I wrote an article about river ranch to explain to people purchaseing it on that it is not developable. I have gotten tons of e-mails from people who have aquired lands in paper subdivisions here in Polk County. Paper Subdivisions are subdivisons that exsist only on paper and most time has no acess and is primarily worhtless. The best way I explain to find this out is to look at the DOR use code and if it is 9910, it is classified as inacessable swampland, and conservation land and is likely never to be developed. The most frightening thing I have found as I done research is what I recently discovered in the Imerial Acres (Estates), Groveland Estates, and Aspen Meadows.

If you have bought, own or look at buying property in Imperial Acres, groveland estates or Aspen Meadows beware. This land is being protected by a man who is using this land to lease to cattle ranchers and using to rent to people to hunt on. If you go to this property he will meet you, armed with weapons, and tell you that you are trespassing and to never come on your land again.

He is also trying to take title to land under a law called adverse possesion. This law says he uses it and claims it and after 7 years he can take title to your land. There is more to the law and if you google it you can gt the full law. If you own, bought ot are thinking about buying land in this area, you should contact Det. Wright at the Polk County Agricultural division of the Sheriff’s department to try and preserve your property rights to your land.

If you own land there and want to know more information, you can contact me and I will try help you locate you land or whatever you need.

How to Value a Mobile Home Park:
By Dave Reynolds, MobileHomeParkStore.com, LLC

Like most real estate the Seller usually wants too much and the purchaser wants to pay too little for a mobile home park. Certain buyers may have different motivations for buying a certain park (1031 money, ability to obtain better financing, conversions to other uses, and location to where they live). In this book we will only look only at the value of a mobile home park for the typical buyer who will continue to operate it as a mobile home park.

Anyone that has seen an appraisal on a house or most types of real estate will have heard mention of the 3 approaches to determining the value of that real estate. They are the Cost, Sales, and Income Approach.

Unless you are coming up with the value of a brand new mobile home park or one that is predominately vacant, I do not see any reason to use the cost approach. It is not likely that a new mobile home park will be built nearby and what it would cost to build a new park does not even take into account the amount of time, effort, and money it takes to fill that park up with occupied and paying residents.

As far as the Sales or Market Comparison approach to value, this is also highly suspect. This is based on comparing the sale of the subject property with other recent sales and adjusting for differences that you may or may not know about. Problems with this approach include varying expenses, rents, and management. Whether you are an investor or appraiser I would just use this approach as potential information and not draw any conclusions from it. Here is a quick example of the improper use of this approach from my experience:

Examples

Property A: 50 lots, 100% occupied, Lot Rent of $179.00. Lots will hold a maximum home size of a 14鈥?x 60鈥?鈥?Water and Sewer is submetered back to residents - NOI of about $75,000.

Property B (10 miles from Property A): 53 lots, 10 vacancies, Lot Rent of $150.00. Lots will hold 16鈥?x 80鈥檚 and doublewides. Park pays water and sewer - NOI of $45,000.

Property B is sold in December of 2004 for $425,000.

The owner of Property A(one of my LLC鈥檚) goes to the bank to refinance the property in January of 2005. The appraiser appraises it at $400,000 and places the most emphasis on the Sales Comparison Approach as Property B just sold and it was a superior property in terms of size, appearance, and location. In fact in the appraisal report, he claims that we were charging too much and that our numbers were inflated.

After arguing with the bank and appraiser for a couple of weeks, we were refunded our money for the appraisal. In the meantime, we were approached by another investor who made us an offer of $645,000 for the park and we accepted and the sale closed by the end of March 2005. I really wanted to send the appraiser a copy of the closing statement with a nice letter but decided against it.

The point is that even though one park may look nice, be in a better location, and have so much more going for it on the surface, does not mean it is worth more per space or even worth as much per space as an inferior looking park.

As a side note, once I found out that property B was sold for $425,000 I was in contact with the new owner and tried to buy the park from him - I offered him $50,000 more than he had just paid and he didn鈥檛 want any part of it. He knew he had just made a tremendous buy and was already raising the rents and starting to get his lots filled up.

