Anyone here donate Real Estate for charitable deduction and how did it work out?

[Racenut]

I think things were better when government was just a bit afraid of us and not run by a bunch of activists. Planning departments need to take their utopian dreams to the corner and sit down and shut up.

 

[2manyrocks]

So the city comes after you for a relatively small graffiti while the PO is covered in it. Then they write you a letter saying you can't lease to another car lot despite the property being used for that purpose since 1942.

Could the property be used for paid car parking? There used to be a couple of national chains that manage small car parking lots in the major cities in Tennessee.

Gotta say TBN takes forever to load pictures since they added all these ads.

Could be the city is using codes to make you want to sell at a favorable price to whatever development group/investors/authority that has their favor by (a) putting pressure on you by threatening expensive fines over insignificant graffiti and (b) attempting to cut off your rental income from the property saying it can't be leased to a car lot anymore notwithstanding what may be grandfathered use. The fact that the property lease isn't being paid doesn't change the fact that the rent is actually due, and it could be that this use is still grandfathered depending on the facts and local law.

 

[2manyrocks]

I think things were better when government was just a bit afraid of us and not run by a bunch of activists. Planning departments need to take their utopian dreams to the corner and sit down and shut up.

Government has always been willing to "re-develop property" when their political buddies want it. Nashville's Union Rescue mission for the homeless was pressured to move out of downtown and then somehow was able to relocate to a better facility a few blocks over, reportedly to the chagrin of the powers that be. The area near where the mission was located is now covered in hotels for tourists.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hard to say what is going on. Incompetence by the city in issuing what may be an invalid notice, city somehow got rezoning past you, ??? IDK-some how you're going to have to dig into this locally to figure this out.

Just seeing your last post, makes me wonder what tenant would want to be there with all of that going on even if the city said okay?

Gun store? Methadone clinic?

Gun stores banned years ago… passed a tax so high the stores moved.

 

[ultrarunner]

One thing I have noticed is city employees come and go…

I’ve done the public forum at city council before speaking at 2:30am and had a few successes when council would direct department head to review something and it all went away… nothing to do with this property.

As the oldest third generation the elders just forward any problems to me…

My uncle is 88 and in failing health and said take care of it…

His kids and the other grands long ago left Oakland…

Plenty of good property outside city limits to have to deal with the whims of city departments…

At least the county Sheriff shows up when called unlike city police who direct callers to go online.

 

[ultrarunner]

Paid daily parking most likely would be allowed but can't imagine anyone needing to pay when plenty of street parking available.

Especially since business keep closing...

Only 1 of the 4 corner gas stations still open... the other 3 leveled.

 

[Snobdds]

I think things were better when government was just a bit afraid of us and not run by a bunch of activists. Planning departments need to take their utopian dreams to the corner and sit down and shut up.

 

[ultrarunner]

To a last one the businesses that have closed in the last 12 months all day the same... crime.

If the city was serious it would start by listening to business and residents who list crime as priority 1.

In the last 2 weeks 2 friends have had their cars stolen... one from street and one from driveway...
Honda and Acura each about 10 years old.

No police response... simply go online to fill out a report.

One found her car because of her apple ear buds...

Police would not help so she pounded on the door creating a scene knowing at least her earbuds were there.

Police showed up and to make a long story short she got her car... no one arrested... the renter said his cousin was storing a car in the garage and the cousin is in Mexico now...

and so it goes.

 

[California]

What changed is the city’s master plan.

The change targets anything related to supporting internal combustion ...

Easy solution then - an EV charging station!

 

[2manyrocks]

Another possible guess is some codes guy looked at the zoning map and wrote the letter of violation without considering any grandfathered status due to long historical use? Is it just an enforcement goof on their part or more to it?

It strikes me as strange that the post office is covered in so much graffiti making it hard to tell one from the other and you got one comparatively small thing, yet the city sends you a letter about the one spot of graffiti soon afterwards? Or your stands out so well because the rest of your property is clean?

All this gives me ideas for a reboot of the Beverly Hillbillies series except the Clampett heirs leave California to return to the hills.

 

[ultrarunner]

Easy solution then - an EV charging station!

