again, this is only for their 45% share of this piece of land.

According to the city assessor, the land should not be worth more than $2,000 - so we really should be offering them no more than $1,000.

So we're really making a generous offer, because we do want this.

They are telling us they'd be happy to take whatever is its actual value, based on some real data.

Is it possible that it's so hard to determine this value based on the data?

<..... snip......>
For what it's worth, the neighbours don't use this land right now, nor have any wish to use it. In fact they have stressed several times that they are not even interested in maintaining any of the landscaping as they plan to sell their home and move in the next two years.

You have absolutely no idea how hard it is for me NOT to ask you a question the forum moderators would consider insulting for me to ask you!

Instead I'll say this. Take your monthly food budget, figure out what part if it is vegetables, convert that to an annual amount and divide that into $5,000 and see how many YEARS of vegetables it is. Then adjust that by all the vegetables you will never personally grow in that garden anyway, but purchase typically, and add even MORE years to that number you came up with. After that, go find a nearby neighbor that might be willing to rent you the use of a small area of land for the purpose of growing a vegetable garden each summer. Divide the $50 to $300 a year into that $5,000 again for a number of years to break even on it.

Then go present all of the above to your other half of your HOA. Then, if I am remotely correct what your Declaration of Condominium documents say (or maybe do NOT say that might be even more important) regarding the ownership in common of the common areas and the use of same ................................. I would deeply ask myself just what in the ding dong stops me from paying the other HOA member zero dollars and going ahead and planting a garden on common area they have already refused to help maintain? Especially, if they stated that in writing?

Silly me, but I would check the way the rights of the ownership of the common area was written. Because I would suspect that I would find a 100% UNDIVIDED ownership interest in the common area(s).... If so, POOF! ... I get to enjoy 100% use of that land and my use of that land is already paid for the moment I became an association unit owner. Unless the HOA document(s) prohibit a garden being grown by one of the owners.... I'd just get a tiller and plant my damn garden!!!! Then later give the other unit owner, for free, some of my home grown produce.....

So the only real question here may perhaps be ..... Why did you offer to purchase what you already own? i.e. .. the right to use the land?

 

[jay trotta]

Mike, I think your relative in Hoppyland......may consume more than the average fambly, I herd he luvs them maters N srooms.....ROFL

 

[Ken B]

Because I would suspect that I would find a 100% UNDIVIDED ownership interest in the common area(s).... If so, POOF! ... I get to enjoy 100% use of that land and my use of that land is already paid for the moment I became an association unit owner. Unless the HOA document(s) prohibit a garden being grown by one of the owners.... I'd just get a tiller and plant my damn garden!!!! Then later give the other unit owner, for free, some of my home grown produce.....

Using this argument, if I was the other owner, I'd just pluck myself a couple of carrots out of the ground any time I felt like a little snack. Maybe grab some lettuce and radishes and make a nice dinner salad.

That would be a primary reason for obtain an exclusive-use easement for the area in question. One might also determine if creation of a limited common element might be appropriate. It sounds like LCEs already exist if some party is trying to "purchase" full ownership of part of a common area. I'm not a lawyer and I didn't sleep in a Holiday Inn last night, but I think the legalities of purchasing part of a condo's common area outright may be challenging.

 

[Red1234]

 

[David Metzger]

Is this a condo complex that is only 2 units big? It would be unusual for the neighbor to have the right to sell you the land!