Lists of foreclosures are being mined by conservation groups taking advantage of the fall of land prices into among the lowest price levels in recent history.
In the past, despite accumulating a lot of funds from rising donations and government funding, conservation groups could not afford to acquire the acres of lands they have been targeting for protection from developers.
But now, as the foreclosure crisis keeps pulling down property prices, conservationists are now seeing that they can afford the prices being offered. Property owners have also become more willing to negotiate and reduce further their prices.
In Boise, Idaho, the Foothills Conservation Advisory Committee, was able to acquire acres of open space from landowners for $10 million in 2009 with help from city officials. Before, landowners need to be assured of top dollar before they entertain offers. Now, they are the ones calling the conservationists, who are glad that more lands can be preserved, especially waterfront sites in cities and land bordering parks.
In New Jersey’s Little Egg Harbor, the national nonprofit preservation group Trust for Public Land is set to acquire 46 acres of pine scrub and marsh land from a development firm that has canceled its plan of building single-family homes at the site. Will Rogers, head of the nonprofit, said that the property will be added to the neighboring Edwin Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.
In many cases, conservation groups acquire properties from the lists of foreclosures held by banks eager to wipe out nonperforming assets from their books.
For instance, when the property market collapsed, 27 acres of wooded and grassy hills in Portland, Oregon which were set to be developed into a residential subdivision suddenly became available for sale. Conservationists were able to buy the land for only $4.4 million, and now the land is part of the Clatsop Butte city park as a site for picnicking, hiking and dog walking.
Keith Fountain, land acquisition director for the Florida unit of nonprofit Nature Conservancy, said that the lands offered for sale in 2009 were the best offerings he had seen in the nearly two decades he has been pursuing lands. These include the 500,000 acres of land protecting rivers watering the Everglades.
Sometimes, municipalities suffer financially when development projects are stopped by conservation acquisitions. Tax revenues that could have come from residential and commercial developments disappear. But ultimately, they recognize the benefits of converting properties from lists of foreclosures into conserved lands that increases the value of adjacent properties.
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- Maximizing the Features of Lists of Foreclosures for Sale
- Foreclosure Listing Prevention Intensified in NJ and Ohio
- Fed Money to Buy and Gear up Repossessed Houses for Sale
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