The third approach to value is the Income approach and I find that this is really the best and only way to evaluate a mobile home park correctly. I have come up with a basic formula in which I value the park based on what it is currently doing, what it should be doing, and what it will do once I implement some basic changes and run it more efficiently.

Here is my standard process in estimating the value:

I want to know how many lots there are, how many are occupied and paying, what the lot rent is, what expenses the owner is paying, and who is responsible for the water lines, sewer lines, and roads. (Example Provided Below)

A good rule of thumb that I use to start with is that I take the number of occupied spaces and multiply this by the average monthly space rent and multiply this by 70.

For example if the park has 110 spaces with 10 vacancies, a monthly average space rent of $200.

Then my initial value calculation is 100 x $200 x 70 = $1,400,000.

If the park is on the market for $3 million I will probably pass. If the park is on the market for $1,800,000 or less than I will probably look into it further. Remember this simple calculation is very generic and may or may not be the true indication of the value of a mobile home park.

In looking at the park in more detail, I will ask for actual operating income as well as actual operating expenses.

The operating expense ratio can vary significantly from one park to another in the same city even if located adjacent to one another. One of the largest expenses in a park is the water and sewer expense. If the residents of the park are paying this expense then you can expect the operating expense ratio to be as much as 15% less than the average.

I owned a park in Northeastern Texas a few years ago that had the lowest expense ratio that I have ever dealt with(I regret ever selling it). Although this park had large lots 60鈥?x 120鈥?and up, it was filled with old homes (trailers). We even had some old RV鈥檚 and campers renting lots. Usually when you encounter a park such as this with old run down homes and trailers they are usually stacked on top of each other with about 20 per acre. This was not the case. Each home was on a large lot and every time I drove through the park it seemed that the homes had aged several more years. Anyway, the park had 94 spaces and each space was separately metered for all utilities by the city and utility companies. The streets were owned by the city, the city was responsible for the water and sewer lines up to each home. The city paid for the street lights. We had basically 5 expenses:

Taxes: $1100 per year (the assessed value of this park was under $60,000!!!)
Insurance: $2,000 per year
Management: $700 per month plus free lot rent 鈥?about $10,000 per year
Telephone: $0 鈥?the manager used his phone number
Repairs: $2000 per year on average (the only repair we had was each time a home moved out and a new home moved in we had to update the electric pedestal 鈥?about 3 per year)
Office & Travel: $600 per year

In the 3 years I owned the park, the expenses never totaled more than $16,000.

The gross collected income over these 3 years averaged just over $135,000. So this park had an expense ratio of under 12%.

This is truly an exception to the rule and the manager I had at this park was awesome and we had collections in excess of 97%. It is rare that you are able to find a park with such a low expense ratio but it is possible. The usual case is that you find a park that is listed for sale and the projections or proformas have expenses that are ridiculously low and may not have expenses listed for repairs, capital improvements, management, insurance and so on.

The value a mobile home park may be $2 million for one person and $1.5 million to someone else. The key is really deciding what you are willing to pay based on your expectations of what type of return you want on your investment. This return on investment will come in several different forms:

鈥?nbsp;Monthly/Yearly Cash Flow
鈥?nbsp;Tax Savings
鈥?nbsp;Equity Buildup
鈥?nbsp;Appreciation
鈥?nbsp;Rent Increases and Expense Reductions

In analyzing the financial statements and tax returns, they are often different. The financial statements usually have more income and less expenses and the tax returns usually have less income and more expenses.(however, I have seen in some cases that the tax returns are also overstated in order to show a better net income when it comes time to sell or refinance a park. If by paying taxes on an additional 20k in taxes for a couple of years increases the value of the park by 200k then a real sophisticated and dishonest seller may be trying to pull a fast one. So be careful.

The key then is to reconcile the tax return with the profit and loss statement and then interject reality into the whole process.

Figuring out the actual income is usually not too difficult. You can take the actual number of spaces in the park and multiply this by the actual rents being charged and subtract out a reasonable allowance for collections and you should be able to come up with a good estimate of the income. I usually use 3% as the collections expense.

The next thing to do is to come up with the anticipated expenses based not only on how the park is currently operating but also based on how the park will operate with you as the new owner. For example, if the current owner is managing the park, then you need to plug in an amount for management and payroll taxes and workers comp. If the park has vacancies and there is no advertising expense, then you need to plug in an amount for advertising. And so on.

