Some developers are swine.

[paulsharvey]

It’s too bad previous owners didn’t go through the right channels to make sure land stayed as they requested. What’s the point in trying to protect something if it can just be changed anyway. And shame on the daughter not respecting the wishes. Obviously she kept a straight face all the while waiting on the inevitable to cash out. This kind of stuff pisses me off.

Don't attack the daughter. If she was not interested in farming this little bit of farm ground in a residential area, why should she not sell it to the highest bidder? Her folks are dead, and they dont get a vote. Are you obligated to have a burdensome piece of property cause Mom and Dad wanted it that way? Nope.

So, my mom and her husband had 57 acres, sold 24; so they have 33 acres left, 3/4/2 home from 1950s on a 500 acre lake just outside the city limits. One day, they will be dead; there are 6 heirs. None of us could afford the taxes on that place; (which they dont pay cause her husband is disabled vet), but property taxes would be around $1000-1200/month; then insurance, repairs, maintenance, ect. Im not indebting My family, over mom's wishes. So, yes, I love the property, but in the end, one day, I will absolutely be pushing to sell to the highest bidder, who will likely do 2.5-5 acre "equestrian" properties. I have 2 sisters, 1 brother, and mom's husband has a daughter and son. 2 of us live in Florida; 1 in Ken, 1 in Tenn, 1 in WVa, 1 in NCar. I have spoken breifly with the sister that lives about 2 hours away, and she would be happy to pay 1/6th of the bills to have a "time share" of it. Honestly, Maybe i would pay 1/6th as a hunting property; but the 4 that live 8-12 hours away, nope; and im not paying 1/2 the bills; or doing the maintenance for others.

 

[paulsharvey]

With that above; I dont give a flying F what her neighbors say, think, or feel; cause I only have an obligation to myself and My family. If the neighbors want to pay the bills; Great. If the neighbors are the high bidder great. If Florida Rock want to build a sand mine, great. DR Horton wants to build 400 crappy houses on 33 acres; great. HUD wants to build a 13 story ghetto; as long as they are high bidder, I dont care. I'll drive by and shake my head, but ill be driving to the bank...

 

[1 Old Man]

There is no way to stop growth. However, uncontrolled growth by
city fathers with their eye only on additional tax dollars ruins small
towns/communities.
I see it happening right now as the DFW Metroplex
is now pushing hard into east Texas. One small town that is growing too
fast is seeing an uptick in crime, shootings at their HS, unmanageable
traffic and has inadequate infra structure to support the booming
population. Town mismanagement ? I think so. City fathers waited to
long and ignored the growth signs of huge housing developments. Now
trying to correct/update but really too little too late.
I see the next town up the hwy has been getting ready for the onslaught
of new residents. Bridge, street/road, utility improvements. I hate seeing
huge apt complexes being built where there was once a large cow pasture.
Chain restaurants etc But the push is on. Prep for it or get mowed over.
Years ago we bought further east.....will it eventually happen here? Yes.
I probably won't be here when it hits hard. I tell my kids to not worry about
keeping the farm. Get the best $ you can, sell it, and buy land farther out...or not
at all. And I hope your inheritance improves each of your lives.

All the above said....I still hate to see the Texas countryside east & west,
north & south, being covered up with housing developments. Almost all
have 5' property lines, enormous cluster of similar shingled roof tops as
far as you can see. Makes me want to puke.

There has to be a balance somewhere.

 

[paulsharvey]

With growth, they generally try to guide dense growth to certain centers, and all. Our OP is already in a residential area by his own admission, and the new development is far from dense residential. It really sounds like it meets the general gradual growth of the area. You generally dont Want dense pockets scattered around in random areas; but 72 homes on 62 acres is Not dense growth. With that, if you have ever been in one of these Large planned residential communities, they do make you want to jump off a bridge; Oakleaf Plantation, Palm Coast (its got more commercial than it used too), ect. 15,000 nearly identical homes; each with a silver or tan Silverado or black F150, and a grey or gold Honda accord or Toyota Camry, with 0.7 kids per house, 1.1 small breed dogs, and the whole thing...

On here somewhere i think I joked, you can hear the pickle ball, and smell the boiled, chicken breast, dipped in ultra low sodium, mild ranch dressing...

 

[paulsharvey]

If it makes you feel any better, our old neighborhood, was a mix of 2 and 5 acre parcels; fly in community, not "that type" of fly in, it did have an airport, but it was just mostly normal 1200-2500 sq ft manufactured homes, with some mixed site build homes too... When we moved in, there was 7 2 acre lots on the left, 5 on the right of just woods, and 2 homes across the road, and 3 5 acre pieces behind is. When we moved, there was a single wood lot to the left and right, and the ones behind. We Did discuss trying to purchase one of them; But it really wasnt worth it, better to just sell and start over. It would have cost $30-50k to buy the plan wooded lot, for a minor buffer.

 

[skid mark]

I'm late to this thread, and admittedly, skipped through some of it pretty quickly. As a result, I think I missed something.

What was it that the developer did?

Never mind. I spent some more time reading this thread and now see that I didn't miss anything. The developer is swine because he didn't consult with the old guy on the tiny lot across the street.

 

[BravoXray]

I'm late to this thread, and admittedly, skipped through some of it pretty quickly. As a result, I think I missed something.

What was it that the developer did?

Never mind. I spent some more time reading this thread and now see that I didn't miss anything. The developer is swine because he didn't consult with the old guy on the tiny lot across the street.

The developer is swine because he convinced and paid the daughter to get the covenants that her parents had put in place to preserve their land as farm land removed, knowing full well that they had assured the adjoining neighbors for years that they wouldn't allow the property to be developed.
Today at the committee meeting I found out that a local farmer wanted to either lease or buy the property from the daughter, but she had already made the deal with the swine, oops, developer. She doesn't live in the area, so she could care less what happened after she sold it. Take the money and run.

 

[4570Man]

The developer is swine because he convinced and paid the daughter to get the covenants that her parents had put in place to preserve their land as farm land removed, knowing full well that they had assured the adjoining neighbors for years that they wouldn't allow the property to be developed.
Today at the committee meeting I found out that a local farmer wanted to either lease or buy the property from the daughter, but she had already made the deal with the swine, oops, developer. She doesn't live in the area, so she could care less what happened after she sold it. Take the money and run.

You have no right to control what was once your property from beyond the grave. If that idea worked all the land on earth would have been locked away centuries ago. And what do you expect the daughter to do? She clearly isn’t going to start farming the land again.

 

[paulsharvey]

Ok, so what would the cash rent on 72 acres of farm land be in that area? Looking online, about $233/acre/year. That actually is pretty dang good, $16,722 annual income. Now, the developer is probably paying between $15,000-40,000 per acre, or we call it $24,000; or $1,728,000; or the equal to 102 years of farm rent. The parents don't matter, they are dead and gone. We can probably assume if the parents were old and died; the daughter is atleast in her 40s-50s. Thats likely her retirement. Should she eat cat food every day in gov housing, on her $16,722/year, just so you can enjoy her struggles, from many states away?

Edit: also, she still is paying taxes on that land, out of her $16,722. Dont know what exemptions she had/or could get, but lets say she is paying 0.77% of $720,000 per year (a lower value, because the land is not being used to its highest and best use)=$5,544 in taxes. So, her income of $16,722 is actually only netting $11,178/year.

 

[paulsharvey]

You really need to take emotion out of this, cause it doesn't matter; this is a math problem. Your heirs will also need to do a similar math problem one day with your stuff, as most of us will too.