[AT] Snow

[Bob McNitt]

Farmer -

In many areas laying over the massive shale formations containing 
natural gas, the price of once good agricultural land is skyrocketing as 
buyers with deep pockets hope to get in on the royalties of having gas 
wells or pipelines on the land. Of course this also raises assessed 
values and land and school taxes. Common folks seeking to buy a piece of 
rural land to farm on, retire on or maybe just escape the cities are 
being left in the dust of the natural gas drilling craze. Farmers in the 
prime shale areas are being increasingly tempted to sell to speculators 
that are willing to pay top dollar for larger acreages they can then 
lease as well clause in an agreement that allows them to sell portions 
off for cluster development projects. I'm afraid if this keeps up, we'll 
soon be importing almost all of our food stuffs and the only places 
you'll see farm tractors and equipment will be in museums.

Bob

On 2/16/2010 2:05 PM, Indiana Robinson wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Larry Goss<rlgoss at insightbb.com>  wrote:
>    
>> Hey, Farmer,  I was thinking of you over the weekend because the word came out in local media that they are rebuilding the historic wooden bridge at Moscow, Indiana.  You talked to us via email about that bridge.
>>
>> Larry
>>
>>      
> ===================================================
>
>
> Here are pictures of it down...
> http://picasaweb.google.com/robinson46176/MoscowIndianaTornado#
> I have been told that it will be up by summer. They came in and did a
> little repair work on the piers and I am told that they are building
> it in two parts and will haul them in and lift them into place.
> We have a narrow sort of mini farm there of about 17 acres a house and
> an old  block shop building. The ground runs along Big Flatrock River
> (as opposed to Little Flatrock River). The bridge sat on a right of
> way across our land. The opposite side from the village has some 40'
> high stone bluffs and is very pretty. It includes a long mill race on
> the village side that my great grandfather rebuilt in the 1880's. The
> current house is a former store that he once owned and sold to my
> grandparents who operated a store and lived there sometime around
> 1900. It was built around 1836. My mother bought the land back in the
> 1960s. The 30' X 43' block building was built about 1934 where a house
> burned. We got the house at auction when an owner went to prison for
> dealing drugs. We bought the block building some years later.
> The house goes empty at the end of this month and I will completely
> quit the rental of anything then.
> A number of people have asked me to sell them the package and I even
> have a soon to retire nephew in FL that expressed interest in it. Of
> course expressing interest and paying actual money are two different
> things. I think that a couple of local friends are thinking that they
> can pick it up to add to their properties for down around $40,000 to
> $60,000 or maybe even less. Property "used to" sell very reasonable
> there. I had it appraised since the housing drop and it still was
> appraised at a little over $125,000 based mostly on what nearby
> similar properties have sold for recently. Frankly I thought that was
> a little high but the very busy appraiser has a very good reputation
> and many years of experience. I think maybe he saw a market out of
> Indy (about 30 minutes away) for it.
> I may try to sell it at auction after the bridge is back up this
> summer. I may wait until fall, that 17 acres of woods and river is
> really pretty when the leaves change.
> The land is always the land. The house and building both need work but
> it would make a do-it-your-selfer or someone with a little money a
> very nice place. The house currently faces the village street which it
> sits very close to and the living room is at the front. If I were
> going to live in it I would flip it and put the living room at the
> back with a lot of glass opening out over the woods and river. I would
> also put a second floor deck on the back and use that back upstairs
> bedroom as the master with big glass doors opening out on that deck.
> It is currently being used as a 5 bedroom but one is pretty small. It
> would make a great place for a retired couple with a lot of hobbies.
> :-) They could heat the house and shop both with wood from the woods.
> I would about kill to have that block building here on this farm. It
> would make a great woodshop. It was built as an automotive repair
> garage.
>
> I'm dragging my feet on selling it now because one friend that wants
> it badly does not always play well with others, especially if the
> others are connected to any government agency...  :-)
> He and I get along fine but I could see him being very obstructive to
> the rebuilding of the bridge if he owned the place. While the county
> can do pretty much what they want if push comes to shove I think it
> will all go much easier if I still own the surrounding land when they
> get ready to sit it. It is very much to my advantage for the new
> bridge to be up as well as the benefit to the community. I currently
> allow the Amish that live on the other side to cut through on
> horseback to save maybe 6 miles to go around. There is no way for them
> to get a buggy through or I would allow that too.
> If it does not want to sell for a reasonable amount now I can hold on
> to it. I would like to sell it and put the money someplace else but I
> don't have to sell it. I don't have any mortgages. A place like that
> though needs to have the owner living on it.
> OK, enough rambling... Is it spring yet?  :-)
>
>
>    
>
>
>
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