Minden Hills Properties

[GregM]

I'm wondering if anyone has had a chance to look at any of the Minden properties yet? Some of my observations:
The Gelert property, nearly 5 acres, appears to have a house with someone living in it. Did anyone else think that house was on the lot? The Irondale River waterfront property looks to narrow to even pull a canoe up on it.
The 2 properties in the village of Minden are very wet and marshy.
The Bob Lake property can be driven to and has hydro nearby, but it is almost a straight climb down to the water. I can't see them approving a septic on that site, either.
The lot near Gull Lake has an old, sort of abandoned, cottage on it that could be fixed up.
The lot near the Irondale River is very marshy with a little brook running through it.

I'm interested in hearing other people's thoughts on the properties. Thanks!

[RichD]

Thanks for your input I hope to be able to get up there some time this week to look at them.

[speedfreeksteve]

I haven't had a chance to look at them, but did you get the dimension on the Irondale River and Bob Lake properties?

[Frank]

The ad on the Bob Lake one says that it is 1.425 acres, but then the web-site says it is only .38 acres and that you should satisfy yourself as the acreage.  My intuition tells me that a big chunk of the 1.425 acres may be ownership of the private road, which everyone else has an easement across - however, I without checking it out thoroughly who knows.  The .38 acres is the amount the MPAC shows on the assessment roll.

The property on Gull Lake is zoned shoreline residential and it has a shack on it, however it is a backlot.  It may have a right of access to the lake across some common ground, but certainly a dock of your own and view of the lake are not in the cards.  The assessed value is most likely high because it has a building on it - MPAC doesn't consider the condition of the structure, just its physical size.

[GregM]

Thanks Frank,

Speed, I didn't get the dimensions of the Irondale River Property, but I'm pretty sure you could never build on it. I don't know why the assessment is so high, unless I am missing something. It seemed so small as to be nearly non-existant. I have photos if anyone is interested. I use OziExplorer to calibrate the long. and lat. of the MPAC Map, then draw a trackline around the perimeter of the lot(marginal accuracy). This method shows the Bob Lake property to be roughly 0.5 acre, hence I think the 0.38 number is the closest. Furthermore, nearly than half of that is practically vertical. There is a nice flat spot at the top where it looks like someone parked a camper and used an outhouse and had a diving platform.

[mcdanita]

Just a note...the "Flat Spot" on the Bob Lake property is not on the lot that is being offerred for tax sale.  There are two lots, and the one being offerred is closest to the existing Viceroy cottage. It is vertical to say the least...I doubt there is sufficient space for a building given the setbacks, the .38 acre lotsize and the R.O.W for the neighboring lots that cuts 20 feet off the back of this lot...The flat spot is on the adjacent lot.... 

[speedfreeksteve]

Wow, sounds like a few duds in this round of properties. Makes me wonder if I would pay the taxes on them if I owned them, or if I would just let it lapse. Some of them sound almost unsellable on the real estate market.

[suede22]

Curious about the Bob Lake vertical... Is it a rocky vertical or a dirt covered steep access to the water?

Interested as well if anyone has found the lot stakes... I would imagine that must be the case if you already know the flat part is not part of the property.

Whatever detail you could share would be appreciated... photos would even save me a trip.

Any liens on this or the river lot?

Thanks,
Suede

[GregM]

Thanks for the clarification MCDanita. It shows the importance of being sure of the lot you are looking at. Here's a shot looking to the right from the "flat spot". Is this the Viceroy home, you spoke about? If so, then the land between would be the lot for sale? http://home.golden.net/~gmccracken/Bob%20Lot.jpg   Also here's a shot of the Irondale River lot to the best of my determination. There is a white patch of a cottage in the trees about mid-picture. That would be your neighbour to the right. Doesn't look like much land in between. http://home.golden.net/~gmccracken/Irondale_River.jpg I'm afraid I don't know about any liens or stakes.

[RichD]

Thanks  for the pictures Greg and thanks to mcdanita for the revision

[RichD]

I was talking to one of the locals about the property on Gull lake, he lives there year round now that he's retired from Toronto Fire Department and he believes this property doesn't have a well? He thinks they had an agreement with the neighbor to tap in to his??? Just something to watch for if your interested in this one.

[Frank]

Shared wells, and shared driveways are not uncommon in rural areas and cottage country.  If you are concerned about it, then you should contact a local well driller and find out how deep they have to go for water in that area, and what the cost might be (can range from $2,000 to $10,000 in any normal circumstance, lots of rock up there so it is probably the higher figure - then you have the cost of a pump and pressure system, check the cost at Home Depot). 

However, the arrangement with the neighbour may be perfectly satisfactory and there may be a small annual fee towards the maintenance of the system.   These types of sharing arrangements are usually present when the lands were originally one property and members of the same family built multiple buildings on the property - later severing to get out of the arrangement.  If anyone makes contact with the neighbour, we would all like to here the results - muchos gracias.

Did anyone see any evidence of a septic system,  If you are going to do anything that requires a building permit - you will likely have to either install one or beef the existing one up (if there is enough land).  It might be best to be happy with what is there and put a new coat of paint on it.

[RichD]

Ya, I believe there was a septic system out on the side of the house there was a 4inch pipe leaving the basement pointing to a piece of seteel laying on the ground with an assess door on it. (could turn out to be a bomb shelter for all I know )

[pjwlk]

I'm wondering if anyone has had a chance to look at any of the Minden properties yet? Some of my observations:
The Gelert property, nearly 5 acres, appears to have a house with someone living in it. Did anyone else think that house was on the lot? The

I had a look on the weekend at what I'm pretty sure is the 4.5 acre Gilert property you mentioned.  There is no house on the property that I could see but there appears to be a large garden shed pretty much on what I believe is the property line.  There is a narrow road put in down the side of hill and it leads to a river.  The right side of the road drops off to a ravine.  I didn't cross the river to look at the other side but I know the Rail Trail which you cross at the cemetary goes around the back side of the property.  To me there doesn't look like there's much value in this property as I'm sure you'd have a hard time getting permits to build a bridge of any sort and the land on the road side of the river is pretty much useless.

[Bitty]

We checked with the Minden Health department regarding the septics on the Bob Lake property.  The septics, neither of which received final sign-off were installed in 1980 and are located on lots 1 and 3.  No permit was submitted for lot 2.  The existing cottage is not on any of these lots so lot 2 is in between the two septics.  It would be up to the health department to provide approval for a septic and you cannot get a building permit without one in Minden Hills.

Hope this helps.