Trent Hills

[DRD]

Hey Dave

Should we be watching for anything here?   I know you to bid in this area

[g2020]

Not Dave2, but I can tell you nine things that I would be be watching for in Trent Hills, if I was bidding there. Dave is certainly more knowledgeable in that locality but he may be a bidder. I will not. Here are the top nine Trent Hills caveats:
1. Be very cautious of any lot that has a plan number starting with RD. In this case they all start with RD which indicates that they all were created by "a checker board scheme" in about 1970 before the law was changed to outlaw these scams.
2. Be doubly cautious of lots in the old Percy Township since a lot of the lowland areas were checker boarded there.
3. Do not use the information on either the OTS web site or the tri-target web site when planning your tender - instead go directly to the Trent Hills web site where you will get the bad news for each property. Tri-target has been helpful enough to supply a direct link and they should be applauded for doing this.
4. Look for hydro lines - it is easy to mistake those big telephone lines on shorter poles for hydro lines which have 2 or more thin lines on a taller pole. In a recent post Dave2 mentioned about the high cost of bringing in Hydro in that area.
5. Not one of these lots has a road to the standard required for a building permit - in fact, you will note that the planner has indicated that only two of these lots can even have their road brought up to standard, and in those two instances you would also need a zoning change to get a building permit.
6. Watch out for lots that back onto a county road and front onto an unimproved road since you are unlikely to ever get an entrance permit onto the county road.
7. Watch out for a deep ditch in front of a property since in this area many of those ditches are under the control of the conservation authority, and a permit plus big expensive culvert are required.
8. This area has an over supply of country lots so unless you have the marketing skills of Dave2 you may be paying taxes for a very long time.
9. Look for new houses nearby as an indication that the lot is of suitable size and elevation for both well and septic - low flat land is not suitable for a septic bed, nor is high land with a gradient of more than 10%.

Now please keep in mind that I am biased due to my private bet (just one beer) with Dave2 that no tenders would be submitted for any one of these lovely lots. So please, someone bid just one of these lots to give Dave2 his first beer win of the year.

[Dave2]

8. This area has an over supply of country lots so unless you have the marketing skills of Dave2 you may be paying taxes for a very long time.

G2020:

There are members of this board who have much better marketing skills then me.  I refer you to this post from the last Trent Hills tax sale in the fall. 

http://taxsaleproperty.org/forum/index.php?topic=2074.msg9115#msg9115

[DRD]

I will top that bet and say that Dave will bid on one

[Dave2]

I will top that bet and say that Dave will bid on one

Doug:

We have almost three weeks to go before I usually make that decision. 

In the interim if anyone wants to do some site investigation I hope they have skiis because that is the only way you can get to these properties
which should alert knowledgeable bidders about building permit likelihoods. 

Dave2

[DRD]

If you have not kept up on dave..... he will scare you away and bid on property

[Dave2]

If you have not kept up on dave..... he will scare you away and bid on property  

Want to make a bet on it? As you don't like beer I guess it has to be for coffee.  You can collect/pay for it at the Timmies by the 401 exit at Colborne (by the big apple) when you come by and inspect the property you want to bid on.  

The cowpath as the local tax assessor called it should be dry enough once the snow is gone the weekend before the tax sale.  

For us tortises since the province started to change the hunting rules six months ago locally and possibly throughout the province I have had to revise my entire tax buying strategy. For the interim the hares on the board may get away with it but I am concerned it may make a property buy and hold strategy obsolete or at least much higher risk.  

The problem is that it does not show up yet on local land use zoning rules and I am not sure what the new rules are.  Its like a windfarm, forget the local zoning rules the Toronto beaurcrats are now setting the rules and frankly I am not certain what they are yet.  

 

[tyerant]

If you have not kept up on dave..... he will scare you away and bid on property

LOL



 

[DRD]

LMAO

[Frank]

I actually gave Tyrant a Karma for that one. 

[ErnestBidder]

 Agreed.
.
  Has anyone noticed anything odd on the main forum page? I check in every day, & look for the heavy print for the latest posts of "today" or "yesterday", and saw nothing for the last 2 or 3 meswsages, until this morning.

  Happy spring to all!

[Dave2]

I will top that bet and say that Dave will bid on one

Doug:

We have almost three weeks to go before I usually make that decision.  

Dave2  

Quote from G2020 from another Post:

This would have been a nice day for Dave to fork over some beers. Cheers!


Doug:

At one redemption a week (No 11) all I have to do is wait two more weeks for the tax sale and G2020 and I win the beer by default.  

First time in my life I will win something by doing nothing.  

Give me lots of time to pour through a 100 plus page consulting report and see what the new rules will be in Trent Hills and the rest of Northumberland county I picked up yesterday.  

If you want you can pick up your own copy at the county office.  First of two pieces of bad news (more government regulation and costs) for this area.  

Dave.  

[ruok]

Notice how Dave has to add the little subliminal "more gov't regulations and costs" for anyone thinking about the Trent Hills area.
I think he's going to owe somebody some beer.

[Dave2]

Notice how Dave has to add the little subliminal "more gov't regulations and costs" for anyone thinking about the Trent Hills area.
I think he's going to owe somebody some beer.

Ruok:

If you don't believe me lets look at what happened in Peel Region last fall. a few months ago.  Its called development charges and we are facing the first one ever on a county wide basis locally.  If you are local you can attend the public meeting Mid month.  

http://www.mississauga.com/news/article/1503056--peel-approves-development-charges-hike or here

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/09/23/peel_development_charge_increase_means_homebuyers_pay_extra_18000.html
"At a recent meeting councillors from Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon voted to increase development charges for each single-family residential unit from the old rate of $17,830 to $35,532, effective Oct. 4. The increase will not apply to homes that have already received permits for construction or are well into the planning stage."

In Oakville it is even worse at around $70,000 last time I checked.  The maximum tax sale minimum on this tender (package 2) is $10,462 so I would say that potential development charges of this magnitude are
significant.  

The reason I am not looking at spending on local tax sales this time was commented on by G2020 and is I can get a better return if I prepay development charges on property I already own.  
In Trent Hills I don't have to worry because all of my land is sold.

If you don't believe me about government regulation lets look at this news article from a couple of months ago.

http://www.northumberlandnews.com/news/article/1561601--northumberland-official-plan-could-become-mandatory

If I told you that the Oak Ridges morraine is within 10 kilometres of some of the land for sale you might catch my drift why I am concerned.

There is more other regulation coming that is even greater potentially greater effect but some of the information is proprietary as it is not in the public doman and will affect how I bid on future tax sales in future.  I started changing my personal buying strategy six months ago.  What I am doing is not yet apparent.  

[ruok]

I have absolutely no reason not to believe you. I was just making a playful jab for those who still think you're going to make a play on the Trent Hills properties.
Thanks for the information.