Common expenses for Mobile Home Parks. Not every park has all of these expenses and some have additional expenses but this is a good starting point.

Advertising
Bank Service Charges
Depreciation
Insurance: Liability
Insurance: Property
Insurance: Workers Comp
Interest: Mortgage
Legal and Accounting
Licenses and Permits
Maintenance Labor
Management Offsite
Management Onsite
Mowing & Landscaping
Postage
Rent Discounts & Incentives
Repairs: Equipment
Repairs: Property
Reserve for Capital Improvements
Supplies: Maintenance
Supplies: Office
Taxes: Payroll
Taxes: Property
Telephone
Travel
Utilities: Electric
Utilities: Gas
Utilities: Trash
Utilities: Water & Sewer

In most cases when you review a sales package for a mobile home park for sale it will not mention any reserve for capital expenditures. This really should be addressed in your evaluation of the park and in the due diligence phase. Items like replacing all the water lines or sewer lines for older parks, resurfacing the roads, topping all the trees, are large expenses that can occur in the future and they should be budgeted for. While they are not expensed for income tax purposes they are capitalized and depreciated over 15 years or so, and are therefore real costs. I would include at least 2-3% of gross income as a Reserve for Capital Improvements in your numbers when determining the value.

You will find some sellers that expense everything and then find the opposite where owners capitalize as much as possible to make the bottom line look better. Spend some time going through all the expenses and estimating future capital improvements.

After coming up with the income that the park is currently generating and deducting from that all the anticipated operating expenses including the reserve for capital expenditures you will have what is called the Net Operating Income.

If you take the Net Operating Income and divide this by the price you come up with the Capitalization Rate (Cap Rate). Also, if you divide the Net Operating Income by the Cap Rate you come up with the price and so on.

Now this is where subjectivity comes into play. I remember not too many years ago you could buy 50 -100 unit mobile home parks valued in the 12 鈥?14% cap rate range. It is hard to find these deals anymore. Add into that the fact that the interest rates were so low for the last few years and the 12-14 caps are now 7-10 caps. The demand for good quality mobile home parks is and has been much greater than the supply. There are even stabilized parks that I have seen purchased for 5 & 6 percent caps. These were not just for redevelopment purposes either.

What is a good cap rate? The answer is really up to the buyer. Some buyers tell me they want at least a 7 cap, some say 10 cap, some say 15 cap(I say good luck to these people).

So in reality, a certain mobile home park will have a different value to each and every person. The idea is to decide what you want or will require in terms of your investment and then work to make the deal fit these requirements.

If you want a 10 cap on a property priced at a 7 cap, it does not necessarily mean you should pass on the deal. For instance, what if the park has rents that are $50 under market and through your inspections and due diligence you know you could raise the rent to market rates in 2 months. What if this would make it a 10 Cap? Another possibility would be to put it under contract and then in your due diligence you tell the seller that you want to move forward with the purchase but in order to do so and to satisfy your lenders requirements, obtain an adequate appraisal, and/or make the required return on your investment, you need to have him send a rent increase notice out right away so the rates are where you want them at closing.

In another example, suppose the park has an NOI of $80,000 and is priced at 1 million. Also, suppose that the park is currently paying for water and sewer and this expense is running approximately $30,000 per year. You know that you could install water meters and pass this expense on to the residents. You want a 10 cap on your purchase. You could very well purchase this park and realize the return you want very quickly in situations such as this. If the rents are under market or there are expenses that can be reduced or other ways to increase the net income with minimal work and cash outlay you might pay extra for a park if it otherwise meets your investment criteria.

As my general rule when dealing with parks that are borderline but have the potential to increase in value and offer an acceptable return on investment by raising rents or reducing expense: I generally will add up to 50% of the value from these quick fixes to my offer on a park. So if I can increase the rates to market and reduce expenses and this increases the value of the park by $100,000, then I would consider adding $50,000 to my offer price if necessary. After all, we should earn something from our expertise and doing what the owner could have done already.

