Yorktown Domain Case

[Mark K]

INDOT
"That any decrease or increase in the fair market value of real property prior to the date of valuation caused by the public improvement for which said property is acquired, or by the likelihood that the property would be acquired for such improvement, other than that due to physical deterioration within the reasonable control of the owner, was disregarded in determining the compensation for the property."

Any increase in the 'after' value due to the project are considered 'benefits' which can only be considered and used to offset damages to the residue.

 

[Gobears81]

I've been on the appraisal side many times, but my dad was recently on the property owner side. The appraisal wasn't unfair per se, but the appraiser kept telling us that we should buy the contractor a case of beer to fix the remaining issues caused by the project. Maybe that has worked for him in the past, but most legitimate contractors aren't going to perform thousands of dollars of work for a $20 case of beer. Anyways, the negotiator was actually skeptical of the appraisal and we aren't overly concerned that this will end up as an unfair deal.
I've had cases where the client acquiring has contacted me to go up on my value and I didn't see it based on the market value definition accepted in IL for this type of work. Maybe that cost me some work in the future, but the reason for mentioning that is that those acquiring agencies are not looking to rip anyone off and the final compensation for some of those cases was well above market.
I have admittedly had a couple cases where the client thought that my values suggested too high of a compensation, but none of them put up significant protest. Appraisers that feel that they need to come up with low values as a tool to help the acquiring agency are probably green in that type of work and/ or haven't had to defend their values publicly. They aren't the norm whatsoever.

 

[Mark K]

delete duplicate, got distracted

 

[djd09]

JEFFERSON COUNTY — A landowner who is refusing to sell a half-acre stretch of his property to the Jefferson Parkway Public Highway Authority says the group is planning to move forward regardless of his concerns and may use eminent domain to seize his land.

Mark Hotchkiss is a trustee The Kenneth W. and Joy R. Hotchkiss Family Trust and the son of the property’s original owners.

He sold part of his father’s property to the highway authority in 2015 after years of discussions but was approached again in December and asked to sell another half-acre to the group.

The group is settling on contractors and getting ready to break ground on a 10-mile toll road in 2020 that will run from Golden to Broomfield.

Hotchkiss believes the sale would make the rest of his father’s property worthless since the nearly two acres that would be left to his family would be situated between two highways and would not have access to an easement for trucks.

Instead of getting rid of only the half-acre, Hotchkiss has offered to sell the entire property at fair market value. However, Hotchkiss says he is being threatened with eminent domain if he refuses to sell only the half-acre to the group.

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/ne...-domain-be-used-to-seize-land-for-a-toll-road

If the Gov had their way, they would Domain all of the U.S.A. and then the entire Earth.

Isn't the Wild West like that now?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I've been on the appraisal side many times, but my dad was recently on the property owner side. The appraisal wasn't unfair per se, but the appraiser kept telling us that we should buy the contractor a case of beer to fix the remaining issues caused by the project. Maybe that has worked for him in the past, but most legitimate contractors aren't going to perform thousands of dollars of work for a $20 case of beer. Anyways, the negotiator was actually skeptical of the appraisal and we aren't overly concerned that this will end up as an unfair deal.
I've had cases where the client acquiring has contacted me to go up on my value and I didn't see it based on the market value definition accepted in IL for this type of work. Maybe that cost me some work in the future, but the reason for mentioning that is that those acquiring agencies are not looking to rip anyone off and the final compensation for some of those cases was well above market.
I have admittedly had a couple cases where the client thought that my values suggested too high of a compensation, but none of them put up significant protest. Appraisers that feel that they need to come up with low values as a tool to help the acquiring agency are probably green in that type of work and/ or haven't had to defend their values publicly. They aren't the norm whatsoever.

Government agencies maybe. But pipelines, utility lines budget X dollars for ROW. And hire ROW experts to negotiate the lowest possible price. When the OK board got stacked with ODOT appraisers, they initiated an investigation and sanctioned an appraiser they frequently were beaten by. He fought it and won. A colleague & friend of his said he was out $50,000 in legal fees circa 2000. Because OK is a non-mandatory state both, condemnation specialists gave up their licenses and continued to do condemnation work state wide.

If consistently beating the state then the state is under valuing the properties consistently.

 

[Zephyr999]

If consistently beating the state then the state is under valuing the properties consistently.

Point taken...which is how some state statutes evolve...WI for instance had disallowed income approach by statutory notice up until recently.

Also, few if any DOT staff performing services as appraiser in this state have an appraisal license...just saying.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Point taken...which is how some state statutes evolve...WI for instance had disallowed income approach by statutory notice up until recently.

Also, few if any DOT staff performing services as appraiser in this state have an appraisal license...just saying.

I've actually seen an AR Hwy Dept appraisal that used a single land sale in a town as the comps for several parcels.

 

[djd09]

Vacant lots, empty homes and dying orchards on bullet train route attract squatters, vandals and thieves

Charlene Hook cherished her home of 30 years north of Corcoran, where pomegranate and pistachio orchards stretched for miles. So choosing to burn it down last year was a difficult decision.

She and her husband had no plans to leave their 2½ acres until the day the state bullet train authority said its rails would go through their bedroom.

Not long after the couple moved out, thieves broke into the house and stripped almost everything of value — even taking the doors off her husband’s shop where he restored classic cars. Soon her former longtime neighbor’s homes were being burglarized and vandalized.

After all the frustration of losing her home and indignation of it attracting criminals to her old neighborhood, she convinced her brother-in-law, a battalion chief in the city fire department, to burn it down for firefighting practice — and to let her light the match.

“It was hard to burn down,” she said. “I thought it would bring me closure.”

What happened to Hook is a part of a painful spectacle up and down the Central Valley. The California High-Speed Rail Authority now owns more than 1,272 parcels stretching from Madera to south of Wasco, a 119-mile corridor of abandoned commercial buildings, vacant lots, dying orchards, boarded up homes and construction sites.

Some day it may be the path for a gleaming bullet train system, but today much of it is an eyesore and a magnet for criminal activity that is affecting the surrounding areas. It has put stress on already hard-luck communities that grapple with poverty, homelessness and crime.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-land-problems-20180204-htmlstory.html

 

[Elliott]

Not that I think public taking for a private enterprise is a always good, but I watched the first episode of The Grand Tour where the guys drive muscle cars through deserted Detroit neighborhoods. Those blighted areas aren't going to gentrify without a lot of private help and a plan, willing to risk private capital. You won't believe the house that $2800 will buy.

 

[djd09]

"St. Edward Catholic Church is asking that the courts dismiss an eminent domain compliant filed by the Salem-Keizer School District in regard to six acres of vacant land the district wants to expand McNary High School.

In response to the district request for immediate condemnation and possession, the church contends, in documents submitted to Marion County Circuit Court, that the school district did not comply with proper eminent domain procedure and has “failed to justify its need for immediate possession of St. Edward’s property.”

http://www.keizertimes.com/2019/01/26/church-seeks-eminent-domain-dismissal/

Picking on the Churches.

$1,750,000 / 6 = $291,666.67 per acre. Oregon land is expensive.