State wants to purchase small part of my land. How do i value it?

[clovergamecock]

Has anyone ever had a state or county make an offer to you for property so they can widen a road? How did you arrive at the value of the land? The peice that they are wanting to purchase is small, only 912 sqft. The shape is a square but it will take out several tall pines. I live in SC if that makes a difference in value.

thanks

 

[Lunk]

Has anyone ever had a state or county make an offer to you for property so they can widen a road? How did you arrive at the value of the land? The peice that they are wanting to purchase is small, only 912 sqft. The shape is a square but it will take out several tall pines. I live in SC if that makes a difference in value.

thanks

It helps to have a friend in Realty.

Be sure to charge them by the Sq Ft, and determine a value for the trees that will be lost, and how it may affect the value of your remaining property.

Aim high, you can always lower your price. If you're too stubborn though, they can invoke "Eminent Domain" on you, and take it at what they feel is a fair price. You don't want that to happen.

 

[J_J]

They will probably know what your land is worth by the sq ft, and offer you a price at todays market, plus the loss of the trees. If they need it they will get it one way or another. Be nice and get what you can for it. and only if they name the road after you.

And you get to keep the wood if you want it.

 

[kthompson]

We have done some checking on this (also live in SC and they have a planned road across our land) and if the state they will make you an offer which is the lowest price you will see, so I have been told. If you two can not decide they will (or may) take it and then settle with you in court. I first would look at my tax records to see what the land is valued at. Could be low or high so if low you ignore that. If high then use it to prove how much per acre your land is worth. They are taking road frontage which is worth more than land not on the road. If the county not sure but think they will expect you to almost give it to them or they will tell your neighbors they want to widen the road but you are blocking it. You have the right to have the land appraised and also the right to sue over the land value. Hope it does not come to that. But do be sure how it will affect you before you settle. If road frontage be sure it does not affect any set backs on buildings already there or planned to where they do not met building codes and set backs.

 

[charlz]

Remember the appraisers setting the price work for the state... they don't keep working for the state by giving away the state's money If you don't like the offered amount I am sure you can take it to court. Read up on your state laws and/or consult an attorney. If it's a big enough project the attorney might find you The ones around here take 30% of whatever you get over the original offer and sometimes the court will require the state to pay your attorneys fees as well so you really don't lose out.

They are talking about putting a new highway through here which may or may not take my entire place so I have been researching these things.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

County wanted to pave dirt road in front of my place,asked for me to give them approx 1000' by 10' on each side of the road said all other neighbors were willing to give just to get the road paved, didnt want to be hard to deal with even though I was giving more than any of the rest, long story short they built the road up which raised it higher than my driveway and water washed down my driveway putting a lot of unnecessary water on me, called them several times before they ever came out to see me, they didnt think they should have to build my driveway up with limerock at the roads edge so I wound up having to buy a load of limerock and fix it myself. If they ever want anything from me again they will have to pay me for it, and oh yeah found out some of the other neighbors didnt give but made them buy their property, so much for being a good neighbor but I do sleep good at night.

 

[CurlyDave]

I don't think you are going to get a fortune for this land.

Think about what an acre costs in your neck of the woods.
Divide by 43560 and you have the price per square foot. Even if your land is worth more than $43,000 per acre, which would have to be awful special land in most places, you would get less than $1000. Not worth the legal fees to fight it.

I think it might be much more worthwhile to ask them for a permanent right to access the highway along the square footage in addition to any other access allowed by local ordinance or law. This costs them nothing and might be valuable at some time in the future.

 

[two_bit_score]

Has anyone ever had a state or county make an offer to you for property so they can widen a road? How did you arrive at the value of the land? The peice that they are wanting to purchase is small, only 912 sqft. The shape is a square but it will take out several tall pines. I live in SC if that makes a difference in value.

thanks

Unless there are some unusual circumstances regarding this "taking" there won't be a lot of money involved. Certianly not enough to go to court over.

They may actually be improving the value of the remaining property depending on what improvements they are making. Unless it's high value commercial property you should probably try to work something in the deal like an improved access or drainage improvement or the like rather than hold their feet to the fire for a lot of money that you will fight hard for and which may not amount to very much anyway. Someone mentioned watching out for set backs. That would possibly change the whole equation. Could go from a partial "taking" to a whole "taking" if they render the remainder useless because it's no longer big enough with the setbacks to build on it to it's highest and best use.

 

[WarrenF]

Here is how the drill works....having been through this about three times. They will make you an offer. You must be aware that the trees are worth something. With such a small parcel of land they are going to take, they may be the most valuable thing your selling.

Once the State has made the offer, you can accept it or reject it. If you reject it, you will end up going to court. That does not stop the State from taking your land. A little thing called "Right of eminent domain." Generally you can count if you do not accept their offer, that you will probably go right up to the day of the court hearing, and the State will settle with you. Very rarely have I ever seen where there was a full fledged court hearing on the value.

Just remember, The State is not your friend!!! Make sure if you take their initial offer that you have spelled out the exits you want onto your property. Once, in my case, I got the money plus I got an additional paved exit onto my property.

You probably all ready have a value in your mind. If you are in a rural residential area that puts the value quite a bit higher than an agricultural area. Don't count on spending the money tomorrow, but if you are patient you will be okay.

Oh yes, something VERY VERY important. Find out where your property boundaries are FOR SURE LOCATED!!! Then correlate that to the property tax description. You may be paying property taxes on highway right of way. In other words.....make sure that the old highway is NOT an easement and you are not paying property taxes on that ground.

 

[JonKioti]

I sit on the committee that negotiates this type of thing between the landowner and the muncipality.

One thing to bear in mind - does this change result in less building lots on your property should you decide to subdivide? By your description it doesn't sound like it.

Curly Dave is correct; the way this is valued you take the assessed value of the land and figure out the price per square foot; from that you get the value of the piece they want. You may only have a $300 piece of land, so getting 10% more for it by getting a different appraiser isn't worth it.

What the people who do this can do is arrange for replacement trees, etc. This is a process that works better with honey than vinegar. If you have a fence that needs to be relocated, for example, ensure they are installing the replacement fence. I'd certainly ask for replacement trees, which can be put where ever you want them.

Explain you want them to show where they get their land value and explain you place value on the trees. Go from there in good faith.

Finally, we always provide a new, updated and certified survey of the property. Make sure that is part of the agreement from them.

Good luck,

Jon