Two lots for sale in Fairfield Harbour. What do you think they will sell for?? (New Bern: real estate)

[ncguy444]

Moderator cut: no real estate links
[SIZE=2]Its a bit much but I wanted to be informative ![/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Before I get into the description of the place my starting bid is very low. My reserve is WELL below 10,000. I paid much more for these years ago. My suggestion is just throw down a bid and see what happens. Even if the reserve price is not met I will likely give the option to the highest bidder to purchase the lot anyhow. I put the reserve price so that way I can get something for the lots. Any questions please email. These are all the pictures I have of the lots. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]Up for auction are two undeveloped adjacent lots located in a gated community called Fairfield Harbour in New Bern NC. Its not a retirement community although many retirees have chose to live there because of its resources and social atmosphere. FFH has 24 hour gated entry, full time security, it's own fire station and EMS staff, 2 golf courses, pro shop, snack bar, driving range, putting green, tennis courts, outdoor swimming pool, marina, country club, lounge, hotel, shops and more. Please view the link below for pictures of the community and facilities. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]The address for of the two lots are 259 and 260 West Wind Court located in the Harbour Pointe section (bottom or southern section on the eastern side). I have included a photo of a map of the two lots which shows you the lot measurements. Lot 259 is .48 acres and Lot 260 is .57 acres. I have put them both up on auction together in the hope that a buyers will find having two adjacent lots appealing. Frontage of the two lots would equal 90 feet however both backyards open up allowing one to build a sizable house. The buyer next door purchased both adjacent lots and hopefully from my picture you can get an idea of what that would look like. Several years ago I purchased a couple of lots in FFH, one to keep for an eventual home and retirement and a few to keep and eventually sell as an investment. I have decided to sell these two as it does not make sense economically to keep it anymore due to all the developments that have caused the devaluation of real estate in the US. My loss would be your gain should you win the auction. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]To start off - I have been on ebay for serveral years selling but also buying mostly collectibles, typically railroad, automotive and military. I have over 1000 reviews that are almost completely 100% positive. I have achieved that rating because I always try to be honest with people regarding the things I am selling and if i choose to purchase something I pay promptly. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]The lots are undeveloped and located on a cul de sac in the south east corner of FFH. The lots are paid off, I am the sole owner and own them completely. After searching all around the NC coast I chose FFH because I found it to be the most appealing not only in affordablity but it is also a very nice, clean community which has alot of great assets and sources of entertainment.Located off the Neuse River and close to downtown New Bern, it is about a 30 minute drive to the local beach parking lots. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Yearly costs PER LOT are provided along with the phone number of the facility so that you can call yourself to not only verify what I am stating but also to check on the condition of the account to see if there are any liens, outstanding bills etc. Annual Property taxes are 109.94. They have already been paid for 2011. Craven County Tax Collector - 252-636-6604, Account # 0064836 for 259 abd Account # 0064836 for lot 260. Utilities/Sewer - 2 semi annual payments of 28.24. They have already been paid for first half of 2011, next bill not due til July. CWS Systems - 800-348-2383 Account # 8029100000 for lot 260 and Account# 0029100000 for lot 259. 2011 Property Owner Dues (POA) - 536.00. These are due May 2nd. They have not been paid for. If you win you will be responsible for paying 2011 dues. POA group - 252-633-5500.POA Account #'s 20-259 and 20-260. 2011 Amenity Fees - 690.00. FFH Golf Club 252-514-2999, give them the lot number/address if checking. See next paragraph for whats going on there. The POA's covers things like security, garbage pickup, landscaping. The amenity fees cover pool, marina, golf course usage. Both POA and amenities are paid up for previous years. Please keep in mind that if you buy two lots and put one house on it you cannot combine any of the charges. You still have to pay two taxes, two POA dues etc. I have heard they are considering changing some of those rules but who knows? As I mentioned I have provided all the phone and account numbers of these lots so that you can check to make sure that they are paid up and there are no liens or unpaid bills pending against the properties. So there are no unpaid bills or liens against the properties, I encourage you to call and check up. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Whats going on in FFH? To give you a little history there is a corporation called MidSouth which manages the amenities (pool,golf courses,club house). In 2006 the owners of timeshare condominiums which reside in a small section of the complex took MidSouth to court and won because they felt that the agreements to pay amenities did not run with the land but were agreements only with the original owners. This lowered the amount of owners overall that Midsouth could collect from. Over the last 4 years or so there have been a series of external circumstances that have affected the state of the amenities which caused them to be raised for the first time in a while. Most of the circumstances are ones that are affecting properties everywhere in the US. The downturn in the economy, the devaluation of property in general, along with an increase in foreclosures and hardship cases coupled with the downturn in building caused Midsouth to raise the annual fee. To help keep ammenity costs affordable, in 2008 the older golf course in the northern section of the complex was closed. These 2 lot's reside in the section of FFH which contains the newer golf course which is still open. The older courses lawn is still cut but it is not operational. Personally i thought this was a good, money saving idea. FFH did not really need a second golf course. In 2010 the pool located by the community club house was closed early to save money. The FFH ammenity group told me that it will be open again for summer 2011. