Posted by Cochise on October 06, 2008 at 09:13:32:
(mai, appraisaal institute) Land appraisals raise questions
Seevers Jordan Ziegenmeyer, MAI, AI, Appraisal Institute
P. Richard Seevers, MAI
Lance C. Jordan
Kevin K. Ziegenmeyer
Eric A. Segal
Comments 5 | Recommend 4
October 04, 2008 11:03:00 PM
By Ryan McCarthy/Appeal-Democrat
The school district that agreed to buy land eight miles south of Marysville for $60,000 an acre "got a really good deal," says the landowner's representative — although one school official wants another look at the property buy.
Victor Vasquez, representing seller Gilbert Retail Holdings of Arizona, said land the Marysville Joint Unified School District agreed in February to buy will climb in value. An appraisal of the property, off Feather River Boulevard between Plumas Arboga Road and Broadway, undertaken a year ago for the landowner estimated the value at $131,000 an acre, Vasquez said.
"It'll be north of $100,000 an acre in less than two years," said Vasquez, citing benefits including 200-year flood protection because of levee work in the area.
But Trustee Sandy Fonley refers to a June appraisal by Yuba County estimating the land's value at $10,005 an acre as reason to reconsider the land buy.
Fonley has had no supporters among the six other school district trustees.
Trustee Bernie Rechs said the February vote to buy the property has to be honored.
"This is what we agreed to," Rechs said.
If the school district were to seek to back out of the agreement, he continued, "Who's ever going to deal with you again?"
Rechs said he is surprised that the Seevers Jordan Ziegenmeyer (mai, appraisaal institute) firm of Rocklin undertook two appraisals of the same property, the first in November 2007 for the Marysville school district estimating the land's value at $60,000 and the second for Yuba County in June that provided a $10,005 an acre estimate of value.
P. Richard Seevers, MAI
Lance C. Jordan
Kevin K. Ziegenmeyer
Eric A. Segal
"I find it kind of stunning," he said.
Ziegenmeyer (mai, appraisaal institute) said people in the appraisal industry (ha!) would not be surprised that a firm would undertake two appraisals of the same site. The firm does a lot of work for public agencies, he noted.
Moreover, he said, the drop in California real estate is reflected most significantly in land values.
"The dirt is taking the brunt of the decline," Ziegenmeyer said.
Ziegenmeyer, (mai, appraisaal institute) who said he could not speak about specifics of the appraisals the firm performed, said land values have declined so sharply in part because the cost of construction materials such as asphalt and pipe has not dropped as dramatically.
Mark Allgire, assistant superintendent for business for the Marysville school district, called the two appraisals by the firm a coincidence. The time between the two reviews accounts for the lower estimated value in the June appraisal, Allgire said.
"Eight months in today's real estate market is a huge difference," he said.
Vasquez said property appraisals — and what buyers can actually acquire land for — are two very different figures.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/land_69516___article.html/landowner_deal.html
"We pretty much took a rock bottom deal," he said of the land purchase agreement with MJUSD.
Seevers Jordan Ziegenmeyer, MAI, AI, Appraisal Institute
P. Richard Seevers, MAI
Lance C. Jordan
Kevin K. Ziegenmeyer
Eric A. Segal