Highlands Cash Going Quick
From the Star Ledger:
N.J. pays top dollar for bits of Highlands
Analysis of 8 deals finds cash going fast
"The worst fears of property owners in the northern Highlands aren't being realized. At least not yet."
"The state, in its first eight land purchases since a sweeping 2004 preservation act clamped down on development in the region, has kept its promise that property owners would not suffer financial harm."
"While eight sales is a small sample -- accounting for just 265 acres in a vast seven-county region -- state land-acquisition officials so far are paying prices that recognize the value of the land before the stringent restrictions were in place, according to a Star-Ledger analysis of those purchases."
"To assuage fears that the bill would harm land values, lawmakers inserted a provision requiring the state to reimburse property owners at pre-law prices. Now, when the state buys land in the region, two appraisals are done -- one using older comparable sales to determine the pre-law price, and another based on the current value with development restrictions."
"In six of the first eight sales, owners received the exact amount of the pre-law appraisal or slightly more; one received slightly less than the higher appraisal; and, in another case, the state split the difference, according to state records."
"If all 145,000 acres of privately owned restricted land were purchased at $12,500 an acre -- the average in the first eight deals -- the cost would come to $1.8 billion. Yet the state has only $225 million left from a bond sale, approved by voters in 1998, that raised about $2.15 billion for open-space and farmland purchases around New Jersey."
""They don't have nearly enough money," said Deborah Post, a landowner in Chester who is critical of the act. "In my opinion, they know that.""
N.J. pays top dollar for bits of Highlands
Analysis of 8 deals finds cash going fast
"The worst fears of property owners in the northern Highlands aren't being realized. At least not yet."
"The state, in its first eight land purchases since a sweeping 2004 preservation act clamped down on development in the region, has kept its promise that property owners would not suffer financial harm."
"While eight sales is a small sample -- accounting for just 265 acres in a vast seven-county region -- state land-acquisition officials so far are paying prices that recognize the value of the land before the stringent restrictions were in place, according to a Star-Ledger analysis of those purchases."
"To assuage fears that the bill would harm land values, lawmakers inserted a provision requiring the state to reimburse property owners at pre-law prices. Now, when the state buys land in the region, two appraisals are done -- one using older comparable sales to determine the pre-law price, and another based on the current value with development restrictions."
"In six of the first eight sales, owners received the exact amount of the pre-law appraisal or slightly more; one received slightly less than the higher appraisal; and, in another case, the state split the difference, according to state records."
"If all 145,000 acres of privately owned restricted land were purchased at $12,500 an acre -- the average in the first eight deals -- the cost would come to $1.8 billion. Yet the state has only $225 million left from a bond sale, approved by voters in 1998, that raised about $2.15 billion for open-space and farmland purchases around New Jersey."
""They don't have nearly enough money," said Deborah Post, a landowner in Chester who is critical of the act. "In my opinion, they know that.""
6 Comments:
I'm baaaack.
grim
I thought I was the only one to get up this early and check these postings out.
Hope 3/4 of north Jersey isn't down there all trying to be in the same places.
Didn't seem too crowded in LBI. Busy, but not as bad as last year.
What is crazy is the construction down there. How many multimillion dollar homes does that place really need? Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds more.
Seems like everyone forgot about '44.
grim
Most folks talk about the '62 storm, but still others say the '44 storm was the stronger of the two.
Both storms devastated the island. One of the storms turned Tuckers Island, a small community, into a sand bar..
grim
Once I can finally retire we're more than likely going to build in coastal NC. So I know first hand the concerns about storms.
We own one building very close to the ocean now, but when build I won't build so close. Too many close calls over the years and NC sees little rarely any, $ for storm erosion beach renourishment.
Unlike NJ, the majority of the $ must come from the local communities directly affected.
I'm just hoping that retirees keep relocating to this area, as I have shifted some of my cashed out NJ equity to property down there. I understand that there will be ups and downs in real estate markets, but I’ve been seeing so many of the “Boomer” generation relocating into the Southeast, I still think the general trend will be upward for most of these areas.
Should not have built it up like they did? NJ has one of the highest claims for flood insurance because of this craziness.
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