Other considerations on the value of the park will be the entrances, streets, landscaping, utilities, parking, lights, storage sheds, number of singles versus doubles, swimming pools, clubhouses, etc. The nicer the park typically the lower the cap rate and the easier it will to tap into better financing programs.

Other Value Considerations:

Vacant Lots:

When purchasing a mobile home park that has vacant lots which are ready to be occupied, what value, if any should you place on these lots? We just came up with the value we are willing to pay based on the NOI and the cap rate we are looking for. So, unless these homesites will fill up with minimal effort and investment, I would not place much of a value on them at all. In fact, having empty homesites that are hard to rent out will end up costing you money in terms of monthly maintenance and time. I would definitely point this out to the seller as a negotiating point. Many sellers like to say there is upside on all the vacant spaces. However, if this upside was easy to obtain, then the seller would have most likely realized it before selling.

In some cases, you will be able to fill up the homesites with minimal investment and effort so you may place a value of 25-50% depending on your comfort level. I would definitely lean toward the 25%.

Park Owned Homes & Notes:

When purchasing a mobile home park where there are park owned rentals, rent-to-own homes, and mobile home notes it is important to break out the income and expenses from this portion of the business from the lot/space rental portion.

Many times the income and expenses from the entire operations are lumped together and the seller or broker says the property is priced at say a 10 cap.

Here is the problem with this approach of lumping it all together:

Suppose you have 10 mobile homes that are renting for $350 above the normal lot rent per month and that there is an additional expense of $100 per mobile home each month. You basically have a net of $250 per month for each home or $3,000 per year. If you are capping this income at a 10 cap, you are placing a value of $30,000 per mobile home. Now there may be some nice doublewides that are being rented in some parks that are worth $30,000 but it is not the norm. Most of the time, these homes are older singlewide homes that may have a value from $3,000 to $10,000. So if you are valuing them at $30,000 you are paying too much!

Another situation occurs when you have mobile home notes or rent鈥搕o鈥搊wn homes. Lets say you have a note payment of $200 per month in addition to the lot rent and that the balance left is $8,000 on the note. The monthly payments of $200 per month will add up to $2,400 per year and if you cap that at 10% then you are paying $24,000 for an $8,000 note. Not a great investment move!

So what do you pay for these types of additional income sources?

Mobile Homes Rented Out: Many people will say that you should pay what the home is worth on the market if sold for cash or for cash with outside financing. My formula is that I will pay about 75% of what I feel I can sell the home to the current renter for on a rent-to-own agreement with a term of 3-5 years and also increase the lot rent in the process.. Here is an example:

A home is being rented for $425 per month and the lot rent is $200 per month. I will approach the current renter and tell them if they continue paying rent for 3 more years, then I will assign the title over to them and the home will be theirs. In the rent-to-own agreement, I specify that the lot rent is $225 per month(not $200) and after 36 monthly payments of $200 plus lot rent, the home title will be transferred to them.

In this case, I would not only be receiving 36 x $200 or $7,200 for the home, but I have also increased the lot rent for that home in the process. When I get ready to raise rents for other residents in the park, I can always say that there are other people already paying the higher rates. So, in this case I would pay somewhere in the $5,000 to $6,000 range for this home. ($7,200 x 75% = $5,400)

Mobile Home Notes and Rent-to-Own Agreements: When I am purchasing notes and agreements that have already been created by the current seller, I will typically use the lower of the value of:
鈥?nbsp;75% of the value of what I can resell the home to a new renter in case of default as calculated above; or
鈥?nbsp;65% of the future note or rent-to-own payments.

Educate Yourself about Renting an Apartment!

This guide is to help you when you are renting an apartment. A lot of this stuff may seem self-explanatory but you’d be surprised what you don’t already know. Also, feel free to print out the list of things to look for on your initial walkthrough so you can check them off as you go along.

1. The leasing office IS NOT your friend, they are a business. Businesses are in business to make money. Period. Yes, the people seem nice, but they are always looking for ways to get more money from you.

2. If you do not understand something in your lease, talk with a real estate agent that is not affliated with your apartment complex. Most agents will give you free advice and will answer all of your questions! My mother is a real estate agent and when I rented my first apartment, she helped me with all of the legalities. I call her with any paper the office sent me or any problem with the apartment. The people at the leasing office have tried to sap more money from me with their dirty tricks, fully knowing that my mother is an agent and I consult her on all matters regarding that apartment. Idiots.