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]The latest update about whats currently going on legally within the community is that in 2010 there was a group of owners and members of the POA board who were pushing to purchase the amenities outright from Midsouth and then raise a team either internally or externally to manage them. There is another subset of owners and board members who did not support doing this because it goes against the bylaws of FFH which state that the POA or a subset of the group cannot purchase or own the amenities. In 2010 the case was brought to court and the state of NC ruled that a move by the POA and owners to purchase ammenities would be illegal and they lost the case.In early 2011 the supporters of buying the ammenities are currently appealing. Since this case has already been reviewed by the court systems and all papers have been filed a ruling on the appeal should be forthcoming in 2011. Personally I dont see any way in which the state will overturn their original decision. Once the appeal is denied the only recourse owners, POA board members and Midsouth will have is to work together to make decisions on how best to collect ammenities and maintain FFH while still keeping the ammenities affordable. I realize that perspective buyers would be put off by any kind of legal actions that are going on within a place they are considering living but I feel there is a bright spot in all this in that people within the community have placed alot of attention on cutting costs while still maintaining a nice way of life in FFH. Something else to consider. What is going on within FFH to some extant is probably going on within towns and communities like this all over the country. I think you would be hard pressed to find any place in which the cost of living there has not gone up in the last five years. With everything getting more expensive and new construction within FFH (and everywhere else) slowed down I thought it was a bit unreasonable for some of the owners to think that the reason the ammenities went up were due to them not being managed well enough. There is no proof of that and although they have gone up they are still affordable for many. Midsouth has alot invested within FFH and there is no indication they have an interest in leaving. I am optimisitic that by the end of this year a way forward will be had and owners and the board will come up with a plan that can contain costs while maintaining the ammenity assets.Regarding the annual ammenity fees which I mentioned in the paragraph above. I spoke a few weeks ago to the FFH Golf Club which collects the fees. They told me that they are holding off sending them until a decision about the appeal has been made. Another thing to consider is that the costs of paying all the fees for both lots is still under 3000 dollars annually. If you are someone like me who lives in NJ and pays five figure taxes just for property the cost of living in NC and FFH is still appealing.[/SIZE]
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Location and Lot - Lot 259 and 260 reside on West Wind Court. As you can see from the pictures they are undeveloped. Lot 262 and 261 were also purchased together by the same owner and you can see in one of the photos that they built a really nice house on the two properties. Just about all lots within FFH that are undeveloped have trees and bushes on them. These pictures were also taken in July 2010 which means that all plants and uncut grass are in full bloom. When you negotiate with your builder its a given that they need to go in and clear the land. When I selected my lots two things, aside from price, that were important to me where the soil conditions and potential flooding. The top layer of soil within FFH is typical of coastal Carolina ground. They call it muck dirt which is a mixture of wet potting soil and sand. When your lot is cleared by the builder they scrape this off and level your property with more solid soil. A buyer does not want this top layer to be too thick or otherwise past a certain point the builder will charge you extra. This depends on who you talk to but from realtators and builders Ive talked to the average amount of muck is 2 to 4 feet. Before purchasing I had a local soil survey group called Carolina Engineers perform the surveys and the the ground was rated very well. Less than 5 feet of topsoil needed to be removed to build. Thats about as good as it gets and once again this is not exclusive to FFH but is common throughout coastal southern areas. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Flooding? FFH enjoys some protection from hurricanes because it sits up the Neuse River and is not right on the coast. There have been times over the years, and I am going back to when this place was first built out over 30 years ago where a wind driven storm surge caused some flooding in the complex when the inlets from the river overflowed. Properties that border water or that sit in low lying areas can be succeptable to flooding should a storm be severe enough. These two lots sit a good distance from an area that borders the river and this particluar section is not considered a high risk area because it sits at a slightly higher elevation.These are things that I made sure of before I purchased them. If you take a look at the house next door to my lots you will get a good idea of how builders will typically build on these properties. The house is built up on ground that is slightly elevated yet the front yard has a slight slope that runs down to a depression which buts up against the road surface. They do that to handle runoff from water from a heavy rain storm and give the water a place to run off and collect.FFH had recently seen storm activity about a week before I last went there and took these pictures. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]I realize that potential buyers will have questions regarding building restrictions, building codes, tap fees, electricity and gas lines, flood prone areas, size of the golf course and a myriad of other questions. As an owner I have documentation that covers most of these questions however it is several years old. My suggestion to you is to call FFH directly and ask them your questions. I always find them to be helpful and they are knowledageble about their complex and what is going on. That way you hear the information directly from the people who manage this place and they are in a better position than me to answer. Oh one more thing - you can probably see on the lot map I provided that there is a FFH Sewage pump station towards the back of lot 259. Please do not be concerned about this. Its a small low lying brick pump house thats enclosed and there are also some pipes that are visible but I promise you this - there is no noise or smell and you can hardly see it thru all the trees. Its really just a small pumphouse and not some large industrial complex. I would call 252-514-2999 and ask to speak to someone at FFH regarding your questions. [/SIZE]
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Buyer pays closing costs. You dont need a lawyer to transfer title for NC property. Best bet is to arrange transfer with a Title Company or a lawyer that you are familiar with. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Last - SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY PLEASE. I am not kidding. Most people on ebay are fortunately like myself who if they put a bid down and win the auction pay promptly because they are serious in their intentions. If you win the auction and would like to talk to finalize payment and how the title will be transferred thats fine but if you win the auction I will assume that you are serious and that barring some new development you are going to complete this transaction. Unfortunately on ebay there is a group of people out there who love to put bids down on homes, cars and even smaller items and then never pay or who have a story like - well I am waiting for my brother in law to buy my car first and then I will have the mony for you - type of story. If you are that person please do not bid. Ebay charges me a nice fee for posting this auction, I am already going to take a bath when i sell these lots so I dont need more time and money wasted by reposting. Ebay has a process for nonpayers, in the past I've let some things slide but I will not in this case. [/SIZE]

