Brant County

[Frank]

Has anyone had a chance to take a look at the house in Burford.  Is it worth the drive, or is it going to be a problem. 

If anyone has had a chance to check for liens (ie. crown), they could save us all the cost of the search and the bother if there is anything significant.

ciao

[Pfm1011]

Going this weekend to take a look, will advise

[Jayz]

All that I remember is a poor old man sitting quietly in a broken van (not in the house) parked on the property trying to calm his raging big dog while watching foreigners come and go on his property. It's just sad. It doesn't make sense why those construction companies developing new houses right behind this property wouldn't buy/bail this poor old man out. I was wondering whether this poor man could ever survive if he lost this probably the only place he and his dog had been calling home.

[Pfm1011]

 Jayz...Im guessing you wont be bidding and then chucking the guy out onto the street,
 

Im guessing you may want to stick to vacant land as you clearly would end up letting the old man stay and giving him money for dog food


Of course it was probably someone from this site trying to lay guilt on everyone to knock out the competition

[Dave2]

Now I know where all the smart people hang out.

Don't want to be a skunk at a garden party or sound racist but understand local natives might be a little bit restless.  They have even extended their claim area to include my home town of Ancaster which is outside the land grant area.  (Can provide details if you want to contact me by email)

I am staying away from Grand Valley and Belleville Napanee areas because of these concerns. 

Wouldn't want Frank to spoil his perfect record. 

[Frank]

PFM - I wouldn't trade my wife for any one of yours.  She has also been to a few sales, but found the process very stressfull...as it turned out we won on the last one she was at (but with my price, not hers - thank god I was right, and we did ok by it).   Let us know what you and your wife think after your weekend ride in the country...I'm not in a big rush since the sale is still several weeks off, and a lot can happen, maybe that fellow that wants to save everyone will come to the old guy's rescue (must be born again or something).  Scotland is half-way between Brantford, and Simcoe just off of #24 (Rest-Acres Rd.) .. a long way from nowhere at 1.27 per gallon and going up.

JayZ - I understand that the property is tenant occupied and chock full of liens, so don't have too much compassion for the old guy if he merely resides there and pays no rent, or if he is the owner and pays no taxes.... we have lots of people that do that in downtown Hamilton. 

Dave2 - my record is hardly perfect as I have lost on many more bids than I have won,  however, the profits on the win side have far outweighed the other side.  However, in the last two years I haven't seen anything that has struck my fancy...I'm not about to give up though.

The property is about 3 miles from the reserve...way inside the area that they are arguing over.  It's the main reason I didn't bother with those lots in Haldimand last year.   Sad state of affairs we have these days, when lands that are properly registered by the Ontario Government, are then not protected by them.   That's a whole nother topic, but one that may be pertinent to this situation. 

[Dave2]

Gee:

Now I am really impressed.  Last time I could get gas prices that low was with my first car ever. a 72
maverick.  Paid 39 cents a gallon and 39 cents a litre while I owned it. 

Dave2

[Frank]

Obviously,  I meant per litre - not gallon.  We all slip with the computer keys at times. I remember 35cents per imperial gallong, so I got you beat, and at the time we thought that was expensive.  Solution was to slip over the border for some US fuel ... and suds.

[Frank]

Gee:

Now I am really impressed.  Last time I could get gas prices that low was with my first car ever. a 72
maverick.  Paid 39 cents a gallon and 39 cents a litre while I owned it. 

Dave2

Oh, and mine was a 64 Ford...wish I still had that one.

[Jayz]

Jayz...Im guessing you wont be bidding and then chucking the guy out onto the street,
Im guessing you may want to stick to vacant land as you clearly would end up letting the old man stay and giving him money for dog food
Of course it was probably someone from this site trying to lay guilt on everyone to knock out the competition

Guess you old folks have been around for too long - cold-blooded predators, no mercy any more. Knocking you out of competition by that ain't effective obviously. 

That old man and his dog were like coming out of nowhere to me - I didn't think somebody would be lurking somewhere watching me open the door to the house and enter into the house with no intention to stop me or make any noise at least untill I got too close to the van ... I was with 2 pretty girls ... I thought about Texas Saw, the movie for a second ... creepy eh. I wasn't prepared for that obviously, but I did ask him if he owns this place and he said yes ... the dog almost couldn't control itself any more ... I said be cool I am out of here ...