3. If you have a problem, do not let the leasing office ignore it! The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

4. Pay early if you can, but always pay on time! Like utility companies, the leasing office’s money is made on late fees!

5. Always ask for receipts! For every transaction you make with the leasing office, get a receipt! This way, if any question of payment arises, you have proof of payment what they did with your check after you gave it to them is their problem now. And make sure someone at that office signs it! It is NOT acceptable for them to simply Xerox a copy of the check, anyone can go to Kinko’s and do that.

6. Do not drop your rent check off in the drop box! It seems silly, but think about it for a minute. The leasing office can say they emptied the drop box and your check was not in there. You have no proof you put it in there except your word. Go in when they are open and get a receipt!

7. If the apartment complex has a maximum income level, make sure you know what you are getting into, so stake out the place a little. Subsidized housing (the nice word for low income housing) can typically attract an unfriendly or rowdy crowd, not to be stereotypical. Research has shown that lower income areas attract more “visual crime” (vandalism, burglarly, robbery, etc). This does not mean that higher income areas are crime free, the crimes are just less noticable (for example: tax fraud). If you are from a different location, chances are the average income levels are different. So what seems to you as poverty level income, could in fact, be high for that specific area. Check the crime database and the sex offender registry on your county’s website, especially if you are alone or have young children.

8. If the apartment you want to rent is near a university or other college-type school, be warned! Chances are there will be college students living there, too. If you don’t know what college kids are like, let me clue you in: It’s 3:30 am, you’re still awake working on a presentation due in a few hours. All of a sudden you hear: boom, boom, crack! from the building across from you. The college kids in that building are absolutely tanked are throwing underwater firecrackers into the lake that separates your buildings. This is illegal, and annoying. You call the police, by the time they come the kids have stopped. When the police leave, you think all will be quiet…. wrong! They know someone from your building saw them and tattled, so they set off more firecrackers inside the stairwell of your building in defiance.

9. Sign up for online bank account access with your bank. From any computer with internet access you can now watch as your checks are cashed and can print out copies of those checks if need be.

10. If there is no pest control management contract for the interior of your apartment, either get one, or spray regularly. Even if you do not see any pests, they are there! Here’s a list of the things around your apartment that attract pests:

• Cardboard attracts cockroaches! They love the adhesive that holds the flaps of the cardboard together. Throw out old moving boxes. Get plastic containers for cereal, pasta, etc.
• Dark, damp places attract spiders! Do not leave wet towels or other wet cloth items around the apartment. This can also allow mold to grow on your carpet, too! Be mindful that the same spray you use for cockroaches and ants may not deter all spiders from making webs. There are products on the market specifically designed for spiders. You can buy Spider-Not and Cobweb Eliminator from the Home Trends catalog or website.
• Food crumbs and sugar attract ants! Clean up after yourself, and put your sugar in a plastic container.
• Wood attracts termites and carpenter ants! Especially rotting wood! Throw out old Christmas trees (not on your doorstep!)
• Mice love dryer lint! It is fuzzy and makes excellent nests. Clean your lint trap and throw it out! Dryer lint is also HIGHLY flammable!
• Trash attracts a wide variety of pests. Flies, maggot, rats, mice, cockroaches, ants, etc love trash. Throw it in the dumpster, not on your doorstep!
• Set out traps or tablet to deter invasion! Be mindful of pets when placing any type of bait. Traps should be placed in places like: behind the fridge, under sinks, in pantries, in the bathroom, on the porch/balcony, storage closets, in the cleaning closet, and in washer/dryer closet.
• *If you already have bugs, set off a fogger or two! Take pets with you when you leave for the amount of time on the directions.

