How much do water rights add to a value of a property in Southern Oregon (Corvallis: low income, real estate)

[gray horse]

Property is about 7 acres, what would estimate the irrigation rights add to it? Rights are from 1949.

Thanks

[Nell Plotts]

You should hire a local real estate lawyer who is familiar with water rights law. There are so many factors that could impact that... tribal rights for example.

[Larry Caldwell]

It can be anywhere from 3x to 10x the value of dry land.

[PNW-type-gal]

It depends on what the water rights upstream and downstream are and how junior or senior you are. 1949 is relatively young if you have some big users in the watershed with much more senior rights.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

It depends on what the water rights upstream and downstream are and how junior or senior you are. 1949 is relatively young if you have some big users in the watershed with much more senior rights.

Yes, this summer they shut off irrigation from the South Umpqua for anyone with water rights after 1906, but this has been the most severe drought in decades. It has been over 40 years since it has been this dry. 1949 is pretty good water rights. There was considered to be plenty of water until the big population influx started in the 1960s.

[gray horse]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

It depends on what the water rights upstream and downstream are and how junior or senior you are. 1949 is relatively young if you have some big users in the watershed with much more senior rights.

This is a property that is in an upstream area, and the adjacent properties have rights that were granted in 1949 as well.

[PNW-type-gal]

Are the water rights for the property being actively used? I think - but am not entirely sure of the numbers involved - that if the water right hasn't been actively used within 5 years out of the last 15, the water right can be lost.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

Are the water rights for the property being actively used? I think - but am not entirely sure of the numbers involved - that if the water right hasn't been actively used within 5 years out of the last 15, the water right can be lost.

Yes. That is right. You have to use the rights as indicated once every 5 years in order to keep them. The state has to come in and terminate them though. So if someone in 1980 didn't use them for 20 years, but the current owners used them for 10, and the buyer uses them for 5, then they have been used for 15 consecutive years. Then there is no concern about losing them even though they weren't used for a period of time before.

Water rights have value but it depends on the property and potential uses. A winery might value those rights significantly more than someone that raises goats. Surface water rights are next to impossible to get so I think water rights will just increase the value of property as we have a lot of people moving here for retirement that want to have small boutique wineries and organic hobby farms.

[oldtrader]

And it depends on the source of the water rights, such as well, direct draw from a river or creek, water district with ditches, etc. In other words, some water rights due to source are more valuable and reliable than other water rights. Does water rights allow you to irrigate the entire property, or just a limited amount.

These are questions that need the answers to, before anyone can predict the value of the water rights.

[wolfbytez]

[b]You should be aware that the state of Oregon can change your water rights for any reason at any time. It was Oregon that sent a man to prison for collecting rain water

Oregon is also the ONLY state that SOLD ITSELF TO MONSANTO, THE ENTIRE STATE!
Oregon passed SB 633, known by many as the Monsanto Protection Act, in a special legislative session.

Many organic seed producers who sell world wide have already lost millions b/c monsanto plants are being grown close enough to pollinate organic crops and ruin the crop and the seeds.

Oregon has changed laws on a dime to promote cash flow and no one cares.

Our water is as contaminated as anywhere else in the country no matter what any Oregonian might tell you. I have seen and heard so many lies that people tell, mostly blaming CALIFORNIANS for all the ills of this state....any amount of research will tell you that the creeps and polluters and the property buyers come from everywhere. We just had a company from Texas come into Corvallis and buy a low income building putting hundreds of people out in the cold, they have no place to go and can't afford any rents in this state. The Texas company is making a high rent expensive spa type apts in it's place.

They keep raising the price of water with no improvements, I know a lot of this stuff is going on in many states BUT, why lie to peep who will end up here and then screwed in the long run?

Right now with the droughts across the country it seems the state of Oregon is moving ahead to allow NESTLE TO TAKE WATER FOR A NEW BOTTLING PLANT!! JUST LIKE CALI, ALLOWING NESTLE TO STEAL WATER FROM PALM SPRINGS FOR 25 YEARS WITHOUT A PERMIT {they have still not stopped them, even with the CEO bragging that all fresh water in this country should be privatized & we should pay for every drop, we are a corporate run country & the TPP will see much more of the people rights removed} AND ALLOWING FRACKING TO CONTINUE TO POLLUTE THE WATER AND TAKING IT AWAY FROM PEOPLE AND IN SOME PLACES, WHOLE TOWNS ARE NOW WITHOUT WATER....PERSONALLY, I DON'T SEE MUCH DIFFERENCE IN OREGON OR CALI.

What many peep don't know or understand is that when Nestle puts in a bottling plant they drop wells hundreds of feet below the surrounding wells and their contract states that they can take ALL THE WATER, EVEN DRAINING THE WATER THAT FILLS YOUR WELL & FURTHER STATES THEY CAN DO THIS EVEN IN TIMES OF EXTREME DROUGHT. In McCloud Ca. 6 people gave away the water w/o any of the local peep knowing Nestle was even meeting with the town!! In their contract it also states that the locals would pay for removal of all waste from the plant.
The state will take the water away from you even if they have to invent a new law.