Don’t know if the cables would last overnight

 

[ultrarunner]

Another possible guess is some codes guy looked at the zoning map and wrote the letter of violation without considering any grandfathered status due to long historical use? Is it just an enforcement goof on their part or more to it?

It strikes me as strange that the post office is covered in so much graffiti making it hard to tell one from the other and you got one comparatively small thing, yet the city sends you a letter about the one spot of graffiti soon afterwards? Or your stands out so well because the rest of your property is clean?

All this gives me ideas for a reboot of the Beverly Hillbillies series except the Clampett heirs leave California to return to the hills.

My spot was all the way to the rear and not visible from any road…

I thanked the inspector and said I had not noticed and quickly took care of it.

From the trolly days long gone there is a small sidewalk running down the side of the property mid block… always trash gets dumped with king size mattress there now.

This city has broad swaths covered in graffiti.

Update, Dealer spoke to inspector who has granted an extension to December 20th for reinspection.

Still says the vehicles have to go.

The Dealer is a M.O.E. which may have factored?

Minority Owned Enterprise

 

[2manyrocks]

Why is the inspector saying the vehicles have to go now if they've been there since 1942 up to now? What changed that the city is now saying they have to go?

I would want to have discussion directly with inspector/city instead of totally relying on dealer. But I would also want to have a list of all the questions I want answered before calling or going to see the inspector. One question is how the graffiti came to the inspector's attention at all if not visible from road.

 

[hayden]

This is just a guess, but sometimes the zoning of property can be changed such that an existing use might be "nonconforming", but it is allowed to continue as long as owned and used by original business. However, if the original use (business) stops using the property for a given period of time or sells the property, they lose the right for nonconforming use and you have to comply with current zoning rules.

This. Ask for a variance based on historic, non-confirming use.

Also, did the zoning change somewhere along the way, and was the lot previously conforming?

Either way, sounds like you will need to boot out the dealership until resolved.

 

[2manyrocks]

Is the city trying to oust the dealer from the area for reasons unknown to you?

If they won't acknowledge continued use consistent with past practices, how about a new stripper club?

 

[ultrarunner]

Is the city trying to oust the dealer from the area for reasons unknown to you?

If they won't acknowledge continued use consistent with past practices, how about a new stripper club?

Can’t make a silk purse from a sows ear…

Coming home tonight the several miles no shortage of graffiti and homeless camps with piles of trash…

It’s really sad state and more so when the fee still trying to make a go are badgered… my front sidewalk and curb is spotless…

 

[Sigarms]

Sorry to say, never donated land, as the only land I own we bought 20 years ago, so no past experiences.

The family members in their late eighties want me to buy them out but why?

This I have an answer for... because they don't want the headache to have to deal with it.

 

[dougtrr2]

Grand visions of retail mix use corridor with ground level retail and upper level housing…

Anything automotive is bad…

We can’t even keep burger franchises open and a stones throw distant 7/11 closed after 60 years citing holdups and KFC up the street is cashless…

Graffiti at the post office is everywhere so gave up.

I find it funny that they have "Grand visions of retail mix corridor with ground level retail and upper level housing" and don't see a need for a parking lot. Seems like there are very few places that have adequate parking.

Good luck, fighting the bureaucracy.

Doug in SW IA

 

[ultrarunner]

Parking is for cars and the plan is to reduce cars.. plenty of projects with reduced parking or no parking requirement as parking only encourages cars...

Looks like I need to take time off and make the rounds of city hall... they have just recently started having more regular office hours post pandemic

It is not the city I recognize with the camps, walls of graffiti and dumping.

 

[Runner]

Don't know if they have this in your city, but here, they have a section in the development department called the Business Assistance Center, who's job is to act as sort of a consumer advocate for people trying to get projects through the system, etc. They have people who literally walk around to other groups in the department to try to get the straight story on exactly what is needed to get projects off "dead center" and act as an interpreter.

At the very least, someone from the "BAC" might be able to steer you towards someone else in the enforcement area that does not have an axe to grind and might be able to give you the unbiased information you need without poking the hornet's nest.

Good luck.