11. Cover yourself! When looking over your apartment for the first time, do not let the smallest detail go unreported. This is how the leasing office gets to keep your deposit when you move out. Here’s a list of things to look for:

• Damage to blinds and window treatments.
• Damage to carpet/tile/countertops. If the previous owner had pets, chances are there’s probably a pet stain somewhere. There is a great product called Urine Gone. It comes with a black light and spray to find these pet stains and remove them. If your apartment was supposed to be pet free and obviously isn’t with this product, you can break your lease or ask for a new apartment. Bleach damage will show up with the black light, too.
• Damage to conveyed appliances (the ones that come with the apartment: microwave, oven, dishwasher, fridge, etc).
• Areas of overspray where rooms have been previously repainted. Check corners, especially near the cabinets.
• Damaged areas that have been obviously fixed (spackled areas that were not sanded down smoothly, etc).
• Damages to doors and door frames, windows and trim.
• Check all electrical outlets for power.
• Inspect the caulk around the tub and grout in between the shower tiles! If it is peeling, cracking, discoloring, or missing, the caulk needs redone. This prevents water from leaking into the walls and rotting the wooden beams behind the dry wall. Over time this can make the whole structure unsafe.
• If you find any creaky, noisy, or soft spots in your floor or tub, this can be a sign of a structurally unsound beam. When it is located in the bathroom, it is usually a sign of long term water damage and wood rot.
• Check to make sure water handles work in tubs and sinks. Also check for leaks in those, and in the dishwasher line which is located under the kitchen sink.
• Check behind the toilet for water damage to linoleum or tile and the walls. Also check the toilet tank for rust on the chain which can cause the chain to break.

*If the leasing office has told you that your apartment has “NEW” anything, check it out! If it is not in pristine condition, tell them to replace it to make it new, or tell them you are going to look elsewhere for an apartment.

Another thing worth mentioning, buy a new toilet seat for the toilet. You can pick one up from Walmart for $10. You don’t know what kind of germs the people before you had. It is a terrible feeling to feel like you are in a public restroom in your own bathroom everday.

12. Clean often! If you do not have time, hire a maid service. In apartment buildings, your neighbor’s mess is yours, too!

13. If you smoke in your apartment, and the smell lingers, before you move out, spray the walls with a product called Kilz specific for smoke. You can buy this at any hardware store in their paint section. Put drop cloths down before painting to prevent ruining the carpet. The walls are usually white anyway. This way the leasing office cannot get your for smoke damage (they will make you to pay for painting walls, new carpet, etc).

14. Have the carpets shampooed yourself, and save the receipt! Doing this, you can probably get a good deal, but also the leasing office will have to give you the desposit back, if it was returnable.

15. The maintenace people can be absolutely unnerving. They have keys to every apartment and can come in anytime they like. I recommend you be present when they are in your apartment. If you cannot be there, if you have anything valuable, hide it! A good place for your jewelry boxes is wrapped in a towel or blanket and placed gently into your dryer. Just don’t forget and accidently turn the dryer on! Bigger items like antique furniture, signed paintings or artwork, etc, just pray they don’t know it’s value… Which brings me to my next point: anything of significant value, make sure you have appraisals and at the very least pictures. It helps if it is insured too, however if the item is irreplacable, the insurance money does not ease the pain of the loss. Trust me.

16. Another security matter is sliding glass doors. If you have one, stick a security bar in the track. Even if you live higher up, you never know who might come climbing up one day while you’re gone! There was a burglar who used a grappling hook to climb to higher up apartments because people would think they were safe high up. Even if they could break the glass and unlock the door, the security bar will not allow the door to slide open.

17. If a major problem arises because of something unsafe in the apartment, contact a real estate agent or a home inspector.

18. Read everything in the lease before signing it! Ignorance is no excuse to the leasing office!

seems to be a great place to buy real estate but it could be better i have asked several sellers to send me a contract on land to purchase so far not 1 has , this leave a person to bid and then see the contract ..little late i think… also for the tax sales ,,i have asked what year and if they hold other paper on the same property the sale they have is for 1 year and i think people think they can obtain the property ,,but so can the 3 other persons holding one on the same property for other years …i think should be more strick on real estate listings ,,,,thanks just my thoughts

We had a deal happen to us that I have never heard before, and haven’t since, but there must be someone, somewhere, who has had this happen in some form.