Moderator cut: no real estate links
[SIZE=2]Picture 1 is a shot of the front gate. Picture 2 and 3 are shots of the two lots from slightly up the cul de sac. Picture 4 was taken from the same spot as 2 and 3 but I panned to the right to get a shot of the the one house on lot 261 and 262. Pictures 5,6 and 7 are a map of the two properties showing dimensions. [/SIZE]

[ncguy444]

Looking on google earth it looks like these lots are sitting in a low area per the color of the vegetation. Also, there is no development in the general area. Funny how all the crap property finds its way to e-gay..

[Time2Travel]

No way I would buy real estate on Ebay but that's just me.

[ncguy444]

It has been my experience you will find the most worthless ,garbage, junk desolate, worthless, property ever known to exist during the history of the world on e-gay. With that being said I have seen and bought some properties via their site that were worth much more than I paid for them. Some I sold for a flip and made several times over what I paid for the property. Some people are desperate or ignorant and will sometimes sell way below actual worth and the bidders are equally clueless when they let these auctions slip through their fingers. You have to be very careful, knowledgeable and have the cash on hand if you want to make money on a real estate auction site.

[ncguy444]

The two lots went were bid up to $5,200. With all the fees at that place no wonder nobody was interested. Plus the fact you had to remove the swamp muck and replace it with some other soil in order to build. I would never live in one one of those planned communities myself with all the rules and regulations.