land lease in Maine

[kirstenling]

Wow, thank you all for your information. I must be looking at the wrong newspapers ,cuz the land and houses I see have no t been under 100,000. and they were not great. can you guide to a local newspaper or agent that might find a home at a reasonable price. "We were hoping to fing an oldfarm house in need of repair. thank you again for you help and advice.

[wingman580]

Originally Posted by kellysmith

Leased land is a thing of the past...or at least it should be...if you plan on putting anything of any value on it. I had one of those $75 a year leases. It was a 99 year lease, but the land owner had the right (in fine print) to alter it for any reason. When the lease got to $1000 a year, I, like many locals with similar leases sold to get something out of my investment. The buildings have little value if you don't own the land under them.

I'm sure many are aware of what happened to the folks with leases on land that Roxanne Quimby purchased. She's the former owner of Bert's Bee's and purchased half of a township near the northern end of Baxter park. All those lease holders were told to remove their property. Bolen Pond Camps was one spot. I seem to remember that property had just changed hands...and the new owners had paid over $1,000,000 for it...and they told were told to get their camps off Ms Quimby's land.

Leased land from paper companies (or anyone else) is definitely not the place for any investment now days.

Thank you Kellysmith, the analogy of Ms Quimby is quite eye opening to anyone not knowing what has happened to many paper companies. I have been watching the realty market in NE, especially in both ME and RI as I own outright and am selling in the latter and moving to the former.
I have come across a few gents trying to sell beautiful homes that are on leased land who were told they either had to remove the buildings or sell them, with new conditions on the lease that equal legalized extortion i.e. paying K per year for the land and in some cases even more. The homeowners I spoke with were bitter that they trusted certain companies/LLC's to uphold their end of leases. These same leases in which new owners with fine print and court rulings destroyed the investments and security of the homeowner having a place to live.
I asked one man why he would spend such a large amount of money on building a truly marvelous chalet that was on land he did not own? He leased 350 acres, built a home with a 50 acre driveway that was straight from Architectural Digest. His answer was he worked for the paper company all his life and was told he could stay for life at little cost $100 per year for life. Well the company was sold in a LOB and he was now in a bad way. He is currently unemployed and fears losing the only thing he invested in, as his pension is not enough to pay the lease, fuel, utilities, and still eat. I wished I could have helped him but the conditions of the lease (after my attorney deciphered it) were prohibitive.
There is an old adage, my father who is 87 told me, "land is the only thing they are not manufacturing more of. When you own it NOBODY can tell you to go." he still believes this even after eminent domain took his bakery, café and grocery stores to make way for I-95 in 1958, as he was paid market value then for the inconvenience.