In 1981, we bought a mobile home on credit, and lived on a rented lot with it. In 1983, we paid off the mobile home and bought acreage (12 acres) of our own to put the now paid off mobile home on. We drilled a well, and put in a septic and everything was fine. We bought the land on a 5 year land contract. When we paid the land off, we built a house, then sold the mobile home. We accomplished this by Thanksgiving, 1989. Things were going pretty well, as we built our home piece by piece, with no mortgage, so when we moved into the house on Thanksgiving, 1989, we had no bills, no mortgage. Our dream come true.

Two years (almost) later, a car drove up into our yard, a woman got out, and started stapling something to our trees. It was a Sheriff’s Sale sign. Actually, she had several to put on several trees along the road frontage of our property.

My husband went out to ask her what she was doing, and she told us that our property was being auctioned off for failure to pay our mortgage, and she handed us (by now I was there, too) a bunch of forms on how we had been taken to court for foreclosure, and that a sale would be taking place.

My husband, normally a very calm individual, was not so calm in explaining to her that she had the wrong property.

And she pulled out photographs. “Is this your home?” Well, yes it was. She had several photos of our house in her possession. My husband explained that we did not have a mortgage, so it couldn’t possibly be delinquent. Then she asked our names. Well, her “owners” names and ours weren’t even close to sounding alike. So, she asked, are you renting this from “XXXXX”?. No, we own it. Did you buy this from “XXXXXX”. No, never heard of

“XXXXX”. In the meantime, I ran up into the house, and got our deed, and the release we received from the court house when we paid off our land contract.

Well, upon seeing these items, the woman burst into tears, squeaking in between sobs about her losing her job.

Here is what we found out happened after it was all straightened out:

Our property is in Pennsylvania.

Some “un-named” individual applied for a mortgage from some big banking outfit in the MidWest. They used pictures of our brand-new house, and apparently a “drive-by” appraisal method, gave them over $100,000 in mortgage money, and of course, the individual walked away without making a payment. Of course, since the names were different, and we had no recorded mortgage in the courthouse, the “title” for the individual came up clean,

and there were no liens on the property address. (you’d think someone in the title company would have pulled the actual deed, but….nope).

The woman, still crying, took down her sheriff signs, and took our name and telephone number, and we, of course, got hers. It took about a month to straighten out the mess. My husband and I travel, sometimes 2 or 3 months at a time, what if we hadn’t been there? They would have auctioned off our home and all our possessions.

I don’t know how to protect yourself from this, but, like someone else’s post….if you see someone taking pictures of your home, you’d better find out why. And, if you travel like we do, make friends with a neighbor who can check on your home once in awhile, and has your cell phone number.

It’s not as simple as buying a pretty parcel and hoping to build your dream home someday or next year. Even though I am one, and may be prejudiced, it is not wise to buy mountain land without the representation of a licensed realtor and an attorney. Here are some things to ask yourself and then your realtor: Is there a road to the property and, if so, who maintains it? Are you prepared to grade in a road, and, if so, how far, with all the engineering required - not to mention drainage - and then to maintain the road? What about utilities? Are there utility connections nearby (electric, phone, etc.) and what about water and sewer? If the utility connections are not near the land, how much will it cost to run them to your property? Will you need to dig a well and add a septic tank and is there already a septic permit on file? If there is no existing water source or public sewer, consider asking the seller to provide evidence of water and a septic permit for a house with the number of bedrooms you plan to build.

Naturally, if you are comtemplating the purchase of a large tract, you might be less concerned about these issues. Chances are, somewhere on the property will be a water source and a place appropriate for a septic field.

Suppose that you have found your dream location on top of a mountain with 360 degree views. Further suppose that you don’t plan to build on that land for the forseeable future. Check on current or pending ridgeline or steep slope laws that could affect the property in the future. Whether you pay for it, the seller pays for it, or whether you split the cost, get a “staked and flagged” survey of the property so you know what it is you’re buying, thus avoiding disputed boundary lines later.

Love that gentle, sloping land with the stream running through it? Is it possible that the charming stream could become a rushing river? Insure that the land you intend to build on is not in a flood plain.

Steep lots. Yes, you can build on a steep lot but it may not be worth it. Walk the site with a builder, architect or engineer to avoid unpleasant surprises later.

For more info: Warrene Williams, 828-258-2953ext 136