You guys are right - he might not be the owner; he might be the tenant who's not been paying any rent; he might be one of you guys ... creepy eh 

With or without anybody living there, it looks like this place has been abandoned for long - daily junks in (the house) and out; small dwelling pretty rundown; didn't have chance (before the old and the dog appeared) to get close to the barn but it's believed to be in a bad condition too. But with trees, flowers, and some trail of old landscaping, I can imagine this used to be somebody's sweet home.

With new house development behind, this corner lot won't sell cheap if it can get sold all the way through taxsale.

[Pfm1011]

Went and looked at this place this weekend, Didn't walk the land, ( lets not forget this is still private property)  Forget the house, its bulldozer fodder.  Not worth keeping and renting as you will be thousands bringing it up to code just to get a few hundred a month rent .( if they pay at all)

 Its 6 acres of useless land and before getting excited.. Its 6 acres in an area of farms where land is dealt in hundreds of acres. The village is in the middle of nowhere and other then the 4 or five new houses that  are adjacent , nothing is happening.

The subdivision has only sold half of the lots and will probably take years to sell them all.  The lot  can be divided into three lots by zoning  but the market would probably only allow two as an  80 foot frontage is not worth anything in that part of the world. Anyone who wants to build out there, wants very big lots.

 I'm also guessing that you wont get approval to subdivide until all the lots are sold in the adjacent development.  ( we are outsiders and the local developer obviously has friends at the town who will essentially stall you on your application until his are sold, which isn't actually unreasonable as he has spent some real money servicing the lots and needs to recover his investment in the town) After his are gone I'm sure the town will bend over backwards for you.

At 25 k its a no brainer, at 50 its still a deal but at much more then that there is better deals out there as this town is going nowhere fast. Unfortunately a local end user or the developer of the adjacent lands will bid much more so we would be wasting our time and money chasing this one as simple investors.

If there is a non paying tenant, not just a squatter , add 3 to 6 months  of hassle as they do have legal rights. Probably easiest to get condemned and bulldoze forthwidth

[Dave2]

PFM:
 
"The subdivision has only sold half of the lots and will probably take years to sell them all.  The lot  can be divided into three lots by zoning  but the market would probably only allow two as an  80 foot frontage is not worth anything in that part of the world. Anyone who wants to build out there, wants very big lots"

Want to comment on one small part of your post.  My experience in that post walkerton is that counting on a 3 lot division is a real headache.  Some municipalities require a plan of subdivision and also water supply maybe an issue as sometimes they now want a common water supply and not well.

Simple severance into 2 lots is much more doable and without headaches in many spots.

Anyone else have a perspective to add.

Dave

[Pfm1011]

Notes:   Our previous post had 3 lots capable,  I was looking this over again and since the land is VR1 and AR split. The VR portion appears to be below the 6000 m2  required for two lots so this land may only support one house without rezoning. If you have bid based on an easy 3 or 2 lot subdivision ...You may want to triple check before Wednesday at 3 . The AR needs 30 acres for a house so cant use that as a second house..... 

Just another reason not to trust what you read on here and to do your own due diligence as despite what I believe , I am not infallible

[Jayz]

What could have happened:

- Dave made a private deal with the owner
- the owner was just having fun pissing off people
- taxsale.ca made a deal with the owner to hold off untill the last minute so more people could purchase tender package and title search 
...

[Pfm1011]

Gee that owner is really self centered, Imagine the nerve of him messing with my retirement plans   

 What I heard was that some guy with two girls showed up and looked at the house a few weeks ago . the owner was hoping they would come back so he could meet the girls and have the guy buy him and his dog lunch

Seriously what I don't understand is why in the world would anyone let this go so far, I would be humiliated if the city advertised my house for sale and the minute it hit the papers ( not that I would let it go that far anyways)  I would run down and pay it and hope noone read the paper that day.  I sure as hell wouldn't sit on it and let them advertise everywhere so everyone knows I don't pay my bills. This is especially true in in a town that small. I can guarantee you there is noone in that town who doesn't know this guys house was almost sold.  I have no idea how you can show your face in town after something like this.  The sad part is he probably thinks he is funny or some sort of "rebel". It should be noted he is a former cop, so he got paid because of property taxes...and he has a problem paying them.

Goes from being remembered as a police constable who served the community to a scumbag who doesnt pay his bills...


Ok lets see whats next on the list.......Hmmmmm Former Dry cleaning plant in Toronto.....that looks like a good investment......cant decide between investing in that or a nice little home in Love Canal ....